When I load script/console, some times I want play with the output of a controller or a view helper method.
Are there ways to:
Here's one way to do this through the console:
>> foo = ActionView::Base.new
=> #<ActionView::Base:0x2aaab0ac2af8 @assigns_added=nil, @assigns={}, @helpers=#<ActionView::Base::ProxyModule:0x2aaab0ac2a58>, @controller=nil, @view_paths=[]>
>> foo.extend YourHelperModule
=> #<ActionView::Base:0x2aaab0ac2af8 @assigns_added=nil, @assigns={}, @helpers=#<ActionView::Base::ProxyModule:0x2aaab0ac2a58>, @controller=nil, @view_paths=[]>
>> foo.your_helper_method(args)
=> "<html>created by your helper</html>"
Creating a new instance of ActionView::Base gives you access to the normal view methods that your helper likely uses. Then extending YourHelperModule mixes its methods into your object letting you view their return values.
Another way to do this is to use the rails debugger. There's a tutorial up on the Rails site at http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoDebugWithRubyDebug
Basically, start the server with the -u option:
./script/server -u
And then insert a breakpoint into your script where you would like to have access to the controllers/helpers/etc..
class EventsController < ApplicationController
def index
debugger
end
end
And when you make a request and hit that part in the code, the server console will return a prompt where you can then make requests, view objects, etc.. from a command prompt. When finished, just type 'cont' to continue execution. There are also options for extended debugging, but this should at least get you started.
To call helpers, use the helper …hmm… helper.
$ ./script/console
>> helper.number_to_currency('123.45')
=> "R$ 123,45"
If you want to use a helper that's not included by default (say, because you removed helper :all from ApplicationController), just include the helper.
>> include BogusHelper
>> helper.bogus
=> "bogus output"
As for dealing with controllers, I quote Nick's answer:
> app.get '/posts/1' > response = app.response # you now have a rails response object much like the integration tests > response.body # get you the HTML > response.cookies # hash of the cookies # etc, etc
The earlier answers are calling helpers but the following will help for calling controller methods. I have used this on rails 2.3.2.
first add the following code to your .irbrc file (which can be in your home directory)
class Object
def request(options = {})
url=app.url_for(options)
app.get(url)
puts app.html_document.root.to_s
end
end
then in the rails console you can type something like...
request(:controller => :show, :action => :show_frontpage)
...and the html will be dumped to the console.
An easy way to call a controller action from script/console and view/manipulate the response object is:
> app.get '/posts/1'
> response = app.response
# you now have a rails response object much like the integration tests
> response.body # get you the HTML
> response.cookies # hash of the cookies
# etc, etc
This works for me using Rails 2.1 and 2.3, I did not try earlier versions.