Rails 3 - Referencing the URL to determine if a Nav Item is class="selected"

Question

The app can have the following URLs:

/projects/

/projects/3

/projects/3/photos

/projects/3/photos/312

I'd like to know how in Rails 3 I can look at the current URL and know which of the lines above is currently active, so I can add a class="selected"

Additional exmaple..

If the user's browser is on: /projects

And the Nav looks like

Projects - Photos - Files

Projects is Active

but if the user's browser is on: /files

Projects is active

and Files is active (they both apply).

Ideas? thanks

Answer 1

There is always access to params hash, so you can check params[:controller] or params[:action] anywhere in your views. There is always request.env['PATH_INFO'], where the complete URL is stored as well.

As for the breadcrumb referenced in the second part of the question, I believe there is no general way of doing it. There is no solid background behind the relations between views. Site logic is basically constructed across the views, so there is no solid way of determining it.

Since you always have Files underneath Project in this particular view, where is the problem? Can't you just highlight project if Files are selected?

Edit:

Implementation really depends on your design and if you need direct hints, you would have to paste a gist/paste link to your code. In general the idea is as follows:

<% if params[:controller] == :files 
  <% b1class = "active" %>
  <% b2class = "active" %>
  <% b3class = "active" %>
<% else %>
   ....
<% end %>

<div class=breadcrumb>
  <p class=<%= b1class> Project </p>
  <p class=<%= b2class> Photos </p>
  <p class=<%= b3class> Files </p>
</div>