FriendlyId is the “Swiss Army bulldozer” of slugging and permalink plugins for ActiveRecord. It allows you to create pretty URL’s and work with human-friendly strings as if they were numeric ids for ActiveRecord models.
Let's say you have a model Speaker that utilizes FiendlyId gem to create unique slugs like this:
class Speaker < ApplicationRecord
friendly_id :name, use: %i[slugged history finders]
end
And you are using CanCanCan gem to implement authorization in your application. So, in your SpeakersController you are loading and authorizing the resources like this:
class SpeakersController < ApplicationController
load_and_authorize_resource
# GET /speakers
def index; end
# GET /speakers/1
def show; end
end
And you are using the same method to load and authorize resources in other controllers.
How you can utilize the history plugin from FiendlyId gem to redirect your old slugs like /speakers/falde-ali to new slugs like /speakers/ali-fadel when you change the speaker name, without implementing a specific method inside each controller to handle it?
Answer:
Basically, you can implement a concern inside app/controller/concerns like this:
# app/controller/concerns/slug_redirector.rb
module SlugRedirector
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
before_action :redirect_to_canonical_route
end
def redirect_to_canonical_route
record = get_record(model)
return if record.blank?
canonical_path = get_canonical_path(record)
redirect_to canonical_path, status: :moved_permanently if should_redirect?(canonical_path)
end
private
def model
controller_name.classify.constantize
end
def namespace
self.class.module_parent_name&.downcase&.to_sym
end
def get_record(model)
instance_variable_get("@#{model.name.underscore}")
end
def get_canonical_path(record)
polymorphic_path([namespace, record])
end
def should_redirect?(canonical_path)
request.path != canonical_path
end
end
Then include it into your controllers below the load and authorization call, like this:
class SpeakersController < ApplicationController
load_and_authorize_resource
include SlugRedirector
# GET /speakers
def index; end
# GET /speakers/1
def show; end
end
This concern implements a redirect to the latest slug using the FriendlyId gem.
The concern includes a before_action that calls the redirect_to_canonical_route method. This method retrieves the record from the controller's instance variables, then generates a canonical path using the polymorphic_path method. If the current request path doesn't match the canonical path, the method issues a permanent redirect to the canonical path using redirect_to.
This concern provides a way to ensure that URLs with old or outdated slugs are redirected to the latest version of the URL. This can be helpful for maintaining SEO and ensuring that users are always directed to the correct page.
I hope it is helpful :)
What do you think about the approach and about adding this concern as a plugin inside FriendlyId ?.?
Question:
Let's say you have a model
Speaker
that utilizes FiendlyId gem to create unique slugs like this:And you are using CanCanCan gem to implement authorization in your application. So, in your
SpeakersController
you are loading and authorizing the resources like this:And you are using the same method to load and authorize resources in other controllers.
How you can utilize the
history
plugin from FiendlyId gem to redirect your old slugs like/speakers/falde-ali
to new slugs like/speakers/ali-fadel
when you change the speaker name, without implementing a specific method inside each controller to handle it?Answer:
Basically, you can implement a concern inside
app/controller/concerns
like this:Then include it into your controllers below the load and authorization call, like this:
This concern implements a redirect to the latest slug using the FriendlyId gem.
The concern includes a
before_action
that calls theredirect_to_canonical_route
method. This method retrieves the record from the controller's instance variables, then generates a canonical path using thepolymorphic_path
method. If the current request path doesn't match the canonical path, the method issues a permanent redirect to the canonical path usingredirect_to
.This concern provides a way to ensure that URLs with old or outdated slugs are redirected to the latest version of the URL. This can be helpful for maintaining SEO and ensuring that users are always directed to the correct page.
I hope it is helpful :)
What do you think about the approach and about adding this concern as a plugin inside FriendlyId ?.?