UPDATE: Fixed a couple of typos in the source code.

Here’s my TextMate snippet for generating the Golden Seven actions.

Rails 1.2 gave us the resource controller, providing a RESTful controller with an underlying model and migration.

Rails 2.0 has given us a first-class scaffold generator, which provides a RESTful controller, a model, and starter views for all actions.

But sometimes I need to roll a RESTful controller by hand. The controller generator just creates an empty controller class (I wish it would provide the RESTful skeleton by default). So here’s my TextMate snippet that you might find helpful.

If you’ve never created a snippet before, just go to Bundles -> Bundle Editor -> Edit Snippets. Create a new bundle or add a new snippet to an existing bundle if you want. At the bottom of the snippet dialog, specify source.ruby.rails as the Scope Selector, choose a meaningful abbreviation (I use “rest”), and paste in the code at the end of this article.

To use the snippet, open your controller code, and then:

• type “rest” (or whatever your chosen abbreviation was) and hit the TAB key;
• the things code will be automatically selected; just enter the plural of your model (“posts”, or “products”, or whatever), and then hit TAB again;
• the Thing class name will be selected; start typing the name of your model class, and then hit TAB;
• finally, thing will be selected; type the singular name of your model, and you’re done.

Your selections will be mirrored throughout all seven actions in all of the right places.

def index
  @${1:things} = ${2:Thing}.find :all

  respond_to do |format|
    format.html # index.html.erb
    format.xml  { render :xml => @$1 }
  end
end

def show
  @${3:thing} = $2.find(params[:id])

  respond_to do |format|
    format.html # show.html.erb
    format.xml  { render :xml => @$3 }
  end
end

def new
  @$3 = $2.new

  respond_to do |format|
    format.html # new.html.erb
    format.xml  { render :xml => @$3 }
  end
end

def edit
  @$3 = $2.find(params[:id])
end

def create
  @$3 = $2.new(params[:$3])

  respond_to do |format|
    if @$3.save
      flash[:notice] = '$2 was successfully created.'
      format.html { redirect_to(@$3) }
      format.xml  { render :xml => @$3, :status => :created, :location => @$3 }
    else
      format.html { render :action => "new" }
      format.xml  { render :xml => @$3.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
    end
  end
end

def update
  @$3 = $2.find(params[:id])

  respond_to do |format|
    if @$3.update_attributes(params[:$3])
      flash[:notice] = '$2 was successfully updated.'
      format.html { redirect_to(@$3) }
      format.xml  { head :ok }
    else
      format.html { render :action => "edit" }
      format.xml  { render :xml => @$3.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
    end
  end
end

def destroy
  @$3 = $2.find(params[:id])
  @$3.destroy

  respond_to do |format|
    format.html { redirect_to(admin_$1_url) }
    format.xml  { head :ok }
  end
end