[german129]

I am having this really strange problem and its mainly because i dont understand how rails works. I have an auction controller with an auction view. As i understand, any class variable (starts with an @ sign) should be available in my view. I am instantiating a class variable in my index method of my controller and the variable is available in that view. However, any time i try and use that variable again later in a partial it is not longer instantiated. Does rails create a new instance of the auction controller every time there is a request? if this is the case, how do i store data if i am not using a database??

sample code:

class AuctionController < ApplicationController

def index
  @game_type = 1
end

def start_game
  render :update do |page|
    page.replace :start_button, :partial => "start_button"
  end
end
end

_start_button.html.erb:

<% if @game_type == 1 %>
  <%= button_to_function "start", remote_function(function1) %>
<% else %>
  <%= button_to_function "start", remote_function(function2) %>
<% end %>

So i am assigning a value of 1 to the variable game_type once the index method is called. then once the auctioneer implements the start_game method it should render the start_button with a function depending on teh @game_type variable. For some reason once start_game is called the @game_type variable is nil again, after it had been assigned a number.

This post has been edited by german129: 20 December 2010 - 04:28 PM

[The Neoracle]

Yes, Rails is going to use a different instance of the controller for every request. You cannot store information request to request using instance variables (@game_type is an instance variable).

You must use some sort of data store to persist data between requests. You could store it in a database, or a client side cookie.

[german129]

Wow that blows my mind. I was planning to keep the entire program in memory so i did not need a db but this makes that nearly impossible. I guess my only option is to use global variables, which i always hear is a frowned upon for object oriented programming. From a performance standpoint, is there a significant difference between storing your data in a db and storing them in memory (global variables)??

[MitkOK]

Dude, learn some Ruby before jumping into Rails.

PS: Don't use global vars, it's really bad idea, do some search to find out why.
You can store data using session - http://guides.rubyon...ew.html#session

This post has been edited by MitkOK: 25 December 2010 - 01:36 AM