RailsBetterFilters

Motivation

We found the default before_filters of Rails to be too unflexible for our needs. Especially, we needed to be able to specify filter orders or dependency chains. Order may be specified using the after or before options to the better_filter_opts method. Better filters are inherited and may be used in combination with regular Rails filters.

Usage

Setup

In Gemfile:

gem 'rails-better-filters'

In your base controller class:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  include RailsBetterFilters
  before_filter :dispatch_better_filters
end

Defining filters

Example:

class SomeController < ApplicationController
  def filter_a
  end

  def filter_b_with_different_name
  end

  better_filter :filter_a
  better_filter :filter_b, :filter_b_with_different_name
  better_filter(:filter_c) do
    # Blocks are also ok.
  end

  better_filter :filter_d
  better_filter_opts :filter_d, { :only => [:some_action], :after => [:filter_c], :before => [:filter_a] }
end

Take a look at the generated topological sort:

SomeController.better_filter_chain.map(&:keys).map(&:first).join(', ')
# => filter_c, filter_d, filter_a, filter_b

License

RailsBetterFilters is licensed under the MIT-License. See LICENSE for details.