Collection vs. Member Actions

Rails is crucial for setting up clean, intuitive, and RESTful routes for your application. Let’s break it down to ensure clarity on collection and member actions, as well as the appropriate usage of resources and resource.

Collection Actions

• Operate on the entire collection of resources.
• Do not require an individual resource ID.

Common collection actions include:

• index: Displays a list of all resources.
• create: Adds a new resource to the collection.
• new: Provides a form to create a new resource.

Example:

GET /users        # index
POST /users       # create
GET /users/new    # new

Member Actions

• Operate on a single resource within the collection.
• Require an individual resource ID.

Common member actions include:

• show: Displays a specific resource.
• edit: Provides a form to edit a specific resource.
• update: Updates a specific resource.
• destroy: Deletes a specific resource.

Example:

GET /users/:id       # show
GET /users/:id/edit  # edit
PATCH/PUT /users/:id # update
DELETE /users/:id    # destroy

Using resources

The resources method is used for managing a collection of resources. Here's an example using resources :users:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  resources :users do
    collection do
      get 'active'  # Custom collection route
    end
    member do
      get 'profile'  # Custom member route
    end
  end
end

This generates the following routes:

Collection Routes:

GET    /users          # index
GET    /users/new      # new
POST   /users          # create
GET    /users/active   # Custom collection action

Member Routes:

GET    /users/:id          # show
GET    /users/:id/edit     # edit
PATCH  /users/:id          # update
DELETE /users/:id          # destroy
GET    /users/:id/profile  # Custom member action

Using resource

The resource method is used for managing a single resource. Here's an example using resource :profile:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  resource :profile do
    collection do
      get 'settings'  # Custom collection route for the singular resource
    end
  end
end

This generates the following routes:

Collection Routes:

GET    /profile/settings  # Custom collection action for the singular resource

Member Routes:

GET    /profile           # show
GET    /profile/new       # new
POST   /profile           # create
GET    /profile/edit      # edit
PATCH  /profile           # update
DELETE /profile           # destroy

Custom Routes for Collections and Members

You can add custom routes for both collections and members using the collection and member blocks within the resources or resource methods.

Example with resources:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  resources :articles do
    collection do
      get 'published'  # Custom collection action
    end
    member do
      get 'author'  # Custom member action
    end
  end
end

This generates:

GET /articles/published  # Custom collection action
GET /articles/:id/author # Custom member action

Example with resource:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  resource :dashboard do
    collection do
      get 'stats'  # Custom collection action for singular resource
    end
  end
end

This generates:

GET /dashboard/stats  # Custom collection action for the singular resource

Conclusion

Understanding how to use resources and resource in Rails allows you to set up routes that align with RESTful principles. By leveraging collection and member actions appropriately, you can ensure that your application's routing is intuitive and maintains a clear structure. This distinction not only aids in navigation and usability but also supports maintainable and scalable code architecture.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions about Rails routing or any other topic!

Want to connect and keep the conversation going?

Follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn for more insights and discussions on Ruby and web development!