Organizing Sinatra "routing blocks" over multiple files - ruby

Question

Any non-trivial Sinatra app will have more "routes" than one would want to put in one big Sinatra::Base descendant class. Say I wanted to put them in another class, what is idiomatic? What is that other class descended from? How do I "include" it in the main Sinatra class?

Answer 1

You can just re-open the class in different files.
# file_a.rb
require 'sinatra'
require_relative "./file_b.rb"
class App < Sinatra::Base
get("/a") { "route a" }
run!
end
# file_b.rb
class App < Sinatra::Base
get("/b") { "route b" }
end
If you really want different classes you can do something like this, but it's a little ugly:
# file_a.rb
require 'sinatra'
require_relative "./file_b.rb"
class App < Sinatra::Base
get("/a") { "route a" }
extend B
run!
end
# file_b.rb
module B
def self.extended(base)
base.class_exec do
get("/b") { "route b" }
end
end
end
I'm pretty sure these two are the easiest ways to do it. When you look inside the source code of how Sinatra actually adds routes from a method like get, it's pretty hairy.
I guess you could also do something goofy like this, but I wouldn't exactly call it idiomatic:
# file_a.rb
require 'sinatra'
class App < Sinatra::Base
get("/a") { "route a" }
eval File.read("./file_b.rb")
run!
end
# file_b.rb
get("/b") { "route b" }

Answer 2

To give another way of doing things, you can always organise them by their use, for example:
class Frontend < Sinatra::Base
# routes here
get "/" do #…
end
class Admin < Sinatra:Base
# routes with a different focus here
# You can also have things that wouldn't apply elsewhere
# From the docs
set(:auth) do |*roles| # <- notice the splat here
condition do
unless logged_in? && roles.any? {|role| current_user.in_role? role }
redirect "/login/", 303
end
end
end
get "/my/account/", :auth => [:user, :admin] do
"Your Account Details"
end
get "/only/admin/", :auth => :admin do
"Only admins are allowed here!"
end
end
You can even set up a base class and inherit from that:
module MyAmazingApp
class Base < Sinatra::Base
# a helper you want to share
helpers do
def title=nil
# something here…
end
end
# standard route (see the example from
# the book Sinatra Up and Running)
get '/about' do
"this is a general app"
end
end
class Frontend < Base
get '/about' do
"this is actually the front-end"
end
end
class Admin < Base
#…
end
end
Of course, each of these classes can be split into separate files if you wish. One way to run them:
# config.ru
map("/") do
run MyAmazingApp::Frontend
end
# This would provide GET /admin/my/account/
# and GET /admin/only/admin/
map("/admin") do
MyAmazingApp::Admin
end
There are other ways, I suggest you get hold of that book or check out a few blog posts (some of the high scorers for this tag are a good place to start).