http://snippets.dzone.com/posts Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:22:42 GMT DZone Snippets: Noodlesinmysandals's Code Snippets http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/2016 It's very common to want to highlight the current link within a navigation list for the current action being performed. <br /> <br />What follows is an extremely simplistic approach to solving this, so build upon it as you wish. <br /> <br /> <br />The first thing to do is add the following code to your application_helper.rb file <br /><code> <br />def section_link(name,options) <br /> if options[:action] == @current_action and options[:controller] == @current_controller <br /> link_to(name, options, :class => 'on') <br /> else <br /> link_to(name,options) <br /> end <br />end <br /></code> <br /> <br />The above method always expects an :action key to be passed in with the options hash, so if you're one of those people who just pass in the :controller and not the :action so as to default to whatever method you've set it in your routes.rb file, then this won't work for you. <br /> <br />Finally put this in you're application.rb file, as it makes the current executing action and controller name available to the helper. <br /><code> <br />before_filter :instantiate_controller_and_action_names <br /> <br />def instantiate_controller_and_action_names <br /> @current_action = action_name <br /> @current_controller = controller_name <br />end <br /></code> <br /> <br /> <br />In your view use <br /><code> <br /><%=section_link('Home',:controller => 'articles', :action => 'index')%> <br /></code> <br /> <br />Make sure you have a CSS class called "on" or edit the above code. The following CSS is just an example. <br /> <br /><code> <br />a.on{ <br /> border-bottom: solid 2px #000; <br />} <br /></code> <br /> Sun, 14 May 2006 21:33:59 GMT http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/2016 noodlesinmysandals (Jonathan Conway)