Rails Debug Popup - Makes easy to debug info.
module DebugHelper def self.append_features(controller) #:nodoc: controller.ancestors.include?(ActionController::Base) ? controller.add_template_helper(self) : super end IGNORE = ["template_root", "template_class", "response", "template", "session", "url", "params", "subcategories", "ignore_missing_templates", "cookies", "request", "logger", "flash", "headers" ] def debug_popup popup_create do |script| script << add( "<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Smarty Debug Console_#{@controller.class.name}</TITLE></HEAD><BODY bgcolor=#ffffff>" ) script << add( "<table border=0 width=100%>" ) script << add( "<tr bgcolor=#cccccc><th colspan=2>Rails Debug Console</th></tr>" ) script << add( "<tr bgcolor=#cccccc><td colspan=2><b>assigned template variables:</b></td></tr>" ) @controller.assigns.each do |key, value| script << add ("<tr bgcolor=#eeeeee><td valign=top><tt><font color=blue>#{h key}</font></tt></td><td><tt><font color=green>#{dump_obj(value)}</font></tt></td></tr>") unless IGNORE.include?(key) end unless @controller.assigns.nil? script << add( "<tr bgcolor=#cccccc><td colspan=2><b>request parameters:</b></td></tr>" ) @controller.params.each do |key, value| script << add ("<tr bgcolor=#eeeeee><td valign=top><tt><font color=blue>#{h key}</font></tt></td><td><tt><font color=green>#{dump_obj(value)}</font></tt></td></tr>") unless IGNORE.include?(key) end unless @controller.params.nil? script << add( "<tr bgcolor=#cccccc><td colspan=2><b>session variables:</b></td></tr>" ) @controller.session.instance_variable_get("@data").each do |key, value| script << add ("<tr bgcolor=#eeeeee><td valign=top><tt><font color=blue>#{h key}</font></tt></td><td><tt><font color=green>#{dump_obj(value)}</font></tt></td></tr>") unless IGNORE.include?(key) end unless @controller.session.instance_variable_get("@data").nil? script << add( "<tr bgcolor=#cccccc><td colspan=2><b>flash variables:</b></td></tr>" ) @controller.instance_variable_get("@flash").each do |key, value| script << add ("<tr bgcolor=#eeeeee><td valign=top><tt><font color=blue>#{h key}</font></tt></td><td><tt><font color=green>#{dump_obj(value)}</font></tt></td></tr>") unless IGNORE.include?(key) end unless @controller.instance_variable_get("@flash").nil? end end private def popup_create script = "<SCRIPT language=javascript>\n<!--\n" script << "_rails_console = window.open(\"\",\"#{@controller.class.name}\",\"width=680,height=600,resizable,scrollbars=yes\");\n" yield script script << "_rails_console.document.close();\n" script << "-->\n</SCRIPT>" end def add(msg) "_rails_console.document.write(\"#{msg}\")\n" end def dump_obj(object) begin Marshal::dump(object) "<pre>#{h(object.to_yaml).gsub(" ", " ").gsub("\n", "<br/>\"+\n\"" )}</pre>" rescue Object => e # Object couldn't be dumped, perhaps because of singleton methods -- this is the fallback "<pre>#{h(object.inspect)}</pre>" end end end
I got this from EpiLog after seeing it mentioned on on the HowToDebugViews wiki. It is a helper class which will raise a Smarty like popup dumping all assigns, sessions, parameter and flash. Install it into your helper directory and include DebugHelper in your application controller. In your view (perhaps the bottom of your generic layout) add <%= debug_popup %>. Make sure to disable your popup blocker.
This is especially useful if you work together with designers who have no idea what kind of information are exported by the controllers in a given view.
