Global variable in Rails

Question

I have a feedback form in my Rails application. The feedback form requires initializing of the @support variable, and it should be visible on every page. The initialization is v

Answer 1

Rather than a global variable, you probably want to put something in the ApplicationController.

Either:

before_filter initialize_support

def initialize_support
      @support = Support.new(:id => 1)
end

Or:

helper_method support_form

def support_form
      @support_form ||= Support.new(:id => 1)
end

Answer 2

It sounds like what you really want is to store the data in the user's session, right? For more details, see http://www.ozmox.com/2009/10/13/rails-sessions/.

Answer 3

you can use a helper method (in the application controller) to initialize the support variable . Something like this :

class ApplicationController < ..
   ...
   helper_method :my_var

   def my_var
      @support = Support.new(:id => 1)
   end
   ...

 end

Answer 4

A global variable starts with the dollard sign '$' like :

$support = Support.new(:id => 1)

However, global variables is bad :-) You should read this post by "Simone Carletti".