CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ruby
MTS
MTS

Reputation: 19

How to use a helper to display a navigation menu

I made a Ruby helper: 

module FeedHelper
    def nav_menu
        image_tag("/assets/logo.jpg",  alt: "Logo", class: "nav-image") 
        "<ul>".html_safe
            link_to('Home', root_path, class: 'nav-link')
            link_to('Lists', root_path, class: 'nav-link')
            link_to('Profile', root_path, class: 'nav-link')
            link_to('Admin page', root_path, class: 'nav-link')
        if user_signed_in?
            link_to('Logout', destroy_user_session_path, method: :delete, class: 'nav-link')
        else
            link_to('Login', new_user_session_path, class: 'nav-link')
        end
        "</ul>".html_safe
    end
end

But for some reason, when I call this, it only shows one login or logout depending on whether I am already logged in.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 147

Answers (1)

Casper
Casper

Reputation: 34308

All helpers are simple Ruby methods that return strings. In your case you call a bunch of helpers in your helper. These helpers all return strings, but you're not saving the output anywhere. The last string of your method is the only one that is returned, and that's the last </ul>.

In order to make it work, you need to collect the outputs of all the helpers, and then return everything you collected at the end:

def nav_menu
  out = image_tag("/assets/logo.jpg",  alt: "Logo", class: "nav-image") 
  out << "<ul>".html_safe
  out << link_to('Home', root_path, class: 'nav-link')
  ...
  out << "</ul>".html_safe
  out
end

However note that it may be a better solution to put your nav code into a partial, and/or into your application layout instead. See the answers here for some examples:

How can I make my navbar appear on every page in my rails app?

Upvotes: 1

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