控制器操作与实例方法决策 - Rails 4，设计

Question

Let's say I have a controller action which queries and updates attributes of a record:

def toggle_foo
  bar = Bar.find(params[:bar_id])
  bar.foo.nil? ? bar.update_attributes(foo: ...) : bar.update_attributes(foo: ...)
  render json: {...}
end

Should such (non-CRUD) actions call instance methods rather manipulating data directly?

Answer 1

I think your approach is OK.

What matters in MVC is making a clear separation of concerns. In this way, you're keeping query and decision operations in the controller, and delegate all of the data manipulation logic to the model. This follows good practices in object orientation.

You could just directly manipulate data on the controller, by, say, changing and saving data to the database there but that'd be a big maintenance no-no.