ActionController::Metal is the simplest possible controller, providing a valid Rack interface without the additional niceties provided by ActionController::Base.

A sample metal controller might look like this:

  class HelloController < ActionController::Metal
    def index
      self.response_body = "Hello World!"
    end
  end

And then to route requests to your metal controller, you would add something like this to config/routes.rb:

  match 'hello', :to => HelloController.action(:index)

The action method returns a valid Rack application for the Rails router to dispatch to.

Rendering Helpers

ActionController::Metal by default provides no utilities for rendering views, partials, or other responses aside from explicitly calling of response_body=, content_type=, and status=. To add the render helpers you’re used to having in a normal controller, you can do the following:

  class HelloController < ActionController::Metal
    include ActionController::Rendering
    append_view_path "#{Rails.root}/app/views"

    def index
      render "hello/index"
    end
  end

Redirection Helpers

To add redirection helpers to your metal controller, do the following:

  class HelloController < ActionController::Metal
    include ActionController::Redirecting
    include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers

    def index
      redirect_to root_url
    end
  end

Other Helpers

You can refer to the modules included in ActionController::Base to see other features you can bring into your metal controller.

Methods
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Class Public methods
action(name, klass = ActionDispatch::Request)

Return a rack endpoint for the given action. Memoize the endpoint, so multiple calls into MyController.action will return the same object for the same action.

Parameters

  • action - An action name

Returns

  • proc - A rack application
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 244
244:     def self.action(name, klass = ActionDispatch::Request)
245:       middleware_stack.build(name.to_s) do |env|
246:         new.dispatch(name, klass.new(env))
247:       end
248:     end
call(env)

Makes the controller a rack endpoint that points to the action in the given env’s action_dispatch.request.path_parameters key.

     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 231
231:     def self.call(env)
232:       action(env['action_dispatch.request.path_parameters'][:action]).call(env)
233:     end
controller_name()

Returns the last part of the controller’s name, underscored, without the ending Controller. For instance, PostsController returns posts. Namespaces are left out, so Admin::PostsController returns posts as well.

Returns

  • string
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 116
116:     def self.controller_name
117:       @controller_name ||= self.name.demodulize.sub(/Controller$/, '').underscore
118:     end
middleware()

Alias for middleware_stack

     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 225
225:     def self.middleware
226:       middleware_stack
227:     end
new()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 134
134:     def initialize
135:       @_headers = {"Content-Type" => "text/html"}
136:       @_status = 200
137:       @_request = nil
138:       @_response = nil
139:       @_routes = nil
140:       super
141:     end
use(*args, &block)

Adds given middleware class and its args to bottom of middleware_stack

     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 220
220:     def self.use(*args, &block)
221:       middleware_stack.use(*args, &block)
222:     end
Instance Public methods
content_type()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 159
159:     def content_type
160:       headers["Content-Type"]
161:     end
content_type=(type)

Basic implementations for content_type=, location=, and headers are provided to reduce the dependency on the RackDelegation module in Renderer and Redirector.

     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 155
155:     def content_type=(type)
156:       headers["Content-Type"] = type.to_s
157:     end
controller_name()

Delegates to the class’ controller_name

     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 121
121:     def controller_name
122:       self.class.controller_name
123:     end
env()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 106
106:     def env
107:       @_env ||= {}
108:     end
location()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 163
163:     def location
164:       headers["Location"]
165:     end
location=(url)
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 167
167:     def location=(url)
168:       headers["Location"] = url
169:     end
params()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 143
143:     def params
144:       @_params ||= request.parameters
145:     end
params=(val)
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 147
147:     def params=(val)
148:       @_params = val
149:     end
performed?()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 195
195:     def performed?
196:       response_body
197:     end
response_body=(val)
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 184
184:     def response_body=(val)
185:       body = if val.is_a?(String)
186:         [val]
187:       elsif val.nil? || val.respond_to?(:each)
188:         val
189:       else
190:         [val]
191:       end
192:       super body
193:     end
status()
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 176
176:     def status
177:       @_status
178:     end
status=(status)
     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 180
180:     def status=(status)
181:       @_status = Rack::Utils.status_code(status)
182:     end
url_for(string)

basic url_for that can be overridden for more robust functionality

     # File actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal.rb, line 172
172:     def url_for(string)
173:       string
174:     end