Why routing maps URLs to actions in Ruby on Rails - See It in Action

Why routing maps URLs to actions

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple web app using Rails. You want to understand how URLs connect to the code that runs when someone visits those URLs.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to set up routing in Rails so that specific URLs run specific controller actions.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a routes file with a root URL

Add a route for a controller action

Create a controller with an action method

Connect the route to the controller action

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web apps need routing to know what code to run when users visit different URLs.

💼 Career

Understanding routing is essential for Rails developers to build functional web applications.

1

Set up the root route

In the config/routes.rb file, create a root route that points to the home#index action.

Ruby on Rails

# Your code here

Need a hint?

The root route defines what happens when someone visits the main URL of your app.

2

Add a route for the about page

In config/routes.rb, add a route for the URL /about that maps to the home#about action.

Ruby on Rails

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  root 'home#index'
  # Add route for /about here
end

Need a hint?

Use get '/about', to: 'home#about' to map the URL to the controller action.

3

Create the HomeController with index and about actions

Create a HomeController class in app/controllers/home_controller.rb with two methods: index and about. Both methods should be empty.

Ruby on Rails

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Controllers in Rails are classes that inherit from ApplicationController. Actions are methods inside them.

4

Connect the routes to the controller actions

Ensure the config/routes.rb file connects the root URL to home#index and the /about URL to home#about. This completes the routing setup.

Ruby on Rails

# Verify routes connect URLs to actions

Need a hint?

Routing maps URLs to controller actions so your app knows what code to run for each URL.