Minimizing instance variables in views

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I'm seeking brainstorming input for a Rails design issue I've run across.

I have simple Book reviews feature. There's a Book class, a User class, and a UserBook class (a.k.a., reviews and ratings).

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_many :user_books
end

# (book_id, user_id, review data...)
class UserBook < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :user
   belongs_to :book
end

In the corresponding book controller for the "show" book action, I need to load the book data along with the set of book reviews. I also need to find out whether the current user (if there is one) has contributed to those reviews.

I'm currently running two queries, Book.where(...) and UserBook.where(...), and placing the results into two separate objects passed on to the view. Now, while I could run a third query to find whether the user is among those reviews (on UserBook), I'd prefer to pull that from the @reviews result set. But do I do that in the controller, or in the view?

Also worth noting is that in the view I have to draw Add vs Update review buttons accordingly, with their corresponding ajax URLs. So I'd prefer to know it before I start looping through a result set.

If I detect this in the controller though, I'll need three instance variables passed in, which I understand is considered distasteful in Rails land. Not sure how to avoid this.

Suggestions appreciated.

asked 19 secs ago

Andrew

1