Methods for limiting the Rails render format to html

Question

I have a Rails 2.1.2 site that only has html templates e.g. jobs.html.erb, so when I request a restful resource:

www.mysite.com/jobs/1

Answer 1

If you don't want to use responds_to, you can do this:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  before_filter :allow_only_html_requests

  ...

  def allow_only_html_requests
    if params[:format] && params[:format] != "html"
      render :file => "#{RAILS_ROOT}/public/404.html"
    end
  end

  ...

end

That will run before all requests and only let those that do not specify format at all, or that specify html format through. All others get 404'd. You can create a public/406.html if you want to return 406 not acceptable.