where to put helper methods for controllers only?

Question

I am looking to write certain methods for processing strings, and other tasks that take place in numerous of my controllers. I know its bad practice to include helpers in your controller, so I was just wondering, where is the best place to put application wide methods used in controllers?

I realize some of you will say to put them in models, but you have to realize that not all my controllers have an associated model. Any and all input would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I tend to put them into helpers. The fact that they are included in views automatically haven't been a problem for me. You can also place them into something like app/concerns/ or lib/

I don't like cluttering ApplicationController with private methods because this often becomes a mess.

Example:

module AuthenticationHelper
  def current_user
    @current_user # ||= ...
  end

  def authenticate!
    redirect_to new_session_url unless current_user.signed_in?
  end
end

module MobileSubdomain
  def self.included(controller)
    controller.before_filter :set_mobile_format
  end

  def set_mobile_format
    request.format = :mobile if request.subdomain == "m"
  end
end

class ApplicationController
  include AuthenticationHelper
  include MobileSubdomain
end