The Merb Way

Chapter 3. Controllers

In Merb, controllers are what tie all of your application code together. They are the C in MVC and have been built to assemble responses to the requests received from users. On occasion, a controller’s response is entirely produced by code in the controller itself. More often, though, responses are complex composites that incorporate the pulling of data through models and the rendering of views through templates.

Controllers also handle the more subtle aspects of responses, including response format, MIME type, and status code. We’ll also craft within them behind-the-scenes logic that uses sessions, filters, and exceptions. When users request unavailable or impermissible data, controllers can redirect those users to more ...