h1. Rails OPTIONSful

Provide dynamic information about resources via the OPTIONS' HTTP method on a RESTful design over the Ruby on Rails framework.

* Note for the impatient: installation instructions below.
* Note for the dummies: change host names and paths properly.
* Note for the unfaithful: run @rake routes@ to validate the results.

h2. "-No! No! No! *-Show me the code!*" 

h3.   Retrieving an HTTP OPTIONS request via telnet:

<pre>
  
$ telnet localhost 3000 
OPTIONS /posts HTTP/1.1
Host: http://localhost:3000

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content 
Allow: GET, POST
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:20:27 GMT
Link: <http://localhost:3000/opts/posts>; type=text/html; rel=help

OPTIONS /posts/1 HTTP/1.1
Host: http://localhost:3000

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content 
Allow: GET, PUT, DELETE
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:14:24 GMT
Link: <http://localhost:3000/opts/posts/1/>; type=text/html; rel=help

OPTIONS /posts/1/comments HTTP/1.1
Host: http://localhost:3000

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content 
Allow: GET, POST
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:12:43 GMT
Link: <http://localhost:3000/opts/posts/1/comments>; type=text/html; rel=help

</pre>
~Note the empty line which is part of the HTTP protocol.~

h3.   Retrieving the resource/service documentation right from your browser:

* Access the given Link header through your preferable browser. Yeah, via an HTTP GET request. 
* @http://localhost:3000/opts/posts/1/comments@ for instance.
* Try up adding some RDoc-like comments above your actions definitions on the appropriate controllers.
* Refresh the page and your documentation and have fun!
* There's a lot of helpful things we can do with this extracted 'on-the-fly' information (metadata).


h2. INSTALLATION:

# Change directory to your Ruby on Rails web application,
# Add gem dependency to @config/environment.rb@:
<pre>
  config.gem "optionsful"
</pre>
# To install it, run:
<pre>
  $ gem install optionsful
</pre>
# Have fun!

h2. TODO & WHISH-LIST
* -Make the installation easier.-
* -Create tests! (Oh no! Psst! Don't tell anyone!)-


h2. KNOWN ISSUES
* -Rails route recognition need hard work-
* Platform: ruby 1.8.7, rails 2.3.8, rack 1.2.1

h2. CONTRIBUTORS
* Me, myself and I, so far.
* You are welcome, do it. ;-)

Copyright (c) 2010 Marco Antonio Gonzalez Junior, kayaman@baurets.net, released under the MIT license.