Tip: Use Rails `link_to_unless_current` for navigation links
We’re all familiar with the classic Rails link_to helper. But did you know there is a link_to_unless_current variant?
It works just link link_to except that it doesn’t create a link if the browsers current URL is the same as the link target.
Usage
Simply replace link_to with link_to_unless_current. If you are not already on the page, a normal <a> tag will be rendered. If you are on the page already, only the text will be rendered.
<nav class="flex flex-col space-y-1">
<%= link_to_unless_current "Dashboard", dashboard_path %>
<%= link_to_unless_current "Team", teams_path %>
<%= link_to_unless_current "Projects", projects_path %>
...
</nav>
When you are on /dashboard, this template will output:
<nav class="flex flex-col space-y-1">
Dashboard
<a href="/teams">Teams</a>
<a href="/projects">Projects</a>
...
</nav>
You can also pass in a block to render (instead of the link name). This can be useful for making shared views. For instance, you could make a partial with actions for a Post.
<%= link_to_unless_current "+ Comment", new_comment_path do
link_to "Back", posts_path
end %>
Other Variants
As you might expect, there are other variants like link_to_if and link_to_unless if you want to specify your own conditional logic for rendering a link or not.
You might want to show a list of all Posts, but if you are logged in as an admin, the title should be a link to an edit page.
<% @posts.each do |post| %>
<%= link_to_if @user.admin?, post.title, manage_post_path(post) %>
<% end %>
Additional Resources
Rails API Docs: UrlHelper#link_to_unless_current
Rails API Docs: UrlHelper#link_to_if
Rails API Docs: UrlHelper#link_to_unless