[Rails] Where to put code for layouts?

[Lars Hoss]

Hi all!

I want to show a list of all available categories on various pages. 
Thus I put the HTML-code into a layout. In order to get the list of 
categories I have to talk to the database using AR. The question now 
is: where to put that code? My first idea was to put the code into 
ApplicationHelper:

module ApplicationHelper
   def categories
     return Category.find_all
   end
end

Since I need the model Category I though "well, there's this new cool 
dependency feature" and wrote:

module ApplicationHelper
   module :category
   def categories
     return Category.find_all
   end
end

This, however, only works for controllers and not helpers. Therefore 
the correct way is:

require 'Category'
module ApplicationHelper
   def categories
     return Category.find_all
   end
end

Personally I find this a little bit confusing because controllers use 
the "model :" approach whereas helpers must use the old-style "require" 
approach. If you know what to do it's ok. Newbies on the other hand 
might be confused a little bit first (when to use what)?

Yours,
Lars

--
"Stil ist die Fähigkeit, komplizierte Dinge einfach zu sagen - nicht 
umgekehrt." -- Cocteau, Jean