Method: Cell::Rails#render

Defined in:

lib/cell/rails.rb

#render(*args) ⇒ Object

Renders the view for the current state and returns the markup. Don’t forget to return the markup itself from the state method.

Options

:view

Specifies the name of the view file to render. Defaults to the current state name.

:layout

Renders the state wrapped in the layout. Layouts reside in app/cells/layouts.

:locals

Makes the named parameters available as variables in the view.

:text

Just renders plain text.

:inline

Renders an inline template as state view. See ActionView::Base#render for details.

:file

Specifies the name of the file template to render.

:nothing

Doesn’t invoke the rendering process.

:state

Instantly invokes another rendering cycle for the passed state and returns. You may pass arbitrary state-args to the called state.

:format

Sets a different template format, e.g. :json.

Example:

class MusicianCell < ::Cell::Base
  def sing
    # ... laalaa
    render
  end

renders the view musician/sing.html.

def sing
  # ... laalaa
  render :view => :shout, :layout => 'metal'
end

renders musician/shout.html and wrap it in app/cells/layouts/metal.html.erb.

#render is explicit!

You can also alter the markup from #render. Just remember to return it.

def sing
  render + render + render
end

will render three concated views.

Partials?

In Cells we abandoned the term ‘partial’ in favor of plain ‘views’ - we don’t need to distinguish between both terms. A cell view is both, a view and a kind of partial as it represents only a fragment of the page.

Just use :view and enjoy.

Using states instead of helpers

Sometimes it’s useful to not only render a view but also invoke the associated state. This is especially helpful when replacing helpers. Do that with render :state.

def show_cheap_item(item)
  render if item.price <= 1
end

A view could use this state in place of an odd helper.

- @items.each do |item|
  = render({:state => :show_cheap_item}, item)

This calls the state method which in turn will render its view - if the item isn’t too expensive.

# File 'lib/cell/rails.rb', line 130

def render(*args)
  render_view_for(self.action_name, *args)
end