Rails - Mar 2006 - Can variables in the template be used in the layout?

This may be a silly question, but I''m wanting to develop a query to
pull
''related articles'' based on tags.

When a user clicks on an article to read, on that layout, I want a side 
menu to have the related entries.  If I develop the query to do this, 
can I access the current tags for the entry in the layout?

I guess I''m asking, does <% content_for_layout %> keep the
variables
within that?  Or can they be accessed all throughout the page?

Thanks!

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

ryan heath wrote:
> This may be a silly question, but I''m wanting to develop a query
to pull
> ''related articles'' based on tags.
> 
> When a user clicks on an article to read, on that layout, I want a side 
> menu to have the related entries.  If I develop the query to do this, 
> can I access the current tags for the entry in the layout?
> 
> I guess I''m asking, does <% content_for_layout %> keep the
variables
> within that?  Or can they be accessed all throughout the page?
If you assign to instance variables in your content, you can access 
those in the layout. For example, a content page might contain

   <% @title = "Annual Results" %>

and the layout might contain

   <title><%= @title || ''Company Reports''
%></title>

(Here I''ve given a default title ''Company Reports'' in
case @title is nil)

You should be able to do something similar to pass the items for your 
side menu from the content to the layout containing the menu.

   Justin

Justin Forder wrote:
> ryan heath wrote:
>> This may be a silly question, but I''m wanting to develop a
query to pull
>> ''related articles'' based on tags.
>> 
>> When a user clicks on an article to read, on that layout, I want a side
>> menu to have the related entries.  If I develop the query to do this, 
>> can I access the current tags for the entry in the layout?
>> 
>> I guess I''m asking, does <% content_for_layout %> keep
the variables
>> within that?  Or can they be accessed all throughout the page?
> 
> If you assign to instance variables in your content, you can access
> those in the layout. For example, a content page might contain
> 
>    <% @title = "Annual Results" %>
> 
> and the layout might contain
> 
>    <title><%= @title || ''Company Reports''
%></title>
> 
> (Here I''ve given a default title ''Company
Reports'' in case @title is
> nil)
> 
> You should be able to do something similar to pass the items for your
> side menu from the content to the layout containing the menu.
> 
>    Justin
Ok, seems like it will work.  Thanks.  Just to clarify:

#template

<title><%= @title = "Main" %></title>

#layout

<% if @title == "Main" %>
<a href="#">Back</a>
<% end %>

Something like that will work?  I''m still confused how I would involve 
the tags listed in the template in my query to pull related entries in 
the layout.

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

ryan heath wrote:
> Justin Forder wrote:
>> ryan heath wrote:
>>> This may be a silly question, but I''m wanting to develop a
query to pull
>>> ''related articles'' based on tags.
>>>
>>> When a user clicks on an article to read, on that layout, I want a
side
>>> menu to have the related entries.  If I develop the query to do
this,
>>> can I access the current tags for the entry in the layout?
>>>
>>> I guess I''m asking, does <% content_for_layout %>
keep the variables
>>> within that?  Or can they be accessed all throughout the page?
>> If you assign to instance variables in your content, you can access
>> those in the layout. For example, a content page might contain
>>
>>    <% @title = "Annual Results" %>
>>
>> and the layout might contain
>>
>>    <title><%= @title || ''Company Reports''
%></title>
>>
>> (Here I''ve given a default title ''Company
Reports'' in case @title is
>> nil)
>>
>> You should be able to do something similar to pass the items for your
>> side menu from the content to the layout containing the menu.
>>
>>    Justin
> 
> Ok, seems like it will work.  Thanks.  Just to clarify:
> 
> #template
> 
> <title><%= @title = "Main" %></title>
> 
> #layout
> 
> <% if @title == "Main" %>
> <a href="#">Back</a>
> <% end %>
> 
> Something like that will work?  
Well, yes, except that you would always have <title> tags
in your layout, rather than the template, because the <title>
has the be in the <head>. Take a look at my example again.

My @title was set in the template (which I was referring to as
the content page), and used in the layout.
> I''m still confused how I would involve 
> the tags listed in the template in my query to pull related entries in 
> the layout.
> 
> Any thoughts on that?
Rather than thinking in terms of what gets passed from content to
layout, why don''t you just set an instance variable (e.g. @menu_items)
in your controller, and pick that up in the layout?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
(going off-line now - it''s 03:40 here!)

   Justin