Rails - Feb 2006 - Another layout question - Layouts on a per method basis - Layouts with AJAX

I feel I am very close to understanding how layouts are used in Rails:
  
  Q1. I know one can specify a "default" layout for all methods in a
controller by specifying
  layout ''my-default-layout'' 
  
  How can this be overridden for individual methods so when those methods  are
called/executed, the overridden layout will be used. Is this  possible?
  
  
  Q2. With no "default" layout specified, I tried to use the following
for a method:
      render (:layout =>  ''custom-layout-for-method'')
  and
      render_component(:action => ''login'',
:controller=>''member'',
:layout=>''custom-layout-for-method'')
  
  but the page is rendered with no layout. Can anyone please explain why  no
layout was used? How can I make it use a custom layout on a per  method basis?
  
 Q3. I am displaying paginated results for the  list action of tags controller.
This page already has a layout defined.  Everything works fine. Now, I am
interested in implementing the  ajax_pagination_links
(http://www.bigbold.com/snippets/posts/show/386).  However since the layout has
already been defined, every time I click  on the page number, the entire page
including the header is loaded  again within my div. I cannot find how I can
turn off the layout  conditionally or alltogether only for subsequent calls.
  Since my @resource_pages collection  is retrieved in a method that  has a
layout defined "globally" how can I turn off the header for 
subsequent pages only? I hope I am making sense here.
  
  
  Thank you for making me a part of this wonderful community.
  
  Frank
  

			
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Hello Frank,
When you make your layout deceleration in your controller you can pass 
:only and :except as parameters.
like this:
layout ''layout_name'', :only => [:method1, :method2]

You can also replace the name of the layout with a symbol which 
designates a method in the controller to call for determining the 
layout.
like this:
layout :determin_layout_method

def determin_layout_method
  if condition == true
    ''method1''
  else
    false # returning false will mean no layout is rendered
  end
end

finally you can pass the layout as a parameter in your render call 
inside a method but you will need to include a path from template_root
like this:
render :layout => ''layout/template'' # notice that is
layout/template and
not template

Also remember that layout is just a class method so you can also do 
something like this in an instance method:
self.class.layout ''new_layout_for_class'' #this is nice because
it sets
the layout but you dont need to call render.  This is probably good 
practice because you can call the method from other methods in the class 
and you wont run into more than one call to render problems.

I hope that helps.

softwareengineer 99 wrote:
> I feel I am very close to understanding how layouts are used in Rails:
> 
>   Q1. I know one can specify a "default" layout for all methods
in a
> controller by specifying
>   layout ''my-default-layout''
> 
>   How can this be overridden for individual methods so when those 
> methods  are called/executed, the overridden layout will be used. Is 
> this  possible?
> 
> 
>   Q2. With no "default" layout specified, I tried to use the
following
> for a method:
>       render (:layout =>  ''custom-layout-for-method'')
>   and
>       render_component(:action => ''login'',
:controller=>''member'',
> :layout=>''custom-layout-for-method'')
> 
>   but the page is rendered with no layout. Can anyone please explain why 
> no layout was used? How can I make it use a custom layout on a per 
> method basis?
> 
>  Q3. I am displaying paginated results for the  list action of tags 
> controller. This page already has a layout defined.  Everything works 
> fine. Now, I am interested in implementing the  ajax_pagination_links 
> (http://www.bigbold.com/snippets/posts/show/386).  However since the 
> layout has already been defined, every time I click  on the page number, 
> the entire page including the header is loaded  again within my div. I 
> cannot find how I can turn off the layout  conditionally or alltogether 
> only for subsequent calls.
>   Since my @resource_pages collection  is retrieved in a method that 
> has a layout defined "globally" how can I turn off the header for
> subsequent pages only? I hope I am making sense here.
> 
> 
>   Thank you for making me a part of this wonderful community.
> 
>   Frank

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

Hello William,
  
  Yes, this does help a lot.
  
  Thank you very much for your time and assistance. It is much appreciated.
  
  Frank

william heartwell <hydrogen365@yahoo.com> wrote:I hope that helps.


			
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william heartwell wrote:
> finally you can pass the layout as a parameter in your render call 
> inside a method but you will need to include a path from template_root
> like this:
> render :layout => ''layout/template'' # notice that is
layout/template and
> not template
> 
> Also remember that layout is just a class method so you can also do 
> something like this in an instance method:
> self.class.layout ''new_layout_for_class'' #this is nice
because it sets
> the layout but you dont need to call render.  This is probably good 
> practice because you can call the method from other methods in the class 
> and you wont run into more than one call to render problems.
I tried your advice in my account controller but I cant seem to get it 
to work.
I tried:
self.class.layout ''frontend''
self.class.layout ''layout/frontend''
self.class.layout ''layouts/frontend''

Here is my code:

class AccountController < ApplicationController
  include AuthenticatedSystem
  before_filter :login_required, :except => [:login]
  layout ''backend'', :except => [:login]
...
  def login
    self.class.layout ''frontend'' # My public layout is 
app/views/layouts/frontend.rhtml
    return unless request.post?
    self.current_user = User.authenticate(params[:login], 
params[:password])
    if current_user
      redirect_back_or_default(:controller => ''/account'',
:action =>
''index'')
      flash[:notice] = "Logged in successfully"
    else
      flash[:notice] = "Error logging in"
    end
  end
...

What am I doing wrong?

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

http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/Layout/ClassMethods.html


If you have a layout that by default is applied to all the actions of a
controller, you still have the option of rendering a given action or set of
actions without a layout, or restricting a layout to only a single action or
a set of actions. The :only and :except options can be passed to the layout
call. For example:

  class WeblogController < ActionController::Base
    layout "weblog_standard", :except => :rss

    # ...

  end

This will assign "weblog_standard" as the WeblogController''s
layout except
for the rss action, which will not wrap a layout around the rendered view.

Both the :only and :except condition can accept an arbitrary number of
method references, so #:except => [ :rss, :text_only ] is valid, as is
:except
=> :rss.



On 2/5/06, softwareengineer 99 <softwareengineer99@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>
>  I feel I am very close to understanding how layouts are used in Rails:
>
> Q1. I know one can specify a "default" layout for all methods in
a
> controller by specifying
> layout ''my-default-layout''
>
> How can this be overridden for individual methods so when those methods
> are called/executed, the overridden layout will be used. Is this possible?
>
>
> Q2. With no "default" layout specified, I tried to use the
following for a
> method:
>     render (:layout =>  ''custom-layout-for-method'')
> and
>     render_component(:action => ''login'',
:controller=>''member'',
> :layout=>''custom-layout-for-method'')
>
> but the page is rendered with no layout. Can anyone please explain why no
> layout was used? How can I make it use a custom layout on a per method
> basis?
>
> Q3. I am displaying paginated results for the list action of tags
> controller. This page already has a layout defined. Ev erything works fine.
> Now, I am interested in implementing the ajax_pagination_links (
> http://www.bigbold.com/snippets/posts/show/386). However since the layout
> has already been defined, every time I click on the page number, the entire
> page including the header is loaded again within my div. I cannot find how
I
> can turn off the layout conditionally or alltogether only for subsequent
> calls.
> Since my @resource_pages collection  is retrieved in a method that has a
> layout defined "globally" how can I turn off the header for
subsequent pages
> only? I hope I am making sense here.
>
>
> Thank you for making me a part of this wonderful community.
>
> Frank
>
>  ------------------------------
> Yahoo!
Mail<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/virusmail/*http://mail.yahoo.com>-
Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
>
>
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> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
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>
>
>
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