Rails - Oct 2010 - How can I render a template outside of a controller in Rails 3?

Hi All,

I can''t seem to render a template outside of a controller in my Rails 3
application. The googling I''ve done has been helpful, and I eventually
found
some useful info at
http://www.swombat.com/rails-rendering-templates-outside-of-a-contro.
However, this seems to be broken in Rails 3. Does anyone have any ideas how
I can fix this method or perhaps know of a better approach?

My method:

      def render_erb(template_path, params)
       view = ActionView::Base.new(ActionController::Base.view_paths, {})

       class << view
        include ApplicationHelper
       end

       view.render(:file => "#{template_path}.html.erb", :locals
=> params)

      end

The error:

    ActionView::Template::Error: ActionView::Template::Error
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-3.0.0/lib/active_support/whiny_nil.rb:48:in
`method_missing''
        from
/Users/mikegerstenblatt/Desktop/bluetrain/lib/test.html.erb:17:in
`_lib_test_html_erb__366962844_2173671680_68830''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-3.0.0/lib/action_view/template.rb:135:in
`send''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-3.0.0/lib/action_view/template.rb:135:in
`render''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-3.0.0/lib/active_support/notifications.rb:54:in
`instrument''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-3.0.0/lib/action_view/template.rb:127:in
`render''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-3.0.0/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb:59:in
`_render_template''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-3.0.0/lib/active_support/notifications.rb:52:in
`instrument''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-3.0.0/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb:21:in
`instrument''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-3.0.0/lib/active_support/notifications.rb:52:in
`instrument''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-3.0.0/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb:56:in
`_render_template''
        from
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-3.0.0/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb:26:in
`render''
        from
/Users/mikegerstenblatt/Desktop/bluetrain/app/models/generated_website.rb:45:in
`render_erb''
        from (irb):2

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

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mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote in post
#955787:
> Hi All,
>
> I can''t seem to render a template outside of a controller in my
Rails 3
> application.
[...]

Why would you ever want to?  That''s a sure sign that you''re
trying to
break MVC.

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org

-- 
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I''m aware of breaking the MVC paradigm, however I''m trying to
generate a
json file used later by an application.

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:13 AM, Marnen Laibow-Koser
<lists-fsXkhYbjdPsEEoCn2XhGlw@public.gmane.org>wrote:
> mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote in post
#955787:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I can''t seem to render a template outside of a controller in
my Rails 3
> > application.
> [...]
>
> Why would you ever want to?  That''s a sure sign that
you''re trying to
> break MVC.
>
> Best,
> --
> Marnen Laibow-Koser
> http://www.marnen.org
> marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
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> .
> For more options, visit this group at
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>
>
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Please quote when replying.

mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote in post
#955803:
> I''m aware of breaking the MVC paradigm,
Again: don''t do that.  There is almost never an actual need to do so.
> however I''m trying to generate a
> json file used later by an application.
Why do you need a JSON file "used later"?  What are you trying to 
achieve?

If you need to, then I recommend doing this with a Rake task or 
script/runner script that works with the Rails MVC architecture rather 
than against it.

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org

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

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>Why do you need a JSON file "used later"?  What are you trying to
>achieve?
I''m generting static html content to be used outside of a rails
application.

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Marnen Laibow-Koser
<lists-fsXkhYbjdPsEEoCn2XhGlw@public.gmane.org>wrote:
> Please quote when replying.
>
> mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote in post
#955803:
> > I''m aware of breaking the MVC paradigm,
>
> Again: don''t do that.  There is almost never an actual need to do
so.
>
> > however I''m trying to generate a
> > json file used later by an application.
>
> Why do you need a JSON file "used later"?  What are you trying to
> achieve?
>
> If you need to, then I recommend doing this with a Rake task or
> script/runner script that works with the Rails MVC architecture rather
> than against it.
>
> Best,
> --
> Marnen Laibow-Koser
> http://www.marnen.org
> marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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> .
> For more options, visit this group at
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>
>
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mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote in post
#955827:
>>Why do you need a JSON file "used later"?  What are you trying
to
>>achieve?
>
> I''m generting static html content to be used outside of a rails
> application.
OK, now I''m confused.  Are you generating HTML or JSON?  Is this sort
of
a data export feature?  What''s the workflow like?  I''m trying
to figure
out the best place to put this in a Rails context.

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
marnen-sbuyVjPbboAdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org

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On Oct 20, 2010, at 7:48 AM,
mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I can''t seem to render a template outside of a controller in my
Rails 3 application. The googling I''ve done has been helpful, and I
eventually found some useful info at
http://www.swombat.com/rails-rendering-templates-outside-of-a-contro. However,
this seems to be broken in Rails 3. Does anyone have any ideas how I can fix
this method or perhaps know of a better approach?
Based on your other emails it seems you want this file to be saved for some
3rd-party use later on.

Why not just.... curl ''http://yourdomain.com/path/to/view''
>  saved.html

If you''re going outside of Rails, make life easy and go all the way :)

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Great idea Phillip. Is there a way I can call curl from the rails app and
save the output to a designated area within the app directory?

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Philip Hallstrom
<philip-LSG90OXdqQE@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> On Oct 20, 2010, at 7:48 AM,
mgerstenblatt-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I can''t seem to render a template outside of a controller in my
Rails 3
> application. The googling I''ve done has been helpful, and I
eventually found
> some useful info at
> http://www.swombat.com/rails-rendering-templates-outside-of-a-contro.
> However, this seems to be broken in Rails 3. Does anyone have any ideas how
> I can fix this method or perhaps know of a better approach?
>
>
> Based on your other emails it seems you want this file to be saved for some
> 3rd-party use later on.
>
> Why not just.... curl
''http://yourdomain.com/path/to/view'' >  saved.html
>
> If you''re going outside of Rails, make life easy and go all the
way :)
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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> .
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en.
>
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