What's :locals for in render in rails? - ruby-on-rails

Here is the API definition for render:
render(options = {}, locals = {}, &block)
Returns the result of a render that’s dictated by the options hash. The primary options are:
:partial - See ActionView::Partials.
:file - Renders an explicit template file (this used to be the old default), add :locals to pass in those.
:inline - Renders an inline template similar to how it’s done in the controller.
:text - Renders the text passed in out.
There is no explanation about what's the purpose of locals here? What's locals for?
Thanks.

To pass local variables to the partial template, as opposed to controller instance variables.
See Section 3.4.4, Passing Local Variables in the Layouts and Rendering Guide.

For example:
<%= render :partial => "account" %>
This means there is already an instance variable called #account for the partial and you pass it to the partial.
<%= render :partial => "account", :locals => { :account => #buyer } %>
This means you pass a local instance variable called #buyer to the account partial and the variable in the account partial is called #account. I.e., the hash { :account => #buyer } for :locals is just used for passing the local variable to the partial. You can also use the keyword as in the same way:
<%= render :partial => "contract", :as => :agreement
which is the same as:
<%= render :partial => "contract", :locals => { :agreement => #contract }

Related

Rails how to render a conditional partial

Right now I have something like this:
<%= render :partial => "widgets/type1.html.erb", :locals => {:widget => #wall} %>
I have 50 different types
widgets/type1.html.erb
widgets/type2.html.erb
widgets/type3.html.erb
widgets/type4.html.erb
....
In the widget object, there is a widget.type which has the type2 etc... Is there a way I can make the partial dynamic to avoid all the if statements?
Thanks
Since you can tell rails to render :partial=>string, you can do string replacement inside that string. So, if #widget is the variable name:
<%= render :partial => "widgets/#{#widget.type}", :locals => {:widget => #wall} %>

getting variable in partial

I've seen the other posts, but can't seem to figure out why this isn't working for me
In my controller I set
#referrer=referrer.name
in my view i have
<%= render 'js', :referrer => #referrer >
then in my partial i put
var type =' <%= referrer >';
I get a response 'undefined local variable or method 'referrer' and it points to the _js file.
from what I can see, this is exactly how it is supposed to be written, what am I doing wrong?
<%= render :partial => "account", :locals => { :referrer => #referrer } %>
Your variables to use in the partial need to be passed via the :locals hash.
Reference: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Partials.html
EDIT
The following works perfectly for me:
Controller:
def index
#referrer = "test"
end
index.html.erb
<%= render :partial => "account", :locals => { :referrer => #referrer } %>
_account.html.erb
<%=referrer%>
Turns out the reason was that in the partial, I had to call
var type='<%= #referrer %>'
not sure why all the other documentation i'd seen had it without the # symbol

Rails partial's local variable doesn't get set

I'm confused with passing a controller's instance variable to a partial template (named after this instance variable).
Documentation from http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Partials.html says:
By default PartialRenderer uses the template name for the local name of the object passed into the template. These examples are effectively the same:
<%= render :partial => "contract", :locals => { :contract => #contract } %>
<%= render :partial => "contract" %>
But in my case I can't get the same magic.
ProductsController#show:
#foo = "123456789"
show.html.erb in the following edition works (controller's #foo appears as local variable foo in the _foo.html.erb):
<%= render :partial => 'foo', :locals => { :foo => #foo } %>
But next code doesn't pass the controller's #foo variable to the _foo.html.erb partial:
<%= render :partial => 'foo' %>
Why so?
As far as I am aware, locals usually have to be passed explicitly to the partial. The only case in which it may be passed automatically is when you're passing the main object for that controller action, i.e. if you are passing the record #foo in some action for the foos controller.
In your specific case, passing #product should work automatically. If you want to pass #foo, you'll need to pass it explicitly.

Rails partial locals not persisting when sent to another partial as its own local

I render a partial like so:
<%= render :partial => 'widgets/some_partial, :locals => {:foo => 'bar'} %>
So inside of _some_partial.html.erb I render two more partials like so:
<% #foo.nil? #=> false %>
<%= render :partial => 'widgets/another_partial', :locals => {:foo => foo} %>
`<%= render :partial => 'widgets/another_partial_again', :locals => {:foo => foo} %>`
The foo local variable renders fine in some_partial.html.erb and even in another_partial_again.html.erb. However, the foo variable is inaccessible in another_partial.html.erb even though I explicitly passed it in the render call.
What is happening here?
Thanks for the help.
I had the undefined local variable or method error come up for me too when I was rendering a partial with :locals defined.
However, I had a different issue causing my problem, so I thought I would share my solution in case it helps anyone else. (This page was the first result when I googled this error after all)
Basically just make sure you use :partial => 'path/to/partial' in your call to render.
I.e.
<%= render :partial => 'widgets/some_partial', :locals => {:foo => 'bar'} %>
NOT like I was doing:
<%= render 'widgets/some_partial', :locals => {:foo => 'bar'} %>
Easy for a rails/ruby newbie like me to miss.
Solved. Turns out I was also rendering the same partial from the controller without sending the proper local variables. Thanks anyways!!!
Bumped into this very old question cause I faced the same issue.
Turned out that with Rails 4+ if you are not using collections or layout the correct way is:
# Instead of <%= render partial: "account", locals: { account: #buyer } %>
<%= render "account", account: #buyer %>
As documented here.

Rails AJAX: My partial needs a FormBuilder instance

So I've got a form in my Rails app which uses a custom FormBuilder to give me some custom field tags
<% form_for :staff_member, #staff_member, :builder => MyFormBuilder do |f| %>
[...]
<%= render :partial => "staff_members/forms/personal_details", :locals => {:f => f, :skill_groups => #skill_groups, :staff_member => #staff_member} %>
[...]
<% end %>
Now, this partial is in an area of the form which gets replaces by an AJAX callback. What I end up doing from the controller in response to the AJAX request is:
render :partial => "staff_members/forms/personal_details", :locals => {:skill_groups => #skill_groups, :staff_member => #staff_member}
However, if I do that then the form breaks, as the FormBuilder object I used in the form_for is no longer available. Is there any way for me to use my custom FormBuilder object inside a partial used for an AJAX callback?
Use fields_for inside your partial. It performs a similar task but without wrapping the form tags. See the API docs.
how about this?
#template.with_output_buffer do
#template.form_for #model_object do |f|
f.fields_for :some_nested_attributes do |ff|
render :partial => 'nested_attributes', :object => #model_object, :locals => {:form => ff}
end
end
end
this would be especially useful is you need to use the nested fields_for in the partial
You could instantiate a new instance of your form builder in the controller, though it feels sort of lousy to me:
# in the controller
render :partial => {
:f => MyFormBuilder.new(:staff_member, #staff_member, template),
:skill_groups => #skill_groups,
:staff_member => #staff_member
}
Alternatively, you could move more of the update logic to be client side which wouldn't require you to worry about rendering anything at all. You could just update the values via JS. Not sure if that works for your project though.
Maybe I'm a little late in the game here, and maybe I don't understand the question properly, but in ApplicationHelper.rb I think you can just add the line:
ActionView::Base.default_form_builder = MyFormBuilder
You can submit within your ajax call the content of f.object_name (it's also works with partials) and use it to render tags defined in http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/FormTagHelper.html passing it as the first argument.

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