# Another layout question - Layouts on a per method basis - La

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [February 5, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373 "2006-02-05T20:10:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/softwareengineer_99)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373/1 "2006-02-05T20:10:01Z")

</div>

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  
([BigBold - Informasi Tentang Bisnis dan Marketing](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

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/softwareengineer_99)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373/2 "2006-02-05T23:27:27Z")

</div>

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  
> ([BigBold - Informasi Tentang Bisnis dan Marketing](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

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/softwareengineer_99)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373/3 "2006-02-06T00:53:37Z")

</div>

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?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/softwareengineer_99)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373/4 "2006-02-06T00:20:45Z")

</div>

Hello William,

Yes, this does help a lot.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance. It is much  
appreciated.

Frank

william heartwell [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:I hope that helps.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@softwareengineer\_99](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/softwareengineer_99)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/another-layout-question-layouts-on-a-per-method-basis-la/101373/5 "2006-02-06T10:44:25Z")

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