# Avoid multiple render per action **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 27, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189 "2005-12-27T21:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/1 "2005-12-27T21:06:43Z")
Hello, I have a hash that contains categories, and each category ID is a hash of subcategories. What i want to do is dynamically load that hash, loop thru it, for each category , subcat run a query against the DB, and render a partial. The issue is i put the render:partial in a for loop but you can only render once per action. What is the best way to loop thru all my categories without a multiple render? I am trying to avoid things like @cat1 = Post.find(:conditions =\> “cat = 1”) … especially since my categories are dynamic. and would like to do something like categoryhash.each { |c| ``` @entries = Post.find(:all, :conditions => ["catid = ?",c.]) render partial ``` } Any ideas ? thanks adam ---
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/2 "2005-12-28T03:26:18Z")
sorry to reply to my own post but just trying to see if there is a way to do this without putting the logic in the view ? thanks adam ---
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/3 "2005-12-28T04:08:25Z")
Adam D. wrote: > Any ideas ? > > thanks > adam > How about create a temporally buffer (Hash or Array?), which keep every > thing you need to display, and send it to the view? Tom ---
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/4 "2005-12-28T05:11:28Z")
On 12/27/05, Adam D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > @cat1 = Post.find(:conditions =\> “cat = 1”) … especially since my > categories are dynamic. > > and would like to do something like > > categoryhash.each { |c| > > ``` > @entries = Post.find(:all, :conditions => ["catid = ?",c.]) > render partial > > ``` > > } I’m not sure how closely the above actually matches what you’re doing, but if it’s close, one option is: @entries = [] categoryhash.each do |c| @entries \<\< Post.find(:all, :conditions =\> [“catid = ?”, c]) end render(:partial =\> ‘blah’, :collection =\> @entries) The partial will receive each entry in turn as a local variable named ‘blah’, and the index (if you need it) as ‘blah\_counter’. If you want to use helpers in the partial, you’ll need to assign them to an instance variable inside the partial template. e.g.: \<% @blah = blah -%\> The partial will need to be generic enough to deal with multiple categories of Post. If that’s not possible, because you need highly specific behavior for each category, you can nest partials, and have the ‘blah’ partial delegate to specific ones based on the category. I’ve personally never had to invoke that particular option, and I think you can avoid it too, with a little work. It’s too bad there’s not a cool find() helper for the ‘in’, keyword, because something like: Post.find(:all, :conditions =\> [“catid in (?)”, array\_of\_categories]) would be useful. –Wilson. ---
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/5 "2005-12-28T07:18:56Z")
What I do to solve rendering issues is use render\_to\_string and store allt he output in a variable, then at the end I do render :text =\> @myvariable so it doesnt reparse it or anything. ---
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/6 "2005-12-28T14:34:18Z")
thanks guys i guess i can try reconstucting a result instance variable that holds all the query results. As for the render\_as\_string option, i think that render\_as\_string falls under the same guidelines as any render, so multiple render\_as\_strings i dont _think_ will work… i havent tried though just what the api doc says. thx adam ---
**Author:** ![adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@adamdorsey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/adamdorsey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/avoid-multiple-render-per-action/51189/7 "2005-12-28T17:14:13Z")
Adam D. wrote: > thanks guys i guess i can try reconstucting a result instance variable > that > holds all the query results. > > As for the render\_as\_string option, i think that render\_as\_string falls > under the same guidelines as any render, so multiple render\_as\_strings > i > dont _think_ will work… i havent tried though just what the api doc > says. > > thx > adam Multiple render\_to\_strings work fine because no output is actually sent 🙂