# Components going out of style?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [May 24, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506 "2006-05-24T17:28:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/1 "2006-05-24T17:28:53Z")

</div>

I see in the new Agile Rails 2nd edition that components are going out  
of style?

Is this so? has anybody abandoned the idea of components for helpers?

Specifically I’m considering a menu sytem for a website that depends  
heavily on the users permissions to decide which menu options a user  
would need to see. I thought that components, since they have the logic  
in the controller and view in another file would be a good use of  
components.

any input?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/2 "2006-05-24T17:35:47Z")

</div>

On 5/24/06, Nola S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Specifically I’m considering a menu sytem for a website that depends  
> heavily on the users permissions to decide which menu options a user  
> would need to see. I thought that components, since they have the logic  
> in the controller and view in another file would be a good use of  
> components.

That may be a good seperation of concerns but it would be really slow.  
Components are performance hogs, apparently.

I’ve heard plugins proposed as a replacement, but I don’t know how  
plugins  
implement views and routing. Anyone?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/3 "2006-05-24T17:45:12Z")

</div>

> I see in the new Agile Rails 2nd edition that components are going out  
> of style?

The problem with components is that they’ve never actually _been_ in  
style. We just forgot to tell people that. Our bad, now being  
rectified.

> Is this so? has anybody abandoned the idea of components for helpers?
> 
> Specifically I’m considering a menu sytem for a website that depends  
> heavily on the users permissions to decide which menu options a user  
> would need to see. I thought that components, since they have the logic  
> in the controller and view in another file would be a good use of  
> components.

## I’d just make a helper that depends on an interface of a user model, but is not bundled with it. So you rely on the fact that the user model will have user.have\_access\_to?(section) or similar. Optionally, you wrap it in a plugin that also includes a permissions include, so you can do class User; include Permissions; end to get the methods you need.

David Heinemeier H.  
[http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain  
[http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management  
[http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager  
[http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/4 "2006-05-24T17:48:25Z")

</div>

> I’ve heard plugins proposed as a replacement, but I don’t know how plugins  
> implement views and routing. Anyone?

In general, the position is that trying to make components with views  
is not recommended. Instead, try to abstract the logic behind the  
views into easy-to-use plugins such that using custom views will be  
easy as pie.

## If you for some reason can’t come to terms with this, I believe the engine guys are there to help you out.

David Heinemeier H.  
[http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain  
[http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management  
[http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager  
[http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/5 "2006-05-24T18:05:06Z")

</div>

I can see the logic behind moving away from components, but seeing as  
i’ve been using them for a while, i’d be grateful for quick example of  
the alternative.

If I have a shopping basket view that is shared in 2 places - say the  
basket view page and a confirm order page. I would (normally) create a  
controller action with an associated view and call it in the respective  
basket/checkout views.

What would be the correct way to implement this without using the  
component?

Advice and/or api/site links would be mucho appreciated :0)

Steve

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/6 "2006-05-24T18:27:44Z")

</div>

> I can see the logic behind moving away from components, but seeing as  
> i’ve been using them for a while, i’d be grateful for quick example of  
> the alternative.

I’ll post the code here:

class ShopController \< ActionController::Base  
before\_filter :set\_cart

```
def index
  @products = Product.find(:all)
end

def buy
  @cart << Product.find(1)
  redirect_to :action => "index"
end

private
  def set_cart
    @cart = Cart.find(session[:cart_id])
  end

```

end

…and here’s the index.rhtml view:

# My Magic Shop!

 \<%= render :partial =\> "product", :collection =\> @products %\> 

 \<%= render :partial =\> "cart" %\> 

## The new Rails book has the full argument and justification as to why this is the recommended approach instead of components.

David Heinemeier H.  
[http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain  
[http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management  
[http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager  
[http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/7 "2006-05-24T18:40:39Z")

</div>

Oh right - that’s much better :0) I’ve been using a mix of partials and  
components but now i think about it there isn’t really a need to.

My romantic attachement to paper books has stopped me upgrading my  
‘Agile’ book but it’s looking more of a necessity now :0)

Cheers,

Steve

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/8 "2006-05-24T18:21:23Z")

</div>

On Wednesday, May 24, 2006, at 5:28 PM, Nola S. wrote:

> any input?
> 
> –  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
> 
> * * *
> 
> Rails mailing list  
> removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)

I recently implemented something like this with a partial.  
In my case, I am also using the user/login engine combo, so I can do a  
‘link\_if\_authorized’ or ‘authorized?’ block around sections of the menu  
html.

It seems to work reasonably well, but I haven’t tested it for  
performance.

\_Kevin

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/9 "2006-05-25T12:02:55Z")

</div>

> Noooooo! That’s the dark side talking to you, don’t listen.  
> Well i’ve got over it and just bought the PDF of the 2nd edition. I’m  
> not waiting until september for the paper version :0)

Oddly enough, i can’t actually find any reference to the deprecation of  
components - the section on using components is still there. The  
section at the beginning about sharing the cart view across with the  
checkout however is not - i’ll have to have full read through i think.

I did however, realise (i think) what i should be doing. If i want to  
display a list of links pages stored in the db for example, i create a  
method in app/helpers/application\_helper.rb called page\_menu:

application\_helper.rb  
…  
def page\_menu  
@pages = Page.find(:all)  
end  
…

Then i create a partial:

\_page\_menu.rhtml  
…  
\<% page\_menu %\>

 \<% @page.each do |page| %\> - \<%= page.url %\>
 \<% end %\>
...

This partial can then be used in other templates  
…  
\<%= render :partial =\> ‘page\_menu’ %\>  
…

Now this seems kinda cool because it would mean that i can use the  
helper method in different partials that use the same data (say, two  
cart view partials, one with form elements, the other a straight  
display).

However, i don’t trust my own solution so it would be great if someone  
could clarify this for me :0)

Cheers

Steve

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/10 "2006-05-25T14:54:51Z")

</div>

Stephen B. wrote:

> Well i’ve got over it and just bought the PDF of the 2nd edition. I’m  
> not waiting until september for the paper version :0)
> 
> Oddly enough, i can’t actually find any reference to the deprecation  
> of components - the section on using components is still there. The  
> section at the beginning about sharing the cart view across with the  
> checkout however is not - i’ll have to have full read through i think.  
> I haven’t actually gotten to that part in the full book yet, and maybe  
> part of it is still being rewritten, but in the Intro portion it does  
> have a “Change Log” section which highlights the new Depot application  
> and some of its changes. One of the bulleted portions reads:

? It uses partials, rather than components (as components seem to be  
on their way out).

So… There you go! Heehee… Seriously though, I honestly expect that  
the code DHH posted earlier (I think to this thread even, but my brain  
may be playing tricks on me) was probably taken straight from the book.  
🙂 I’m liking the new book so far…several code snippets seem to do  
pretty much exactly what you typed in the previous message.

Also, I selfishly downloaded the code from the FamilyConnection project  
(mentioned in another thread). It runs through some similar things in  
the main layouts. It goes even further though. It has a custom method  
“render\_partials\_array()” (or such) which loops through an array of  
partials and renders them. This is set during various aspects of a  
page’s living (typically in the controller, from what I’ve seen) and  
very elegantly (in my opinion) resolves the side-menu content depending  
on the role of the current user (guest, user, admin, etc)… For anyone  
confused about partials, I recommend checking it out. It seems a good  
way to do it. 🙂

-Curtis

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/11 "2006-05-24T18:57:15Z")

</div>

On 5/24/06, Stephen B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> My romantic attachement to paper books has stopped me upgrading my  
> ‘Agile’ book but it’s looking more of a necessity now :0)

Noooooo! That’s the dark side talking to you, don’t listen. I got my  
email about the update for 2nd Edition last night. Due to my position  
in the queue I had to wait an entire 16 minutes for the gerbils to  
pump out my copy, but…damn… It was worth the wait…

I’m not far enough into 2nd Edition yet, so I appreciate DHH dropping  
the code here (since I’ve been struggling with this issue as well–in  
relation to multiple apps sharing the same user tables and “user  
dashboard” view). I look forward to reading more in the book though.  
🙂

I see now that it would be best to render the user dashboard via a  
partial that just gets dumped into the view. Maybe even in the  
layout… It’s on nearly every page…and if it shouldn’t be I could  
even utilize “display:none” for the user dashboard div… Probably  
not perfectly clean…but…meh…

I’m curious to see how the menu gets rendered, I would imagine that’s  
in the form of a partial called from the layout, but I could be wrong.  
That may be an alternative way to do it. Perhaps some code that  
checks for the existance of a hash object and renders a partial if  
it’s there, or skips it if not (that could even be part of the partial  
too, I suppose, so you wouldn’t have to recode that in every view that  
_might_ use it). Faster than components, and flexible enough if it’s  
not needed (just ensure it’s null in the controller).

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/12 "2006-05-25T15:33:01Z")

</div>

Yeah - i’ve got through the partials section the new depot app. It  
doesn’t address the issue i had but generally i’m loving the updates to  
the 2nd edition so far - worth the re-investment :0)

The problem (with regards to the issue i had) with the example in the  
depot app, is that it doesn’t seem to explain how logic code can be used  
in partials (not a problem for the example obviously, but it’s a  
sticking point if you want to do anything more complex).

For example:  
You have a cart display on the cart page and the same thing repeated on  
the order confirm page. This was in the 1st Agile book implemented  
using a component, but is not in the 2nd edition.

In the 2nd edition, a cart preview is implemented using a partial:

— views/store/index  
\<%= render :partial =\> ‘cart’, :object =\> @cart %\>

— controllers/store\_controller  
def index  
@cart = session[:cart]  
end

## — views/store/\_cart.rhtml \<% @cart.items.each do |item| %\>

This is fine for this example. But if you try and do the ‘cart  
displayed on order confirm’ i mentioned above, it gets a little messy:

— views/checkout/confirm\_order.rhtml / views/cart/view.rhtml  
\<%= render :partial =\> ‘cart/cart’ %\>

## — views/basket/\_cart.rhtml \<% @cart.items.each do |item| %\>

In order for this to work, we would need to pass the @cart object to the  
partial in each respective view, like this:  
— views/checkout/confirm\_order.rhtml / views/cart/view.rhtml  
\<%= render :partial =\> ‘cart/cart’, :object =\> @cart %\>

In order for @cart to be available in the views, it would need to be  
assigned in both the CartController::view and  
CheckoutController::confirm\_order actions - this seems at risk of  
repetition.

I’ve implemented it by creating a helper method that the partial uses  
(mentioned in my last post) - but that seems a bit un-rails-y and i  
found it had an issue when i tried to assign something from the session.

I guess you could also create a method that the controllers could use  
globally to assign this kind of thing:

— cart controller  
def view  
get\_cart\_view  
end

— checkout controller  
def confirm\_order  
get\_cart\_view

# other stuff

end

— application controller  
def get\_cart\_view  
@cart = session[:cart]  
end

… but again something about that isn’t right :0)

Man, that was a bit of a ramble - think i’ll have to write this all up  
in a difinitive tutorial when i discover the ‘right’ way :0) I have a  
slight feeling of ‘barking up the wrong tree’ though…

Cheers,

Steve

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/13 "2006-05-25T21:09:43Z")

</div>

> In order for @cart to be available in the views, it would need to be  
> assigned in both the CartController::view and  
> CheckoutController::confirm\_order actions - this seems at risk of  
> repetition.

## That’s where the wonders of filters come in. Abstract to something like set\_cart, just like the code example I had showed.

David Heinemeier H.  
[http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain  
[http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management  
[http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager  
[http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/14 "2006-05-26T10:12:43Z")

</div>

Ah right - i getcha.

Cheers,

Steve

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/15 "2006-05-26T12:43:16Z")

</div>

Stephen B. wrote:

> Well i’ve got over it and just bought the PDF of the 2nd edition. I’m  
> not waiting until september for the paper version :0)
> 
> Oddly enough, i can’t actually find any reference to the deprecation of  
> components - the section on using components is still there. The  
> section at the beginning about sharing the cart view across with the  
> checkout however is not - i’ll have to have full read through i think.

Be aware that the book is being revised incrementally, so what you have  
at present is a mixture of second edition pages (with red headers) and  
first edition pages (with grey headers). Section 19.9, Layouts and  
Controllers, hasn’t been revised yet.

regards

Justin

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/16 "2006-09-02T18:08:37Z")

</div>

> For example, say I want to include a database driven web poll on certain  
> pages. Using the approach you describe would create both controller and  
> view dependencies on my web poll (even though say an article controller  
> really has nothing to do with a web poll). From a pure code perspective,  
> only needing to include the poll via render component just seems so much  
> cleaner.

For components where the content is completely unrelated to the rest of  
the page and operates on different base objects, components of some  
form may be advantageous. The cart example plays of the fact that in a  
shop, the prime directive is to buy stuff. Thus, its not a tangential  
concern, so its very natural that the cart is available most every  
where.

And that’s been the far most common use of components I’ve seen. Where  
essential pieces of the application, which uses data that the majority  
of actions operate on (or which uses data that can be fetched from an  
object which should be available always, like @person.preferences or  
something), are chopped up. Components unnecessarily complicates such a  
design and partials are usually a better fit.

But when you truly do have a case like the web poll, which is kind of  
like a portlet, then the problem with render\_component is mostly one of  
implementation. Sounds like Ezra is exploring a way to deal with that  
doing cells and I’ve even had thoughts of doing something like another,  
internal HTTP request.

In any case, I consider components to be a rare specialty tool. Not a  
general purpose architect-my-app-after-it kind of tool.

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/17 "2006-09-02T14:11:55Z")

</div>

David, I understand that components are going out, but I still think  
they result in cleaner code than what you’re proposing here and clean  
and easy to understand code is what rails is all about isn’t it?

For example I personally find:

1. Extracting the set\_cart out and then mixing it in to all controllers  
that need it, calling it via a before\_filter, and then rendering a  
partial in all views that need it

to be a lot more complicated than:

1. Calling render component in the views that need the component

For example, say I want to include a database driven web poll on certain  
pages. Using the approach you describe would create both controller and  
view dependencies on my web poll (even though say an article controller  
really has nothing to do with a web poll). From a pure code perspective,  
only needing to include the poll via render component just seems so much  
cleaner.

-Todd  
[http://gabrito.com](http://gabrito.com)

David Heinemeier H. wrote:

> > In order for @cart to be available in the views, it would need to be  
> > assigned in both the CartController::view and  
> > CheckoutController::confirm\_order actions - this seems at risk of  
> > repetition.
> 
> ## That’s where the wonders of filters come in. Abstract to something like set\_cart, just like the code example I had showed.
> 
> David Heinemeier H.  
> [http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain  
> [http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management  
> [http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager  
> [http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/18 "2006-09-02T18:12:38Z")

</div>

Todd Huss wrote:

> David, I understand that components are going out, but I still think  
> they result in cleaner code than what you’re proposing here and clean  
> and easy to understand code is what rails is all about isn’t it?
> 
> For example I personally find:
> 
> 1. Extracting the set\_cart out and then mixing it in to all controllers  
> that need it, calling it via a before\_filter, and then rendering a  
> partial in all views that need it

It isn’t complex to use the filters…

def ApplicationController  
private  
def set\_cart  
@cart =  
end  
end

def CartController \< ApplicationController  
before\_filter :set\_cart :only=\>[:show]

def show  
end  
end

def CheckoutController \< ApplicationController  
before\_filter :set\_cart :only=\>[:confirm\_order]

def confirm\_order  
end  
end

- Peter

---

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**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/19 "2006-09-02T19:00:44Z")

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On Sat, Sep 02, 2006 at 03:59:17PM -0000, DHH wrote:  
[…]

> But when you truly do have a case like the web poll, which is kind of  
> like a portlet, then the problem with render\_component is mostly one of  
> implementation. Sounds like Ezra is exploring a way to deal with that  
> doing cells and I’ve even had thoughts of doing something like another,  
> internal HTTP request.
> 
> In any case, I consider components to be a rare specialty tool. Not a  
> general purpose architect-my-app-after-it kind of tool.

Last time I investigated this, it looked like everything I wanted out  
of a component could be obtained by exposing  
render\_component\_as\_string, but I couldn’t figure out how to do  
that.

Is there a reason that’s a bad idea?

–  
- Adam

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@nola](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nola)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/components-going-out-of-style/61506/20 "2006-09-02T19:42:52Z")

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> Last time I investigated this, it looked like everything I wanted out  
> of a component could be obtained by exposing  
> render\_component\_as\_string, but I couldn’t figure out how to do  
> that.
> 
> Is there a reason that’s a bad idea?

Currently, I believe components just have some performance issues. I’d  
encourage you to benchmark with and without to see whether it matters  
in your case. And then be on the lookout for other/better ideas that we  
could possibly do this. As well as keeping in mind that components are  
not a general strategy for compartmentalizing things in Rails, unless  
they have this portlet-type flavor we’re discussing.

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