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**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [July 19, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318 "2009-07-19T15:43:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/1 "2009-07-19T15:43:44Z")
I would like to include an external html page into a .rhtml document. I
know you can do it with iframes but that is not what I want. Does ruby
have an include tag for that?
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/2 "2009-07-19T23:54:27Z")
Sam G. wrote:
> I would like to include an external html page into a .rhtml document. I
> know you can do it with iframes but that is not what I want. Does ruby
> have an include tag for that?
Who cares what ruby has? The generated page is html. If you can’t do
it with the available html tags, e.g. frames or iframes, then ruby isn’t
going to magically be able to help you.
It sounds like you are trying to get ruby to enter into a conspiracy
with you to steal content.
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/3 "2009-07-19T23:59:20Z")
Sam G. wrote:
> I would like to include an external html page into a .rhtml document. I
> know you can do it with iframes but that is not what I want. Does ruby
> have an include tag for that?
On the other hand, if you are trying to incorporate some raw html into a
.rhtml page, just read the file and output it:
\<%= %\> # executes the Ruby code and displays the result
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/4 "2009-07-20T00:47:56Z")
Sam G. wrote:
> How? with a File.Open()?. I’m new to ruby so I’m not sure if that is
> what I should do.
You could write:
f = File.open(“page.htm”)
f.read()
or you could combine that into one line:
File.open(“page.htm”).read()
or you could use the shortcut:
IO.read(“page.htm”)
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/5 "2009-07-20T00:27:58Z")
How? with a File.Open()?. I’m new to ruby so I’m not sure if that is
what I should do.
7stud – wrote:
> Sam G. wrote:
>
> > I would like to include an external html page into a .rhtml document. I
> > know you can do it with iframes but that is not what I want. Does ruby
> > have an include tag for that?
>
> On the other hand, if you are trying to incorporate some raw html into a
> .rhtml page, just read the file and output it:
>
> \<%= %\> # executes the Ruby code and displays the result
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/6 "2009-07-20T01:13:13Z")
That is what I thought and it aint working. I’m trying to open a file on
another server i:e [http://docs.google.com/View?id=10](http://docs.google.com/View?id=10). So I guess iframe
is the only option
7stud – wrote:
> Sam G. wrote:
>
> > How? with a File.Open()?. I’m new to ruby so I’m not sure if that is
> > what I should do.
>
> You could write:
>
> f = File.open(“page.htm”)
> f.read()
>
> or you could combine that into one line:
>
> File.open(“page.htm”).read()
>
> or you could use the shortcut:
>
> IO.read(“page.htm”)
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/7 "2009-07-20T01:52:02Z")
Didn’t look closely enough at what’s going on here.
What exactly are you trying to do? The previous response should work.
However, if you are actually requesting a page from something like
Google
Docs, you need to realize that the request will be made at the server,
not
in the browser, so your cookies will not be in the request, so you will
not
be authenticated unless you explicitly do that. It is more trouble than
it’s
worth in most cases.
Additionally, unless you intend to alter the HTML in some way before
including it in the page, it will look all off, so probably best to
stick
with iFrames unless it is absolutely necessary to scrape (which is what
you
are doing)
-chris
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/8 "2009-07-20T01:49:42Z")
You should use something like
require ‘open-uri’
puts open(‘[http://some-url.com/file](http://some-url.com/file)’).read
or the curl libraries.
Chris R.
Chief Developer - (ph)Pea
Co-Founder - Invalid Media
---
**Author:**  [@staypufd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/staypufd)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/external-html-page-include/172318/9 "2009-07-20T05:26:37Z")
You’re right. I’ll stick with iframes.
thanks anyway
Chris R. wrote:
> Didn’t look closely enough at what’s going on here.
>
> What exactly are you trying to do? The previous response should work.
>
> However, if you are actually requesting a page from something like
> Google
> Docs, you need to realize that the request will be made at the server,
> not
> in the browser, so your cookies will not be in the request, so you will
> not
> be authenticated unless you explicitly do that. It is more trouble than
> it’s
> worth in most cases.
>
> Additionally, unless you intend to alter the HTML in some way before
> including it in the page, it will look all off, so probably best to
> stick
> with iFrames unless it is absolutely necessary to scrape (which is what
> you
> are doing)
>
> -chris