# Shared Layouts

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315>\
**Category:** Radiant CMS\
**Created:** [July 6, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315 "2008-07-06T17:58:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/1 "2008-07-06T17:58:50Z")

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I have a very simple question about shared\_layouts - how do I use it? I  
saw the readme and it says that it Allows Rails controllers/actions to  
use Radiant layouts as their “layout”. I already have a Radiant app  
directory called newsite. Should I also do a rails newsite so that the  
default Rails stuff is created there?

I’m sorry this sounds like a real newbie 🙂 but I’ve either done 100%  
Rails or done 100% Radiant so far!

Thanks,  
Mohit.  
7/6/2008 | 11:55 PM.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/2 "2008-07-06T19:07:23Z")

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Mohit S. wrote:

> I have a very simple question about shared\_layouts - how do I use it?  
> I saw the readme and it says that it Allows Rails controllers/actions  
> to use Radiant layouts as their “layout”. I already have a Radiant  
> app directory called newsite. Should I also do a rails newsite so  
> that the default Rails stuff is created there?
> 
> I’m sorry this sounds like a real newbie 🙂 but I’ve either done 100%  
> Rails or done 100% Radiant so far!  
> Since there seems to be some confusion about how to use share\_layouts  
> lately, I’ll break it down into steps for you and everyone.

1. Create an extension and a controller in it that you want to render  
views within a Radiant layout.

2. Create the layout in the Radiant interface, paying close attention to  
the page parts that you are rendering with the \<r:content /\> tag.  
Example:

Save that as a layout called ‘Two-Column’.

1. Add the radiant\_layout declaration to your controller(s), like so:

radiant\_layout ‘Two-Column’

In this case, I would be referring to the Radiant layout stored in the  
database called ‘Two-Column’ that we created above. There are other  
ways to determine which layout to use, and I’ll discuss some of those at  
the end.

1. Now, construct your view to create captured blocks that correspond to  
the page parts. The default ‘yield’ or ‘content\_for\_layout’ in a Rails  
view corresponds to the Radiant ‘body’ part. Example:

\<% content\_for :sidebar do %\>

This is the sidebar. It will be rendered inside an r:content tag that refers to the 'sidebar' part.

\<% end %\>
# Hello World!

This is the main content. It is outside any content\_for block but will be turned into the 'body' part.

1. Check that your routes are properly defined to point to your  
controller and then hit the appropriate action in your browser. Et  
voila! Here’s what the rendered view might look like:

# Hello World!

This is the main content. It is outside any content\_for block but will be turned into the 'body' part.

This is the sidebar. It will be rendered inside an r:content tag that refers to the 'sidebar' part.

That’s the basics.

Now, I promised that there were some other tricks, so I ought to explain  
those.

First, similarly to the Rails ‘layout’ declaration, you can pass a block  
that will be executed at runtime to determine the proper layout. A good  
use-case for this would be to specify the layout you want to use in a  
Radiant::Config key. Example:

radiant\_layout { |controller| Radiant::Config[‘my\_extension.layout’] }

Given the controller gets passed in as well, you can monkey with  
whatever you need there, including the path parameters, session, etc.

Second, if you want your controllers to have more context within the  
rest of the site’s static content, you can create what I like to call  
“application endpoints”. Essentially, create a page within the page  
tree that is of type ‘Application’ (classname RailsPage) at a URL that  
matches your controller’s route(s). Then when you hit your controller  
action, anything that is not directly specified by your view or  
controller, including title, breadcrumbs, page parts, etc will be  
derived from the existing page. This allows you to keep context within  
generated navigation or provide static text within your view that is  
editable from the Radiant UI. I don’t think I have it implemented  
correctly, but ideally one should be able to select a layout on the page  
in the tree and have it set the controller’s layout (I’ll probably fix  
that today).

Third, you can manually define the title and breadcrumbs from within  
your view or controller. Setting @title and @breadcrumbs or creating  
content blocks for them will override the title and breadcrumbs for a  
found “endpoint” or define them for a controller without an “endpoint”.  
Example:

\<% content\_for :title do %\>My beautiful web page\<% end %\>  
\<% content\_for :breadcrumbs do %\>Home \> My beautiful web page\<% end  
%\>

Another neat trick you can do with share\_layouts is to generate Radius  
code from your controller’s views. Since essentially anything generated  
by the Rails view gets inserted into page parts and then rendered as if  
it were a page, you can put anything you want in there that is valid  
Radius code. Additionally, if you create an “endpoint” in the tree and  
specify some filters on parts that will be overridden, your view can be  
filtered with those filters. This means you could write your views in  
Textile, Markdown, or whatever other filter you want!

I know that’s a lot to take in, so I’ll try to write up a tutorial on  
the wiki for it. Hope this explanation helps you!

Cheers,

Sean

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/3 "2008-07-06T20:01:34Z")

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On Jul 6, 2008, at 1:06 PM, Sean C. wrote:

> Since there seems to be some confusion about how to use  
> share\_layouts lately, I’ll break it down into steps for you and  
> everyone.

I hope this makes it on the wiki somewhere. 🙂

–  
John L.  
[http://wiseheartdesign.com](http://wiseheartdesign.com)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/4 "2008-07-06T21:03:03Z")

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> I thought when you built an “endpoint” all its parts were removed and  
> only your controller’s views were used, instead. How can I edit the  
> static text in my view via the Radiant UI? That would be awesome.

That was a recent addition. Someone (I don’t recall who) was annoyed by  
it clearing all existing parts. We discussed and mulled it over, and I  
decided that, as long as they aren’t saved, it’s ok to overwrite  
existing parts. Take a look at RailsPage#build\_parts\_from\_hash to see  
how that works.

> So, in your example above, you created a “sidebar” and a “body” part  
> within your rails views. And I wanted to write the sidebar using  
> Textile and the body using Markdown, I would create an Endpoint Page  
> via the Radiant UI corresponding to my controller and in it create two  
> Page Parts - “sidebar” and “body” and assign each part the correct  
> filter.
> 
> Is this correct?

Exactly, except that the “endpoint” page is going to be called  
“Application” in the UI. I’m open to changes on this if someone has a  
better name.

Sean

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/5 "2008-07-06T19:43:43Z")

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Thanks for the write-up. I’ve been using Shared Layouts but I learned  
a few things I didn’t know from this.

I do have two questions from what you’ve said, though

Sean C. wrote:

> Second, if you want your controllers to have more context within the  
> rest of the site’s static content, you can create what I like to call  
> “application endpoints”. Essentially, create a page within the page  
> tree that is of type ‘Application’ (classname RailsPage) at a URL that  
> matches your controller’s route(s). Then when you hit your controller  
> action, anything that is not directly specified by your view or  
> controller, including title, breadcrumbs, page parts, etc will be  
> derived from the existing page. This allows you to keep context  
> within generated navigation or provide static text within your view  
> that is editable from the Radiant UI.

I thought when you built an “endpoint” all its parts were removed and  
only your controller’s views were used, instead. How can I edit the  
static text in my view via the Radiant UI? That would be awesome.

> Another neat trick you can do with share\_layouts is to generate Radius  
> code from your controller’s views. Since essentially anything  
> generated by the Rails view gets inserted into page parts and then  
> rendered as if it were a page, you can put anything you want in there  
> that is valid Radius code. Additionally, if you create an “endpoint”  
> in the tree and specify some filters on parts that will be overridden,  
> your view can be filtered with those filters.

So, in your example above, you created a “sidebar” and a “body” part  
within your rails views. And I wanted to write the sidebar using  
Textile and the body using Markdown, I would create an Endpoint Page via  
the Radiant UI corresponding to my controller and in it create two Page  
Parts - “sidebar” and “body” and assign each part the correct filter.

Is this correct?

-Chris

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**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/6 "2008-07-07T19:29:00Z")

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Sean C. wrote:

> Since there seems to be some confusion about how to use share\_layouts  
> lately, I’ll break it down into steps for you and everyone.

Thanks a lot, Sean for this post and the article on the wiki. I shall  
definitely try this in the next few days, and make modifications to the  
wiki, if needed.

Best wishes  
Mohit.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/7 "2008-07-06T23:10:57Z")

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I got one started with a lot more detail than the email message. I’ll  
try to finish the rest tonight:

[http://wiki.radiantcms.org/Creating\_an\_extension\_VI](http://wiki.radiantcms.org/Creating_an_extension_VI)

Cheers,

Sean

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/8 "2008-07-09T14:27:11Z")

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That’s strange… maybe I was logged in at the time I hit that action.  
I’ll update the wiki to add that line.

Sean

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mohits](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mohits)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/shared-layouts/142315/9 "2008-07-09T05:26:41Z")

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In your example, Sean, you create a StatsController that inherits from  
ApplicationController (which is the default if you use Radiant’s  
controller generators). Anyway I’ve been getting all kinds of errors  
with my specs and banging my head against a wall only to _finally_  
realize that ApplicationController includes the LoginSystem. (I’m  
always logged in so I never noticed).

I’d like to save others the bloody foreheads since most using the Shared  
Layouts extension will be designing public-facing controllers.  
Thoughts?

For others, I fixed this by simply adding:  
no\_login\_required

to my controller.

In fact, other than maybe rescue\_action\_in\_public, is there any real  
benefit to inheriting from ApplicationController vs. good ol’  
ActionController::Base for a Shared Layouts Controller?

-Chris