Make it easier to use partials with blocks in rails

The shorter version of render :partial is widely known and used. These are equivalent, but the second version is so much more succinct and readable.

	<%= render :partial => 'thing_one', :locals => { :foo => '123' } %>
	<%= render 'thing_one', :foo => '123' %>

view raw shortrender.html.erb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

To use a partial with a yield in it, (what I call a "block partial"), you can use render :layout which a. doesn't read very well, (it's a partial, not a layout clearly), and b. can't be shortened nicely the way that render :partial can. So here is block_render:

	#
	# A trick so you can have partials that take blocks.
	# Uses render :layout.
	#
	# Example:
	# <%= block_render 'some_partial_with_a_yield', :foo => 123 do %>
	# Any erb here...
	# <% end %>
	#
	def block_render(partial_name, locals={})
	render :layout => partial_name, :locals => locals do
	yield
	end
	end

view raw block_render_helper.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

It lets you have nice neat render calls like this:

	<%= block_render 'block_thing', :foo => '123' do %>
	stuff inside here
	<% end %>

view raw blockrender.html.erb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

This is a real-life example of a block partial I like to use. Those classes are bootstrap classes for making a nice drop down menu.

	<%#
	#
	# Locals:
	# right (optional)
	#
	# Example usage:
	# <x= block_render 'shared/more_button_menu' x>
	# <li><x= link_to 'Foo, '#' x></li>
	# <li><x= link_to 'Bar, '#' x></li>
	# <x end x>
	#
	-%>
	<a class="btn dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">More <span class="caret"></span></a>
	<ul class="dropdown-menu<%= " pull-right" if defined?(right) && right %>">
	<%= yield %>
	</ul>

view raw more_menu_button.html.erb hosted with ❤ by GitHub