Changed the default of ActionView#render to assume partials instead of files when not given an options hash [DHH]

2 files changed, 48 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
index 511858dd9b..0d3752d875 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
@@ -234,16 +234,21 @@ module ActionView #:nodoc:
       @view_paths = self.class.process_view_paths(paths)
     end
 
-    # Renders the template present at <tt>template_path</tt> (relative to the view_paths array).
-    # The hash in <tt>local_assigns</tt> is made available as local variables.
+    # Returns the result of a render that's dictated by the options hash. The primary options are:
+    # 
+    # * <tt>:partial</tt> - See ActionView::Partials.
+    # * <tt>:update</tt> - Calls update_page with the block given.
+    # * <tt>:file</tt> - Renders an explicit template file (this used to be the old default), add :locals to pass in those.
+    # * <tt>:inline</tt> - Renders an inline template similar to how it's done in the controller.
+    # * <tt>:text</tt> - Renders the text passed in out.
+    #
+    # If no options hash is passed or :update specified, the default is to render a partial and use the second parameter
+    # as the locals hash.
     def render(options = {}, local_assigns = {}, &block) #:nodoc:
       local_assigns ||= {}
 
-      if options.is_a?(String)
-        render(:file => options, :locals => local_assigns)
-      elsif options == :update
-        update_page(&block)
-      elsif options.is_a?(Hash)
+      case options
+      when Hash
         options = options.reverse_merge(:locals => {})
         if options[:layout]
           _render_with_layout(options, local_assigns, &block)
@@ -256,6 +261,10 @@ module ActionView #:nodoc:
         elsif options[:text]
           options[:text]
         end
+      when :update
+        update_page(&block)
+      else
+        render_partial(:partial => options, :locals => local_assigns)
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb
index 8841099900..bbc995a340 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb
@@ -46,6 +46,38 @@ module ActionView
   #
   # This will render the partial "advertisement/_ad.erb" regardless of which controller this is being called from.
   #
+  # == Rendering objects with the RecordIdentifier
+  #
+  # Instead of explicitly naming the location of a partial, you can also let the RecordIdentifier do the work if
+  # you're following its conventions for RecordIdentifier#partial_path. Examples:
+  #
+  #  # @account is an Account instance, so it uses the RecordIdentifier to replace
+  #  # <%= render :partial => "accounts/account", :locals => { :account => @buyer } %>
+  #  <%= render :partial => @account %>
+  #
+  #  # @posts is an array of Post instances, so it uses the RecordIdentifier to replace
+  #  # <%= render :partial => "posts/post", :collection => @posts %>
+  #  <%= render :partial => @posts %>
+  #
+  # == Rendering the default case
+  #
+  # If you're not going to be using any of the options like collections or layouts, you can also use the short-hand
+  # defaults of render to render partials. Examples:
+  #
+  #  # Instead of <%= render :partial => "account" %>
+  #  <%= render "account" %>
+  #
+  #  # Instead of <%= render :partial => "account", :locals => { :account => @buyer } %>
+  #  <%= render "account", :account => @buyer %>
+  #
+  #  # @account is an Account instance, so it uses the RecordIdentifier to replace
+  #  # <%= render :partial => "accounts/account", :locals => { :account => @account } %>
+  #  <%= render(@account) %>
+  #
+  #  # @posts is an array of Post instances, so it uses the RecordIdentifier to replace
+  #  # <%= render :partial => "posts/post", :collection => @posts %>
+  #  <%= render(@posts) %>
+  #
   # == Rendering partials with layouts
   #
   # Partials can have their own layouts applied to them. These layouts are different than the ones that are