Partials:
Partials are a powerful feature in Rails views that allow you to extract reusable sections of code into separate files. They help in organizing and DRYing up your views by separating common elements. Let’s explore how partials work and when to use them.
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# app/views/users/_user_info.html.erb
<div class="user-info">
<h2><%= user.name %></h2>
<p><%= user.email %></p>
</div>
To render the partial within another view, you can use the render method:
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# app/views/users/show.html.erb
<h1>User Details</h1>
<%= render 'user_info', user: @user %>
In this example, the _user_info.html.erb file represents a partial that displays user information. By rendering it within the show.html.erb view, you can reuse the user info section in multiple views without duplicating the code.
Helpers:
Helpers, on the other hand, are modules that contain methods that can be used across different views. They provide a way to encapsulate view-related logic and perform calculations or generate content dynamically.
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# app/helpers/users_helper.rb
module UsersHelper
def format_user_name(user)
"#{user.first_name} #{user.last_name}"
end
end
To use the helper method within a view, you can call it directly:
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# app/views/users/show.html.erb
<h1>User Details</h1>
<h2><%= format_user_name(@user) %></h2>
In this example, the format_user_name helper method takes a user object and returns the formatted full name. It can be accessed within the view to generate dynamic content.