RenderFlash
===========

RenderFlash is a small extension to ActionController allowing you to render 
flash messages outside of the context of your action, letting you use complex 
view logic in your flashes without dirtying up your actions. Since it uses 
ActionController's render logic, it acts just like a typical render but 
without causing DoubleRenderErrors.


Example
=======

Let's say I want to display a link in my flash message if and only if my 
current user is an admin.  Normally, this would look something like:

  class SomethingsController < AC::Base
    def create
      if Something.create params
        flash[:success] = "Something was successfully created!"
        flash[:success] << "Click #{link_to 'here', admin_reports_path} to 
          view a special report <span class=\"super-secret\">for your eyes 
          only</span>" if @current_user.admin?
        redirect_to somethings_path
      end
    end
  end

This trashes up your action with HTML and helper code, along with four lines
of logic that really should be delegated to a view with render.


Use of RenderFlash would instead look like this:

  class SomethingsController < AC::Base
    def create
      if Something.create params
        render_flash "success_create"
        redirect_to somethings_path
      end
    end
  end

render_flash simply calls render_to_string with the view path
  
  "/controller/flashes/template_name"
  
so, in this case:

  "/somethings/flashes/success_create"
  
It puts the results of the render_to_string into the symbolized flash key
pulled from the first word of the template name, in this case "success".


The contents of the template would be, roughly:

  Something was successfully created!
  <% if @current_user.admin? %>
    Click <%= link_to 'here', admin_reports_path %> to view a special report
    <span class="super-secret">for your eyes only</span>
  <% end %>
  
This could of course be any templating language, not just erb.


RenderFlash can also render to flash.now.

  render_flash "success_create", :now => true

Copyright (c) 2010 Clint Bishop, released under the MIT license