Widgets in Rails

So, first we must create a helper for getting widget paths:

# app/helpers/widget_helper.rb
module WidgetHelper
  def widget_path(widget, global=false)
    path = if global
            "widgets/#{widget}"
           else
            "#{controller.controller_name}/widgets/#{widget}"
           end
    return path
  end

end

This code does a very simple thing: computes the relative path of widget (partial) what we want display but it doesn't display it, just returns a path in string.

We can make two type of widgets: global and local. I using 'global' widgets from more controller's view, or from application.html.erb and 'local' widgets used only from its related controller's view. But this code doesn't make difference between two type of widget, so you can do what you want but I recommend my way.

The using of this helper is very-very easy.
In case of global widgets, you must create a directory called app/views/widgets, and put your global widgets here prefixed by '_' (similar as other partials). So, if I want to make widget named 'loginbox', then it's placed in app/views/widgets/_loginbox.html.erb and including it by:

<%= render :partial => widget_path('loginbox', true) %>

Local widgets are quite different: they are hosted under app/views/#{controller.controller_name}/widgets folder. Their files must be prefixed with '_' too. Using of them:

<%= render :patrial => widget_path('toolbar') %>

Enjoy!