redner and redirect_to

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi --

I just want to get some feedback and understanding on what the differences are between render and redirect_to. redirect_to post the info to the page you are redirecting to and redner simple does not post, correct? Thanks,

It's easiest to understand if you consider that every action contains an implicit render command:

   def show      @item = Item.find(params[:id])      # render the template show.rhtml    end

So when you do:

   def show      @item = Item.find(params[:id])      render :template => "showme" # alternate template    end

or:

   def show      render :text => "No showing today!"    end

you're just completing this request in a non-default way.

redirect_to, on the other hand, issues a whole new request. The whole request/response cycle starts again from the beginning: a new action, new instance variables, etc.

Here's an analogy (please ignore if unhelpful :slight_smile:

Every day you put on a shirt. You might have a default shirt for each day -- but sometimes you might wear a non-default shirt for a given day. Putting on a shirt is like rendering a view.

redirect_to is like it's a whole new day. The process has started again from the beginning.

David