/ Ruby on Rails
/
method

_layout_for

_layout_for(*args, &block)
public

Returns the contents that are yielded to a layout, given a name or a block.

You can think of a layout as a method that is called with a block. If the user calls yield :some_name, the block, by default, returns content_for(:some_name). If the user calls simply yield, the default block returns content_for(:layout).

The user can override this default by passing a block to the layout:

# The template
<%= render :layout => "my_layout" do %>
  Content
<% end %>

# The layout
<html>
  <%= yield %>
</html>

In this case, instead of the default block, which would return content_for(:layout), this method returns the block that was passed in to render :layout, and the response would be

<html>
  Content
</html>

Finally, the block can take block arguments, which can be passed in by yield:

# The template
<%= render :layout => "my_layout" do |customer| %>
  Hello <%= customer.name %>
<% end %>

# The layout
<html>
  <%= yield Struct.new(:name).new("David") %>
</html>

In this case, the layout would receive the block passed into render :layout, and the struct specified would be passed into the block as an argument. The result would be

<html>
  Hello David
</html>