Rails - render :action vs render :template

render :action vs render :template

One can use render :action to render the template associated with another action.

However, when the user does

def action1
   @foo = "action1"
   render :action => "action2"
end

def action2
  @foo = "action2"
   render
end

the user should realize the method associated with action2 is not exectued when action1 calls render :action => "action2". This is simply the equivalent of render :template => "my_controller/action2".

This can get confusing when action2 in turn uses a non-default template to render itself.

def action1
   @foo = "action1"
   render :action => "action2"
end

def action2
  @foo = "action2"
   render  :template => "some/other"
end

In this case, when action1 is executed, rails will return an error complaining "views/my_controller/action2.rhtml" was not found.