Replaces the "outer HTML" (i.e., the entire element, not just its contents) of the DOM element with the given id.

options_for_render may be either a string of HTML to insert, or a hash of options to be passed to ActionView::Base#render. For example:

# Replace the DOM element having ID 'person-45' with the
# 'person' partial for the appropriate object.
replace 'person-45', :partial => 'person', :object => @person

This allows the same partial that is used for the insert_html to be also used for the input to replace without resorting to the use of wrapper elements.

Examples:

<div>
  <%= render :partial => 'person', :collection => @people %>
</div>

# Insert a new person
#
# Generates: new Insertion.Bottom({object: "Matz", partial: "person"}, "");
page.insert_html :bottom, :partial => 'person', :object => @person

# Replace an existing person

# Generates: Element.replace("person_45", "-- Contents of partial --");
page.replace 'person_45', :partial => 'person', :object => @person

Source Code

# File action_view/helpers/prototype_helper.rb, line 774
def replace(id, *options_for_render)
  call 'Element.replace', id, render(*options_for_render)
end