Renders the template present at template_path. If use_full_path is set to true, it’s relative to the view_paths array, otherwise it’s absolute. The hash in local_assigns is made available as local variables.

Source Code

# File action_view/base.rb, line 278
def render_file(template_path, use_full_path = true, local_assigns = {}) #:nodoc:
  if defined?(ActionMailer) && defined?(ActionMailer::Base) && controller.is_a?(ActionMailer::Base) && !template_path.include?("/")
    raise ActionViewError, "Due to changes in ActionMailer, you need to provide the mailer_name along with the template name.\n\nrender \"user_mailer/signup\"\nrender :file => \"user_mailer/signup\"\n\nIf you are rendering a subtemplate, you must now use controller-like partial syntax:\n\nrender :partial => 'signup' # no mailer_name necessary\n"
  end

  @first_render ||= template_path
  template_path_without_extension, template_extension = path_and_extension(template_path)
  if use_full_path
    if template_extension
      template_file_name = full_template_path(template_path_without_extension, template_extension)
    else
      template_extension = pick_template_extension(template_path).to_s
      unless template_extension
        raise ActionViewError, "No template found for #{template_path} in #{view_paths.inspect}"
      end
      template_file_name = full_template_path(template_path, template_extension)
      template_extension = template_extension.gsub(/^.+\./, '') # strip off any formats
    end
  else
    template_file_name = template_path
  end

  template_source = nil # Don't read the source until we know that it is required

  if template_file_name.blank?
    raise ActionViewError, "Couldn't find template file for #{template_path} in #{view_paths.inspect}"
  end

  begin
    render_template(template_extension, template_source, template_file_name, local_assigns)
  rescue Exception => e
    if TemplateError === e
      e.sub_template_of(template_file_name)
      raise e
    else
      raise TemplateError.new(find_base_path_for("#{template_path_without_extension}.#{template_extension}") || view_paths.first, template_file_name, @assigns, template_source, e)
    end
  end
end