NAME widgetz.rb SYNOPSIS simple widgets for rails INSTALL gem install widgetz URIS http://rubyforge.org/projects/codeforpeople/ https://codeforpeople.com/lib/ruby/widgetz/ http://drawohara.tumblr.com/post/6060120 DESCRIPTION widgetz.rb aims to fix two problems with factoring and abstracting html generation in rails using the normal 'helper' methodolgy: 1) helper methods are purely procedural and provide no state. ruby is an object oriented language and we like to use objects to abstract things where possible. widgetz lets you do just that. some people call this encapsulation. 2) by using the normal rendering chain in rails, widgetz makes sure you get a nice stack stace from the location in the widgetz template where you used ruby's power blow your leg off instead of some esoteric message from an anonymous module you barely knew. widgetz are essentailly bags of data that use a controller to render themselves. all the state of the widget is made available in the view as local variables, while the normal @variables set in a controller remain visible as normal. one special local variabl