Return nil instead of a space when passing an empty collection or nil…

… to 'render :partial' [#791 state:resolved]

Signed-off-by: Joshua Peek <josh@joshpeek.com>

actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb

@@ -939,8 +939,7 @@ def render(options = nil, extra_options = {}, &block) #:doc:
             render_for_text(generator.to_s, options[:status])
 
           elsif options[:nothing]
-            # Safari doesn't pass the headers of the return if the response is zero length
-            render_for_text(" ", options[:status])
+            render_for_text(nil, options[:status])
 
           else
             render_for_file(default_template_name, options[:status], true)
@@ -1154,7 +1153,11 @@ def render_for_text(text = nil, status = nil, append_response = false) #:nodoc:
           response.body ||= ''
           response.body << text.to_s
         else
-          response.body = text.is_a?(Proc) ? text : text.to_s
+          response.body = case text
+            when Proc then text
+            when nil  then " " # Safari doesn't pass the headers of the return if the response is zero length
+            else           text.to_s
+          end
         end
       end
 

actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb

@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ def render(options = {}, local_assigns = {}, &block) #:nodoc:
           end
         elsif options[:file]
           render_file(options[:file], nil, options[:locals])
-        elsif options[:partial] && options[:collection]
+        elsif options[:partial] && options.has_key?(:collection)
           render_partial_collection(options[:partial], options[:collection], options[:spacer_template], options[:locals], options[:as])
         elsif options[:partial]
           render_partial(options[:partial], options[:object], options[:locals])

actionpack/lib/action_view/partials.rb

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ def render_partial(partial_path, object_assigns = nil, local_assigns = {}) #:nod
       end
 
       def render_partial_collection(partial_path, collection, partial_spacer_template = nil, local_assigns = {}, as = nil) #:nodoc:
-        return " " if collection.empty?
+        return nil if collection.blank?
 
         local_assigns = local_assigns ? local_assigns.clone : {}
         spacer = partial_spacer_template ? render(:partial => partial_spacer_template) : ''

actionpack/test/controller/render_test.rb

@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ def test_render_custom_code_rjs
   def test_render_text_with_nil
     get :render_text_with_nil
     assert_response 200
-    assert_equal '', @response.body
+    assert_equal ' ', @response.body
   end
 
   def test_render_text_with_false

actionpack/test/template/render_test.rb

@@ -87,6 +87,14 @@ def test_render_partial_collection_without_as
       @view.render(:partial => "test/local_inspector", :collection => [ Customer.new("mary") ])
   end
 
+  def test_render_partial_with_empty_collection_should_return_nil
+    assert_nil @view.render(:partial => "test/customer", :collection => [])
+  end
+
+  def test_render_partial_with_nil_collection_should_return_nil
+    assert_nil @view.render(:partial => "test/customer", :collection => nil)
+  end
+
   # TODO: The reason for this test is unclear, improve documentation
   def test_render_partial_and_fallback_to_layout
     assert_equal "Before (Josh)\n\nAfter", @view.render(:partial => "test/layout_for_partial", :locals => { :name => "Josh" })