More than one layout for a controller

Is it possible to do something like this:

class SimulationController < ApplicationController
  layout "generic", :only => [:login, :invalid]
  layout "menubar", :except => [:login, :invalid]

For some reason, my login page still uses the menubar layout (I can tell because a menu bar will appear at the top). If I comment out the 3rd line, the menu bar will disappear. So it seems like both layouts are being applied one after another.

But if I comment out the layout "generic"bit, I will it will be just black and white, meaning no CSS style sheet is applied.

From stackoverflow

• One way to do this is actually within your actions.

  def login
    render :action => "login", :layout => "generic"
  end
  

  You could also make the actual "menubar" html a partial and turn the rendering off under certain conditions.

• You look like you're trying to apply different layouts under different run-time conditions. The simplest way to tackle this is using a method reference for the layout.

  For example: -

  class ResourceController < ActionController::Base
    layout :choose_layout
  
    private
      def choose_layout    
        if [ 'signup', 'login' ].include? action_name
          'login_layout'
        else
          'admin_layout'
        end
      end
  

  Check out the Rails API reference for ActionController::Layout under the heading "Types of Layout"

• Take a look at this ticket, your problem seems to be similar: [http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/8867]