Problem returning a Proc

[b.candler at pobox.com]

Ezra Zygmuntowicz writes:
> 	There is a helper method for this that sets all the proper headers  and 
> whatnot. Here is how to use it to do what your example does: 
> 
> def world
>   res = "Hello world from #{$$} at #{Time.now}!\n"
>   render_defered do
>     sleep 5
>     res
>   end
> end

Thank you. It's "render_deferred", but when I change use that it works. 
Perhaps this example should go into the README. 

What I found surprising (and still do) is that a controller action can 
return a String directly, but a Proc cannot. Therefore, what exactly is it 
that a Proc is supposed to do to generate output, which a controller action 
doesn't have to do? 

Looking in abstract_controller.rb, I see: 

     @_body = case caught
     when :filter_chain_completed
       call_action(action)
     when String
       caught
     when nil
       filters_halted
     when Symbol
       send(caught)
     when Proc
       caught.call(self)
     else
       raise MerbControllerError, "The before filter chain is broken dude. 
wtf?"
     end 

and this is also called from Controller#dispatch (via 'super') 

So at first glance, it looks like caught.call(self) ought to take the return 
value of the Proc and treat it just the same as a String returned directly 
from the controller method. But I'm clearly not understanding the flow of 
control, because that's not what's happening. 

Regards, 

Brian.