Strategies for rendering block content

Currently the content of the block of a component or element is rendered using to_s, like this:

<div class="alert">
  <%= alert %>
</div>

<%= component "alert" do %>
  Hello
<% end %>

Upsides:

Short syntax
No need to name a variable
Will never clash with anything user defined

Downsides:

Would need a method for verifying block was given, for validation
?

Alternative 1: Introduce named variable for the captured block

Something like block, or content.

Upsides:

Works the same as with other attributes

Downsides:

More verbose
We need to name the variable
Will potentially clash with user defined attributes and methods

Alternative 2: Leverage `content_for`

Rails has a content_for (and a content_for?) helper that perhaps could be leveraged:

<div class="alert">
  <%= content_for(alert) %>
</div>

<%= component "alert" do %>
  Hello
<% end %>

class Element
  def initialize
    …
    @view.content_for(self, &block)
  end
end

Upsides:

Familiar syntax
No need to name a variable
Will never clash with anything user defined

Downsides:

Not tested, not sure if it works, or what problems it would bring

Alternative 3: Connect the block to an attribute

This is something I tried out but later discarded because it felt like I was over-engineering things, and muddied the concepts. Basically the user could choose an attribute name for the block to be captured to, and then you could either populate it like an attribute or by passing a block. Something like:

<div class="alert">
  <%= alert.message %>
</div>

<%= component "alert" do %>
  Hello
<% end %>

class AlertComponent < Components::Component
  attribute :message

  capture_block_to :message
end

Upsides:

No need to name a variable
Will never clash with anything user defined
Works the same in templates as with other attributes

Downsides

Perhaps blurs concepts together, and perhaps makes the API more difficult to understand at glance

jensljungblad / elemental_components