_rake_partial.html.erb

<textarea name="styled-results" id="rake"><%= @lines %></textarea>

application_controller.rb

def call_rake(task, os, options = {})
  options[:rails_env] ||= Rails.env
  args = options.map { |n, v| "#{n.to_s.upcase}='#{v}'" }
  system "/usr/bin/rake #{task} #{args.join(' ')} --trace" if os == 'linux'
  system "START /B rake.bat #{task} #{args.join(' ')} --trace" if os == 'windows'
end

css file

textarea#rake {
    width: 550px;
    height: 200px;
    border: 3px solid #cccccc;
    padding: 5px;
    font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;
}

example_task.rake

desc "Example Task to run manually"
task :example_task => :environment do

  #************************************************************************************************
  # Perform an example task
  #************************************************************************************************

  model_example = MyModel.find(:all)
  File.open(RAKE_FILE_LOGS, "w") { |f|
    f.puts "Rake File: My Example Task| #{Time.now}"
    f.puts "_________________________________________________________________________"
    model_example.each do |line|
      f.puts "Row example data #{line.name}"
    end
  }
end

index.html.erb

<div id="content" style="width:905px;">
  <div id="conttwothirds">
    <h3 style="clear:left;">Rake Tasks (In <%= Rails.env.to_s.capitalize %> Mode)</h3>
    <p class="padding-left"><strong><%= link_to_remote( "Read Rake Results", :url =>{ :controller => "raketasks", :action => :call_render }) %></strong></p>
    <div id="rake"></div>
  </div>
  <div id="contonethird">
    <h5 class="side" style="margin-top:20px;">My Rake Tasks</h5>
    <ul>
      <li><%= link_to "Example Rake Task", rake_example_task %></li>
    </ul>
    <h5 class="side" style="margin-top:20px;">Other Rake Tasks</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Etc..</li>
      <li>Etc..</li>
      <li>Etc..</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

raketasks_controller.rb

class RaketasksController < ApplicationController

  before_filter :login_required, :authorize
  before_filter :set_pagetitle

  def set_pagetitle
    @pagetitle = "Raketasks"
  end
  
  def index
  end

  def rake_example_task
    Rails.env == 'development' ? (call_rake :example_task, 'windows') : (call_rake :example_task, 'linux')
    flash[:notice] = "Example task is running."
    redirect_to raketasks_url
  end

  def call_render
    @lines = ""
    rakeread = IO.readlines(RAKE_FILE_LOGS)
    rakeread.each do |line|
      @lines << line
    end
    render :update do |page|
      page.replace_html "rake", :partial => "rake_partial"
    end
  end

end

routes.rb

map.resources :raketasks, :only => :index
map.rake_example_task '/rake_example_task', :controller => 'raketasks', :action => 'rake_example_task'