render from model in Rails 3

mymodel.rb

# yes, sometimes you need to do this. you get pilloried in a forum if you
# ask about it, though!

# this code taken from
# http://wholemeal.co.nz/blog/2011/04/05/rendering-from-a-model-in-rails-3/

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  # Use the my_models/_my_model.txt.erb view to render this object as a string
  def to_s
    ActionView::Base.new(Rails.configuration.paths.app.views.first).render(
      :partial => 'my_models/my_model', :format => :txt,
      :locals => { :my_model => self}
    )
  end
end

THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND THANK YOU... I had tried many different variations and this is the first one that worked!

@nathanbertram Thank you.

Thanks Man! Very Help Me

Thanks buddy

I was doing this recently for injecting a view_context for an Rspec test. I was having issues with the URL helpers even though the default_url_options were set in config/environments/test.rb

ended up adding to the class_eval

action_view.class_eval do 
  include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers
  def default_url_options
    { :host => "example.com" }
  end
  # ...
end

Worked for me.. might possibly help others :)

Excellent! Thank you!
I wonder, though, how fast is this, since we know that rails rendering a view can be slow.
Is there a way to embed this model rendering via helper?