Code snippet for application.rb that makes life just a little easier if multiple actions are doing exactly the same thing (both in the controller and the view):

def self.alias_action(existing, aliased)
  define_method(aliased.to_sym) do
    send(existing.to_sym)
    render :action => existing.to_s
  end
end

</code>

And then in the appropriate controller (where edit is an existing action, and show needs to be exactly the same):

alias_action :edit, :show

</code>

I know this is a specialised use - but perhaps someone else out there is doing something similar.

def edit; show; end