different layout for sign_in action in devise

Another way to apply custom layout for an action is as following.

According to How To: Create custom layouts "You can also set the layout for specific Devise controllers using a callback in config/environment.rb (rails 2) or config/application.rb (rails 3). This needs to be done in a to_prepare callback because it's executed once in production and before each request in development."

config.to_prepare do
    Devise::SessionsController.layout "devise"
    Devise::RegistrationsController.layout proc{ |controller| user_signed_in? ? "application"   : "devise" }
    Devise::ConfirmationsController.layout "devise"
    Devise::UnlocksController.layout "devise"            
    Devise::PasswordsController.layout "devise"        
end

Usually a layout distinction is made between pages behind login and pages which do not require authentication, so the above approach works most of the time. But I also experimented with using action_name helper to set a layout for a particular action and it worked like charm:

config.to_prepare do
    Devise::SessionsController.layout proc{ |controller| action_name == 'new' ? "devise"   : "application" }
end

I think this is the better and built in way to change the layout based on devise controller/action instead of creating a helper in ApplicationController.

I just created app/views/layouts/devise/sessions.html.erb and put my layout in there.