render default template when requested template is missing in Rails

Question

For a plugin I want to hack the following feature into Rails:

When a (partial) template does not exist (regardless of the format) I want to render a default template

Answer 1

Rails 3.1 automatically looks for files in application/template.html.erb after looking in controller/template.html.erb you can see this in the Exception like so:

Missing template [controller name]/index, application/index with {:locale=>[:en, :en], :formats=>[:html], :handlers=>[:erb, :coffee, :builder]}. Searched in: * "/path/to/rails_project/app/views" 

so, just put your default templates in app/views/application