render_update_helpers.rb

# this is from my users_controller file 
  def reset_password
    # reset user's password here...
    respond_to do |format|
      format.html { redirect_to(users_url) }
      format.js  do 
        render :update do |page|
            # this is where I had a bunch of page. calls that I called in several methods
            # they've all disapeared into the replace_user_row method
            replace_user_row(page)
        end
      end
    end
  end

  helper_method :replace_user_row
  def replace_user_row(page)
    page.replace_html dom_id(@user), :partial => "users/user_row", :locals=>{:user=>@user}  
    page.replace_html "manage_#{dom_id(@user)}", :partial => "user_actions", :locals=>{:user=>@user}
    page.show "manage_#{dom_id @user}"
    page.show "close_#{dom_id(@user)}"
    page.hide "loading_#{dom_id(@user)}"
    page.hide "open_#{dom_id(@user)}"
  end