[Rails] Can Rails render pages if there is no database connected?

[Duane Johnson]

I thought I knew the answer to this question ('yes'), however,  
recently I've been trying to build an app that detects whether or not  
the administrator has correctly configured the database.  I'd like to  
give instructions in the negative case.

So here's where I'm at: if the database is configured, my app runs  
wonderfully; however, if the database doesn't exist, or if the  
database login/password is incorrect, then Rails is completely  
unresponsive.  When I load any page, I get a blank white screen.   
Checking the logs (even the server output) gives nothing at all (not  
even a GET is reported in the terminal where I have Lighttpd running).

I created a simple Rails application from scratch ("rails simple" at  
the command line) and went to the index.html page.  That worked fine;  
however, the 'About your application's environment' link shows  
nothing but a thin yellow line.  Checking the URL that it goes to  
confirms that the same thing as described above is occurring: no  
response at all.

Is this expected behavior, or is there something obvious I'm doing  
wrong that's preventing my app from running without the database?

Thanks,

Duane Johnson
(canadaduane)
http://blog.inquirylabs.com/