Access Rails global constant in Javascript / jQuery - javascript

My setup: Rails 3.0.9, Ruby 1.9.2, jQuery 1.6.2
Rails
constants.rb (initializer file)
DEFAULT_REPLY = "Add a reply..."
Rails
index.html.erb
<%= javascript_include_tag 'reply' %>
...(rest of view code)...
reply.js
$(function() {
var default_reply = <%= h DEFAULT_REPLY -%>;
...(rest of jQuery code)...
});
This throws an error Uncaught SyntaxError:Unexpected token %=, I tried to enclose it in quotes like var default_reply = '<%= h DEFAULT_REPLY -%>' and it output the value as is, meaning default_value has the value of <%= h DEFAULT_REPLY -%>' which is clearly not what I intended. What am I doing wrong?
EDIT
Given the feedback, I have reconsidered and is now using a local variable and jQuery to pull the value from the textarea upon page load.

You need to add .erb to the end of your .js file, along with add the quotes around the string.
The name of your javascript file should be reply.js.erb.
Currently, your .js file is not being run through rails, and is being served statically. That is why when you put the quotes around the string, it output the string '<%= h DEFAULT_REPLY %>' instead of the correct text.

I'd strongly recommend against this approach but I think you're confusing two things here.
Assuming reply.js is in public/javascripts/reply.js, this is a static JS file that is served up by your server. You cannot put any dynamic ("server side") code in here as the file is not evaluated in any manner, just passed back statically.
If you want a global JS variable to use in your files, you'd need to do assign it in your layout file app/views/layouts/application.html.erb or in your action files (index.html.erb, show.html.erb, etc).
Any ERB file is evaluated before returning it, so you could put
<script type='text/javascript'>
$(function() {
var default_reply = "<%= escape_javascript DEFAULT_REPLY %>";
});
</script>
above the <%= yield %> statement of your layout file.
Again, I'd STRONGLY recommend against this approach but if that's why you need, I think this will solve it.

It sounds like you named your view template incorrectly, does it end in .html.erb? If not, it won't evaluate the ERB fragment you pasted.
Once you fix that, you can embed what you want with the following ERB code:
$(function() {
var default_reply = "<%= h DEFAULT_REPLY -%>";
...
});

If it is a rails 3 App why are you using that syntax? try:
var default_reply = <%= DEFAULT_REPLY %>;

Related

Why is EJS replacing " with &#34 when sending JSON string to Javascript Variable in html code [duplicate]

I'm working on a Node.js app (it's a game). In this case, I have some code set up such that when a person visits the index and chooses a room, he gets redirected to the proper room.
Right now, it's being done like this with Express v2.5.8:
server.get("/room/:name/:roomId, function (req, res) {
game = ~databaseLookup~
res.render("board", { gameState : game.gameState });
}
Over in board.ejs I can access the gameState manner with code like this:
<% if (gameState) { %>
<h2>I have a game state!</h2>
<% } %>
Is there a way for me to import this into my JavaScript logic? I want to be able to do something like var gs = ~import ejs gameState~ and then be able to do whatever I want with it--access its variables, print it out to console for verification. Eventually, what I want to do with this gameState is to display the board properly, and to do that I'll need to do things like access the positions of the pieces and then display them properly on the screen.
Thanks!
You could directly inject the gameState variable into javascript on the page.
<% if (gameState) { %>
<h2>I have a game state!</h2>
<script>
var clientGameState = <%= gameState %>
</script>
<% } %>
Another option might be to make an AJAX call back to the server once the page has already loaded, return the gameState JSON, and set clientGameState to the JSON response.
You may also be interested in this: How can I share code between Node.js and the browser?
I had the same problem. I needed to use the data not for just rendering the page, but in my js script. Because the page is just string when rendered, you have to turn the data in a string, then parse it again in js. In my case my data was a JSON array, so:
<script>
var test = '<%- JSON.stringify(sampleJsonData) %>'; // test is now a valid js object
</script>
Single quotes are there to not be mixed with double-quotes of stringify. Also from ejs docs:
"<%- Outputs the unescaped value into the template"
The same can be done for arrays. Just concat the array then split again.
I feel that the below logic is better and it worked for me.
Assume the variable passed to the ejs page is uid, you can have the contents of the div tag or a h tag with the variable passed. You can access the contents of the div or h tag in the script and assign it to a variable.
code sample below : (in ejs)
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
var x = $("#uid").html();
alert(x); // now JS variable 'x' has the uid that's passed from the node backend.
});
</script>
<h2 style="display:none;" id="uid"><%=uid %></h2>
In the EJS template:
ex:- testing.ejs
<html>
<!-- content -->
<script>
// stringify the data passed from router to ejs (within the EJS template only)
var parsed_data = <%- JSON.stringify(data) %>
</script>
</html>
In the Server side script:
ex: Router.js
res.render('/testing', {
data: data // any data to be passed to ejs template
});
In the linked js (or jquery) script file:
ex:- script.js
In JavaScript:
console.log(parsed_data)
In JQuery:
$(document).ready(function(){
console.log(parsed_data)
});
Note:
1. user - instead of = in <% %> tag
2. you can't declare or use data passed from router to view directly into the linked javascript or jquery script file directly.
3. declare the <% %> in the EJS template only and use it any linked script file.
I'm not sure but I've found it to be the best practice to use passed data from router to view in a script file or script tag.
This works for me.
// bar chart data
var label = '<%- JSON.stringify(bowlers) %>';
var dataset = '<%- JSON.stringify(data) %>';
var barData = {
labels: JSON.parse(label),
datasets: JSON.parse(dataset)
}
You can assign backend js to front end ejs by making the backend js as a string.
<script>
var testVar = '<%= backEnd_Var%>';
</script>
This should work
res.render("board", { gameState : game.gameState });
in frontend js
const gameState = '<%- JSON.stringify(gameState) %>'
Well, in this case you can simply use input text to get data. It is easy and tested when you use it in firebase.
<input type="text" id="getID" style="display: none" value="<%=id%>">
I know this was answered a long time ago but thought I would add to it since I ran into a similar issue that required a different solution.
Essentially I was trying to access an EJS variable that was an array of JSON objects through javascript logic like so:
<script>
// obj is the ejs variable that contains JSON objects from the backend
var data = '<%= obj %>';
</script>
When I would then try and use forEach() on data I would get errors, which was because '<%= obj %>' provides a string, not an object.
To solve this:
<script>
var data = <%- obj %>;
</script>
After removing the string wrapping and changing to <%- (so as to not escape html going to the buffer) I could access the object and loop through it using forEach()
Suppose you are sending user data from the node server.
app.get("/home",isLoggedIn,(req,res)=>{
res.locals.pageTitle="Home"
res.locals.user=req.user
res.render("home.ejs");
})
And now you can use the 'user' variable in the ejs template. But to use the same value using client-side javascipt. You will have to pass the data to a variable in the tag.
Passing ejs variable to client-side variable:
<script>
let user= '<%- JSON.stringify(user) %>';
</script>
<script>home.js</script>
Now you can access the user variable at home.js

Can a js script get a variable written in a EJS context/page within the same file

As I wrote in the title, I'd like to get a value from a variable written into a ejs page/file, from a javascript file within the same page
EJS:
<% var test = 101; %>
JS:
<script>
var getTest = test;
</script>
Or what if I'd like to use a function (with parameter) written into a EJS file and use this function in a JS context where the parameter is given to the function from JS context
EJS:
<% function fn(par){ ... } %>
JS:
<script>
var test = 101;
<%>fn(test)<%>
</script>
Edit: this Half considers you are using EJS on server side
1) You can pass an ejs variable value to a Javascript variable
<% var test = 101; %> // variable created by ejs
<script>
var getTest = <%= test %>; //var test is now assigned to getTest which will only work on browsers
console.log(getTest); // successfully prints 101 on browser
</script>
simply create an ejs variable and assign the value inside the script tag to the var getTest
Ex: var getTest = <%= test %>;
2) You can't pass an javascript variable value to a ejs variable
Yes, you cant: if it is on server.
Why:
The EJS template will be rendered on the server before the Javscript is started execution(it will start on browser), so there is no way going back to server and ask for some previous changes on the page which is already sent to the browser.
Edit: this Half considers you are using EJS on Client side
3) if EJS is on client side, and pass EJS variable to javascript
The answer above will still work, but you will require to load the script within the EJS template, not the script loaded before the template rendered(in that case it will of-course no be a valid javascript).
4) if EJS is on client side, and pass javascript variable to EJS
I m sorry I have myself not tried this case, but I really look forward if someone answers this case
The above answer didn't work for me. You can use a div this way:
<div id="mydiv" data-test=<%= test %>></div>
And access the data variable 'test' that you gave it in a script tag:
<script>var test = document.getElementById('mydiv').dataset.test</script>
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement/dataset
Solution with a string
<% var test =myString; %> // variable created by ejs
<script>
var getTest = "<%= test %>"; //var test is now assigned to getTest which will only work on browsers
alert(getTest); // successfully prints the string on browser
</script>
Don't forget the quotes around "<%= test %>"
If test is an object, you can use this:
<script>
let getTest = <%- JSON.stringify(test) %>
</script>
Sadly though, depending on what your code editor is, it may be showing that this syntax is bad and will be underlining it with red to mark it as a syntax error. However, this works perfectly fine when you run it.
Inside your <script>,
you can create a div element:
const div = document.createElement('div');
and give it an innerText value like:
div.innerText = `<%= data_from_your_server_response %>`
If you console.log(div), the data from your server response will be displayed.

How do I embed EJS code in static Javascript?

I am using Nodejs and ExpressJS .
I have an HTML page , which has a Javascript file being referred to .
<script type="text/javascript" src="../javascripts/game.js"></script>
I have not embedded all the Javascript into the HTML page itself because its too big .
Now I need my Javascript ( game.js ) to access some of the variables being passed by the controller . I want to do something like this -
var max_players = parseInt("<%= table.total_players %>");
console.log("<%= table.name %>")
I am passing the table variable while rendering the page .
exports.index = function(req,res){
//code
res.render('mytable', {table: table });
};
But this obviously doesnt work because the JS file is being rendered as a static file .
How do I go about if I need to make these variables accessible to the Javascript ?
I read somewhere that this can be achieved by renaming Game.js to Game.ejs . But where do I put the Game.js file ( so that its rendered properly and dynamically ? )
If there are any other ways to achieve this , please also let me know .
Probably the simplest option would be to output the globals you need from table (or table itself) in another <script> before game.js:
<script>
var max_players = <%- JSON.stringify(table.total_players) %>;
console.log(<%- JSON.stringify(table.name) %>);
/* Alternative:
var table = <%- JSON.stringify(table) %>;
var max_players = table.total_players;
console.log(table.name);
*/
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../javascripts/game.js"></script>
Note the use of <%- ... %> vs. <%= ... %>, which will skip HTML-encoding the output as that can cause syntax errors in.
Using JSON.stringify() here takes advantage of the syntax relation between JSON and JavaScript. The values will be written as JSON data server-side, but parsed as JavaScript literals client-side.
If you want to run game.js itself through EJS, you can move it into your ./views directory, add a route for it, and res.render() it.
Note that you'll need to set the Content-Type as the assumed value will be text/html, which could some browsers will refuse to parse.
// ~/views/game-js.ejs
var max_players = <%- JSON.stringify(table.total_players) %>;
console.log(<%- JSON.stringify(table.name) %>);
// ...
app.get('/javascripts/game.js', function (req, res) {
// code
res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/javascript');
res.render('game-js', { table: table });
});
Another option would be to have game.js make a request for table. You can see an example of this in a previous edit of this post.

How to deal with HTML entities in Rails to_json output?

I'm writing an app that uses Rails on the backend and javascript/backbone on the frontend. I'm trying to bootstrap some rails models into my javascript. Specifically, I'd like to load the contents of #courses into a js variable called window.courses. I've got the following in an html.erb file.
<%= javascript_tag do %>
window.courses = JSON.parse('<%= #courses.to_json %>');
<% end %>
I'm expecting the erb preprocessor to render this into valid javascript, like so
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
window.courses = JSON.parse('[{"code":"myCourseCode", ...
//]]>
</script>
... but, instead, I'm getting code that includes HTML entities.
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
window.courses = JSON.parse('[{"code":"myCourseCode", ...
//]]>
</script>
Obviously, I get javascript errors when I try to parse this.
Does anyone know how I can deal with these HTML entities in order to produce valid javascript? I realize that one option would be to unescape the entities on the client side, but this seems like a roundabout solution. Is there a way that I can get Rails to produce JSON that doesn't need unescaping?
If you intend to use raw(obj.to_json) you MUST ensure the following is set.
ActiveSupport.escape_html_entities_in_json = true
The question is solved by my comment, just for the record:
Rails escapes strings that are printed using <%= 'string' %>. By this, it is save to ouput user data.
So, if you don't want Rails to escape the output, you have to tell Rails explicitly by using raw('string').
In your code, that would be:
<%= raw(#courses.to_json) %>

Accessing EJS variable in Javascript logic

I'm working on a Node.js app (it's a game). In this case, I have some code set up such that when a person visits the index and chooses a room, he gets redirected to the proper room.
Right now, it's being done like this with Express v2.5.8:
server.get("/room/:name/:roomId, function (req, res) {
game = ~databaseLookup~
res.render("board", { gameState : game.gameState });
}
Over in board.ejs I can access the gameState manner with code like this:
<% if (gameState) { %>
<h2>I have a game state!</h2>
<% } %>
Is there a way for me to import this into my JavaScript logic? I want to be able to do something like var gs = ~import ejs gameState~ and then be able to do whatever I want with it--access its variables, print it out to console for verification. Eventually, what I want to do with this gameState is to display the board properly, and to do that I'll need to do things like access the positions of the pieces and then display them properly on the screen.
Thanks!
You could directly inject the gameState variable into javascript on the page.
<% if (gameState) { %>
<h2>I have a game state!</h2>
<script>
var clientGameState = <%= gameState %>
</script>
<% } %>
Another option might be to make an AJAX call back to the server once the page has already loaded, return the gameState JSON, and set clientGameState to the JSON response.
You may also be interested in this: How can I share code between Node.js and the browser?
I had the same problem. I needed to use the data not for just rendering the page, but in my js script. Because the page is just string when rendered, you have to turn the data in a string, then parse it again in js. In my case my data was a JSON array, so:
<script>
var test = '<%- JSON.stringify(sampleJsonData) %>'; // test is now a valid js object
</script>
Single quotes are there to not be mixed with double-quotes of stringify. Also from ejs docs:
"<%- Outputs the unescaped value into the template"
The same can be done for arrays. Just concat the array then split again.
I feel that the below logic is better and it worked for me.
Assume the variable passed to the ejs page is uid, you can have the contents of the div tag or a h tag with the variable passed. You can access the contents of the div or h tag in the script and assign it to a variable.
code sample below : (in ejs)
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
var x = $("#uid").html();
alert(x); // now JS variable 'x' has the uid that's passed from the node backend.
});
</script>
<h2 style="display:none;" id="uid"><%=uid %></h2>
In the EJS template:
ex:- testing.ejs
<html>
<!-- content -->
<script>
// stringify the data passed from router to ejs (within the EJS template only)
var parsed_data = <%- JSON.stringify(data) %>
</script>
</html>
In the Server side script:
ex: Router.js
res.render('/testing', {
data: data // any data to be passed to ejs template
});
In the linked js (or jquery) script file:
ex:- script.js
In JavaScript:
console.log(parsed_data)
In JQuery:
$(document).ready(function(){
console.log(parsed_data)
});
Note:
1. user - instead of = in <% %> tag
2. you can't declare or use data passed from router to view directly into the linked javascript or jquery script file directly.
3. declare the <% %> in the EJS template only and use it any linked script file.
I'm not sure but I've found it to be the best practice to use passed data from router to view in a script file or script tag.
This works for me.
// bar chart data
var label = '<%- JSON.stringify(bowlers) %>';
var dataset = '<%- JSON.stringify(data) %>';
var barData = {
labels: JSON.parse(label),
datasets: JSON.parse(dataset)
}
You can assign backend js to front end ejs by making the backend js as a string.
<script>
var testVar = '<%= backEnd_Var%>';
</script>
This should work
res.render("board", { gameState : game.gameState });
in frontend js
const gameState = '<%- JSON.stringify(gameState) %>'
Well, in this case you can simply use input text to get data. It is easy and tested when you use it in firebase.
<input type="text" id="getID" style="display: none" value="<%=id%>">
I know this was answered a long time ago but thought I would add to it since I ran into a similar issue that required a different solution.
Essentially I was trying to access an EJS variable that was an array of JSON objects through javascript logic like so:
<script>
// obj is the ejs variable that contains JSON objects from the backend
var data = '<%= obj %>';
</script>
When I would then try and use forEach() on data I would get errors, which was because '<%= obj %>' provides a string, not an object.
To solve this:
<script>
var data = <%- obj %>;
</script>
After removing the string wrapping and changing to <%- (so as to not escape html going to the buffer) I could access the object and loop through it using forEach()
Suppose you are sending user data from the node server.
app.get("/home",isLoggedIn,(req,res)=>{
res.locals.pageTitle="Home"
res.locals.user=req.user
res.render("home.ejs");
})
And now you can use the 'user' variable in the ejs template. But to use the same value using client-side javascipt. You will have to pass the data to a variable in the tag.
Passing ejs variable to client-side variable:
<script>
let user= '<%- JSON.stringify(user) %>';
</script>
<script>home.js</script>
Now you can access the user variable at home.js

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