handlebone

This gem is extracted out of a backbone project where we are using handlebars templates. It contains:

  • handlebars.js
  • A HandlebarsView superclass
  • a rails helper module for rendering all your handlebars templates into your rails view
  • Some handlebars helpers to make things easier

Usage

This gem is designed to integrate with the asset pipeline of rails 3.1+. Somewhere in your coffeescript or javascript code you'll need to require it:

#= require handlebars_view

This will bring in handlebars and the view superclass. To use it, write a view like so:

class FooView extends HandlebarsView

  name: "foo_view"

This will cause the view to look for a template in an element with id "foo_view_template" and use handlebars to render this view, passing in the view's model as the template context. You can change this by overriding the templateContext function in your view.

HandlebarsHelpers

Some helper methods to make writing those templates easier. 

{{get "property"}}

This will grab a property from the model that is the current context

{{#eachProperty "children"}}hi!{{/eachProperty}}

A block helper that iterates over a property that contains an array.

Somewhere in your DOM ready, you'll need to call registerHelpers. Like so:

$ -> Backbone.HandlebarsHelpers.registerHelpers()

Also, you can register your own helpers by passing an object where each propery is a method that will become a helper

Backbone.HandlebarsHelpers.registerHelpers(new MyHelpers())

RenderTemplatesHelper

We've found it best practice to keep our handlebars templates in separate files so our rails views don't get all noisy. This all let's use the same HandleBars view on more than one rails view and in our jasmine specs. This gem also includes a rails helper module RenderTemplatesHelper. Best to just look at the code to see what it does for now, it's super simple.