Paloma

Paloma provides a sexy way to organize javascript files using Rails' asset pipeline. It adds the capability to execute specific javascript code after rendering the controller's response.

Advantages

• Javascript files are organized per controller just like app/views folder of Rails.
• Javascript file per controller's action.
• The ability to choose what specific javascript code to run on a specific action.

Quick Example

The javascript callback file paloma/users/new.js:

Paloma.callbacks['users/new'] = function(params){
    // This will only run after executing users/new action
    alert('Hello New Sexy User');
};

The Rails controller app/controllers/users_controller.rb:

def UsersController < ApplicationController
    def new
        @user = User.new
        # No special function to call, the javascript callback will be executed automatically
    end
end

That's it! Simply Sexy!

Minimum Requirements

• jQuery 1.7 or higher
• Rails 3.1 or higher

Install

Without bundler:

sudo gem install paloma

With bundler, add this to your Gemfile:

gem paloma

Setup

On setup, the paloma folder will be generated in app/assets/javascripts/ containing its required files. Run:

rails g paloma:setup

Directory Structure

paloma folder contains the javascript callbacks.

• paloma
  • [controllers]
    • [action].js
    • [other_action].js
  • [other_controllers]
    • [action].js
    • [other_action].js
    • [more_action].js

Generators

1. Generate a controller folder containing its required files:

rails g paloma:add [controllers]

**Example:**
```
rails g paloma:add users
```

**Generates:**
* /paloma
    * /users

2. Generate a callback file for a controller's action:

rails g paloma:add [controllers]/[action]

**Example:**
```
rails g paloma:add users/new
```

**Generates:**
* /paloma
    * /users
        * new.js

Note: You can directly run rails g paloma:add [controllers]/[action] even the controller folder is not yet existing on paloma folder. It will be created automatically.

Advanced Callbacks

By default Paloma will execute the callback that matches the response's current controller and action if it finds one. For instance if the current response is from the new action of the Users controller, then Paloma will execute the callback named users/new.

You can manipulate callback behavior by using the js_callback command before the render or redirect_to command in your controllers.

1. Preventing the Callback to execute.

   def destroy
       user = User.find params[:id]
       user.destroy
   
       js_callback false
   end
   

   [controllers]/destroy callback will not be executed.

2. Using other action's callback from the same controller.

   def edit
       @user = User.find params[:id]
       js_callback :new
   end
   

   This will execute [controller]/new callback instead of [controller]/edit.

3. Using other action's callback from other controller.

   def index
       @users = User.all
       js_callback :controller => 'clients', :action => 'index'
   end
   

   This will execute clients/index callback instead of [controller]/index.

Passing Parameters

You can also pass parameters to the callback by passing a :params key to js_callback. The passed parameters will be available on the callback by the params object.

Example:

users_controller.rb

def destroy
    user = User.find params[:id]
    user.destroy
    
    js_callback :params => {:user_id => params[:id]}
end

/paloma/users/destroy.js

Paloma.callbacks['users/destroy'] = function(params){
    var id = params['user_id'];
    alert('User ' + id + ' deleted.');
};

Callback Helpers

Callback helpers are inside Paloma objects in order to prevent conflicts from different functions and variables.

1. Global

   Helper functions and variables can defined in paloma/paloma.js inside the Paloma.g object.

   Example:

   Paloma.g = {
       helper: function(){
           // do something sexy
       },
   
       helper_variable: 1000
   };
   

2. Controller's Scope

   Helper functions that you will only use for a certain controller can be defined in paloma/[controllers]/_local.js inside the Paloma.[controllers] object.

   Example:

   Paloma.users = {
       local_helper: function(){
           // do something sexy
       },
   
       helper_variable: 1
   };
   

Callback Chains

Callback chains are created after a redirect action. The chain will continue to increase its length until a render action is detected.

Example:

def first_action
    redirect_to second_action_path
end

def second_action
    redirect_to third_action_path
end

def third_action
    render :template => 'third_action_view'
end

A request for first_action will lead to 2 redirects until it reaches the third_action and renders a result on the browser. When the third_action renders its response, Paloma will execute the callbacks for all the 3 actions.

The order of execution will be [controller]/first_action first, then [controller]/second_action, and finally [controller]/third_action.

Gotchas

• Callbacks will not be executed if the response is js, json, xml or any other format except html. This will not work: render "something.js.erb"