Less Js Routes

Have you ever wanted to use named routes in your JavaScript? So have I. Now you can.

LessJsRoutes will generate a javascript file with functions that give you the path to the route and functions that will call these routes using ajax (uses jQuery or Prototype).

Installation

1. ./script/plugin install http://lessjsroutes.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/less_js_routes 2. Add ‘less_routes’ to your javascript_include tag 3. Either:

RAKE TASK:
  rake less:js:routes
  will create public/javascripts/less_routes.js

AND/OR

ENVIRONMENT:
  add 
  Less::JsRoutes.generate!
  to your environment file. This will auto generate less_routes.js every time your rails app is started.

4. There is no number 4.

Usage

In your routes file: map.resources :users do |user| user.resources :profiles end

In your layout: <%= javascript_include_tag :defaults, ‘less_routes’ %>

In your applicaiton.js (or any script block): users_path() => ’/users/’ users_ajax() => GET ’/users/’ user_path(1) => ’/users/1/’ user_ajax(1) => GET ’/user/1’ user_profile_path(1,5) => ’/users/1/profiles/5/’ user_profile_ajax(1,5) => GET ’/users/1/profiles/5/’ user_ajax(‘post’, {name: ‘fonzie’, password: ‘cool’, password_confirmation: ‘cool’}) => POST ’/users/’ change_password_user_ajax(‘put’, {password: ‘cool’, new_password: ‘2cool’, password_confirmation: ‘2cool’}) => PUT ’/users/’

_path functions return the path and take the proper variables, :id, :nested_id, :format, etc.
_ajax functions return the server response of the ajax call. The parameters are (1) the proper variable, :id, :nested_id, :format, :etc, (2) the http verb (get, post, put, delete) (get is default), an object of parameters, an object of any jQuery.ajax options that should be added to the ajax call.

Notes

Less Js Routes will use jQuery if available and Prototype if it is not.
If a formatted ajax function is called with a json format, the json string will be converted and returned as a JavaScript object, not a string.
This hasn’t had a lot of testing in the wild, so please report any bugs you find to http://code.google.com/p/lessjsroutes/issues/entry.

Brought to you with love, from Less Everything (http://lesseverything.com)