Backbone on Rails

A simple gem for using Backbone.js with Rails.

http://git.io/backbone-on-rails

Features

• Vendors the latest Backbone.js + Underscore.js in the asset pipeline

• Provides an install generator to create a skeleton directory structure and manifest

• Provides a scaffold generator to create files and boilerplate

• Uses the naming conventions from thoughtbot's Backbone.js on Rails

• Generates CoffeeScript (default) or JavaScript

Usage

gem 'backbone-on-rails'

bundle install

rails generate backbone:install

rails generate backbone:scaffold NAME

Note: Remember to restart the server after installing

See also:

• http://railscasts.com/episodes/323-backbone-on-rails-part-1
• http://railscasts.com/episodes/325-backbone-on-rails-part-2

Output

Example output from backbone:scaffold planet

app/assets/
├── javascripts
│   ├── application.js
│   ├── space_app.js.coffee
│   ├── collections
│   │   └── planets.js.coffee
│   ├── models
│   │   └── planet.js.coffee
│   ├── routers
│   │   └── planets_router.js.coffee
│   └── views
│       └── planets
│           └── planets_index.js.coffee
└── templates
    └── planets
        └── index.jst.eco

Tricks

# Custom manifest
rails generate backbone:install --manifest index.js

# Generate JavaScript
rails generate backbone:install --javascript

# Custom Appname
rails generate backbone:install --app=CustomApp

# Place code within a sub directory structure
rails generate backbone:install --dir=custom_app

# Remove generated files
rails destroy backbone:scaffold planet

# Create a custom app name
rails generate backbone:scaffold planet -a=CustomApp

# Generate scaffold in sub directory of assets/javascripts & assets/templates
rails generate backbone:scaffold planet -d=custom_app

# Use Handlebars File instead of JST
rails generate backbone:scaffold planet --template=hbs

# Use SHT instead of JST as template namespace
rails generate backbone:scaffold planet --template_namespace=SHT

Alternatives

For other features check out:

• https://github.com/codebrew/backbone-rails
• https://github.com/aflatter/backbone-rails