Sails.js - How to inject a js file to a specific route?

Question 1

Sails uses ejs-locals in its view rendering, so you can accomplish what you want with blocks.

In your layout.ejs file, underneath the , add (for example):

<%- blocks.localScripts %>

Then in the view you're serving at /locations/map, call the block with your script tag, for example:

<% block('localScripts', '<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js"></script>') %>

As an alternative, you could put the  and  tags in the <head> of your layout, and then add your view-specific scripts directly into your view rather than using blocks. This is a fine option if you don't mind waiting for those linked scripts to load before your page content is displayed.

Question 2

Scott's answer is the proper way to insert non-global JS into a specific view. Just a little comment, though: the block call from the view should not have the dash. It should be as follows:

<% block('localScripts', '<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js"></script>') %>

Both calls will work, but using the dash makes the insertion twice; once the view is loaded and previous to the layout render, and then once again when the view is inserted in the rendered base layout. This leads not only to inserting/running unnecessarily twice the same code but also to errors that break your JS code if the inserted script depends on libraries that you have in your base layout (e.g. jQuery, Backbone).

EJS interprets the magic <%- as "insert unescaped". So, -I guess- what this is doing is calling the block() function, which returns our HTML <script> tag. This is replaced where the magic was called but also is executing the block() function inside of it, which is executing the layout block localScripts replacement.

On the other hand, <% means "instruction". I.e., just run this JS piece of code, which is not echoed to the view where is called.

Question 3

I discover other way to do that

In MapController.js

// you can add as many as you like
res.locals.scripts = [
  '//maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js',
];
return res.view();

In layout.ejs

<!--SCRIPTS-->
<!--SCRIPTS END-->

<!-- Loop through all scripts that passed from controller -->
<% if (scripts) { %>
    <% for (i = 0; i < scripts.length; i++) { %>
        <script src="<%- scripts[i] %>"></script>
    <% } %>
<% } %>

Question 4

This method allows flexibility to locally serve js files from any page and also prevent any reference errors caused by dependencies.

In pipeline.js insert '!js/local/*.js at the bottom of jsFilesToInject like so:

var jsFilesToInject = [

// Load sails.io before everything else
'js/dependencies/sails.io.js',

// Dependencies like jQuery, or Angular are brought in here
'js/dependencies/jquery-3.3.1.min.js',
'js/dependencies/**/*.js',

// All of the rest of your client-side js files
// will be injected here in no particular order.
'js/**/*.js',

//Ignore local injected scripts
'!js/local/*.js' 

];

Create a local folder inside the /assets/js folder ie /assets/js/local/. Place any locally injected scripts in here.

In your master view ejs ie layout.ejs insert <%- blocks.localScripts %> below the SCRIPTS block like this:

<!--SCRIPTS-->
<script src="/js/dependencies/sails.io.js"></script>
<script src="/js/dependencies/jquery-3.3.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="/js/dependencies/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<script src="/js/dependencies/popper.min.js"></script>
<!--SCRIPTS END--> 
<%- blocks.localScripts %>

In your local ejs view (eg. homepage.ejs) insert your localScripts block like this:

<% block('localScripts', '<script src="/js/local/homepage.js"></script>') %>

sails v0.12.14

EDIT Is this still relevant for Sails v1.0?

My answer is a resounding YES and in my earlier answer I lacked explaining how to get the most out of the Grunt pipeline like clean, coffee, concat, uglify etc... when going into production.

The trick here is to make a local file (there should only be one per page) as small as possible.

Group and name specific your function calls
Save functions as separate files for easy maintenance and group them into folders.
Group bindings and any initialising of global variables into a couple of functions like initThisPageVariables() and initThisPageBindings() so that Grunt can crunch these later.
Set a master function call to run your app startThisPageApp()

Then simply calling the few functions from your local (master) file to get things rolling.

$(window).on('load', function(){

   initThisPageVariables();
   initThisPageBindings();

   $(window).on("resize", function(){
      initThisPageVariables();
   }).resize();

   startThisPageApp(); 

});

Question 5

I know this is an old question by I discovered another option.

File:

config\routes.js

Code:

'/': 'HomeController.StartHome'

I set StartHome function in HomeController responsible for managing '/' route.

File:

api\controllers\HomeController.js

Code:

StartHome: function(req, res) {

    var template_data = {
        "data" : {
            "view_name" : "home_view"
        }

    }

    res.view('home_view', template_data)
}

Here, I created an object with some data which is passed to EJS template(to client).

File:

views\layout.ejs

Code:

<% if (data["view_name"] === "home_view") { %>
<script src="script_for_home_view.js"></script>
<% } %>

In my layouts.ejs I created if statement which "enables" script tag depending on on the view I am currently on.

This is how I handle this. I hope it's clear for you.

Sails 0.12.4