headjs-rails

This gem adds a helper and a generator to facilitate the use of Head JS in your Rails 3 projects, the same way you would normally add javascript tags using Rails javascript_include_tag helper.

In your Gemfile, add this line:

gem "headjs-rails"

Then, run bundle install. To invoke the generator and install the latest Head JS files in your public/javascripts folder, run:

rails generate headjs:install

Now just add headjs to your head, using default rails javascript_include_tag('head.min') for example, and put the rest of your scripts at the bottom of your layout with the headjs_include_tag method the gem provides. This method is a wrapper of javascript_include_tag and accepts the exact same methods, so it should work fine with any other gem/plugin that works with it.

headjs_include_tag(:defaults)
headjs_include_tag(:all)
headjs_include_tag('http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.4/jquery.min.js')
headjs_include_tag('jquery', 'jquery.ui', 'jquery.plugin', 'rails')
headjs_include_tag(:defaults, :cache => true)
headjs_include_tag(:defaults, 'jquery.ui', :cache => 'bundle')

The sources will have labels automatically assigned based on the filename (removing .js, .min.js and any other parameter).

headjs_include_tag('jquery', 'rails')
# <script type="text/javascript">head.js( { 'jquery': '/javascripts/jquery.js?23495342' }, { 'rails': '/javascripts/rails.js?458292234' } );</script>

headjs_include_tag(:defaults, :cache => 'bundle')
# <script type="text/javascript">head.js( { 'bundle': '/javascripts/bundle.js' } );</script>

Don't forget to use head.ready() in any code that runs inside your views. More information in Head JS API.

I also suggest you take a look at the smurf gem, a drop-in gem that automatically minifies Javascript (and CSS) when you use caching and rails default include tag helpers. It works fine with headjs_include_tag as well as it's just a wrapper of javascript_include_tag.

Clone the repo, run bundle install and bundle exec rake test.

Fork the project and send pull requests.

Author: David Bittencourt. See LICENSE.txt for further details.