getScript jQuery path not working / Ruby on Rails

Question

I've got a jQuery function that is called after a doubleclick on a list item.

app/assets/javascripts/tile/tile.js

$('#list > li').dblclick(function(){
  // styling
  $(this).toggleClass('liked');

  // pass ID to controller
  var movie_id = $(this).attr("data-id");
  $.getScript("/likes.js");
});

Next to applying some new formats to said item my main goal is to make a database entry from my like controller. In this Railscast the index action from their comments controller gets called with this simple line.

$.getScript("/comments.js");

Additionally some JavaScript gets called from a index.js.erb file.

My first problem with understanding the example code from Railscasts is how they define the action. If I wanted to call the action createLike from my likes_controller how would I call it?

Secondly, my attempts so far have all failed because both the JavaScript file doesn't load and the action doesn't get called aswell.

Somehow I sense that I've messed up with the paths. Where should I locate the JavaScript files that should get called with the getScript function?

Files

app/assets/javascripts/likes/index.js.erb

console.log("Test");

app/controllers/likes_controller.rb

class LikesController < ApplicationController
  protect_from_forgery

  def index
    Like.create(:user_id => current_user.id, :item_id => params[:id])
  end
end

Answer 1

I believe the execution issue can be solved by moving index.js.erb from

app/assets/javascripts/likes/index.js.erb

to

app/views/likes

This is where Rails looks for templates to render (your script shouldn't be served by the asset pipeline). Rails tackles this through convention - your app automatically routes /likes to the index action.

If you want a more informative route, use the Rails routing guide to generate a new route and match it to the create_likes action in the Likes controller. Then, $.getScript("/create_likes.js") will know where to look

Answer 2

You can define action in controller like that:

class LikesController < ApplicationController
  # another code
  def createLike
    # your action code
  end
  # another code
end  

And you can call action like /likes/createLike.
In the folder PATH_TO_APP/app/views/likes create a file createLike.html.erb - there is will be a createLike view

Javascript files must be in the folder /PATH_TO_APP/public/javascripts
And best way to include javascript file is a javascript_include_tag like:

<%= javascript_include_tag "tile/tile.js" %>  

tile.js file must be is into the /PATH_TO_APP/public/javascripts/tile directory.

And if you want to get javascript files with jQuery, you must put them in public/javascripts directory and call $.getScript('/javascripts/likes.js'); - there is an example.

P.S. I advise to look at getting started guide

Answer 3

The behavior you're wanting is different than what that specific Railscasts is addressing. It is specifically focused on the retrieving of new comments as they are created, without a page refresh. That is why you are running into issues following this guide.

First you will need to make sure you have a resources :likes in your config/routes.rb. From your code excerpt it looks like you are associating a like with a movie so make sure you make the route nested inside your resources :movies call. In the end your routes should look something like this:

resources :movies do
  resources :likes
end

For the controller piece you will need to add a 'create' action to your controller. Assuming that your Movie model has_many :likes this is a simple version of what your action should look like:

def create
  movie = Movie.find(params[:movie_id])
  movie.likes.create(user_id: current_user.id)
end

You will also need to change your javascript code to make a post instead of a get request. That's because the http method is how Rails differentiates between a create and an index request as they both use the same url path (e.g. /comments.js). You will also need to have the url reflect that it's a nested resource within a movie. Here is modified version of your JS code with that change:

$('#list > li').dblclick(function() {
  // Cached jquery this selector.
  $this = $(this)

  // pass ID to controller
  var movie_id =  $this.data('id');
  $.post('/movies/' + movie_id + '/likes.js', function() {
    $this.toggleClass('liked');
  });
});

In regards to your .js.erb file, as stated by others, it should be placed in your app/views folder. However, due to your regular JS handling the logic you don't need to have it all.

This is just one strategy but there are quite a few other ways to handle JS interaction with Rails. If you want an example of using a js.erb (js.coffee in this case) view file you can take a look at this implementation. In that case all that is handling the click event is a link_to with the remote: true option which delegates it the jquery-ujs adapter.

Hope that helps!