How do I include a dynamically-generated Javascript in my asset package?

[jamesarosen]

I have a view that renders some application settings into Javascript:

// in app/views/assets/settings.js
if (typeof(MyApp) === 'undefined') { MyApp = {}; }
MyApp.assetHost = '<%= ActionController::Base.asset_host %>';
// other settings that only change per reboot, not per session or request

Is there a way to tell Jammit to include the result of rendering this view in an asset package? If necessary, I could create a Rake task that would curl http://localhost/assets/settings.js > public/javascripts/generated/settings.js and use the latter in the asset package, but I can't think of a way to get Jammit to run the Rake task.

[jashkenas]

Any JavaScript variables that are pulled from the Rails environment, and aren't actually static, should probably be placed in your "bootstrap" JS, along with other per-session JS variables, like account_id, etc.

Do you not use a bootstrap JavaScript in conjunction with your (truly) static assets? I tend to have one as an inline script at the top of the HTML page, generated by a .erb.js partial...

[agibralter]

Yeah... why do this in a separation action? Seems like you could even just have a erb/haml partial that you include in your layout file. On the other hand, if you have per-user variables and you want to cache your layout, you may want to do what jashkenas does.

[jamesarosen]

I do have per-user and per-account JS variables. I guess I could just put the per-application stuff in there. It's not like it's a huge amount of extra bandwidth.

[jashkenas]

Great. That way your core JavaScripts can remain in the browser cache, even through server restarts, and asset_host changes.

[jamesarosen]

Jeremy: at first I read your last note as very sarcastic (users won't see the benefits of deploys). Now I realize you meant it genuinely: libraries shouldn't change across deploys, but my application code and settings certainly will.

[jashkenas]

Oops -- inflection is hard to communicate through github issues. No sarcasm intended...