Rails Application Templates / Generators for Marionette

After developing conventions for working with Backbone/Marionette, I wrote my own rails generators and application template. These remove a lot of unnecessary files, and sets up sensible defaults for working with Backbone/Marionette projects.

Using the Application Template

The marionette-template.rb is an application template used when creating a new rails application. To use this application template, in the terminal type:

rails new APPNAME -m https://raw.github.com/brian-mann/rails-generators/master/marionette-template.rb

What this template does

Ruby Version

Sets Ruby 1.9.3 in Gemfile

Miscellaneous File Cleanup

Removes default app/assets/images/rails.png image
Removes default public/index.html file
Renames README.rdoc to README.md

File Permissions

chmod's log directory to 0777
TODO: add db directory

Routing

Sets default route to: application#index

App Views

Creates app/views/application directory
Creates app/views/application/index.html.erb file

App Stylesheets

Creates app/assets/stylesheets/apps directory
Creates app/assets/stylesheets/app/_base.css.scss file
Renames app/assets/stylesheets/application.css to application.css.scss
Removes require self and require tree . from application.css.scss file
Imports twitter/bootstrap and apps/_base SCSS files

APP Javascripts

Removes jquery_ujs and require_tree . from app/assets/javascripts/application.js file

Included Gems

thin
rabl
oj
gon
js-routes
eco
compass-rails
bootstrap-sass-rails

TODO:

Document additional template actions

Using the Marionette Generators

To access these generators, copy the generators folder into your lib directory. Now run the install command below:

Install all the preliminaries

rails g marionette:install

Installation will do the following:

Configure the client side application name
Pull in the latest versions of Backbone / Underscore / Marionette
Create the initial directory structure for apps / views / components / controllers / mixins / config
Require the load order and directories via the Asset Pipeline
Create the Marionette Application instance file: app.js.coffee
Invokes rails g marionette:config by default

Configure Marionette

rails g marionette:config

Configuration will do the follow:

Override Marionette Renderer for JST Eco files
Create Base Entities for Models and Collections
Create a Base Controller for automating regions and cleanup
Create Base Views for view / itemview / layout / collectionview / compositeview

config/initializers/marionette.rb still store your answers for use when other generators run.

Create Marionette Modules

rails g marionette:module MODULENAME [controllers]

This will create a module_app file and initial directory with corresponding AppRoutes for the passed in controller actions. This will also automatically generate the controllers, views, and initial layout template. Use this command to scaffold out your initial app modules.

Example: rails g marionette:module Users list show would create:

/users
- users_app.js.coffee
- /list
  - list_controller.js.coffee
  - list_view.js.coffee
  - /templates
    - list_layout.jst.eco
- /show
  - show_controller.js.coffee
  - show_view.js.coffee
  - /templates
    - show_layout.jst.eco

Create Marionette Controllers

rails g marionette:controller MODULENAME [controllers]

This creates the same controller/view/template combination as above without creating the initial module_app file. Use this to add controllers to an existing app module.