Sailsjs disable a single js - sails.js

Question

Right now, I am using <%- assets.js() %> to include all the javascript files on all pages. So, it means all the functions will be initialized on all pages.
I am wondering how can I disable a javascript file on a specific web page? Or, if there is a way to include some of the javascript files on a specific web page but not all the javascript files.

Answer 1

The trouble with the auto-loading is that it's really hard to dictate the ordering of the source files in any meaningful way-- it really comes down to how you've structured the front-end.
In v0.8.x (the version you're working with, from what I can tell), you can use the config/assets.js to control the ordering of folders that get loaded in. This is not ideal, but is a decent workaround that my team used on several projects.
In v0.9, we've removed rigging/asset-rack in favor of tight integration Grunt, which has a large community and some really cool and well maintained packages for most types of asset bundling, etc.
In any case, here are the different approaches you can investigate for serving assets in the new version of Sails.js:
Treat it just like anything else
In your layout.ejs file, create <link /> and <script></script> tags to link in your css and javascript files like you would normally.
Use AMD (Require.JS)
I think lots of folks would say this is actually the best option. Require is a pretty powerful tool. And I'm mostly in agreement-- if you're working with front-end javascript that could be coming from anywhere, and is going to be extended by other developers who may be using a different framework, AMD is a great way to make sure you stay safe. If you're using Require, each js file is its own module, and declares its own dependencies, so asset dependency management becomes a thing of the past. Then in production mode, there are a couple of different options to compile and minify your CSS and JS. You can even dynamically load templates and CSS from JS with Require, which is pretty neat. AMD/RequireJS is a hands-down winner if you're interested in loading some or all of your assets asynchronously. It's also an all-client-side solution, which is pretty cool.
The only downside in my mind is the complexity. If you have control over the framework being used, you really shouldn't have to manually enter dependencies for each file-- it can figure that out itself (see https://github.com/balderdashy/mast/blob/2.x/lib/raise.js)
Use Grunt
When you make a new project with sails new foo in Sails v0.9, a file called Gruntfile.js is created. It has lots of stuff in it, a lot of which isn't being used by default. You can do almost anything with Grunt, but in particular, you'll want to look at how it's set up to copy files from assets/* to .tmp/public/.
sails new foo --linker (Sails v0.9 only)
Linker is a lot like what asset-rack/rigging does currently. It creates the same Gruntfile as #3 above, but utilizes more of the contents. It will auto-link files in the order you specify. Instead of view partials (e.g. <%= %>), the scriptlinker plugin allows you to customize the delimiters where js, css, and templates will be injected. By default, the Gruntfile is set up to use JST precompiled templates, but again, you can set it up however you like.
Hope that helps guys, and best of luck!
-Mike
PS- v0.9 is coming out very very soon, I've just been working through tests and issues to make sure we're 100% there. If you'd like to try it out, check out:
https://gist.github.com/mikermcneil/5930330

Answer 2

The lead for Sailsjs replied to this issue (though it was about selecting CSS files):
"For now, you can (a) bring in all styles all the time and make only the relevant ones apply (b) use another tool (like Grunt) to bundle assets like you would in a vanilla node.js project or (c) link the stylesheets manually (put them in your public folder)."
See: choosing assets sailsjs
Similar, more complex questions have been asked in the Google group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sailsjs/yt9EpJlfzXA
Considering the above, you may want to have a separate layout.ejs for each page. You can specify the layout.ejs you want for each page with
res.view({ layout: "different_layout" })
The layout.ejs would (a) not call assets.js() but have < script > for all the js files needed, or (b) call assets.js() to serve all the common js files in ./assets/js plus < script > to serve the page dependant ones residing elsewhere.

Answer 3

I have a wrapper around assets.js() that allows you to include all assets except for specified files. You can also use it to include only specific assets elsewhere. So you could load your common assets in layout and include other assets only on pages where they are required.
See my answer to How can I include javascript assets selectively in SailsJS?