Question

Due to a specific setup, I would like to split the compiled stylesheets in two files. This is because (a part of) the CSS is needed for a Java application which can parse the CSS, but it is a bit buggy and can’t handle some css-(hack)-syntax. Because I am unable to modify this Java application, I want to feed it only the CSS which it needs and of which I can make sure it is correct.

So, normally the assets pipeline would produce just one ‘/assets/application-[..].css’ file. It would to let it also generate ‘/assets/custom-[..].css’, based on a file selection I make. This still can be pre-compiled.

Is there a way to do this? Although I understand this is not the ideal setup..

Answer 1

To tell rails about additional files you wish to have precompiled, you can add them to the config.assets.precompile setting.

config.assets.precompile += ["other_application.css"]

You only see application.css in your HTML because that’s the only file you’re including

<%= stylesheet_link_tag "application" %>

If you have some custom.css.scss in your apps/assets/stylesheets directory, it will be compiled just like application.css.

For example, I might have

- _common.css.scss
- application.css.erb.scss
- other_application.css.erb.scss

in app/assets/stylesheets. In the top of the non-partial files I will put

@import "common";

to include _common.css.scss. I can now reference either stylesheet independent of one another in a layout.

<%= stylesheet_link_tag "application" %>
# or
<%= stylesheet_link_tag "other_application" %>