Question

I currently have a web app written in rails3. I want to write a backbone-based js app that will consume the rails3 services; while there are alot of examples of backbone with rails, I would prefer to build it in a different project. This project would be pure html+css+js, wich would then point to the other proj’s services.

• What are the advantages or roadblocks of this approach?
• Are there any other approaches?

I’ve noticed that most of the rails3-backbone projs on github do alot of the magic behind the scenes (ex: precompiling handlebar assets, auto-including js files), which makes it more difficult to understand how all the pieces work together. Also, if I want to package an app using phonegap/trigger.io/etc, wouldn’t this be more difficult?

Answer 1

When it comes to writing Backbone application, it actually makes a lot of sense to develop it solely on its own. In other words, develop it, as you said, as a pure html+css+js application.

There are very good reasons to do so:

1. Deployment

   Consider when you are deploying your application. At some point you will surely want to deploy some modular component of your application. This maybe the backend services which are responsible for serving json to your clients, or it could be a tweak on the UI. Whichever it may be, it is best if you are able to deploy each of them independently.

2. Modularity

   It may sound attractive to be able to use some rails magic behind the scenes to help develop your UI. However, consider the modularity of your project.

   IMO, Backbone (or any AJAX application) is beautiful. And the beauty comes from the very fact that the UI code really has nothing to do with the implementation of your backend. It could talk to a PHP/JAVA/RAILS/PYTHON/YOU-NAME-IT server, and it still wouldn’t matter. That is, if you’re implementing a RESTFUL server. In fact, the UI code could rest on an NGINX server that serves nothing but static content, and it would still run perfectly fine. This is actually what you want. Your UI code should at no point (during development or production) be aware of your backend’s framework or whatever tools your backend supports. It would be a crime to introduce unnecessary dependencies into your Backbone project.

   Imagine one day when you see fit to migrate to a different architecture which isn’t Rails. It would be a nightmare if there are any dependencies at all. Much rather have a UI that is totally independent of your backend implementation.

3. Packaging

   You mentioned you’re going to use PhoneGap to package your application. This is probably the biggest reason why your project should be independent. You will not have the luxury of loading your js from your servers when you’re say, submitting your app to Apple, if you ever plan to do that. All scripts must be packaged into the App which must be standalone.

Last but not least, to answer your question about suggestions for ‘other approaches’. That is quite vague, so I’m not sure if this suggestion would help, but I wanted to point you to some resources that would help organize your Backbone projects, and make your life easier.

Backbone with RequireJS

I would argue that this is the most wonderful way to work with Backbone. RequireJS let’s you specify your dependencies in your js files much like you would import in compiled languages, which helps a lot when it comes to organizing your Backbone project, and breaking the code down into smaller modules. The optimization tool that requireJS provides also let’s you compress all of your javascript file into a single file. I believe that will come in handy if you want to package your project in PhoneGap.

Underscore

You mentioned using HandleBar. However, I recommend that you look into underscore’s templating engine which is inspired by RoR’s templates. And assuming that you’re quite comfortable using Rails, the underscore templating engine might just be what you’re looking for.