Question

I use node.js/ejs on the server side and backbone.js on the client side.
Both server side and client side use the same templating style.
So the problem is, if I put template code meant for the client inside a template it still get’s parsed on the server side.

If found out that something like this works:

<%- "<%= done ? 'done' : '' %\>" %>

However, IMHO this uglifies the code in a way which makes the whole point of using templates useless.

How would you approach this?

Is there a way to define blocks of code inside EJS-templates which do not get parsed like a {literal}-tag used in other templating languages?

Update: For now I use backbone’s _.templateSettings to use different delimiters on the client side.

Update: Here’s a similar solution in a JSP context: Underscore.js Templates Within JSP

Answer 1

The way I have dealt with this is to override the opening and closing tags on node so that the 2 instances of ejs are lookgin for different tags.

On node you can pass in options

{open:'<%',close:'%>'}

In my case I use <% and <@ for my two versions. Then in node ejs template I have something like this (where name is from backbone and everyauth obviously from node):

<% if(everyauth.loggedIn) %><h1><@= name @></h1><% } %>