Question

I’m trying to use a variable in my Blade template, but I always get

ReferenceError: files is not defined

My understanding is that the proper way to pass a variable to a template is something like this (client/ceres.js):

Meteor.startup(function() {
    Files = new Meteor.Collection('files');
    Template['files'].files = function() {
        return Files.find();
    }
});

(Copying from the “todos” example)

And then I should be able to use it in my template, views/files.blade:

ul
    foreach files as file
        li= file.filename

But I guess the variable is passed to the template too late? But if I take my JS out of Meteor.js then Template isn’t defined.

So I don’t get it. Either my template doesn’t exist, or the variable doesn’t exist, and it always crashes. How do I pass a simple variable along?

---

Same error with this:

ul
    - for(var i=0; i<files.length; ++i)
        li= files[i].filename

Answer 1

Turns out you can’t include files that use Template variables either. i.e., you can’t use the include directive in Blade at all if you want to use variables in your template that haven’t been initialized by Meteor yet — you have to insert your template via jQuery/JS after the DOM has loaded. Example:

views/body.blade:

.container
    h1 Page Title
    #content

views/files.blade:

ul
    foreach files as file
        - console.log(file);
        li= file.filename

client/main.js:

Files = new Meteor.Collection('files');
Template.files.files = function() {
    return Files.find();
};

$(function() {
    $('#content').html(Meteor.render(Template.files));
});