How do I organize SCSS in rails? - ruby-on-rails

I just bootstrapped a new rails project and I was trying to reference from an open sourced rails project on how they architect their app.
Link to the open sourced project
I noticed they have multiple layouts e.g. admin, application, home ..etc. And each may load in different stylesheets via stylesheet_link_tag.
For example in focus_home.html.erb:
<!-- Load styles -->
<%= stylesheet_link_tag 'focus_home' %>
<%= stylesheet_link_tag 'app/components/modal' %>
And in their app/assets/stylesheets directory, they have focus_home.scss
I try to follow their architecture where I have multiple css files and I call different stylesheets with different layout.
I created my home.scss to be used by home.html.slim
when I started my rails server and try to load the home page, the following error occurs
Asset filtered out and will not be served: add
`Rails.application.config.assets.precompile += %w( home.css )` to
`config/initializers/assets.rb` and restart your server
Basically it asked me to tell rails to precompile home.scss. However, when I browse through the open source project's code base. It doesn't seem to have this line of code. The precompilation just seem to happen like magic.
So I am wondering what I am missing ?
==============
Edit: Further explain the case
In their project they DO NOT have an application.css file like normal rails project.
/* * This is a manifest file that'll be compiled into application.css, which will include all the files * listed below. *
* Any CSS and SCSS file within this directory, lib/assets/stylesheets, vendor/assets/stylesheets, * or any plugin's vendor/assets/stylesheets directory can be referenced here using a relative path. * * You're free to add application-wide styles to this file and they'll appear at the bottom of the * compiled file so the styles you add here take precedence over styles defined in any styles * defined in the other CSS/SCSS files in this directory. It is generally better to create a new * file per style scope. * *= require_tree . *= require_self */
Instead, in their application.scss, it goes like
#charset "utf-8";
#import "vars/base";
#import "constants";
// Libraries
#import 'bootstrap';
#import 'app/mixins/*';
#import 'basscss';
#import '_deprecated/basspluss';
#import '_deprecated/utility';
#import '_deprecated/nocss_vars';
#import '_deprecated/nocss';
#import '_deprecated/nocss_mq';
#import "app/main";
#import "base/*";
#import "utilities/*";
#import "app/components/*";
#import "components/*";
#import "app/slop";
#import 'libs/owl.carousel';
#import 'libs/owl.transitions';
#import 'libs/owl.theme';
#import 'c3/c3'
So I wonder how they actually do their precompilation??

You don't need to use Sprockets comments in your application.scss and must only use #import CSS rules.
From rails-sass documentation:
Sprockets provides some directives that are placed inside of comments
called require, require_tree, and require_self. DO NOT USE THEM IN
YOUR SASS/SCSS FILES. They are very primitive and do not work well
with Sass files. Instead, use Sass's native #import directive which
sass-rails has customized to integrate with the conventions of your
Rails projects.
Then, if you have any other .scss that needs to be precompiled, you will have to explicitly add them using the Rails.Application.config.assets.precompile directive, then the sprockets railtie will do the rest of the job!
To answer your original question, the reason why the open source project do not need to specify assets to precompile is because they are using config.assets.compile = true in the config/environment/production.rb file. This is obviously a very bad practice and I don't recommend you to switch this directive to true in a production environment... you will end up with a slow code making a lot of requests and there a slow page load.

Related

imported css files are not compiled into application.css file

I have a style.scss file where i have imported bunch of other files like
#import url(asset-path('bootstrap/css/bootstrap.min.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('ionicons/css/ionicons.min.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('slick-carousel/slick/slick.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('slick-carousel/slick/slick-theme.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('owl-carousel/assets/owl.carousel.min.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('owl-carousel/assets/owl.theme.default.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('owl-carousel/assets/carousel.min.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('bxslider/jquery.bxslider.min.scss'));
#import url(asset-path('magicsuggest/magicsuggest-min.scss'));
these files are located under vendor/ directory.
Looking at the network tab in production mode, the server makes request to each an every of those imported files from the scss files instead of compiling them under on file.
I am also using sass rails gem. Is there anything I am not understanding about the rails assets pipeline?
The confusion comes from the fact that SASS overrides the #import directive in a way.
In your case the pure CSS' #import directive is used since your are passing url(.., which as you noticed makes HTTP request for every file.
In order to use the SASS' version of #import (which will import and combine the contents), you need to pass the files in quotes:
...
#import 'slick-carousel/slick/slick.scss';
...
Here's a detailed explanation about SASS' #import
Your master css file is done through app/assets/stylesheets/application.css file.
For example :
*= require navbars.css.scss
*= require footer.css.scss
*= require cookiewarning.css.scss
*= require_self
The above code will include in the application.css master file all of the mentionned css files, whether they are located in app/assets app/lib or app\vendor.
You master file is called in views/layouts/application.html.erb
<%= stylesheet_link_tag 'application', media: 'all' %>
<%= yield(:headcss) %>
<%= stylesheet_link_tag params[:controller], media: 'all' %>
As you can see I have a separate file for the current controller. And also a yield tag for extra CSS I would like to add when needed.
Also one note about your files: SASS is a preprocessor of CSS. It is better to name your files whatever.css.scss than whatever.scss. I got some problems getting the SASS helpers work properly because of this: Sass rails seems to generate a different logical path than in manifest

Rails app serving .scss files required in application.css, which is blank

I am trying to use the Rails asset pipeline in my app in a way described at (http://www.mattboldt.com/organizing-css-and-sass-rails/), but am noticing some weird behavior which I believe is causing my styles not to be applied.
The structure of my assets directory is as such:
+-- assets
+--- images
+--- javascripts
+--- stylesheets
+--- styles
- global.scss
- scaffolds.scss
- application.css
- main.scss
I've set up my application.css file to require only itself and a main.scss file in the same app/assets/stylesheets directory:
*= require_self
*= require main
This main.scss file contains all of the other files I'd like to import:
#import "bootstrap-sprockets";
#import "bootstrap";
#import "styles/global.scss";
#import "styles/scaffolds.scss";
However, it seems like none of my styles are being applied when I try to view the project in my browser. The peculiar thing I'm noticing is that my browser is showing that it's downloading both an application-self-<hash>.css file, and a main-self-<hash>.scss file. The first file is mostly blank, and looks as follows:
/*
* This is a manifest file that'll be compiled into application.css, which will include all the files
* listed below.
*
* Any CSS and SCSS file within this directory, lib/assets/stylesheets, vendor/assets/stylesheets,
* or any plugin's vendor/assets/stylesheets directory can be referenced here using a relative path.
*
* You're free to add application-wide styles to this file and they'll appear at the bottom of the
* compiled file so the styles you add here take precedence over styles defined in any styles
* defined in the other CSS/SCSS files in this directory. It is generally better to create a new
* file per style scope.
*
*/
The main-self-<hash>.css file contains all of the custom CSS I've imported into it from other files. I was under the impression that it should actually be compiled into the application.css file instead of being compiled into css and served in its own file. In any case, the effects of this are clear - my styles aren't being applied. I'm not sure where to look to resolve this. Can anyone help point me in the right direction, please?
[EDIT] It seems like externally-sourced (from a URL) CSS files do get compiled properly, and their styles are applied. For instance, I added #import url('http://www.w3schools.com/lib/w3.css'); to my main.scss file and made use of it by applying one of the CSS file's classes to one of my div elements. The style was applied.
In Development mode the assets (css, js) are rendered as is in separate files.
They are combined into one file in production mode when you run
rake assets:precompile
You can check browser "Requests" and "Sources" in Developer tools to make sure if the files are being loaded.
I don't know if it solves the entire problem, but I do know that application.css should be named application.css.erb or the requires will not work.
From the Rails spec
"The asset pipeline automatically evaluates ERB. This means if you add
an erb extension to a CSS asset (for example, application.css.erb),
then helpers like asset_path are available in your CSS rules:
Note about assets
Since all compiled assets are served from /public/assets/, adding a subdirctory structure in the source tree under stylesheets serves only add points of possible failure in the code.

How should I go about managing sass code when using bootstrap-sass?

The documentation says:
Import Bootstrap styles in app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss:
// "bootstrap-sprockets" must be imported before "bootstrap" and "bootstrap/variables"
#import "bootstrap-sprockets";
#import "bootstrap";
bootstrap-sprockets must be imported before bootstrap for the icon fonts to work.
Make sure the file has .scss extension (or .sass for Sass syntax). If you have just generated a new Rails app, it may come with a .css file instead. If this file exists, it will be served instead of Sass, so rename it:
$ mv app/assets/stylesheets/application.css app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss
Then, remove all the //= require and //= require_tree statements from the file. Instead, use #import to import Sass files.
Do not use //= require in Sass or your other stylesheets will not be able to access the Bootstrap mixins or variables.
But if I do as they say, my other stylesheets won't be included automatically, as they did before that. Should I include every stylesheet explicitly in layout? AFAIU, that would also make me have separate stylesheets in production environment, instead of one as it would have been without bootstrap-sass.
There are several things here. First, by default each stylesheet is served in separate http request in development, and in one request in production (they are precompiled into one file). If we follow the docs, we'll end up having one request in development as well, which would negate performance benefit of compiling only the file that has changed. If we don't, we might end up having bootstrap several times in our stylesheets. In case we need some variables or mixins in several stylesheets.
So I suggest having it this way:
application.sass (do note that I put require_self before require_tree .):
/*
*= require_self
*= require_tree .
*/
// import bootstrap once
#import "bootstrap-sprockets"
#import "bootstrap"
.d1
text-align: center
welcome.sass:
// in other files import only some particular partials
#import "bootstrap/variables"
#import "bootstrap/mixins"
.d2
text-align: right
But if I do as they say, my other stylesheets won't be included automatically, as they did before that.
Yes, you a right.
1) You shouldn't remove your require directives from application.scss. They don't want to use require directives because in this case you don't have ability to use SASS variables and mixins inside of included files.
2) Just rename application.css to application.scss. They want it because in this case you will have ability to use #import directives inside application.scss file. This is mean that you will have ability to use SASS variables and mixins inside of included files.
Should I include every stylesheet explicitly from layout?
No, just leave them in application.scss
AFAIU, that would also make me have separate stylesheets in production environment, instead of one as it would have been without bootstrap-sass.
No, you will use one application.scss in different environments.

How can I get Compass to automatically import all stylesheets in app/assets/stylesheets?

I'm trying to add Compass to my Rails 3.2 app, using compass-rails. How can I get it to automatically import all of the stylesheets in app/assets/stylesheets? At the moment I have to manually do #import 'filename'; in application.css.scss for each one.
Put all your scss files (except application.css.scss) in a different folder:
/application.css.scss
/all/hello.css.scss
/all/hi.css.scss
application.css.scss file like below will work.
#import "compass";
#import "all/*";
For bundling stylesheets, use the asset pipeline
If you're using the asset pipeline, this should happen automagically with:
/*
* In application.css
*= require_tree .
*/
Docs: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/asset_pipeline.html#manifest-files-and-directives
The important caveat is "Using Sprockets directives all Sass files exist within their own scope, making variables or mixins only available within the document they were defined in."
For mixins & vars, have your imports in one place, then import once
If you're heavy on the functions, try having a file like app/assets/stylesheets/base.css.scss that contains #import directives (wildcard or not) for all your mixin and var files. Then you only need to #import "base" once for every stylesheet and can still bundle your css using sprockets directives.

Use Rails 3.1 Asset Paths in a SCSS Partial

I have the following setup:
app/assets/stylesheets/application.css.scss
/*
*= require_self
*= require fancybox
*/
/* COLORS.. */
/* MIXINS... */
/* FONT STACKS... */
/* IMPORTS */
#import "reset";
#import "supergrid";
#import "rails";
#import "app";
#import "forms";
#import "layout";
In my various partials I'm having a real problem with the asset paths. When inside application.css.scss or anything loaded by the manifest, I can use:
.example { background-image: image-path("background.png"); }
However, when I'm using a partial, such as my _layout.css.scss partial, when I try the same thing the background-image property is simply omitted from the compiled file. It seems the SCSS asset helpers are not available inside partials?
Has anyone gotten this to work, am I missing something obvious? Or is it simply impossible to use asset helpers in partials? If so this is a major, MAJOR problem, as my entire app structure depends on SCSS variables and mixins which are shared among the partials.
I know that variables and mixins are not shared across the sprockets manifest, so if partials cannot access the asset helpers then I'm looking at having to concatenate everything into a single scss file, which pretty much defeats the purpose of both Sass and Sprockets.
Any help would be very much appreciated!
Strange, it should work.. Just few ideas:
Are you using up-to-date gems sass-rails and sprockets?
Try to rename .css.scss to .scss
Try to replace image-path('background.png') with asset-url('background.png', image) or image-url('background.png')
Try to remove require_self from application.css.scss
Try to remove all directives from application.css.scss and import those files with #import

Resources