Potential Solution for Page-Specific JavaScript

example.js.coffee

# ./app/assets/javascripts/app.js.coffee
@App ||= {}

# ./app/assets/javascripts/app/view.js.coffee
class @App.View

  @where: (params = { controller: null, action: null }) ->
    controller = @_parseClassName(params.controller)
    action = @_parseClassName(params.action)
    try
      new App.View[controller][action]
    catch error
      new this

  @_parseClassName: (text) ->
    text = text.replace /\W/, '.'
    text = text.replace /(?:\b|_)([a-z])/g, ($0, $1) -> $1.toUpperCase()

  render: ->
    console?.log "No view found."

# ./app/assets/javascripts/app/view/dashboard.js.coffee
class @App.View.Dashboard extends @App.View

# ./app/assets/javascripts/app/view/dashboard/show.js.coffee
class @App.View.Dashboard.Show extends @App.View
  constructor: ->
    console?.log 'View instantiated.'

  render: ->
    console?.log 'View loaded.'

# ./app/assets/javascripts/application.js.coffee
$ ->
  @view = App.View.where
    controller: $('body').data('controller')
    action: $('body').data('action')
  @view.render()

I don't know enough about Rails to know if this is a terrible idea or not...

What if, in application.js you changed require_tree . to require_directory . so that it only compiles application level files. Then have the layout grab the controller specific JS:

= javascript_include_tag "{params[:controller]}"

Stupid?

That's not a stupid idea, no. It's a simpler solution and might be good enough for most applications. Ultimately there's a threshold. If every new page the user visits makes an additional HTTP request for that page's JS, then performance may suffer. If an additional page-specific js file is needed in only a few sections of the application, then it might be more beneficial to simplify the logic and load the additional files as you've suggested.

Our js changes a lot. I wonder if, at the end of the day, the additional HTTP request wouldn't be more performant. As it stands now, a change to any JS file busts the cache on application.js and requires the user to re-download the entire application. In this example, only changed changed would be is re-downloaded and only when the user navigates to that controller.