Is there a way to make meteor-kitchen to render on the server side?
Currently it renders all via javascript, but I'm also planning on building a REST API, so I need server-side rendering.
You can accomplish server side rendering with meteorhacks:ssr + iron:router. You create an iron route on the server side and then render blaze templates. Here is an example route.
this.route('home', {
where: 'server,
path: '/',
action: function() {
var templateData = {};
var html = SSR.render('templateName', templateData);
this.response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
this.response.write(html);
this.response.end();
}
});
I'm using this method to serve up static pages for SEO on https://gameraven.com/.
Related
Current we are using a meteor App with the iron:router package and also the spiderable and phantomjs for making this app crawlable by google.
In our special case we have some Routes where we call Meteor methods which are running async before we render the right template into our layout.
When testing spiderable on these routes the template will never get rendered and instead our "loading" template will be the rendered template.
We are testing this with /?_escaped_fragment_=
Now we are looking for a solution to tell spiderable that the page is ready or is not ready so we can control when the page has to be rendered.
Router.route('/awesome-route', function(){
// This is how it could look to tell spiderable that it has to wait
Spiderable.pleaseWait();
// Render the loading template until our route is ready
this.render('loading');
// Waiting for the response of our method
Meteor.call('data', function(err, resp){
this.render('awesome', {
data : resp
});
// This is how it could look to tell spiderable we are ready / always be polite
Spiderable.thanksForWaiting_WeAreReady();
});
}, {
name : 'awesome'
});
When opening now localhost:3000/awesome-route?_escaped_fragment_= we will just see the laoding template ...
The other option for us would be: Is there any alternatives for getting meteor apps crawled by google yet ?
Since spiderable will pre-render your template using phantomjs on server, there is no need for special methods like spiderablePleaseWaitForALittleBitMore_Please
You can just say to your iron:router that template is not rendered yet. Use onBeforeAction hook:
Router.route('/awesome-route', {
name : 'awesome',
template: "awesome",
loadingTemplate: "loading",
onBeforeAction: function(){
var next = this.next;
Meteor.call('data', function(err, resp){
next();
});
}
});
I have a route like this:
Router.route('/box', function () {
this.render('boxCanvasTpl');
},{
name: 'box',
layoutTemplate: 'appWrapperLoggedInTpl',
waitOn: function() {
console.log("Box route ran ok.");
return [
Meteor.subscribe('item_ownership_pub', function() {
console.log("subscription 'item_ownership_pub' is ready.");
}),
Meteor.subscribe('my_items', function() {
console.log("subscription 'my_items' is ready.");
})
];
}
});
... and I am clicking a link in a Template like this:
My Link
I receive the 'Box route ran ok.' message, but some reason the page does not navigate to the given URL. I have added console.log code in the funciton that is run when the 'boxCanvasTpl' is rendered, but these aren't showing in the browser console. It seems that something inbetween is stopping the templkate from re-rendering, but can't put my finger on it - any ideas?
There are some properties of Iron Router that you need to be aware of.
Say that the user is currently already on /boxes and there is a box template that renders for that path. If you:
click on a link Click Me
or
click on a link Click Me
Iron Router will NOT re-render the template because it already exists on the page. It will also NOT re-render the template if the box template happens to be a partial template that is already rendered on the page that you're on and also exists on the page that you want to navigate to.
Since it doesn't re-render, any code you have inside Template.box.onRendered will also not run again.
This behavior is most common in your layout, header, and footer templates. For many users, these templates are used for all of a website's pages, regardless of path. Because the layout, header, and footer template is rendered on a person's first visit to the site, they won't be re-rendered ever again if the user decides to navigate to other parts of the site using the same templates, so the code inside Template.layout/header/footer.onRendered won't fire.
Also note - even if a reactive Spacebars helper changes the physical look of the layout / header / footer, it doesn't qualify as an actual render, so reactive updates to the template do not trigger the onRendered callback.
The lack of re-rendering is what gives Meteor that "snappy" feel.
EDIT
Try to code in a reactive, event-driven style. Try not to think too much in a render / re-render sense.
You go to /box
You click on a link for /box?box=2342
Get your params or query in Iron Router
https://github.com/iron-meteor/iron-router/blob/devel/Guide.md#route-parameters
In Iron Router use the data from the params or query to set the data context for the template.
Grab stuff from the data context as needed inside of the template's .onRendered, .events, and .helpers callbacks.
Set Session vars as necessary and use them in helpers to give reactive changes to the page without having to re-render a template. Also use events to trigger updates to the session vars to, again, trigger reactive changes to the page.
Try this:
afterwards, go to /test?BUNNIES=lalalala
check out the console logs
test.html
<template name="test">
{{myData}}
</template>
test.js
Template.test.helpers({
myData: function() {
console.log("data context accessed from test.helpers: ", this);
console.log("this.BUNNIES accessed from test.helpers: ", this.BUNNIES);
return this.BUNNIES;
}
});
Template.test.onRendered(function() {
console.log("data context accessed from test.onRendered: ", this.data);
});
Template.test.events({
'click': function(){
console.log("data accessed from test.events: ", this);
}
});
router.js
Router.route('/test', function() {
console.log("routed!");
this.render('test');
}, {
name: 'test',
data: function(){
//here I am setting the data context
// for /test?BUNNIES=1234
var query = this.params.query;
console.log("query: ", query);
return query;
},
waitOn: function() {
console.log("waitOn is running (should see this message once for each subscription)");
return [
Meteor.subscribe('item_ownership_pub'),
Meteor.subscribe('my_items')
];
}
});
way cleaner way of writing router
Router.route('/test', {
waitOn: function() {
console.log("waitOn is running (should see this message once for each subscription");
return [
Meteor.subscribe('item_ownership_pub'),
Meteor.subscribe('my_items')
];
},
data: function(){
var query = this.params.query;
console.log("query: ", query);
return query;
},
action: function(){
console.log("this will re-render if url params changed");
this.render();
}
})
I want to subscribe to data on specific pages, so I put subscribe() inside router.js. I am not sure if I should enclose it inside Meteor.isClient() block. Should I? When will I ever do routing for the server-side?
Router.route('/courses/:_id', function () {
if (Meteor.isClient) {
Meteor.subscribe("comments");
}
this.render('CourseDetail', { .. });
});
Instead of putting the if (Meteor.isClient){} check inside of your router.js file, you can simply remove that check and put the file inside of the top-level client folder in your application directory. This way, you do not have to worry about your routes being processed on the server at all. In making that change, you can structure your route definition above in one of two ways:
Router.route('/courses/:id', function() {
this.wait(Meteor.subscribe('comments')); // Either this one
this.subscribe('comments').wait(); // or this one. DO NOT DO BOTH.
if(this.ready()) {
this.render();
} else {
this.render('CourseDetail');
}
});
or:
Router.route('/courses/:id', {
subscriptions: function() {
this.subscribe('comments');
},
action: function() {
this.render('CourseDetail');
}
});
Notice that the first option passes a function as the second parameter to the Router.route() function while the second option passes an object as the second parameter to the Router.route() function. Both options are perfectly valid. For information on the first option, check this out; for information on the second option, check this out.
As for when you would ever do server-side routing, this is usually done if you are setting up an HTTP request/response part of your application for external applications to access your server. Unless this is the case, you would most likely never need to worry about setting up such a thing. In the case of doing this, however, you would define your routes and put them in the top-level server folder in your application directory. for information on server-side routing, check this out.
No need to use the Meteor wrapper. Iron router has its own syntax for saying where you want your route to run.
Here is an example.
Router.route('/item', function () { var req = this.request; var res = this.response; res.end('hello from the server\n'); }, {where: 'server'});
Here is the docs site.
https://github.com/iron-meteor/iron-router/blob/devel/Guide.md
You should define the subscription in the onBeforeAction option of the iron router route.
Router.route('/courses/:_id', function () {
onBeforeAction: function () {
Meteor.subscribe("comments");
},
action: function (){
this.render('CourseDetail', { .. });
}
});
Source
I have run into an issue recently where we have been told to remove the hash symbols from our Backbone applications. This presents two problems: (a) the ASP.NET routes need to handle any remotely linked URL (currently this is no problem with the hash symbols) so that we're not hitting a 404 error and (b) the proper route needs to be preserved and passed on to the client side (Backbone) application. We're currently using ASP.NET MVC5 and Web API 2 for our backend.
The setup
For an example (and test project), I've created a test project with Backbone - a simple C# ASP.NET MVC5 Web Application. It is pretty simple (here is a copy of the index.cshtml file, please ignore what is commented out as they'll be explained next):
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(event) {
Backbone.history.start({
//pushState: true,
//root: "/Home/Index/"
});
var Route = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"test/:id": function (event) {
$(".row").html("Hello, " + event);
},
"help": function () {
alert("help!");
}
}
});
var appRouter = new Route();
//appRouter.navigate("/test/sometext", { trigger: true });
//appRouter.navigate("/help", { trigger: true });
});
</script>
<div class="jumbotron">
<h3>Backbone PushState Test</h3>
</div>
<div class="row"></div>
Now, without pushState enabled I have no issue remote linking to this route, ie http://localhost/Home/Index#test/sometext
The result of which is that the div with a class of .row is now "Hello, sometext".
The problem
Enabling pushState will allow us to replace that pesky # in the URL with a /, ie: http://localhost/Home/Index/test/sometext. We can use the Backbone method of router.navigate("url", true); (as well as other methods) to use adjust the URL manually. However, this does not solve the problem of remote linking. So, when trying to access http://localhost/Home/Index/test/sample you just end up with the typical 404.0 error served by IIS. so, I assume that it is handled in in the RouteConfig.cs file - inside, I add a "CatchAll" route:
routes.MapRoute(
name: "CatchAll",
url: "{*clientRoute}",
defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index" }
);
I also uncomment out the pushState and root attributes in the Backbone.history.start(); method:
Backbone.history.start({
pushState: true,
root: "/Home/Index/"
});
var Route = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"test/:id": function (event) {
$(".row").html("Hello, " + event);
},
"help": function () {
alert("help!");
}
}
});
var appRouter = new Route();
//appRouter.navigate("/test/sometext", { trigger: true });
//appRouter.navigate("/help", { trigger: true });
This allows me to at least let get past the 404.0 page when linking to these routes - which is good. However, none of the routes actually "trigger" when I head to them. After attempting to debug them in Chrome, Firefox, and IE11 I notice that none of the events fire. However, if I manually navigate to them using appRouter.navigate("/help", { trigger: true }); the routes are caught and events fired.
I'm at a loss at this point as to where I should start troubleshooting next. I've placed my Javascript inside of the $(document).ready() event as well as the window.onload event also (as well as not inside of an event); none of these correct the issue. Can anyone offer advice on where to look next?
You simply have to move Backbone.history.start after the "new Route" line.
var Route = Backbone.Router.extend({
routes: {
"test/:id": function (event) {
$(".row").html("Hello, " + event);
},
"help": function () {
alert("help!");
}
}
});
var appRouter = new Route();
Backbone.history.start({
pushState: true,
root: "/Home/Index/"
});
Make sure you go to ".../Home/Index/help". If it doesn't work, try temporarily removing the root and go to ".../help" to see if the root is the problem.
If you still have troubles, set a js breakpoint in Backbone.History.loadUrl on the "return" line. It is called from the final line of History.start to execute the current browser url on page load. "this.matchRoot()" must pass then, "fragment" is matched against each "route" or regexp string in "this.handlers". You can see why or why not the browser url matches the route regexps.
To set to the js breakpoint, press F12 in the browser to open the dev console, press Ctrl-O or Ctrl-P to open a js file, then type the name of the backbone js file. Then search for "loadUrl:". You can also search for "Router =" to find the start of the router class definition (same as for "View =" and "Model =" to find the backbone view/model implementation code). I find it quite useful to look at the backbone code when I have a question like this. It is surprisingly readable and what better place to get answers?
If your js files happen to be minified/compressed, preferably turn this off. Alternately you can try the browser unminify option. In Chrome this is the "{}" button or "pretty print". Then the js code is not all on 1 line and you can set breakpoints. But the function and variable names may still be mangled.
I have solved my own problem using what feels to be "hackish", via the following. If anyone can submit a better response it would be appreciated!
My Solution:
I globally override the default Backbone.Router.intilaize method (it is empty) with the following:
$(document).ready(function (event) {
var _root = "/Home/Index/";
_.extend(Backbone.Router.prototype, {
initialize: function () {
/* check for route & navigate to it */
var pathName = window.location.pathname;
var route = pathName.split(_root)[1];
if (route != undefined && route != "") {
route = "/" + route;
this.navigate("", { trigger: false });
this.navigate(route, { trigger: true });
}
}
});
});
I'm designing an administration interface with graphics and so on and I'm using the Highcharts Library (140kb). I want this file to be loaded only for admin users. What would be the best way to do it?
I just saw that we could use Iron-Router to conditionally load JavaScript but I don't like the idea to handle this kind of things inside the router as below:
Router.map ->
#route 'admin',
path: '/admin'
template: 'admin'
action: ->
$.getScript '/js/moment.min.js', (data, textStatus, jqxhr) ->
if jqxhr.status is 200
#render()
NOTE: I wrote a little blog post to load a library for only specific users with Meteor.
Does this not work (on the client)?
var loaded = false;
Deps.autorun(function() {
if (!loaded && isAdmin(Meteor.userId())) {
$.getScript("/js/moment.min.js");
loaded = true;
}
});