localhost:3000 will not update my css, or will not load at all when static files are deleted of switch off - css

Question

I have been trying to work on my rails project since I precompiled the assets to deploy to Heroku. The css would not update, so I followed the advice of other similar entries and deleted the static file. The app would then never load, it would just be in a state of buffer. I have also tried to simply set the config.serve_static_files to false. After running a rake assets clean, I have the same result. I have also tried dscacheutil -flushcache, to not effect.
my development.rb file:
Rails.application.configure do
# Settings specified here will take precedence over those in config/application.rb.
# In the development environment your application's code is reloaded on
# every request. This slows down response time but is perfect for development
# since you don't have to restart the web server when you make code changes.
config.cache_classes = false
# Do not eager load code on boot.
config.eager_load = false
# Show full error reports and disable caching.
config.consider_all_requests_local = true
config.action_controller.perform_caching = false
# Don't care if the mailer can't send.
config.action_mailer.raise_delivery_errors = false
# Print deprecation notices to the Rails logger.
config.active_support.deprecation = :log
# Raise an error on page load if there are pending migrations.
config.active_record.migration_error = :page_load
# Debug mode disables concatenation and preprocessing of assets.
# This option may cause significant delays in view rendering with a large
# number of complex assets.
config.assets.debug = false
config.serve_static_files = false
# Asset digests allow you to set far-future HTTP expiration dates on all assets,
# yet still be able to expire them through the digest params.
config.assets.digest = true
config.assets.compress = true
# Adds additional error checking when serving assets at runtime.
# Checks for improperly declared sprockets dependencies.
# Raises helpful error messages.
config.assets.raise_runtime_errors = false
# Raises error for missing translations
# config.action_view.raise_on_missing_translations = true
end
And just in case my production.rb file:
Rails.application.configure do
# Settings specified here will take precedence over those in config/application.rb.
# Code is not reloaded between requests.
config.cache_classes = true
# Eager load code on boot. This eager loads most of Rails and
# your application in memory, allowing both threaded web servers
# and those relying on copy on write to perform better.
# Rake tasks automatically ignore this option for performance.
config.eager_load = true
# Full error reports are disabled and caching is turned on.
config.consider_all_requests_local = false
config.action_controller.perform_caching = true
# Enable Rack::Cache to put a simple HTTP cache in front of your application
# Add `rack-cache` to your Gemfile before enabling this.
# For large-scale production use, consider using a caching reverse proxy like
# NGINX, varnish or squid.
# config.action_dispatch.rack_cache = true
# Disable serving static files from the `/public` folder by default since
# Apache or NGINX already handles this.
config.serve_static_files = ENV['RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES'].present?
# Compress JavaScripts and CSS.
config.assets.js_compressor = :uglifier
# config.assets.css_compressor = :sass
# Do not fallback to assets pipeline if a precompiled asset is missed.
config.assets.compile = false
# Asset digests allow you to set far-future HTTP expiration dates on all assets,
# yet still be able to expire them through the digest params.
config.assets.digest = true
# `config.assets.precompile` and `config.assets.version` have moved to config/initializers/assets.rb
# Specifies the header that your server uses for sending files.
# config.action_dispatch.x_sendfile_header = 'X-Sendfile' # for Apache
# config.action_dispatch.x_sendfile_header = 'X-Accel-Redirect' # for NGINX
# Force all access to the app over SSL, use Strict-Transport-Security, and use secure cookies.
# config.force_ssl = true
# Use the lowest log level to ensure availability of diagnostic information
# when problems arise.
config.log_level = :debug
# Prepend all log lines with the following tags.
# config.log_tags = [ :subdomain, :uuid ]
# Use a different logger for distributed setups.
# config.logger = ActiveSupport::TaggedLogging.new(SyslogLogger.new)
# Use a different cache store in production.
# config.cache_store = :mem_cache_store
# Enable serving of images, stylesheets, and JavaScripts from an asset server.
# config.action_controller.asset_host = 'http://assets.example.com'
# Ignore bad email addresses and do not raise email delivery errors.
# Set this to true and configure the email server for immediate delivery to raise delivery errors.
# config.action_mailer.raise_delivery_errors = false
# Enable locale fallbacks for I18n (makes lookups for any locale fall back to
# the I18n.default_locale when a translation cannot be found).
config.i18n.fallbacks = true
# Send deprecation notices to registered listeners.
config.active_support.deprecation = :notify
# Use default logging formatter so that PID and timestamp are not suppressed.
config.log_formatter = ::Logger::Formatter.new
# Do not dump schema after migrations.
config.active_record.dump_schema_after_migration = false
end
Please help me, I can hardly do any work like this. Thank you

Answer 1

Have you tried running rake assets:precompile?

Answer 2

Some trivia for you:
rake assets:clean
A better way to get rid of all precompiled assets is rake assets:clobber.
This actively removes the files and folders in your /public/assets folder, allowing you to get rid of any of the precompiled assets which may be left behind.
--
Another piece of trivia:
Whenever running rake assets:precompile, run it with an ENV var:
rake assets:precompile RAILS_ENV=production
This ensures the files are pre-compiled using the data & settings that are available in the production environment, thus giving you the most reliable files.
As my own rule, I always try and ensure local assets are loaded dynamically.
This requires no change on your part (indeed, I'd actually remove the serve_static_files line in your development.rb file).
The reason for this is that if you're dealing with precompiled assets in development, you're going to have to recompile them each time you want to test if they've changed, both time consuming and unreliable.
Heroku should only require asset precompilation for its production environment.
I cannot even run that it seems
This suggests a deeper problem, either with your app or Ruby installation.
There are several things you need to do to ensure this is not a major problem:
Remove all your CSS and JS to a temp folder (Recycle Bin if necessary), and then run rake assets:precompile. There may be an off reference/loop causing the problem
Create a new Rails app with rails new TESTAPP and then run rake assets:precompile immediately. If it works well, you know the problem is with your current app
Stop any other running processes. If you've got programs running which could impede the cmd, it's going to prevent it running smoothly.
If you used the likes of RubyInstaller to install your Ruby, you may wish to upgrade. If not, you may wish to upgrade anyway.
Ultimately, if your computer is processing rake commands extremely slowly, it suggests a major system issue. You need to make sure it works properly to ensure a smooth development cycle.