Meteor+Blade template variables catch 22 - meteor

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

This is a known issue with Meteor that is actively being worked on.
The problem is that Meteor prevents smart packages from specifying the load order of files. See issue here.
Because of this issue, it is possible that your client-side JavaScript will run before the templates are loaded. (There is a hack in Meteor that ensures Handlebars templates load before your custom code) For example, Template.foo.helperName = function() { ... } will fail if Template.foo has not yet been defined.
Check the generated HTML (view source) for the initial page load to see if your client-side JavaScript code is loading before the template is defined. If so, you may get an Error like:
TypeError: Cannot set property 'helperName' of undefined`
To workaround this issue, try putting your client-side code in a folder with a different name. I believe that Meteor currently sorts files alphabetically when determining the load order. See the troubleshooting section on this page for more information.
A similar workaround is to utilize Meteor.startup when adding view helpers to your views. That is, you can wrap your Template.foo.helperName = ... stuff in a Meteor.startup call. If you are using a body.blade template, though, you can end up with the opposite problem (i.e. the "catch 22") in which your body.blade template starts rendering before view helpers get setup. In this case, you can get errors since those helpers/variables are not yet defined. The solution here is to avoid using body.blade templates and only render the initial template once all view helpers have been loaded (i.e. at the end of your Meteor.startup routine).
At any rate, all of these workarounds are rather lame. :( But, alas! These issues should be fixed soon.
As soon as Meteor fixes the issue described above, I will modify the Blade smart package to enforce the load order of compiled templates. My apologies for the confusion.

Answer 2

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));
});