Unwanted newline

[zorbash]

When using the require directive to embed a template file in another file the initial template source is altered (a newline is appended).

It may seem harmless but it may cause undesired and visible effects.

Example.

# base.js.coffee
#= require templates/foo

text = document.createTextNode(JST['foo']())
el = document.getElementById('container')
el.appendChild(text)

# templates/foo
no newline after this phrase

In the example above the text node will be

"no newline after this phrase
"

instead of "no newline after this phrase"

We have currently decided to trim the compiled template output before using it with text nodes. But is there another way around?

[zorbash]

The code causing the above is https://github.com/sstephenson/sprockets/blob/master/lib/sprockets/directive_processor.rb#L80

[AlexRiedler]

I suppose you could trim it in handlebars_assets as well, but that might also cause unexpected results (in certain cases). This is probably a really rare case though.

why not just do <p>no new line after this phrase</p> ; which fixes it for your example I believe ? potentially?
but maybe your toy example does not actually fully clarify the issue.

[zorbash]

I agree that adding specific markup in a template may bypass the problem. But the thing here is that the template source is altered in a way that the same template source would yield different output when compiled in the browser.

[AlexRiedler]

So... I would love to just strip the whitespace, however in the case that someone ACTUALLY wants the whitespace then it would break that case... I also do not want to re-grab the body that tilt has already grabbed... hmmm this will plague all template compilers.

However there is a simple work-around in the case the user wants the whitespace (add two-newlines).

@zorbash, Agree with the trim at most one new-line approach?

[zorbash]

@AlexRiedler Yes, if someone (for compatibility reasons perhaps) still wants the extra newline, two newlines should be inserted for this newline to be appended. Are you on it?

[AlexRiedler]

Yup, on it! (I think it may already be done on my branch; but still needs some verification with how HAML and SLIM works in this case).