Node.js with Handlebars.js on server and client

Question

I have an app in Node.js using Expressjs and Handlebars as the template engine.

Expressjs uses layouts and then renders views. The layout (layout.hbs) looks like th

Answer 1

I didn't like the precompilation solution (because I want to define templates in the same file where I will use them) nor the naive \{{ escape solution (because it needs the full Handlebars compiler and more javascript code) so I came up with an hybrid solution that uses Handlebars' helpers:

1) Register a new helper called "template" on server configuration

var hbs = require('hbs');
hbs.registerHelper("template", function(key, options){
    var source = options.fn().replace("\\{{", "{{");
    var ret =
    '';
    return ret;
});

2) Use it anywhere in your client-side webpage (with \{{ escape for client-side parameters)

{{#template "myTemplate"}}
    

        
Hello \{{this.name}}!
    
{{/template}}

(the server will precompile it in something like this)

3) Simply call the function where you need it in client-side javascript

var generatedHtml = myTemplate("world");   // = 
Hello world!
$("#myDiv").html(generatedHtml);           // or whatever