Emberman

Middleman + Ember, sitting in a tree...

Emberwhat?

Emberman is a simple extension which allows you to easily serve an Ember app from your Middleman static site. It works by wrapping other excellent gems, along with some basic configuration, to get you quickly started.

Features

Auto-loads into Middleman's Asset Pipeline:
Pre-compiles handlebars templates
Uses production versions of Ember + Ember Data on build
Ignores ingredient files on build, compiles into a single JS file

Installation

Add this line to your Middleman application's Gemfile:

# Gemfile

gem 'emberman', '~> 0.1.4'

Then run:

$ bundle

Activate the extension from your Middleman site's config.rb file:

# config.rb

activate :emberman

Start the Middleman server.

$ middleman

Other requirements

For now, Ember's [and Emberman's] only other requirement is for jQuery to be present. This may change soon ;)

Configuration

Emberman expects you to follow certain conventions in order to work its magic. However, some basic customization options are allowed:

Default directory structure

Emberman, by default, expects your Ember app's main JavaScript file to live in your Middleman site's JavaScript assets directory (source/javascripts).

Ember assets (models, controllers, views, routes, etc.) should be placed in an ember directory, nested under your JavaScript assets directory. The Handlebars templates directory must live inside the ember directory, and be named templates. These templates should use the standard .hbs or .handlebars file extensions. E.g.:

my-middleman-site/
  |
  + source/
  |    |
  |    + javascripts/ <- Middleman's default JavaScript assets directory
  |         |
  |         + app.js  <- Main Ember app file, any name works
  |         |
  |         + ember/  <- Ember assets directory
  |              |
  |              + templates/
  |              |    |
  |              |    + index.hbs
  |              |    + ...
  |              |
  |              + routes/...
  |              + models/...
  |              + controllers/...
  |              + views/...
  |              + components/...
  |              + adapters/...
  |              + ...
  |         
  + config.rb
  + Gemfile
  + ...

Custom directory names

Middleman allows you to customize the JavaScript assets directory by setting the :js_dir property in your config.rb.

Likewise, you can set a custom name for your Ember assets directory by passing an :app_dir option when you activate the extension in your config.rb. The Ember assets directory will always be relative to Middleman's JavaScript assets directory. E.g.:

# config.rb

set :js_dir, 'assets/js' # Set Middleman's JavaScript directory
activate :emberman, app_dir: 'my-ember-app' # Ember assets dir name

my-middleman-site/
  |
  + source/
  |    |
  |    + assets/
  |    |    |
  |    |    + js/                 <- JavaScript assets directory
  |    |       |
  |    |       + my-ember-app.js  <- Main Ember app file, any name works
  |    |       |
  |    |       + my-ember-app/    <- Ember assets directory
  |    |            |
  |    |            + templates/
  |    |            |    |
  |    |            |    + index.hbs
  |    |            |    + ...
  |    |            |
  |    |            + routes/...
  |    |            + models/...
  |    |            + controllers/...
  |    |            + views/...
  |    |            + components/...
  |    |            + adapters/...
  |    |            + ...
  |         
  + config.rb
  + Gemfile
  + ...

Including the assets

Once you've setup the directories/files following the aforementioned conventions, you can include the assets in your main Ember app's JS file through Middleman's Asset Pipeline. Note that only the Runtime version of Handlebars is necessary, since the templates are pre-compiled. E.g.:

//= require jquery
//= require handlebars.runtime
//= require ember
//= require ember-data
//= require_self
//= require ./ember/router
//= require_tree ./ember/templates
//= require_tree ./ember/adapters
//= require_tree ./ember/components
//= require_tree ./ember/controllers
//= require_tree ./ember/models
//= require_tree ./ember/routes
//= require_tree ./ember/views

Using other versions of Ember, Ember Data or Handlebars

If you'd prefer to use different versions of Ember, Ember Data or Handlebars, add their corresponding source gems to your Gemfile:

# Gemfile

gem 'ember-source',       '1.8.1'
gem 'ember-data-source',  '0.14'
gem 'handlebars-source',  '1.3.0'
gem 'emberman',           '~> 0.1.4'

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.

License

See LICENSE.

Thanks

Special thanks to @mrship for the middleman-ember gem, @GutenYe for the sprockets-handlebars_template gem, @tdreyno, @bhollis and the other Middleman contributors, and to the Ember, Ember Data and Handlebars teams.

minusfive/emberman