I migrated my application to Ruby on Rails 5 (v5.2.2) and I'm trying to use Turbolinks 5 (v5.2.0).
In my application I have view files that include <script> elements and I would like to make them to properly work with Turbolinks (whose documentation states to avoid script elements and use the turbolinks:load event instead). What I have to make?
That is, for example, I have:
# app/views/.../_partial_template.html.erb
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
$.ajax({...})
});
// Note: I tried to use $(document).on('turbolinks:load', function() {...});
// and it seems that the JS code runs twice (or more) on every page load.
// I also tried to use <script type="text/javascript" data-turbolinks-eval="false">...</script>
// without success.
</script>
How should I refactor the above code to make it to properly work with Turbolinks?
Bonus:
The Turbolinks documentation says: You can use inline body scripts to set up per-page JavaScript state or bootstrap client-side models. What do they mean with "per-page JavaScript state" and "bootstrap client-side models"?
If your inline scripts are included at the bottom of the <body> (or if they don't immediately manipulate the DOM), then you might be able to remove your code from the $(document).ready… function, and have them work as expected.
Inline scripts are generally discouraged because traditionally they have indicated that the code will only run on the page that it's included on, and that any event listeners will be automatically destroyed when the user navigates away. However, in Turbolinks apps this isn't the case. If you add an event listener in an inline script (and don't remove it), it will continue to listen and run on subsequent page loads. As you found by setting up a turbolinks:load event listener in this way, the handler triggered on subsequent page loads, and on revisiting the first page, the event listener was added again, resulting in duplicate calls.
Regarding setting up "per-page JavaScript state" and "bootstrap client-side models", let's say you have a calendar page that you wish to enhance with some JavaScript. You might have a Calendar JavaScript class which handles this, so you could include the following to bootstrap it with some JSON:
<script>new Calendar(<%= #calendar.to_json %>)</script>
(bearing in mind that any added event listeners set up within the Calender class should probably be destroyed at some point e.g. turbolinks:before-cache).
That demonstrates the idea, but a better approach in this case might be to set up a system that looks for calendar elements and in the DOM then instantiates them. For example:
<div data-component="calendar" data-props="<%= #calendar.to_json %>">…</div>
then in your JavaScript (included in an application bundle):
;(function () {
var calendar
$(document).on('turbolinks:load', function () {
var $el = $('[data-component=calendar]')
if ($el.length) calendar = new Calender($el.data('props'))
})
$(document).on('turbolinks:before-cache', function () {
if (calendar) {
calendar.destroy() // to teardown any event listeners etc
calender = null
}
})
})()
This approach can be generalised and I've walked through one implementation here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/44057187/783009
Hope that helps!
tl;dr
I use ajax to fetch new content. The content is fetched and added to the page. However, scripts don't "re-fire" because their calls are outside of the ajaxed div.
The scripts load and fire without any problem on initial page load but not when I add new content via ajax. I get no console errors and there are no issues if I visit the URL directly.
Related:
Forcing Script To Run In AJAX Loaded Page - Relates to one specific script. I want to fix (refire) all scripts including dynamic ones from Cloudflare apps
Using jQuery script with Ajax in Wordpress - Same as above, this relates only to one specific script
ajax loaded content, script is not executing
Intro:
I use Ajaxify WordPress Site(AWS) on a WordPress website.
The plugin lets you select a div by its id and then fetches new content inside that div using ajax
html markup
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<div id="page">
<header></header>
<main id="ajax"> <!-- This is what I want to ajaxify -->
<div class="container">
main page content
</div>
</main> <!-- end of ajaxfied content -->
<footer></footer>
</div> <!-- #page -->
</body>
</html>
Problem
The plugin works and I get fresh content loaded and styled but there is an issue. Some of my page scripts and function calls are outside of the div that I use ajax on. I have two examples
1- Masonry is loaded and called in the <footer>
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<div id="page">
<header></header>
<main id="ajax"> <!-- This is what I want to ajaxify -->
<div class="container">
main page content
</div>
</main> <!-- end of ajaxfied content -->
<footer></footer> <!-- Masonry script is loaded and called here -->
</div> <!-- #page -->
</body>
</html>
2- Google maps call is in the <head>
<html>
<head></head> <!-- Google maps is called here -->
<body>
<div id="page">
<header></header>
<main id="ajax"> <!-- This is what I want to ajaxify -->
<div class="container">
main page content
</div>
</main> <!-- end of ajaxfied content -->
<footer></footer>
</div> <!-- #page -->
</body>
</html>
These are just two examples. There are others in other locations. As you can tell, such scripts won't be re-called as the only thing that reloads on the page is <main id="ajax">. While the new content inside <main> is there, some of the scripts required to render it properly are not re-called and so I end up with missing elements / broken layout.
I am not the only one who has faced this problem; a quick look at the plugin's support forum on wordpress.org shows that this issue is common.
Note: I wouldn't try to fix this if the plugin had many other issues. It works for me I just need the scripts to re-fire.
The official response is that it's possible to reload / re-fire scripts by adding the following into the plugin's php files:
$.getScript(rootUrl + 'PATH TO SCRIPT');
Which works. It works well. for example if I add
$.getScript(rootUrl + '/Assets/masonry.js');
Then the masonry function calls get re-fired when the ajaxed content is fetched even if masonry.js is loaded outside of the ajaxed div
I refer you to the plugin's files on github for more clarity on what the fix actually does (I can't make sense of what happens when $.getScript is used)
In summary
The official fix works fine if you have 3-4 scripts that need to be re-fired on ajaxed content.
This does not work for my goal because
it's too rigid and hard-coded
Some of the scripts are added to the page dynamically via Cloudflare apps
A possible solution might involve adding an event mimics the trigger that causes the scripts to fire at the bottom of the ajaxed div
Question:
How do I force all scripts - including dynamically added ones - to re-fire when only a certain part of the page has been reloaded via ajax?
Notes:
I am trying to avoid calling out scripts one by one as that would require knowledge of their calls before hand. I am probably talking way over my head but...
I am trying to mimic the page load and / or document ready events - at which most conditional scripts are fired (correct me if I'm wrong) - at the end of <main> in my html when new ajaxed content is added but without affecting the document when the page is loaded via using the url directly...or any other similar approach.
Just for a bit of context, here is a list of some the event listeners on the page while the plugin is off. I know there are things in there I won't have to trigger. I just added this for reference. Also, please note that this is a sample taken from one of the pages. other pages may differ.
DOMContentLoaded
beforeunload
blur
click
focus
focusin
focusout
hashchange
keydown
keyup
load
message
mousedown
mousemove
mouseout
mouseover
mouseup
mousewheel
orientationchange
readystatechange
resize
scroll
submit
touchscreen
unload
The solution you choose here will have to depend on how the scripts are initialized. There are a couple common possibilities:
The script's actions are evoked immediately upon loading of the script. In this case, the script might look something like this:
(function() {
console.log('Running script...');
})();
The script's actions are evoked in response to some event (such as document ready (JQuery) or window onload (JavaScript) events). In this case, the script might look something like this:
$(window).on('load', function() {
console.log('Running script...');
});
Some options for these two possibilities are considered below.
For scripts that run immediately on loading
One option would be to just remove the <script> elements you want to trigger from the DOM and then reattach them. With JQuery, you could do
$('script').remove().appendTo('html');
Of course, if the above snippet is itself in a <script> tag, then you will create an infinite loop of constantly detaching and re-attaching all the scripts. In addition, there may be some scripts you don't want to re-run. In this case, you can add classes to the scripts to select them either positively or negatively. For instance,
// Positively select scripts with class 'reload-on-ajax'
$('script.reload-on-ajax').remove().appendTo('html');
// Negatively select scripts with class 'no-reload'
$('script').not('no-reload').remove().appendTo('html')
In your case, you would place one of the above snippets in the event handler for AJAX completion. The following example uses a button-click in lieu of an AJAX completion event, but the concept is the same (note that this example doesn't work well within the StackOverflow sandbox, so try loading it as a separate page for the best result):
<html>
<head></head>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script class="reload-on-ajax">
console.log('Script after head run.');
</script>
<body>
<button id="reload-scripts-button">Reload Scripts</button>
</body>
<script class="reload-on-ajax">
console.log('Script after body run.');
</script>
<script>
$('#reload-scripts-button').click( () => $('script.reload-on-ajax').remove().appendTo('html') );
</script>
</html>
Note that if the scripts are not inline (e.g. fetched via the src attribute), then they will be reloaded from the server or retrieved from browser cache, depending on the browser and settings. In this case, the best approach is probably to remove all the <script>s that operate on the AJAX-loaded content, and load/run them via something like JQuery's getScript() function from an AJAX completion event handler. This way you will only be loading/running the scripts once at the appropriate time (i.e. after the AJAX content is loaded):
// In AJAX success event handler
$.getScript('script1.js');
$.getScript('script2.js');
A potential problem with both variants of this approach is that asynchronous loading of the script is subject to cross-origin restrictions. So if the scripts are hosted on a different domain and cross-origin requests are not allowed, it won't work.
For scripts that run in response to an event
If the scripts are triggered on window load, then you can just trigger this event:
$(window).trigger('load');
Unfortunately, if the scripts themselves use JQuery's document ready event, then I'm not aware of an easy way to trigger it manually. It's also possible that the scripts run in response to some other event.
Obviously, you can combine the above approaches as necessary. And, as others have mentioned, if there's some initialization functions in the scripts that you could just call, then that's the cleanest way.
If you can identify a global initialising function or code block in your external scripts, you could take a look at the 'ajaxComplete' event. You can put this code in your page head and put the initialising function calls or code blocks inside the ajaxComplete callback.
$(document).ajaxComplete(function(){
module1.init();
$('#my_id').module2_init({
foo : 'bar',
baz : 123
});
});
When the scripts you are talking about don't have such easy-to-use exposed initialising functions, but initialise themselves on scriptload, I think there will be no out of the box method that works for all scripts.
Here's what you can try -
Most of the scripts like masonry or Google Map are set to re-init on window resize. So, if you trigger the resize event after ajax complete, it will help to re-fire those scripts automatically.
Try the following code -
$( document ).ajaxComplete( function() {
$( window ).trigger('resize');
} );
This will force the scripts to re-init once ajax is completed as it will now trigger the resize event after the content is loaded.
Maybe risky, but you should be able to use DOMSubtreeModified on your <main> element for this.
$('#ajaxed').bind('DOMSubtreeModified', function(){
//your reload code
});
Then you should be able to just append all your scripts again in your reload area
var scripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script');
for (var i=0;i<scripts.length;i++){
var src = scripts[i].src;
var sTag = document.createElement('script');
sTag.type = 'text/javascript';
sTag.src = src;
$('head').append(sTag);
}
Another option could be create your own event listener and have the same reload code in it.
$(document).on('ajaxContentLoaded', function(){//same reload code});
Then you could trigger an event in the plugin once the content had been updated.
$(document).trigger('ajaxContentLoaded');
Or possibly a combination of editing the plugin to trigger a listener and adding to your codebase to re-run anything you feel you need to have re-ran off that listener, rather than reload anything.
$(document).on('ajaxContentLoaded', function(){
//Javascript object re-initialization
myObj.init();
//Just a portion of my Javascript?
myObj.somePortion();
});
A solution could be duplicating all the scripts...
$(document).ajaxSuccess((event, xhr, settings) => {
// check if the request is your reload content
if(settings.url !== "myReloadedContentCall") {
return;
}
return window
.setTimeout(rejs, 100)
;
});
function rejs() {
const scripts = $('script[src]');
// or, maybe alls but not child of #ajax
// const scripts = $('*:not(#ajax) script[src]');
Array
.prototype
.forEach
.call(scripts, (script, index) => {
const $script = $(script);
const s = $('<script />', {
src: $script.attr('src')
});
// const s = $script.clone(); // should also work
return s
.insertAfter($script)
.promise()
.then(() => $script.remove()) // finally remove it
;
})
;
}
I had this exact problem when attempting to use ajax to reload a page with browser states and history.js, in wordpress. I enqueued history.js directly, instead of using a plugin to do that for me.
I had tons of JS that needed to be "re-ran" whenever a new page was clicked. To do this, I created a global function in my main javascript file called global_scripts();
Firstly, make sure this JS file is enqueued after everything else, in your footer.php.
That could look something like this:
wp_enqueue_script('ajax_js', 'url/to/file.js', 'google-maps', 1, true);
My javascript that I enqueue is below.
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
// scripts that need to be called on every page load
window.global_scripts = function(reload) {
// Below are samples of the javascript I ran that I needed to re run.
// This includes lazy image loading, paragraph truncation.
/* I would put your masonry and google maps code in here. */
bLazy = new Blazy({
selector: '.featured-image:not(.no-blazy), .blazy', // all images
offset: 100
});
/* truncate meeeee */
$('.post-wrapper .post-info .dotdotdot').dotdotdot({
watch: 'window'
});
}
// call the method on initial page load (optional)
//global_scripts();
});
I then hooked into the JS that ran whenever a page was loaded with history.js and called global_scripts();
It seems as though the plugin you are using also uses history.js. I haven't tested it with your plugin specifically, but you can try what I posted below (which is what I use in my app).
This would go in the same JS file above.
History.Adapter.bind(window, 'statechange', function() {
global_scripts();
}
My code is a bit more complicated than what is simply pasted above. I actually check the event to determine what content is being loaded, and load specific JS functions based on that. It allows for more control over what gets reloaded.
note: I use window.global_scripts when declaring the function because I have separate JS files that hold this code. You could chose to remove this if they are all in the same.
note2: I realize this answer requires knowing exactly what needs to be reloaded, so it ignores your last note, which asks that this doesn't require such knowledge. It may still help you find your answer though.
Short answer:
It is not possible to this in a generic way. How should your script know which events needs to be fired?
Longer answer:
It is more like a structural question than a programmatic one. Who is responsible for the desired functionality? Lets take masonry as an example:
Masonry.js itself does not listen to any events. You need to create a masonry instance by your own (which is most probably done on domready in your Wordpress plugin). If you enable the resize option it will add a listener to the resize event. But what you actually want is some listener on "DOM content change" (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MutationObserver for possible solution). Since masonry.js does not provide such a function you have the following options:
Wait for the implementation (or do it yourself) in masonry.js
Wait for the implementation (or do it yourself) in masonry Wordpress plugin.
Add the functionality somewhere else (your template, your ajax plugin, etc.)
4.
As you can see every option includes some work to be done and this work needs to be done for every script you want to listen to your AJAX invoked DOM changes.
I load this javascript file dynamically in the <head/> of my document like this
<script type="text/javascript">
if (window.screen.width <= 1600)
{
console.log("start");
var jsref1 = document.createElement('script');
jsref1.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript");
jsref1.setAttribute("src", "/javascript/mobileFunction.js");
document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(jsref1);
}
console.log(end)
</script>
In my all my javascript file I have this custom event called which is at the end of $(document).ready
$(document).on("xsltready", function () {
...more code....
console.log("event alled here " + a variable);
The problem is that I see the output for the two console from the dynamically loaded javascript and when I check the resource folder under the script folder in web-inpector(I am using mobile safari and remote web inspector) the file is there. The problem is that sometimes when I refresh the page it looks like the file is not loaded since none of the console.log() from inside the script is executed and. But if I refresh a few times again it comes back. Is this a behavior with loading javascript dynamically?
Note
I can still call the method inside the dynamically loaded JS file, but the custom event I trigger at the end of $(document).ready is not executed at all.
Thanks to #Levi, his comment is above he helped me go in the right direction. He was correct in that the the $(docuemnt).ready is fired before the script has loaded. the DOM does not wait for the script to load, before it is ready. ~ Levi. So what I did was instead of firing my custom event in the $(docuemnt).load it is fired in the $(window).load event, which solve the problem. But now I have a performance issue.
I am trying to avoid my page being refreshed after submitting my form. In order to do this I've added into my javascript section
$("body").on('click',"#register",new_user_pop);
$("body").on('click',"#screen",pop_out);
$("body").on('click',"#new-user",pop_registration);
$('form[name=new-user-form]').on('submit',function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
alert("Not refreshing");
The function works properly as in order to debug it I pasted it on the Terminal from the Chrome's developer tools and it started working.
But for some reason I do not know it does not work it does not get loads at the beginning.
The previous function $("body").on('click')... work all fine.
Make sure your code runs after you've defined the HTML elements you want to attach your events to.
You can either do this by placing your script below the HTML bit you need.
Or you can wrap your code in an onready/load callback:
$(document).ready(function () {
/* code goes here */
});
I am working on a webpage that uses a JQuery UI dialog (in modal mode) to display a form that is dynamically generated using Django. The basic flow is:
the user clicks a button
jquery (using AJAX) issues a get request that returns the html for the form which is then used to fill the dialog
The html contains a script tag that handles some UI on the form which loads fine and works as expected
the user than fills out the form and clicks "Done" and the form is submitted.
The issue comes in when the user makes an error on the form. The server responds to the post request (that submits the form) with the original form (including the script) modified to show the errors. This second time the script is loaded it gets a "Uncaught ReferenceError: $ is not defined (anonymous function)" The script is exactly the same as before when it worked fine. To be clear throughout this entire process the page is never refreshed.
Here is the gist of the javascript that takes care of the modal:
var add_container = $("#add_container");
add_container.dialog({...})
function show_form(form,response_func) {
add_container.html(form);
add_container.dialog("open");
$("#add_form").submit(function (event) {
return submit_form($(this),response_func);
});
}
function submit_form(form,response_func) {
add_container.append('<p>Adding...</p>');
//this is a trick to upload a file without reloading the page
form.attr('target','upload_target');
$('#upload_target').load(function() {
var response = $('#upload_target').contents().find('body').html();
add_container.dialog("close");
resp_obj = $(response)
if (resp_obj.is('form')) {
//***this is what reloads the form when there is an error
show_form(response,response_func);
} else {
response_func(resp_obj);
}
});
}
$('#add_link').click(add_link);
function add_link() {
$.get('/add_link', function(data) {
function add_response(response) {
//handle successful submission
}
show_form(data,add_response);
});
}
//...more stuff that is not important
This is the gist of the html returned from /add_link
<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/add_form.js" ></script>
<form id="add_form" enctype="multipart/form-data" action="/add_link/" method="post">
<!-- Dynamically generated form here !-->
</form>
The add_form.js is a pretty standard javascript file that uses jQuery. Its starts with $(document).ready(function () {...} ) and the first $ is where the ReferenceError occurs
The form needs to be dynamically generated based on what is clicked so I can't just put everything statically on the page. The script is not dynamically generated so it doesn't necessarily need to be dynamically loaded but I wasn't sure how to keep it in its own file, and also only have it run when the form is loaded. I am open to suggestions of alternative ways to accomplish the same effect.
Your form action is pointing to a different relative path to the one containing the jQuery framework script, etc.
<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/add_form.js" ></script>
<!-- src="/scripts" -->
<form id="add_form" enctype="multipart/form-data" action="/add_link/" method="post">
<!-- action="/add_link" -->
To make sure it's loading the framework after the form submission, just use something like the developer tools on your browser and check the head tag for the jQuery script src. Is it still there?
Thanks to MelanciaUK I realized that when I submitted my form to the iFrame the response was getting sent first to there where the script would run and error because the iFrame is treated as its own page and doesn't have access to jQuery loaded on the main page.
I decided to solve the problem by eliminating the dynamic loading of the add_form script and simply load it when the page loads just like all my other scripts. I created a custom jQuery event (using .trigger) in order to only have the script run when the add form is opened. This worked exactly the way I wanted it to.
Hope this helps anyone with a similar problem. If you have any questions feel free to ask!