Compare ERB and JavaScript Template Output

VerifiedSafe

Use `scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb` to compare ERB and JavaScript template outputs for the offline scoring SPA. It renders both templates with the same data, extracts main content, and saves diff files to detect parity issues. Essential when converting ERB templates to JavaScript or debugging template rendering differences between legacy and SPA modes.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
606/2/2026
Claude Code
#erb#javascript#template-comparison#spa#conversion

Recommended for

Our review

Compares ERB and JavaScript template outputs to verify parity during ERB-to-JS conversion for an offline scoring SPA.

Strengths

  • Automates comparison of ERB vs JS rendering
  • Generates output files for detailed diff analysis
  • Uses the same data pipeline to ensure fair comparison

Limitations

  • Requires a specific SQLite database and running Rails server
  • Some differences (HTML encoding, whitespace) are expected and must be ignored
  • Only works for this specific scoring SPA project
When to use it

When modifying ERB templates or their JS equivalents and needing to verify that the conversion produces identical rendering.

When not to use it

For general template comparisons outside the context of this scoring SPA project.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score92/100

The skill describes a Ruby script for comparing template outputs; it makes local HTTP requests to a development server, no destructive or exfiltration actions.

No concerns found

Examples

Compare heat list output
Run the ERB vs JS comparison script for the heat list using database db/2025-barcelona-november.sqlite3 and judge 83.
Compare individual heat with style
Compare individual heat 1 for judge 83 with radio style using bundle exec ruby scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb db/2025-barcelona-november.sqlite3 83 1 radio.
Analyze diff of ERB and JS output
Show me the differences between the ERB and JS rendered templates by running diff /tmp/erb_rendered.html /tmp/js_rendered.html after running the comparison script.

name: compare-erb-js description: Compare ERB and JavaScript template outputs for the offline scoring SPA. Use when working on ERB-to-JS conversion, debugging template parity issues, or verifying that changes to scoring views work correctly in both ERB and SPA modes.

Compare ERB vs JavaScript Template Output

Use scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb to verify that ERB templates and their JavaScript-converted equivalents produce matching output. This is essential for the offline scoring SPA which uses auto-converted ERB templates.

Basic Usage

# Compare heat list
bundle exec ruby scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb db/2025-barcelona-november.sqlite3 83

# Compare individual heat
bundle exec ruby scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb db/2025-barcelona-november.sqlite3 83 1

# With style parameter
bundle exec ruby scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb db/2025-barcelona-november.sqlite3 83 1 radio

Or using environment variable:

RAILS_APP_DB=2025-barcelona-november bundle exec ruby scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb 83 1

What It Does

  1. Renders the ERB template via Rails routing (extracts <main> content)
  2. Fetches converted JavaScript templates from /templates/scoring.js
  3. Fetches normalized data from /scores/:judge/heats/data
  4. Hydrates the data using heat_hydrator.js (for individual heats)
  5. Renders using the JavaScript template
  6. Compares row counts and saves both outputs for diff analysis

Output Files

All files are saved to /tmp/ for analysis:

  • /tmp/erb_rendered.html - ERB template output (main content only)
  • /tmp/js_rendered.html - JavaScript template output
  • /tmp/scoring_templates.js - Converted templates from /templates/scoring.js
  • /tmp/heats_data.json - Raw normalized data from server
  • /tmp/js_template_data.json - Hydrated data passed to JS template

Analyzing Differences

# Quick diff
diff /tmp/erb_rendered.html /tmp/js_rendered.html

# Side-by-side comparison
diff -y /tmp/erb_rendered.html /tmp/js_rendered.html | less

# Compare specific attributes
diff <(grep -o 'href="[^"]*"' /tmp/erb_rendered.html | sort) \
     <(grep -o 'href="[^"]*"' /tmp/js_rendered.html | sort)

Common Differences

Some differences are expected due to ERB-to-JS conversion limitations:

  • HTML entity encoding: ERB uses &quot; while JS uses "
  • link_to blocks: Block form of link_to may render differently
  • Whitespace: Minor whitespace differences are normal

Architecture

This tool supports the "Server computes, hydration joins, templates filter" principle:

  • Server: Computes derived values and paths (respects RAILS_APP_SCOPE)
  • Hydration: heat_hydrator.js joins normalized data by resolving IDs
  • Templates: ERB and JS templates filter/format data identically

Key Source Files

Server-side (Rails)

  • app/controllers/scores_controller.rb

    • heats_data action: Returns normalized JSON data for SPA
    • heat action: Sets instance variables for ERB templates
    • Computes paths: hash with server-computed URLs
  • app/controllers/templates_controller.rb

    • scoring action: Converts ERB templates to JavaScript on-the-fly
    • Defines path helper stubs for JS templates
    • Uses ErbPrismConverter for conversion
  • lib/erb_prism_converter.rb

    • Converts ERB templates to JavaScript functions using Ruby's Prism parser
    • Handles Ruby-to-JS translation (loops, conditionals, method calls)

Client-side (JavaScript)

  • app/javascript/lib/heat_hydrator.js

    • buildLookupTables(): Creates Maps for O(1) entity lookup
    • hydrateHeat(): Resolves IDs to full objects
    • buildHeatTemplateData(): Prepares complete data for templates
  • app/javascript/controllers/heat_app_controller.js

    • Main Stimulus controller for the offline scoring SPA
    • Loads templates and data, handles navigation
    • Manages offline/online state transitions

ERB Templates (source of truth)

  • app/views/scores/heat.html.erb - Main heat view
  • app/views/scores/heatlist.html.erb - Heat list view
  • app/views/scores/_heat_header.html.erb - Heat header partial
  • app/views/scores/_info_box.html.erb - Info box with feedback errors
  • app/views/scores/_navigation_footer.html.erb - Prev/next navigation
  • app/views/scores/_table_heat.html.erb - Standard heat table
  • app/views/scores/_rank_heat.html.erb - Finals ranking view
  • app/views/scores/_solo_heat.html.erb - Solo heat view
  • app/views/scores/_cards_heat.html.erb - Card-based scoring view

Scripts

  • scripts/render_erb_and_js.rb - This comparison tool
  • scripts/hydrate_heats.mjs - Node.js script for hydrating data (used by comparison tool)
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