Compare ERB and JavaScript Template Output

VerifiedSafe

Verify that ERB templates and JavaScript-converted equivalents produce matching output. Essential for debugging template parity during ERB-to-JS conversion in offline scoring SPA.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
206/2/2026
Claude Code
#erb#javascript#template-parity#debugging#spa

Recommended for

Our review

Compares output from ERB templates and their JavaScript-converted equivalents to verify template parity in an offline scoring SPA.

Strengths

  • Automates comparison of ERB and JS template rendering
  • Saves both outputs and raw data for detailed diff analysis
  • Supports both full heat list and individual heat comparisons
  • Handles data hydration and routing differences

Limitations

  • Tied to a specific Rails application with offline SPA architecture
  • Some expected differences (HTML entities, link_to blocks) require manual judgment
  • Requires a running Rails server with the correct database
When to use it

Use when converting ERB templates to JavaScript or debugging template mismatch issues in the offline scoring SPA.

When not to use it

Do not use for comparing unrelated views or for non-template-related debugging.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score85/100

The skill instructs running local development scripts via bundle exec to compare template outputs, with no destructive actions, data exfiltration, or external network calls. The commands are standard for a Rails project and pose no security risk.

No concerns found

Examples

Compare heat list template
Compare the heat list template for judge 83 using the Barcelona November 2025 database to check ERB/JS parity.
Compare individual heat template with style parameter
Compare the individual heat template output for heat 1 of judge 83 with radio style to debug a template rendering difference.
Analyze specific attribute differences
Analyze the differences in href attributes between ERB and JS rendered heat templates to find URL generation issues.

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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