Compare ERB vs JavaScript Template Output

VerifiedSafe

Verify that ERB templates and their JavaScript-converted equivalents produce matching output. Essential for template parity debugging and ERB-to-JS conversion verification.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
306/2/2026
Claude CodeCursorWindsurf
#erb-to-js#template-parity#debugging#offline-spa#rails

Recommended for

Our review

This skill compares the rendered output of ERB templates with their JavaScript-converted equivalents to verify template parity in an offline scoring SPA.

Strengths

  • Automates comparison between ERB and JavaScript template output
  • Saves outputs for detailed diff analysis
  • Handles data hydration for realistic JS rendering
  • Identifies expected differences (HTML encoding, whitespace)

Limitations

  • Requires the Rails application to be running
  • Limited to this specific offline scoring SPA
  • Some differences are considered normal and not fixable
When to use it

When converting ERB templates to JavaScript for an offline SPA and needing to verify that both render identical output.

When not to use it

When the templates involve complex Ruby-specific logic that cannot be accurately converted to JavaScript.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score90/100

The skill only provides instructions for running a local Ruby comparison script and standard diff/grep commands. There are no network downloads, arbitrary code execution, or destructive operations. It is a development utility confined to the project's own scripts and data.

No concerns found

Examples

Compare heat list output
Run the ERB vs JS comparison script for heat 83 using the Barcelona November 2025 database and show me the diff.
Debug individual heat with style parameter
Compare the rendered output for heat 83, individual heat 1 with radio style parameter. Save the outputs and show differences.

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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