Configure Angular with Rails

Angular with Rails 101

Step 1: Create a new Rails app

gem install rails -v 4.1
rails new angular_example

Step 2: Remove Turbolinks

Removing turbolinks requires removing it from the Gemfile.

gem 'turbolinks'

Remove the require from app/assets/javascripts/application.js:

//= require turbolinks

Step 3: Add AngularJS to the asset pipeline

In order to get Angular to work with the Rails asset pipeline we need to add to the Gemfile:

gem 'angular-rails-templates'
gem 'bower-rails'

Now run the command

bundle install

Add bower so that we can install the AngularJS dependency:

rails g bower_rails:initialize json

Add Angular to bower.json:

{
  "name": "bower-rails generated dependencies",
  
  "dependencies": {

    "angular": "latest",
    "angular-resource": "latest",
    "bourbon": "latest",
    "angular-bootstrap": "latest",
    "angular-ui-router": "latest"
  }
}

Now that bower.json is setup with the right dependencies, let’s install them:

bundle exec rake bower:install

Step 4: Organize the Angular app

Create the following folder structure in app/assets/javascript/angular-app/:

templates/
modules/
filters/
directives/
models/
services/
controllers/

In app/assets/javascripts/application.js, add require for Angular, the template helper, and the Angular app file structure. Like this:

//= require jquery
//= require jquery_ujs

//= require angular
//= require angular-rails-templates
//= require angular-app/app

//= require_tree ./angular-app/templates
//= require_tree ./angular-app/modules
//= require_tree ./angular-app/filters
//= require_tree ./angular-app/directives
//= require_tree ./angular-app/models
//= require_tree ./angular-app/services
//= require_tree ./angular-app/controllers

Step 5: Bootstrap the Angular app

Create app/assets/javascripts/angular-app/app.js.coffee:

@app = angular.module('app', [ 'templates' ])

@app.config([ '$httpProvider', ($httpProvider)->
$httpProvider.defaults.headers.common['X-CSRF-Token'] = $('meta[name=csrftoken]').attr('content') ])  @app.run(->   console.log 'angular app running' )

Create an Angular module at app/assets/javascripts/angular-app/modules/example.js.coffee.erb:

@exampleApp = angular.module('app.exampleApp', [     # additional dependencies here   ])   .run(->     console.log 'exampleApp running'   )

Create an Angular controller for this app at app/assets/javascripts/angular-app/controllers/exampleCtrl.js.coffee:

angular.module('app.exampleApp').controller("ExampleCtrl", [   '$scope',   ($scope)->     console.log 'ExampleCtrl running'      $scope.exampleValue = "Hello angular and rails"  ])

Now add a route to Rails to pass control over to Angular. In config/routes.rb:

Rails.application.routes.draw do   get 'example' => 'example#index' end

Generate the Rails controller to respond to that route:

rails g controller Example

In app/controllers/example_controller.rb:

class ExampleController < ApplicationController
    def index
    end
end

In the view, we need to specify which Angular app and which Angular controller will drive this page. So in app/views/example/index.html.erb:

<div ng-app='app.exampleApp' ng-controller='ExampleCtrl'>
  
  <p>Value from ExampleCtrl:</p>
  <p>{{ exampleValue }}</p>
  
</div>

To view the app, start your Rails server and visit https://localhost:3000/example.