guard-rails-assets/README.md

# Guard::RailsAssets


Guard::RailsAssets compiles all the assets in Rails 3.1 application automatically when files are modified.

Tested on MRI Ruby 1.9.2 (please report if it works on your platform).
Currently only POSIX system is supported. Sorry Windows guys :(

If you have any questions please contact me [@dnagir](http://www.ApproachE.com).

## Install

Please be sure to have [Guard](https://github.com/guard/guard) installed.

Install the gem:

Add it to your `Gemfile`, preferably inside the test and development group:

```ruby
gem 'guard-rails-assets'
```

Add guard definition to your `Guardfile` by running:

```bash
$ guard init rails-assets
```

## Rails 3.1

The Rails 3.1 is a mandatory requirement, but is not enforeced via dependencies for now.
The reason is that the assets are currently compiled via command line and thus this guard does not
explicitly depend on Rails.

Good thing about it is that assets will always be same as produced by Rails.
Bad thing is that it is pretty slow (~10 seconds) because it starts Rails from ground zero.

## Rails Assets Pipeline

The conventions used in this guard are:

- assets prefix is set to 'assets' meaning that all assets are compiled in to `public/assets` directory;
- the assets directory is disposable and can be cleared out.

If the conventions above are not valid for you then perhaps you'd better submit a patch.

## Guardfile and Options

In addition to the standard configuration, this Guard has options to specify when exacly to precompile assets.

- `:start` - compile assets when the guard starts (default)
- `:reload` - compile assets when the guard quites (Ctrl-C) (not enabled)
- `:all` - compile assets when running all the guard (Ctrl-/) (default)
- `:change` - compile assets when watched files change (default)

For example:


```ruby
# compile ONLY when something changes
guard 'rails-assets', :run_on => :change do
  watch(%r{^app/assets/.+$})
end

# compile when something changes and when starting
guard 'rails-assets', :run_on => [:start, :change] do
  watch(%r{^app/assets/.+$})
end

# This is the default behaviour
guard 'rails-assets', :run_on => [:start, :change, :all] do
  watch(%r{^app/assets/.+$})
end
```

## Development

- Source hosted at [GitHub](https://github.com/dnagir/guard-rails-assets)
- Report issues and feature requests to [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/dnagir/guard-rails-assets/issues)


Pull requests are very welcome!

## License

Tohe MIT License