Handlebars with Express: different html head for different pages
I am using Handlebars in an Express Node.js app. My layout.html file includes a <head> section. How can I make the <head> section different for different pages? (So that I can, for example, reference a JavaScript file in only one page, and vary the <title> for each page.)
layout.html looks like this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<script src='/public/ajsfile.js'></script>
<link type='text/css' href="/public/style.css" rel="stylesheet">
</head>
<body>
{{{body}}}
</body>
</html>
(I am imagining varying the <head> content with something analogous to {{{body}}} in the above, but with {{{head}}}.)
Answer
This is a great question and, in my mind, a glaring weakness in Express's view model. Fortunately, there is a solution: use Handlebars block helpers. Here's the helper I use for this purpose:
helpers: {
section: function(name, options){
if(!this._sections) this._sections = {};
this._sections[name] = options.fn(this);
return null;
}
}
Then, in your layout, you can do the following:
<head>
{{{_sections.head}}}
</head>
<body>
{{{body}}}
</body>
And in your view:
{{#section 'head'}}
<!-- stuff that goes in head...example: -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
{{/section}}
<h1>Body Blah Blah</h1>
<p>This goes in page body.</p>