# \[ANN\] Beta Testing needed for Toolbawks Packer v1.0.0

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-beta-testing-needed-for-toolbawks-packer-v1-0-0/114279>\
**Category:** Engines\
**Created:** [September 10, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-beta-testing-needed-for-toolbawks-packer-v1-0-0/114279 "2007-09-10T21:32:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nshb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/df788c/32.png) [@nshb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nshb)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-beta-testing-needed-for-toolbawks-packer-v1-0-0/114279/1 "2007-09-10T21:32:30Z")

</div>

Hey… so I just rearchitected the AssetPackager written by Scott B.  
into  
Toolbawks Packer.

The major change is no more configuration. It’s all done automatically  
and  
is as automated as possible.

The new plugin now works on a per layout basis. So you toss it in  
wherever  
you like, and all the CSS and JS files that were going to be included by  
default Rails helpers, are now caught by the Packer and included into a  
newly compiled JS and CSS file. Caching is always enabled, so it checks  
to  
see what array of files has been grouped, what time the file was last  
modiifed, and if any of those are different, it will create a new file.

So here’s the rub.

It’s as simple as installing the plugin…

script/plugin install [https://svn.toolbawks.com/toolbawks\_packer/trunk](https://svn.toolbawks.com/toolbawks_packer/trunk)

And then adding one line of code to your layout:

\<%= toolbawks\_packer(‘application’) %\>

The “application” part is the grouping of all the CSS and JS files  
before  
it. So if you have alot of packages that you for whatever reason want to  
break out into their own, change the package alias and it will do such.  
You  
can have as many packers as you want in any layout (ideally, haven’t  
tested  
this yet though). I used this for my purposes as I have one packer per  
layout, as there will be an admin packer and a public packer, both of  
which  
I don’t want to conflict as they have their own unique CSS and JS files  
that  
need to be included depending on what area of the site they are  
accessing.

Would love some feedback. Oh, and it is a Engine, but I made some lazy  
attempts to try and make sure it will work as a generic Plugin too. So  
any  
testing done as a plugin (without engines) would be awesome to hear  
about.

Enjoy!