# Is RJS highly used by Rails developers? (learning RJS versus just going to jQuery or Protype) **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 19, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756 "2009-02-19T12:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/1 "2009-02-19T12:31:47Z")
Hi, Question - If I’m starting to use Rails javascript/ajax helpers but want to start doing some more custom/complex Ajax/Javascript should I learn RJS as part of moving forward? (or alternatively just look to either diving into jQuery or Prototype/Scriptaculous?) Tks – Greg [http://blog.gregnet.org/](http://blog.gregnet.org/) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/2 "2009-02-19T13:00:04Z")
I think that if you will be doing complex javascript stuff then you should dig into jQuery (or another js library) since you have to know your tool very well. Rails’s javascript helpers are useful but they shield you from having to know the javascript part. That can be an advantage when you need something really fast but on the long-term you’d be better off writing javascript yourself. Plus, the helpers “pollute” the html markup with javascript code which is not very nice. Balint On Feb 19, 12:30 pm, Greg H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/3 "2009-02-19T13:28:10Z")
Greg H. wrote: > Hi, > Question - If I’m starting to use Rails javascript/ajax helpers but want > to > start doing some more custom/complex Ajax/Javascript should I learn RJS > as > part of moving forward? (or alternatively just look to either diving > into > jQuery or Prototype/Scriptaculous?) We use Prototype for its amazing simplicity in sortable lists, and jQuery for some other stuff not covered by Prototype like embedding Flowplayer in our pages. – Training videos for distance learners: [http://www.digiprof.fr](http://www.digiprof.fr) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/4 "2009-02-20T00:25:18Z")
When my AJAX application got complex, I decided it was best to separate the HTML view from the Ruby controller code as much as possible. All AJAX calls were modified to respond with JSON data, and the page updates were coded in static javascript functions. I haven’t used jQuery, we used ExtJS to great effect. You’ll want to use something, otherwise you will have to deal with cross-browser compatibility yourself. ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/5 "2009-02-20T00:30:00Z")
2009/2/20 kevin cline [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > You’ll want to use something, otherwise you will have to deal with > cross-browser > compatibility yourself. Kevin - can I ask what you meant by this exactly? didn’t quite understand this last line of yours. Also running with your approach does this mean you drop use of the Rails helpers (e.g. remote\_form\_for, etc)? ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/6 "2009-02-20T01:29:42Z")
Since you’re on the subject of jQuery, would you mind helping me with something? I am trying to add new file\_fields using a link so I can add more Asset objects to my Project. I know how to generate files, and tried it substituting the id numbers with a variable that increased, etc. But then I realized I wasn’t creating actual objects so these new fields wouldn’t save! So now I am sort of stuck. Here is what I am working with (new view, and partial). How can I get that partial to generate using jQuery? [http://pastie.org/private/gqhqxwzsh220zzhwhbvw](http://pastie.org/private/gqhqxwzsh220zzhwhbvw) On Feb 19, 11:47 am, Frederick C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rjs-highly-used-by-rails-developers-learning-rjs-versus-just-going-to-jquery-or-protype/160756/7 "2009-02-19T17:48:47Z")
On 19 Feb 2009, at 11:30, Greg H. wrote: > Hi, > > Question - If I’m starting to use Rails javascript/ajax helpers but > want to start doing some more custom/complex Ajax/Javascript should > I learn RJS as part of moving forward? (or alternatively just look > to either diving into jQuery or Prototype/Scriptaculous?) Personally I feel that rjs can be a bit of a crutch as there is only so much it can do (or some things that it doesn’t do as well as using raw js). I found The prototype & scriptaculous book (Christophe P.) very useful, mainly because it showed me that javascript doesn’t have to be horrible. It sort of depends what you’re going to be doing really - you can probably carrying with rjs if you’re just using the odd scriptaculous effect or ajax request, but you usually can do those things in a cleaner way with a bit more knowledge of JS. In my case we have quite a lot of javascript which would have been hellish (and hard to test) with rjs (we have a variety of javascript classes which encapsulate the behaviour of a particular ‘widget’ on the screen) Fred