Rails 4: Issue with asset helper in production mode on Heroku preventing fingerprinted image assets from loading

Question

Rails 4: Issue with asset helper in production mode on Heroku preventing fingerprinted image assets from loading

My mind is spinning with frustration over this issue... I feel like I've exhausted every possible solution involving Sass files, ERB files, asset helpers, image helpers, and more. Can someone please offer some fresh ideas?

Situation:

In Rails apps, asset helpers are necessary to ensure that when assets are precompiled, the source refers to a fingerprinted asset file. For instance, instead of simply calling img src="X.jpg", in production the site would actually look for X-as;diofua;wemfiwaejfoiawefo.jpg in public/assets due to fingerprinting. The only way to access that fingerprinted file is through an asset helper, like image_url ('X.jpg').

Currently on my live site, I'm using an asset helper, but strangely it's not directing to the fingerprinted asset file. It's important to note that the assets work fine in development (since no fingerprint is added during development).

Code Snippet:

The image "classic-map.png" is located in app/assets/images/galleria.

This image is called from a css.erb file required in the application.css file. In the css.erb file, I have the following code:

background-image: url(<%= asset_path 'galleria/classic-map.png' %>);

For further information, refer to http://guides.rubyonrails.org/asset_pipeline.html. Just to clarify, I chose to write this as a css.erb file, hence using asset_path instead of asset-path. Initially, I suspected interpolation might be the problem, but upon inspecting the page source, the URL is functioning properly. The only issue is that it's pointing to url(galleria/classic-map.png) instead of url(galleria/classic-map-apsoidufalskjf;kasj.png).

A huge thank you to anyone who can provide assistance!

css ruby-on-rails heroku asset-pipeline

Answer 1

Answer №1

Just when I thought it couldn't happen again, I found myself in need of the fingerprint hack with no way to use it. In a moment of desperation, I decided to try something new. I executed rake assets:clobber and heroku run rake assets:clobber to clear all assets, followed by a simple git push to prompt Heroku to do the precompilation for me. Miraculously, this combination did the trick and everything started working perfectly.

Since that incident, I've adopted a new approach for handling similar situations. Now, I clean assets both locally and in production before pushing them, relying on Heroku to handle remote precompilation. This strategy is reminiscent of @user2880239's suggestion, and has led me to stop precompiling locally and committing to git altogether.

Answer 2

Just when I thought it couldn't happen again, I found myself in need of the fingerprint hack with no way to use it. In a moment of desperation, I decided to try something new. I executed rake assets:clobber and heroku run rake assets:clobber to clear all assets, followed by a simple git push to prompt Heroku to do the precompilation for me. Miraculously, this combination did the trick and everything started working perfectly.

Since that incident, I've adopted a new approach for handling similar situations. Now, I clean assets both locally and in production before pushing them, relying on Heroku to handle remote precompilation. This strategy is reminiscent of @user2880239's suggestion, and has led me to stop precompiling locally and committing to git altogether.

Answer 3

Answer №2

Despite consulting with a seasoned Senior Rails developer, the issue remained unsolved. Eventually, we improvised by manually eliminating the asset fingerprint in the public directory, as it is what the asset helper should be referencing.

For example, the file

galleria/classic-map-587854758918434124.png

was modified to galleria/classic-map.png and it functioned correctly after that.

It's worth noting that if you choose to utilize this 'hack', Rails will generate another fingerprinted asset during the next asset precompilation, resulting in duplication unless you consistently remove the additional fingerprinted asset each time. Personally, I prioritize not having to deal with this issue over avoiding duplication.

Answer 4

Despite consulting with a seasoned Senior Rails developer, the issue remained unsolved. Eventually, we improvised by manually eliminating the asset fingerprint in the public directory, as it is what the asset helper should be referencing.

For example, the file

galleria/classic-map-587854758918434124.png

was modified to galleria/classic-map.png and it functioned correctly after that.

It's worth noting that if you choose to utilize this 'hack', Rails will generate another fingerprinted asset during the next asset precompilation, resulting in duplication unless you consistently remove the additional fingerprinted asset each time. Personally, I prioritize not having to deal with this issue over avoiding duplication.

Answer 5

Answer №3

Have you verified the value of RAILS_ENV?

bundle exec rake assets:precompile RAILS_ENV=production

Answer 6

Have you verified the value of RAILS_ENV?

bundle exec rake assets:precompile RAILS_ENV=production

Answer 7

Answer №4

If you're looking for the solution on Heroku, check out their Pipeline documentation here.

When you use clobber, you essentially force all clients to reload all static assets every time you deploy your code, even if they haven't changed. This can cause slow loading times for all clients until the assets are cached again.

If your css file has a dependency on an image file, make sure to let the assets pipeline know by adding this line at the top of your css:

//= depend_on_asset "galleria/classic-map.png"

This informs sprockets that if the image file's fingerprint changes, the css must also have a new fingerprint. This way, only the necessary files and dependencies will be recompiled.

Just a heads up for others who come across this issue, if you're using asset_path from anywhere other than a view (like in a model), make sure to include the full context:

ActionController::Base.helpers.asset_path('your-image.png')

For more details, check out this resource here.

Answer 8

If you're looking for the solution on Heroku, check out their Pipeline documentation here.

When you use clobber, you essentially force all clients to reload all static assets every time you deploy your code, even if they haven't changed. This can cause slow loading times for all clients until the assets are cached again.

If your css file has a dependency on an image file, make sure to let the assets pipeline know by adding this line at the top of your css:

//= depend_on_asset "galleria/classic-map.png"

This informs sprockets that if the image file's fingerprint changes, the css must also have a new fingerprint. This way, only the necessary files and dependencies will be recompiled.

Just a heads up for others who come across this issue, if you're using asset_path from anywhere other than a view (like in a model), make sure to include the full context:

ActionController::Base.helpers.asset_path('your-image.png')

For more details, check out this resource here.

Answer 9

Answer №5

I encountered a similar issue as you, but I found a helpful solution in this insightful blog post.

To resolve the issue, I made some adjustments to my

config/environments/production.rb

file, specifically...

config.serve_static_assets = true
config.action_dispatch.x_sendfile_header = ‘X-Accel-Redirect’
config.assets.compile = true

It's worth noting that you may not need to 'add' these properties as they could already be set to false or commented out by default.

After updating the configuration, I followed these steps on Heroku:

rake assets:precompile
git add .
git commit -m "Fix static assets"
git push
git push heroku

Answer 10

I encountered a similar issue as you, but I found a helpful solution in this insightful blog post.

To resolve the issue, I made some adjustments to my

config/environments/production.rb

file, specifically...

config.serve_static_assets = true
config.action_dispatch.x_sendfile_header = ‘X-Accel-Redirect’
config.assets.compile = true

It's worth noting that you may not need to 'add' these properties as they could already be set to false or commented out by default.

After updating the configuration, I followed these steps on Heroku:

rake assets:precompile
git add .
git commit -m "Fix static assets"
git push
git push heroku

Answer 11

Answer №6

Encountering a similar problem, I decided to experiment with the helper in the Rails console on Heroku, and surprisingly, it worked flawlessly!

$ heroku run rails console
Running `rails console` attached to terminal... up, run.8071
Loading production environment (Rails 4.1.7)

irb(main):001:0> puts helper.image_path("bg.jpg")
/assets/bg-00acfb7dbe138102509d82ac2313c24d.jpg

In order to address this issue, my "solution" was to modify

config/environments/production.rb

by setting config.assets.compile = true to utilize the non-fingerprinted image as a fallback.

Hoping that this resolution proves beneficial to others facing the same challenge. If you have any concrete solutions, please do share them with me!

Answer 12

Encountering a similar problem, I decided to experiment with the helper in the Rails console on Heroku, and surprisingly, it worked flawlessly!

$ heroku run rails console
Running `rails console` attached to terminal... up, run.8071
Loading production environment (Rails 4.1.7)

irb(main):001:0> puts helper.image_path("bg.jpg")
/assets/bg-00acfb7dbe138102509d82ac2313c24d.jpg

In order to address this issue, my "solution" was to modify

config/environments/production.rb

by setting config.assets.compile = true to utilize the non-fingerprinted image as a fallback.

Hoping that this resolution proves beneficial to others facing the same challenge. If you have any concrete solutions, please do share them with me!

Rails 4: Issue with asset helper in production mode on Heroku preventing fingerprinted image assets from loading

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

Answer №5

Answer №6

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