Jasmine config to compile coffeescript and copy assets files for testing

application.rb

# Needed if you are not requiring rails/all
require 'sprockets/railtie'

development.rb

#
# Would be nice to have this set within jasmine.yml.
#
config.assets.precompile += %w( application.js form.js frontend.js *.css )

jasmine_config.rb

# spec/javascripts/support/jasmine_config.rb
# when jasmine starts the server out-of-process, it needs this in order to be able to invoke the asset tasks
unless Object.const_defined?(:Rake)
  require 'rake'
  load File.expand_path('../../../../Rakefile', __FILE__)
end

module Jasmine
  class Config

    include Rake::DSL

    def js_files(spec_filter = nil)
      # remove all generated files
      generated_files_directory = File.expand_path("../generated", __FILE__)
      # @TODO actually remove generated specs
      #
      # Think we need to include the rake DSL to make use of rm_rf now
      #
      rm_rf generated_files_directory, :secure => true

      precompile_app_assets
      compile_jasmine_javascripts

      # this is code from the original jasmine config js_files method - you could also just alias_method_chain it
      spec_files_to_include = spec_filter.nil? ? spec_files : match_files(spec_dir, [spec_filter])
      src_files.collect {|f| "/" + f } + helpers.collect {|f| File.join(spec_path, f) } + spec_files_to_include.collect {|f| File.join(spec_path, f) }

    end

    private

    # this method compiles all the same javascript files your app will
    def precompile_app_assets
      puts "Precompiling assets..."

      # make sure the Rails environment is loaded
      ::Rake.application['environment'].invoke

      # temporarily set the static assets location from public/assets to our spec directory
      # 
      # This line is now redundant as sprockets does not use static_root to store assets any more
      #
      #::Rails.application.config.assets.static_root = Rails.root.join("spec/javascripts/generated/assets")

      # Sprockets seems to think that assets always belong in the public directory
      # Though it's a bit hackish we remove the assets from the public directory after we're done
      #
      # Would be nicer if sprockets allowed for a way for us to precompile our assets in the generated directory
      # Thats something to look into for later.
      #
      ::Rake.application['assets:clean'].reenable
      ::Rake.application['assets:clean'].invoke

      # rake won't let you run the same task twice in the same process without re-enabling it
      # once the assets have been cleared, recompile them into the spec directory
      ::Rake.application['assets:precompile'].reenable
      ::Rake.application['assets:precompile'].invoke
    end

    # this method compiles all of the spec files into js files that jasmine can run
    def compile_jasmine_javascripts
      puts "Compiling jasmine coffee scripts into javascript..."
      root = File.expand_path("../../../../spec/javascripts", __FILE__)
      destination_dir = File.expand_path("../../generated/specs", __FILE__)

      glob = File.expand_path("**/*.coffee", root)

      Dir.glob(glob).each do |srcfile|
        srcfile = Pathname.new(srcfile)
        destfile = srcfile.sub(root, destination_dir).sub(".coffee", "")
        FileUtils.mkdir_p(destfile.dirname)
        File.open(destfile, "w") {|f| f.write(CoffeeScript.compile(File.new(srcfile)))}
      end
    end

  end
end

# Note - this is necessary for rspec2, which has removed the backtrace
module Jasmine
  class SpecBuilder
    def declare_spec(parent, spec)
      me = self
      example_name = spec["name"]
      @spec_ids << spec["id"]
      backtrace = @example_locations[parent.description + " " + example_name]
      parent.it example_name, {} do
        me.report_spec(spec["id"])
      end
    end
  end
end

Hmm, that's annoying, it could be down to the gems you have installed, could you copy your gem list here?

As far as using something other than backbone-rails, I'm not sure, it seems that the issue is more to do with your env not being able to find jasmine for one reason or another. I guess you could skate around the issue, as I did initially and just use icanhazjs to or something similar to deal with your templating issues, but I think you'll find yourself facing this issue again once your views start to build up and get more complex.