exposing a nested object to a layout

[tommedema]

As far as I am aware only helpers can expose a variable to a layout (and therefore every request).

I want to expose a config object such that I can access its nested properties in layout.handlebars. I did this:

server.engine('handlebars', exphbs({
    defaultLayout: 'main',
    layoutsDir: config.http.web.layoutsDir,
    helpers: {
        config: function() { return config; }
    }}));

And layout.handlebars:

<footer>
    <p>MyApp version {{{config.version}}}.</p>
</footer>

Unfortunately this doesn't work. Why not? Is there any way to expose a nested object to every layout/view such that I can access its properties everywhere?

[ericf]

Are you using Express' Locals system to create the context in which your templates are rendered?

There's both app.locals and res.locals, and this is how data is exposed to templates. Both layouts and views will be rendered with this data.

[tommedema]

Cool, that's much better than using a helper.