passing a variable from jade to javascript

Question

I am trying to pass a variable from the route handler to the javascript file.

express route that fetches home page is:

exports.home = function(req, res){

    var _ajaxData = [ ["#collections","collections", "Collections"],
                      ["#candidates","candidates", "Candidates"],
                      ["#entries","entriess", "Entries"],
                      ["#exits","exits", "Exits"]
                    ];

    res.render('home/home', { title: 'Welcome to My Web', _ajaxData: _ajaxData});
};

And my jade file looks like the following:

extends ../layout/base

block content
      each item in _ajaxData
        div(id= item[0]).col-md-6
              h3.panel-title= title
            .panel-body
              | Loading content...

  script(src='js/home.js')

And the content is loaded using ajax in home.js that looks like the following:

var ajaxData = JSON.stringify('!{_ajaxData}');
console.log(ajaxData);
// Further processing here

Problem: The console prints:

"!{_ajaxData}" 

where I am looking to get the full array passed to the javascript.

Appreciate any insights

Solution

Add this to your jade file

script(type='text/javascript')                                                   
  var local_data =!{JSON.stringify(data)};   
script(src='javascripts/myScript.js')  

All your data should now be in local_data for your use in myScript.js