hash tags are linked on the front end, adding markdown.js file

app/models/post.rb

@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
   api_accessible :backbone do |t|
     t.add :id
     t.add :guid
-    t.add :text
+    t.add lambda { |post|
+      post.raw_message
+    }, :as => :text
     t.add :public
     t.add :created_at
     t.add :comments_count

public/javascripts/app/views/post_content_view.js

@@ -2,9 +2,21 @@
   var postContentView = app.views.StreamObject.extend({
     presenter : function(){
       return _.extend(this.defaultPresenter(), {
-        text : markdown.toHTML(this.model.get("text") || "")
+        text : metafyText(this.model.get("text"))
       })
-    },
+
+      function metafyText(text) {
+        //we want it to return at least a <p> from markdown
+        text = text || ""
+        return hashtagify(markdown.toHTML(text) || text)
+      }
+
+      function hashtagify(text){
+        return text.replace(/(#([\u0080-\uFFFF|\w|-]+|&lt;3))/g, function(tagText) {
+          return "<a href='/tags/" + tagText.substring(1) + "' class='tag'>" + tagText + "</a>"
+        })
+      }
+    }
   })
 
 

spec/javascripts/app/views/post_view_spec.js

@@ -38,6 +38,34 @@ describe("app.views.Post", function(){
       expect(window.markdown.toHTML).toHaveBeenCalledWith("I have three Belly Buttons")
     })
 
+    context("changes hashtags to links", function(){
+      it("links to a hashtag to the tag page", function(){
+        this.statusMessage.set({text: "I love #parties"})
+        var view = new app.views.Post({model : this.statusMessage}).render();
+        expect(view.$("a:contains('#parties')").attr('href')).toBe('/tags/parties')
+      })
+
+      it("changes all hashtags", function(){
+        this.statusMessage.set({text: "I love #parties and #rockstars and #unicorns"})
+        var view = new app.views.Post({model : this.statusMessage}).render();
+        expect(view.$("a.tag").length).toBe(3)
+      })
+
+      // NOTE THIS DIVERGES FROM GRUBER'S ORIGINAL DIALECT OF MARKDOWN.
+      // We had to edit markdown.js line 291 - good people would have made a new dialect.
+      //
+      //    original : var m = block.match( /^(#{1,6})\s*(.*?)\s*#*\s*(?:\n|$)/ );
+      //    \s* changed to \s+
+      //
+      it("doesn't create a header tag if the first word is a hashtag", function(){
+        this.statusMessage.set({text: "#parties, I love"})
+        var view = new app.views.Post({model : this.statusMessage}).render();
+        expect(view.$("h1:contains(parties)")).not.toExist();
+        expect(view.$("a:contains('#parties')")).toExist();
+
+      })
+    })
+
     context("user not signed in", function(){
       it("does not provide a Feedback view", function(){
         window.current_user = app.user(null);