Create a rails application

$ rails app_name

Options:

• -d, –database=xxx specify which database to use (mysql oracle postgresql sqlite2 sqlite3 ), defaults to mysql
• -r, –ruby-path= specify the path to ruby, if not set, the scripts use env to find ruby
• -f, –freeze freezes Rails into the vendor/rails directory

API Documentation

$ gem_server

Open a web browser with the address localhost:8088

Rake

is the make of ruby - the R uby m AKE. Rails defines a number of tasks to help you:

rake db:fixtures:load          # Load fixtures into the current environment's database. 
                               # Load specific fixtures using FIXTURES=x,y
rake db:migrate                # Migrate the database through scripts in db/migrate. Target 
                               # specific version with VERSION=x
rake db:schema:dump            # Create a db/schema.rb file that can be portably used against 
                               # any DB supported by AR
rake db:schema:load            # Load a schema.rb file into the database
rake db:sessions:clear         # Clear the sessions table
rake db:sessions:create        # Creates a sessions table for use with 
                               # CGI::Session::ActiveRecordStore
rake db:structure:dump         # Dump the database structure to a SQL file
rake db:test:clone             # Recreate the test database from the current environment's 
                               # database schema
rake db:test:clone_structure   # Recreate the test databases from the development structure
rake db:test:prepare           # Prepare the test database and load the schema
rake db:test:purge             # Empty the test database

rake doc:app                   # Build the app HTML Files
rake doc:clobber_app           # Remove rdoc products
rake doc:clobber_plugins       # Remove plugin documentation
rake doc:clobber_rails         # Remove rdoc products
rake doc:plugins               # Generate documation for all installed plugins
rake doc:rails                 # Build the rails HTML Files
rake doc:reapp                 # Force a rebuild of the RDOC files
rake doc:rerails               # Force a rebuild of the RDOC files

rake log:clear                 # Truncates all *.log files in log/ to zero bytes

rake rails:freeze:edge         # Lock this application to latest Edge Rails. Lock a specific 
                               # revision with REVISION=X
rake rails:freeze:gems         # Lock this application to the current gems (by unpacking them 
                               # into vendor/rails)
rake rails:unfreeze            # Unlock this application from freeze of gems or edge and return 
                               # to a fluid use of system gems
rake rails:update              # Update both scripts and public/javascripts from Rails
rake rails:update:javascripts  # Update your javascripts from your current rails install
rake rails:update:scripts      # Add new scripts to the application script/ directory

rake stats                     # Report code statistics (KLOCs, etc) from the application

rake test                      # Test all units and functionals
rake test:functionals          # Run tests for functionalsdb:test:prepare
rake test:integration          # Run tests for integrationdb:test:prepare
rake test:plugins              # Run tests for pluginsenvironment
rake test:recent               # Run tests for recentdb:test:prepare
rake test:uncommitted          # Run tests for uncommitteddb:test:prepare
rake test:units                # Run tests for unitsdb:test:prepare

rake tmp:cache:clear           # Clears all files and directories in tmp/cache
rake tmp:clear                 # Clear session, cache, and socket files from tmp/
rake tmp:create                # Creates tmp directories for sessions, cache, and sockets
rake tmp:sessions:clear        # Clears all files in tmp/sessions
rake tmp:sockets:clear         # Clears all ruby_sess.* files in tmp/sessions

Scripts

script/about            # Information about environenment
script/breakpointer     # starts the breakpoint server
script/console          # interactive Rails Console
script/destroy          # deletes files created by generators
script/generate         # -> generators
script/plugin           # -> Plugins
script/runner           # executes a task in the rails context
script/server           # launches the development server
                        # http://localhost:3000

script/performance/profiler     # profile an expenive method
script/performance/benchmarker  # benchmark different methods

script/process/reaper
script/process/spawner

Generators

ruby script/generate model ModellName
ruby script/generate controller ListController show edit
ruby script/generate scaffold ModelName ControllerName 
ruby script/generate migration AddNewTable
ruby script/generate plugin PluginName
ruby script/generate mailer Notification lost_password signup
ruby script/generate web_service ServiceName api_one api_two
ruby script/generate integration_test TestName
ruby script/generate session_migration

Options

-p, --pretend                    Run but do not make any changes.
-f, --force                      Overwrite files that already exist.
-s, --skip                       Skip files that already exist.
-q, --quiet                      Suppress normal output.
-t, --backtrace                  Debugging: show backtrace on errors.
-h, --help                       Show this help message.
-c, --svn                        Modify files with subversion. (Note: svn must be in path)

Plugins

script/plugin discover          # discover plugin repositories
script/plugin list              # list all available plugins
script/plugin install where     # install the „where“ plugin
script/plugin install -x where  # install where plugin as SVN external
script/plugin install http://invisible.ch/projects/plugins/where
script/plugin update            # update installed plugins
script/plugin source            # add a source repository
script/plugin unsource          # removes a source repository
script/plugin sources           # lists source repositories

A searchable directory of plugins can be found at AgileDevelopment.

Models

Model Relations

There are four ways of associating models. has_one, has_many, belongs_to and has_and_belongs_to_many

def Order < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :line_items
  belongs_to :customer   # there's a column "customer_id" in the db table
end

def LineItem < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :order # there's a column "order_id" in the db table
end

def Customer < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :orders
  has_one :address
end

def Address < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :customer
end

belongs_to  :some_model,
        :class_name  => 'MyClass',      # specifies other class name
        :foreign_key => 'my_real_id',   # and primary key 
        :conditions  => 'column = 0'    # only finds when this condition met 

has_one :some_model, 
        # as belongs_to and additionally:
        :dependent   => :destroy        # deletes associated object
        :order       => 'name ASC'      # SQL fragment for sorting

has_many :some_model
        # as has_one and additionally:
        :dependent => :destroy          # deletes all dependent data
                                        # calling each objects destroy
        :dependent => :delete_all       # deletes all dependent data
                                        # without calling the destroy methods
        :dependent => :nullify          # set association to null, not 
                                        # destroying objects
        :group => 'name'                # adds GROUP BY fragment
        :finder_sql => 'select ....'    # instead of the Rails finders
        :counter_sql => 'select ...'    # instead of the Rails counters

def Category < ActiveRecord::Base 
  has_and_belongs_to_many :products
end
def Product < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :categories  
end

Table categories_products with category_id and product_id (without id column)

Association Join Models

class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :authorships
  has_many :books, :through => :authorships
end

class Authorship < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :author
  belongs_to :book
end

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :authorship
end

@author = Author.find :first
@author.authorships.collect { |a| a.book } # selects all books that the author's 
                                           # authorships belong to.
@author.books                              # selects all books by using the Authorship
                                           # join model

Also works through has_many associations:

class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many   :clients
  has_many   :invoices, :through => :clients
  has_many   :paid_invoices, :through => :clients, :source => :invoice
end

class Client < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :firm
  has_many   :invoices
end

class Invoice < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :client
end

@firm = Firm.find :first
@firm.clients.collect { |c| c.invoices }.flatten # select all invoices for all clients
                                                 # of the firm
@firm.invoices                                   # selects all invoices by going through
                                                 # the Client join model.

Validations

validates_presence_of :firstname, :lastname     # must be filled out

validates_length_of :password,
                    :minimum => 8           # more than 8 characters
                    :maximum => 16          # shorter than 16 characters
                    :in => 8..16            # between 8 and 16 characters
                    :too_short => 'way too short'    
                    :too_long => 'way to long'

validates_acceptance_of :eula               # Must accept a condition
                        :accept => 'Y'      # default: 1 (ideal for a checkbox)

validates_confirmation_of :password     
# the fields password and password_confirmation must match

validates_uniqueness_of :user_name              # user_name has to be unique
                        :scope => 'account_id'  # Condition: 
                                                # account_id = user.account_id

validates_format_of :email          # field must match a regular expression
                    :with => /^([^@\s]+)@((?:[-a-z0-9]+.)+[a-z]{2,})$/i

validates_numericality_of   :value                  # value is numeric
                            :only_integer => true   
                            :allow_nil => true      

validates_inclusion_in  :gender,    # value is in enumeration
                        :in => %w( m, f )

validates_exclusion_of  :age            # value is not in Enumeration
                        :in => 13..19   # don't want any teenagers

validates_associated :relation  
# validates that the associated object is valid

Options for all validations above:

:message => 'my own errormessage'   # eigene Fehlermeldung
:on      => :create                 # or :update (validates only then)
:if      => ...                     # call method oder Proc

Calculations

Person.average :age
Person.minimum :age
Person.maximum :age
Person.sum :salary, :group => :last_name

Find

find(42)        # object with ID 42
find([37, 42])  # Array with the objects with id 37, 42
find :all
find :first, 
     :conditions => [ "name = ?", "Hans" ]   # finds the first record with 
                                             # the matching condition

more parameters for find:

:order => 'name DESC'       # sql fragment for sorting
:offset => 20               # starts with entry 20
:limit => 10                # only return 10 objects
:group => 'name'            # sql fragment GROUP BY
:joins => 'LEFT JOIN ...'   # additional LEFT JOIN (rarely used)
:include => [:account, :friends]    # LEFT OUTER JOIN with these model
:include => { :groups => { :members=> { :favorites } } } 
:select => [:name, :adress]     # instead of SELECT * FROM
:readonly => true               # objects are write protected

Scope

Developer.with_scope(:find => { :conditions => "salary > 10000", :limit => 10 }) do
  Developer.find(:all)     # => SELECT * FROM developers WHERE (salary > 10000) LIMIT 10

  # inner rule is used. (all previous parameters are ignored)
  Developer.with_exclusive_scope(:find => { :conditions => "name = 'Jamis'" }) do
    Developer.find(:all)   # => SELECT * FROM developers WHERE (name = 'Jamis')
  end

  # parameters are merged
  Developer.with_scope(:find => { :conditions => "name = 'Jamis'" }) do
    Developer.find(:all)   # => SELECT * FROM developers WHERE 
                           # (( salary > 10000 ) AND ( name = 'Jamis' )) LIMIT 10
  end
end

for more details and examples, see:

• http://www.codyfauser.com/articles/2006/02/01/using-with_scope-to-refactor-messy-finders
• http://blog.caboo.se/articles/2006/02/22/nested-with_scope

Callbacks

During the life cycle of an active record object, you can hook into 9 events:

• (-) save
• (-) valid?
• (1) before_validation
• (2) before_validation_on_create
• (-) validate
• (-) validate_on_create
• (4) after_validation
• (5) after_validation_on_create
• (6) before_save
• (7) before_create
• (-) create
• (8) after_create
• (9) after_save

Examples:

class Subscription < ActiveRecord::Base
  before_create :record_signup
private
  def record_signup
    self.signed_up_on = Date.today
  end
end

class Firm < ActiveRecord::Base
  # Destroys the associated clients and people when the firm is destroyed
  before_destroy { |record| Person.destroy_all "firm_id = #{record.id}"   }
  before_destroy { |record| Client.destroy_all "client_of = #{record.id}" }
end

Observers

The Observer classes let’s you extract the functionality of the callbacks:

class CommentObserver < ActiveRecord::Observer
  def after_save(comment)
    Notifications.deliver_comment("admin@do.com", "New comment was posted", comment)
  end
end

Store observers in app/model/model_observer.rb

Enable observer by putting this in config/environment.rb

config.active_record.observers = :comment_observer, :signup_observer

Migration

ruby sript/generate migration AddTables

Creates a file db/migrations/001_add_tables. The methods “up” and “down” change the db schema

def self.up     # brings db schema to the next version 
  create_table :table, :force => true do |t|
    t.column :name, :string
    t.column :age, :integer, { :default => 42 }
    t.column :description, :text
    # :string, :text, :integer, :float, :datetime, :timestamp, :time, :date, 
    # :binary, :boolean
  end
  add_column :table, :column, :type
  rename_column :table, :old_name, :new_name 
  change_column :table, :column, :new_type
  execute "SQL Statement"
  add_index :table, :column, :unique => true, :name => 'some_name'
  add_index :table, [ :column1, :column2 ]
end

def self.down   # rollbacks changes
  rename_column :table, :new_name, :old_name
  remove_column :table, :column
  drop_table :table
  remove_index :table, :column
end

To execute the migration:

rake db:migrate
rake db:migrate VERSION=14
rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production

Unit Test

rake test:units

The following assertions are available:

assert_kind_of Class, @var  # same class
assert @var                 # not nil
assert_equal 1, @p.id       # equality
@product.destroy
assert_raise(ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound) { Product.find( @product.id ) }

Controllers

Controller methods

Each public method in a controller is callable by the (standard) URL scheme /controller/action

class WorldController < ApplicationController
def hello
  render :text => 'Hello world'
end

Parameters are stored in the params hash:

/world/hello/1?foo=bar
id = params[:id]     # 1
foo = params[:foo]   # bar

Instance variables defined in the the controllers methods are available to the corresponding view templates:

def show
  @person = Person.find( params[:id])
end

Distinguish the type of response accepted:

def index
  @posts = Post.find :all

  respond_to do |type|
    type.html # using defaults, which will render weblog/index.rhtml
    type.xml  { render :action => "index.rxml" }
    type.js   { render :action => "index.rjs" }
  end
end

Render

Usually the view template with the same name as the controller method is used to render the results

Action

render :action => 'some_action'   # the default. Does not need to be specified
                                   # in a controller method called "some_action"
render :action => 'another_action', :layout => false
render :action => 'some_action', :layout => 'another_layout'

Partials

Partials are stored in files called “_subformname” ( _error, _subform, _listitem)

render :partial => 'subform'
render :partial => 'error', :status => 500
render :partial => 'subform', :locals => { :variable => @other_variable }
render :partial => 'listitem', :collection => @list
render :partial => 'listitem', :collection => @list, :spacer_template => 'list_divider'

Template

Like rendering an action, but finds the template based on the template root (app/views)

render :template => 'weblog/show'  # renders app/views/weblog/show

File

render :file => '/path/to/some/file.rhtml'
render :file => '/path/to/some/filenotfound.rhtml', status => 404, :layout => true

Text

render :text => "Hello World"
render :text => "This is an error", :status => 500
render :text => "Let's use a layout", :layout => true
render :text => 'Specific layout', :layout => 'special'

Inline Template

Uses ERb to render the “miniature” template

render :inline => "<%= 'hello , ' * 3 + 'again' %>"
render :inline => "<%= 'hello ' + name %>", :locals => { :name => "david" }

Nothing

render :nothing
render :nothing, :status => 403    # forbidden

RJS

def refresh
  render :update do |page|
    page.replace_html  'user_list', :partial => 'user', :collection => @users
    page.visual_effect :highlight, 'user_list'
  end
end

Change the content-type:

render :action => "atom.rxml", :content_type => "application/atom+xml"

URL Routing

In config/routes.rb

map.connect '', :controller => 'posts', :action => 'list' # default
map.connect ':action/:controller/:id'
map.connect 'tasks/:year/:month', :controller => 'tasks', 
                                  :action => 'by_date',
                                  :month => nil, :year => nil,
                                  :requirements => {:year => /\d{4}/, 
                                                    :month => /\d{1,2}/ }

Filter

Filters can change a request before or after the controller. They can for example be used for authentication, encryption or compression.

before_filter :login_required, :except => [ :login ]
before_filter :autenticate, :only => [ :edit, :delete ]
after_filter :compress

It’s also possible to use a Proc for a really small filter action:

 before_filter { |controller| false if controller.params["stop_action"] }

Change the order of your filters by using prepend_before_filter and prepend_after_filter (like prepend_before_filter :some_filter which will put the some_filter at the beginning of the filter chain)

If you define a filter in a super class, you can skip it in the subclass:

skip_before_filter :some_filter
skip_after_filter :some_filter

Session / Flash

To save data across multiple requests, you can use either the session or the flash hashes. A flash stores a value (normally text) until the next request, while a session stores data during the complete session.

session[:user] = @user
flash[:message] = "Data was saved successfully"

<%= link_to "login", :action => 'login' unless session[:user] %>
<% if flash[:message] %>
<div><%= h flash[:message] %></div>
<% end %>

Session management

It’s possible to turn off session management:

session :off                        # turn session managment off                        
session :off, :only => :action      # only for this :action
session :off, :except => :action    # except for this action
session :only => :foo,              # only for :foo when doing HTTPS
        :session_secure => true 
session :off, :only => :foo,        # off for foo, if uses as Web Service
        :if => Proc.new { |req| req.parameters[:ws] }

Cookies

Setting

cookies[:user_name] = "david" # => Will set a simple session cookie
cookies[:login] = { :value => "XJ-122", :expires => Time.now + 3600} 
    # => Will set a cookie that expires in 1 hour

Reading

cookies[:user_name] # => "david"
cookies.size         # => 2

Deleting

cookies.delete :user_name

All the option symbols for setting cookies are:

• value - the cookie’s value or list of values (as an array).
• path - the path for which this cookie applies. Defaults to the root of the application.
• domain - the domain for which this cookie applies.
• expires - the time at which this cookie expires, as a +Time+ object.
• secure - whether this cookie is a secure cookie or not (default to false). Secure cookies are only transmitted to HTTPS servers.

Views

View Templates

All view templates are stored in app/views/controllername. The extension determines what kind of template format is used:

• rhtml Ruby HTML (using ERB)
• rxml Ruby XML (using Builder)
• rjs Ruby JavaScript

All instance variables of the controller are available to the view. In addition, the following special objects can be accessed:

• headers The Headers of the outgoing response
• request The incoming request object
• response The outgoing response object
• params The parameter hash
• session The session hash
• controller The current controller

HTML

HTMl mixed with Ruby using tags. All of Ruby is available for programming

<% %>   # executes the Ruby code
<%= %>  # executes the Ruby code and displays the result

<ul>
<% @products.each do |p| %>

  <li><%= h @p.name %></li>
<% end %>
</ul>

The output of anything in <%= %> tags is directly copied to the HTML output stream. To secure against HTML injection, use the h() function to html_escape the output

RXML

Creates XML files

xml.instruct!               # <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
xml.comment! "a comment"    # <!-- a comment -->
xml.feed "xmlns" => "http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" do
  xml.title "My Atom Feed"
  xml.subtitle h(@feed.subtitle), "type" => 'html'
  xml.link url_for( :only_path => false, 
                    :controller => 'feed',
                    :action => 'atom' )
  xml.updated @updated.iso8601
  xml.author do
    xml.name "Jens-Christian Fischer"
    xml.email "jcfischer@gmail.com"
  end
  @entries.each do |entry|
    xml.entry do
      xml.title entry.title
      xml.link "href" => url_for ( :only_path => false,
                                   :controller => 'entries',
                                   :action => 'show',
                                   :id => entry )
      xml.id entry.urn
      xml.updated entry.updated.iso8601
      xml.summary h(entry.summary)
    end
  end
end

for more details see: http://rubyforge.org/projects/builder/

RJS

In addition to HTML and XML templates, Rails also understands JavaScript Templates. They allow you to easily create complex alterations of the displayed page. You can manipulate a page element with the following methods:

select Select a DOM element for further processing

page.select('pattern') # selects an item on the page through a CSS pattern
                       # select('p'), select('p.welcome b')
page.select('div.header em').first.hide
page.select('#items li').eacj do |value|
  value.hide
end

insert_html Inserts content into the DOM at a specific position

page.insert_html :position, id, content

position can be one of the following:

• :top
• :bottom
• :before
• :after

Examples:

page.insert_html :bottom, 'list', '<li>last item</li>'
page.insert_html :before, 'tasks', :partial => 'task'

replace_html Replaces the innerHTML of the specified DOM element

page.replace_html 'title', "This is the new title"
page.replace_html 'person-45', :partial => 'person', :object => @person

replace Replaces the “outer HTML”, (i.e. the entire element) of the specified DOM element

page.replace 'task', :partial => 'task', :object => @task

remove Removes the specified DOM element

page.remove 'edit-button'

hide Hides the specified DOM element

page.hide 'some-element'

show Shows the specified DOM element

page.show 'some-element'

toggle Toggle the visibility of a DOM element

page.toggle 'some-element'

alert Display an alert box

page.alert 'Hello world'

redirect_to Redirects the browser to a given location

page.redirect_to :controller => 'blog', :action => 'show', :id => @post

call Calls another JavaScript function

page.call foo, 1, 2

assign Assigns a value to a JS variable

page.assign "foo", 42

<< Writes raw JavaScript to the page

page << "alert('hello world);"

delay Delays the code in the block by a number of seconds

page.delay(10) do 
   page.visual_effect :fade, 'notice'
end

visual_effect Calls a Scriptaculous effect

page.visual_effect :highlight, 'notice', :duration => 2

sortable Create a sortable element

page.sortable 'my_list', :url => { :action => 'order' }

dragable Create a dragable element

page.dragable 'my_image', :revert => true

drop_receiving Create an element for receiving drops

page.drop_recieving 'my_cart', :url => { :controller => 'cart', :action => 'add' }

Helpers

Small functions, usually used for displaying data, can be extracted to helpers. Each view has it’s own helper class (in app/helpers). Common functionality is stored in app/helpers/application_helper.rb

Links

link_to "Name", :controller => 'post', :action => 'show', :id => @post.id
link_to "Delete", { :controller => "admin",
  :action => "delete",
  :id => @post },
{ :class => 'css-class',
  :id => 'css-id',
  :confirm => "Are you sure?" }

image_tag "spinner.png", :class => "image", :alt => "Spinner"

mail_to "info@invisible.ch", "send mail", 
      :subject => "Support request by #{@user.name}",
        :cc => @user.email,
        :body => '....',
        :encoding => "javascript"

stylesheet_link_tag "scaffold", "admin", :media => "all"

HTML Forms

Form

<%= form_tag { :action => :save }, { :method => :post } %>

creates a form tag with the specified action, makes it a post request.

Use :multipart => true to define a Mime-Multipart form (for file uploads)

Text fields

<%= text_field :modelname, :attribute_name, options  %>

creates a text input field of the form:

<input type="text" name="modelname[attribute_name]" id="attributename" />

Example:

text_field "post", "title", "size" => 20
    <input  type="text" id="post_title" name="post[title]" 
            size="20" value="#{@post.title}" />

<%= hidden_field ... %>

creates a hidden field

<%= password_field ... %>

creates a password field (all input shown as stars)

<%= file_field ... %>

creates a file field

Textarea

<%= text_area ... %>

creates a text area. Example:

text_area "post", "body", "cols" => 20, "rows" => 40
    <textarea cols="20" rows="40" id="post_body" name="post[body]">

        #{@post.body}
    </textarea>

Radio Button

<%= radio_button :modelname, :attribute, :tag_value, options %>

creates a radio button.

Example:

radio_button "post", "category", "rails"
radio_button "post", "category", "java"
    <input type="radio" id="post_category" name="post[category]" value="rails" 
           checked="checked" />
    <input type="radio" id="post_category" name="post[category]" value="java" />

Check Box

<%= check_box :modelname, :attribute, options, on_value, off_value %>

Example:

check_box "post", "validated"   # post.validated? returns 1 or 0
    <input type="checkbox" id="post_validate" name="post[validated]" 
           value="1" checked="checked" />
    <input name="post[validated]" type="hidden" value="0" />

check_box "puppy", "gooddog", {}, "yes", "no"
    <input type="checkbox" id="puppy_gooddog" name="puppy[gooddog]" value="yes" />
    <input name="puppy[gooddog]" type="hidden" value="no" />

Options

Create a select tag. Pass an array of choices

<%= select :variable, :attribute, choices, options, html_options %>

select  "post",         
        "person_id",    
        Person.find_all.collect {|p| [ p.name, p.id ] },
        { :include_blank => true } 

 <select name="post[person_id]">
   <option></option>
   <option value="1" selected="selected">David</option>

   <option value="2">Sam</option>
   <option value="3">Tobias</option>
 </select>

<%= collection_select :variable, :attribute, choices, :id, :value %>

Date Time

<%= date_select :variable, :attribute, options %>
<%= datetime_select :variable, :attribute, options %>

Examples:

date_select "post", "written_on"
date_select "user", "birthday", :start_year => 1910
date_select "user", "cc_date", :start_year => 2005,
                               :use_month_numbers => true,
                               :discard_day => true,
                               :order => [:year, :month]

datetime_select "post", "written_on"

End Form Tag

<%= end_form_tag %>

Layouts

A layout defines the surroundings of an HTML page. It’s the place to define common look & feel. Layouts live in app/views/layouts

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Form: <%= controller.action_name %></title>
    <%= stylesheet_link_tag 'scaffold' %>
  </head>

  <body>
    <%= yield %>   # the content will show up here
  </body>
</html>

----

class MyController < ApplicationController
  layout "standard", :except => [ :rss, :atom ]
...
end

----

class MyOtherController < ApplicationController
  layout :compute_layout

  # this method computes the name of the layout to use
  def compute_layout
    return "admin" if session[:role] == "admin"
    "standard"
  end
  ...
end

Layouts have access to the instance variables of the controller so you can pass values “up”

Partials

Partials are building blocks for creating views. They allow re-use of commonly used display blocks. They are stored in files:

render :partial => 'product'

loads the partial in _form.rthml and passed the instance variable @product to it. The partial can access it using @product

render :partial => 'product', :locals => { :product => @bought }

loads the same partial but assigns a different instance variable to it.

render :partial => 'product', :collection => @product_list

renders the partial for each element in @product_list and assigns @product to each element. An iteration counter will automatically be made available to the template with a name of the form partial_name_counter (in the above example: product_counter).

Components

To reuse both controller logic and views, use them as “components”

render_component :controller => 'posts', :action => 'last_posts'

That calls last_posts in the PostsController. Use

render :layout => false, ...

or

layout "xxx", :except => 'last_posts'

to render this action without a layout

Functional Testing

rake test:functional

Requests

get :action # a get request of the specificed action
get :action, :id => 1,
         { session_hash }, # optional session variables
         { flash_hash }    # optional messages in the flash

post :action, :foo => { :value1 => 'abc', :value2 => '123' },
              { :user_id => 17 },
              { :message => 'success' }

get, post, put, delete, head 

assert_response :success
# possible parameters are:
#   :success   
#   :redirect  
#   :missing
#   :error

Redirects

assert_redirected_to :action => :other_action
assert_redirected_to :controller => 'foo', :action => 'bar'
assert_redirected_to http://www.invisible.ch

Rendered with template

assert_template "post/index"

Variable assignments

assert_nil assigns(:some_variable)
assert_not_nil assigns(:some_variable)
assert_equal 17, assigns(:posts).size

Rendering of specific tags

assert_tag :tag => 'body'
assert_tag :content => 'Rails Seminar'
assert_tag :tag => 'div', :attributes => { :class => 'index_list' }
assert_tag :tag => 'head', :parent => { :tag => 'body' }
assert_tag :tag => 'html', :child => { :tag => 'head' }
assert_tag :tag => 'body', :descendant => { :tag => 'div' }
assert_tag :tag => 'ul',
           :children => { :count => 1..3,
                      :only => { :tag => 'li' } }

AJAX

Be sure to include the javascript libraries in the layout

<%= javascript_include_tag :defaults %>

Linking to remote action

<%= link_to_remote "link", :update => 'some_div', 
                           :url => { :action => 'show', :id => post.id } %>

<%= link_to_remote "link", :url => { :action => 'create',
                           :update => { :success => 'good_div', 
                                        :failure => 'error_div' },
                           :loading => 'Element.show('spinner'),
                           :complete => 'Element.hide('spinner') } %>

Callbacks

:loading        Called when the remote document is being loaded with data 
                by the browser.
:loaded         Called when the browser has finished loading the remote document.
:interactive    Called when the user can interact with the remote document, 
                even though it has not finished loading.
:success        Called when the XMLHttpRequest is completed, and the HTTP 
                status code is in the 2XX range.
:failure        Called when the XMLHttpRequest is completed, and the HTTP 
                status code is not in the 2XX range.
:complete       Called when the XMLHttpRequest is complete (fires after 
                success/failure if they are present).

You can also specifiy reactions to return codes directly:

link_to_remote word,
    :url => { :action => "action" },
    404 => "alert('Not found...? Wrong URL...?')",
    :failure => "alert('HTTP Error ' + request.status + '!')"

AJAX Forms

Create a form that will submit via an XMLHttpRequest instead of a POST request. The parameters are passed exactly the same way (so the controller can use the params method to access the parameters). Fallback for non JavaScript enabled browsers can be specified by using the :action methods in the :html option.

form_remote_tag :html => { :action => url_for(:controller => 'controller', 
                                              :action => 'action'), 
                           :method => :post }

Autocompleting textfield

In View:

<%= text_field_with_auto_complete :model, :attribute %>

In Controller:

auto_complete_for :model, :attribute

Observe Field

<label for="search">Search term:</label> 
<%= text_field_tag :search %> 
<%= observe_field(:search, 
                  :frequency => 0.5, 
                  :update => :results, 
                  :url => { :action => :search }) %> 

<div id="results"></div>

Optionally specify:

:on => :blur    # trigger for event (default :changed or :clicked) 
:with => ...    # a JavaScript expression to specify what value is sent
                # defaults to "value"
:with => 'bla'  # "'bla' = value"
:with => 'a=b'  # "a=b"

Observe Form

Same semantics as observe_field

Periodically call Remote

<%= periodically_call_remote(:update => 'process-list', 
                             :url => { :action => :ps }, 
                             :frequency => 2 ) %>

Configuring your application

A lot of things can be configured in the config/environment.rb file. This list is not exhaustive:

Session configuration

config.action_controller.session_store = :active_record_store 
# one of :active_record_store, :drb_store, 
# :mem_cache_store, or :memory_store or your own class


ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_key] = 'my_app'
    # use an application specific session_key
ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_id] = '12345'
    # use this session_id. Will be created if not specified
ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_expires] = 3.minute.from_now  
    # how long before a session expires?
ActionController::Base.session_options[:new_session] = true
    # force the creation of a new session
ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_secure] = true
    # only use sessions over HTTPS
ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_domain] = 'invisible.ch'
    # Specify which domain this session is valid for (default: hostname of server)
ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_path] = '/my_app'
    # the path for which this session applies.  Defaults to the 
    # directory of the CGI script

Caching configuration

ActionController::Base.fragment_cache_store = :file_store, "/path/to/cache/directory"

I needed an autocomplete field which, when a value was selected would update other fields based on related table information.

I created it using .RJS templates.

here is example code

---

Controller

class MailtestController < ApplicationController
    layout "admin"

    # displays the index page
    def index
    end


    # this is called by the text_field_with_auto_complete, it returns a partial _contact which shows the drop down info for the agents.
    def auto_complete_for_message_to

        # see the private section at the end of this controller
      auto_complete_responder_for_contacts params[:message][:to]
    end


    # this function is called when a user selects from the drop down in the text_field
    def get_info
        # by converting the :id to an integer I strip out the letters. if the text_field returns "100 joel jensen" the id becomes 100
        @agent = Agent.find(params[:id].to_i)

        # this section does an inline .rjs template
        # I am sending back javascript that will update the required fields to the new values.
        if request.xhr? 
            render :update do |page|
                page << 'message_to.value = "'+ @agent.first + '"'
                page << 'message_cc.value = "'+ @agent.last + '"'
                page << 'message_id.value = "'+ @agent.id + '"'
                page << 'message_office.value= "'+ @agent.office.name + '"'
                page << 'message_office_phone.value= "'+ @agent.office.office_phone + '"' 
            end
        else
            render :text => 'javascript update failed.'
        end
    end


    # update the information. this is just a placeholder.
    def update
        render :text => 'update the information'
    end


    private
    def auto_complete_responder_for_contacts(value)
      @contacts = Agent.find(:all, 
        :conditions => [ 'LOWER(first) LIKE ?',
        '%' + value.downcase + '%' ], 
        :order => 'first ASC',
        :limit => 8)
      render :partial => 'contacts'
    end
end

---

index.rhtml

The magic here is the :after_update_element, when a user makes a selection, an Ajax request is made that returns javascript that updates the other text fields via .rjs

<%= form_tag :action => "update" %>
<%= hidden_field :message, :id %><br/>

To: <br/>
<span id="full_name">
<%= text_field_with_auto_complete :message, :to,{}, :after_update_element => "function(element,value) {"+ remote_function(:url=>{:action=>:get_info},:with=>"'id='+element.value") +";}" %>
</span><br/>


CC: <br/>
<%= text_field :message, :cc %><br/>

Office<br/>
<%= text_field :message, :office %><br />

Office Phone<br />
<%= text_field :message,:office_phone %><br />

<%= submit_tag %>
<%= end_form_tag %>

*

Partial

_contacts.rhtml note the style=”DISPLAY:NONE”, the textfield will return this value, not display it.

<ul class="contacts">
<% for contact in @contacts do -%>
  <li>
    <div class="id" style="DISPLAY:NONE"><%= contact.id %></div>
    <div class="name"><%=h contact.first %> <%=h contact.last %></div>
  </li>
<% end -%>
</ul>

What they meant to say is you cant use local repositories unless you have a static IP.

Capistrano executes the svn command from the other server so localhost is relative to the other server not my nifty laptop.

So I need a remote static ip install of SVN

I need to install subversion my 64 bit dev platform to ease Rails deployments. It ran Mandrake 2005 ( this is one of the first versions that are 64 bit for mandrake ). When I tried to get it running it wanted to install libraries for a newer version of KDE. I was afraid that this would break the current setup, or more over be a P.O.T.A later on. So I figured I should upgrade the OS.

Here is the saga. My dev machine is a gaming AMD64 3000 with 2 gigs of ram and hardware mirrored 200 GB SATA RAID drives

I tried installing mod dav svn for the older version of Apache2 I had installed. Apparently it was the 32 bit version. The only versions of mod dav svn I have are for 64 bit Apache.

Reinstall Apache use newer version.

Impressive speed bump

Install mod dav svn install subversion. required libraries want to overwrite kde_core…. NO WAY.

Time for a full reinstall

• Downloaded Mandriva 2006.0 DVD

1

• installed
• wouldn’t boot, problem with raid array.

2

• install again ( did I do it wrong )
• nope
• broke up raid set formatted each disk indepentantly, computer hung on formatting disk 2
• reboot retry, formatted no problem

This wasn’t the issue

3

• installed again
• 2006.0 raid driver detects if you have raid and tries to set up regardless if hardware raid is already taking care of it
• Downloaded Mandriva 2006.0 Core updates.
• core updates, fixes raid issue
• nvidia driver for 6200 doesn’t work. X won’t boot.

4

• Reinstall Repatch, to try to use a different video card ( inseting the core updates after its installed skips the section to choose video card. )
• choose generic video card.
• patch
• still wont boot
• during boot, the video card driver shown isnt what I installed.

5

• reinstall, choose the generic nvidia card ( the driver not written by nvidia )
• patch, just for kicks verify the generic driver is still selected. It wasn’t
• fixed.
• kde boots. There is no file manager. its worthless.

its getting late ( about 2 am )

6

• reinstall
• repatch
• oops forgot to verify video card

7

• reinstall
• repatch
• oops

8

* So I Reinstalled another … and that stayed up.

this reminds me of this monty python skit

---

**FATHER**
Listen, lad, I built this kingdom up from nothing.  
All I had when I started was swamp ... 

Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, 
but I built it all the same ... 

just to show 'em. 

It sank into the swamp.  

So I built a another one ... 
that sank into the swamp.  

I built another one ...  
That fell over and THEN sank into the swamp ....  

So I built another ... 

and that stayed up.

... And that's what your gonna get, lad: 

the most powerful kingdom in this island.

**PRINCE**
But I don't want any of that, I'd rather ...

**FATHER**
Rather what?

**PRINCE**
I'd rather ... just ... sing ...

MUSIC INTRO

---

• reinstall
• make same software selections but also choose multimedia computer ( gimp xmms… )
• KDE WORKS
• set up system.
• samba lacks place to enter which workgroup the computer belongs to
• vncserver wont work
• am I connecting correctly?
• wait I dealt with this a while ago during the 2005 installation.
• 64 bit vncserver that ships with mandrake wont work ( don’t know why )
• deleted it, installed the 32 bit version ( works fine )
• install ruby
• install rails
• mysql wont allow tcp connections, I think its getting config information from more than the my.cnf
• install ruby mysql
• installed fcgi
• installed mod_fcgi
• fastcgi works no errors in logfiles.
• tried installing ruby fcgi
• wont work needs fastcgi headers and compiled to 64 bit
• unistalled fastcgi
• compiled from source
• installed ruby fcgi
• works
• printer driver won’t work ( still have to work on this one )
• samba workgroup is incorrect. ( still have to work on this one )
• SVN works.

The sun is coming up

Total time… one weekend. What a waste of time.