Week 05, Day 03

What we covered today:

Helpers

Helpers

These are things that you should use over and over, it is a collection of commonly used patterns. They can only be used in our views!!! Remember that these obviously need to be wrapped in ERB tags.

Number Helpers

number_to_currency( value )
number_to_human( value )
number_to_phone( value, options )
number_to_phone( value, :area_code => true )

Here are all of the number helpers.

Text Helpers

pluralize( value, 'singular_case' )
pluralize( @person_count, 'person' )

truncate( value, options )
truncate( @story, :length => 50 )

cycle( list_of_values )
cycle( 'red', 'green', 'orange', 'purple' )

Here are all of the text helpers.

Assets Helpers

image_tag( 'path', options )
image_tag( 'funny.jpg' )
image_tag( 'http://fillmurray.com/500/500', :class => "oh-bill" )

Here are all of the asset helpers.

URL Helpers

link_to( 'Home', root_path )
link_to( 'Work Path Show', work_path( work.id ) )
link_to( 'Work Path Show', work_path( work ) )
link_to( 'Work Path Show', work )
button_to( 'Test Path', root_path, :method => 'GET' )

Here are all of the url helpers.

The Power of Rails in Terminal

There are a few commands that are absolutely essential for Rails development. The more you know them, the better it is!

At its most basic:

  • rails new - Generate a new application
  • rails server - Runs the server
  • rails generate - Generate a whole heap of things within an application
  • rails console - Opens up a console
  • rails dbconsole - Opens up a direct connection to SQL
  • rake - Does thousands of things
  • bundle - Install gems and their dependencies

Running any command with -h or --help at the end will show you the documentation for that particular command. But the real power comes from...

Customization and Automation!

RAILS NEW

rails new app_name
rails new app_name -T # Skips the Test Suite
rails new app_name --database=postgresql # Specifies the Database (changes it from sqlite3)
rails new app_name -d postgresql

RAILS SERVER

rails server
rails s # Shorthand for rails server
rails server -p 3001 # Specifies another port (have multiple servers at once!)
rails server -e production # Changes the state of the application (different gem sets etc. - don't worry about this one)

RAILS GENERATE

rails generate controller ControllerName list of actions
rails generate controller Greetings index create
rails g controller Greetings index create
# THIS WILL CREATE VIEWS, JS, CSS AND ACTIONS IN CONTROLLERS (PLUS TESTS)

rails g model ModelName field:type
rails g model Painting name:string year:date
# THIS WILL CREATE MODELS, MIGRATIONS, AND TESTS

rails g scaffold ModelName field:type field:type
rails generate scaffold Painting name:string year:date
# THIS WILL CREATE EVERYTHING

RAILS CONSOLE

rails console # OPENS UP YOUR RAILS APP IN PRY OR IRB
rails c # SHORTHAND

rails console staging # OPENS UP A SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT

rails console --sandbox # CAN'T MAKE ANY ACTUAL CHANGES

RAILS DBCONSOLE

rails dbconsole # OPENS UP A DIRECT CONNECTION TO YOUR DATABAS
rails db # SHORTHAND

BUNDLE

bundle install # INSTALLS GEM AND DEPENDENCIES
bundle # SHORTHAND

RAKE

This is crazy powerful and does a million things, but here are some of the more important ones that you might need to know. We will go into this in a lot more detail though!

rake --tasks # Lists everything it can do

rake about # Lists everything about your Rails app

rake db:drop # DROPS THE DATABASE
rake db:create # CREATES THE DATABASE
rake db:migrate # MIGRATES TABLES INTO THE DATABASE (FROM db/migrations)
rake db:rollback # GOES BACK ONE STEP IN THE DATABASE (BACK ONE MIGRATION)

rake routes # LIST ALL OF YOUR ROUTES

rake stats # LINES OF CODE ETC.

rake notes # SEE HERE - http://guides.rubyonrails.org/command_line.html#notes

Form Helpers

At its most basic...

<%= form_tag("/search", method: "get") do %>
  <%= label_tag(:q, "Search for:") %>
  <%= text_field_tag(:q) %>
  <%= submit_tag("Search") %>
<% end %>

Binding a form to an object...

# OUR CONTROLLER
def new
  @article = Article.new
end

<!-- OUR ASSOCIATED VIEW -->

<%= form_for @article, url: {action: "create"}, html: {class: "nifty_form"} do |f| %>
  <%= f.text_field :title %>
  <%= f.text_area :body, size: "60x12" %>
  <%= f.submit "Create" %>
<% end %>

TAG HELPERS!

<%= radio_button_tag(:age, "adult") %>
<%= label_tag(:age_adult, "I'm over 21") %>
<%= text_area_tag(:message, "Hi, nice site", size: "24x6") %>
<%= password_field_tag(:password) %>
<%= hidden_field_tag(:parent_id, "5") %>
<%= search_field(:user, :name) %>
<%= telephone_field(:user, :phone) %>
<%= date_field(:user, :born_on) %>
<%= datetime_field(:user, :meeting_time) %>
<%= datetime_local_field(:user, :graduation_day) %>
<%= month_field(:user, :birthday_month) %>
<%= week_field(:user, :birthday_week) %>
<%= url_field(:user, :homepage) %>
<%= email_field(:user, :address) %>
<%= color_field(:user, :favorite_color) %>
<%= time_field(:task, :started_at) %>
<%= number_field(:product, :price, in: 1.0..20.0, step: 0.5) %>
<%= range_field(:product, :discount, in: 1..100) %>
<%= select_tag(:city_id, '<option value="1">Lisbon</option>...') %>
<% cities_array = City.all.map { |city| [city.name, city.id] } %>
<%= options_for_select(cities_array) %>
<%= time_zone_select(:person, :time_zone) %>
<%= select_date Date.today, prefix: :start_date %>

Thousands of things you can do, go through here!

A Basic Rails Guide

Treat this as a really rough guide, definitely don't always follow it. You'll figure out your approach soon.

  • rails new app-name
  • cd app-name
  • Add gem 'pry-rails' into your Gemfile (in the development group)
  • run bundle
  • run rake db:create
  • Generate your first migrations and models - either rails g model Model name:string type:string etc. or:
    • rails g migration create_tables
    • Add the fields you need to that file - make sure you include t.timestamps
    • rails g model ModelName
  • Generate your controllers and your views - either rails g controller Users index new create delete show etc. or:
    • rails g controller Users
    • Add your methods into the controller
    • Create views that correspond with the method names in the view folder for that particular controller
  • Work out your routes file
  • Repeat this stuff as necessary