I've got some helper code (monkey patches) I tend to carry around from rails project to rails project via simply copying files or pasting code into the initializers folder.
I think a clean way to deploy different categories of my initalizer code would be to simply add gems to my project Gemfile that would do the equivalent of this for me. I'm not very skilled at creating gems or the deeper side of ruby on rails engineering so I just wanted to know if this were possible before I got started with it.
Yes, this is definitely possible. It should be probably enough to make a simple gem, put your monkey-patches there and require them in the gem entry point (e.g., if the gem is called foobar, then bundler will require lib/foobar.rb by default).
There is a guide on creating gems available in Bundler docs. In case you need to interact with Rails application configuration, you can take a look at Rails Engines.
Related
I'm building a social network and have been using the gem community_engine but have been having trouble implementing the large amount of customization that I need for my app. I figure this will make it easier for me to override and add methods, as well as help me to better understand and learn from the code since I will be able to actually see all of it in action.
So far in my attempt I downloaded the source code, added the default bin directory and config files that were missing, as well ass all the gem dependencies.
What else do I need to do to get the app to work? I realize that there may still be a lot and that it might not be easy to explain, but at the very least is there any sort of documentation out there that might help me understand how to convert the gem to a Rails application?
Heres the community_engine repo: https://github.com/bborn/communityengine
Because this idea may draw some criticism, I'll add that I was originally building the app without any huge plugins accept for devise however I'm running out of time to finish this.
More stuff I've tried:
Moving files to a new rails app, got server to run but encountered many seemingly random errors, fixed a few but more just seem to pop up that I cant figure out:
I also took a look at http://guides.rubyonrails.org/plugins.html but this gem seems to go beyond that.
I would suggest that you clone the gem and begin copying files from the gem into your a new Rails application.
The engine gem probably has a similar structure to a Rails application, so you should be able to move the files from the corresponding folder to the same folder in your Rails root folder.
You may need to move gem files out of modules, change namespaces etc. Relevant folders to look at files you'll want to include might include app/ config/ db/, any gem dependencies in Gemfile or the gemspec file, as well as spec/ or test/.
Beyond that I think there's no silver bullet answer to your question, you're just going to have to work through problems until you have this up and running, and perhaps ask subsequent questions if you hit on an obstacle that you don't get beyond.
I think what you're looking for is a way to hook your Rails Engine into a rails app. The Hooking Into an Application section of the Getting Started with Rails Engines guide should be exactly what you're looking for.
Here are two additional resources on Rails Engines.
A Guide to Rails Engines in the Wild
Rails::Engine - Ruby on Rails API
If you are developing the ruby on rails main code base is highly useful to replace the various gems in /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ with symlinks.
For example, if I have cloned ruby on rails 3.2.0 to /home/me/rails, then to create a symlink at /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/railties-3.2.0 that points to /home/me/rails/railties, and to do this for every needed gem.
This is useful because if you create some feature that you need, then you can try it out right away instead of reinstalling all of the gems. I've created a script that automates this, but I would imagine that there is a better way to accomplish this 'the rails way'.
You can always use the :path option in your Gemfile to specify the absolute path to any version of Rails you want. This makes your overrides more explicit.
It's easy to create a new Rails application using "rails new myapp" (or start with a template from Rails Wizard or the RailsApps project).
But after that, what do you do? What gems do you always add? What decisions do you make before beginning development? What important items are often overlooked before deploying an app?
I'd like to put together a reference checklist to share. Any suggestions?
For example:
Create a new RVM gemset
Modify the .gitignore file
Switch from TestUnit to RSpec
Set up Guard to run tests in the background during development
Add the viewport metatag to the default application layout
Don't forget to create a sitemap.xml file
Add a Google Analytics snippet
What else?
Starting with a Rails template.
You should look theses resources :
http://railswizard.org/
https://github.com/RailsApps/rails3-application-templates
http://railsapps.github.com/rails-application-templates.html
https://github.com/quickleft/prologue
For me usual process involves:
Add CSS framework (grids, text, forms)
Add Cells
Add Slim (www.slim-lang.com)
Remove Test::Unit for RSpec
Add application config settings (config.yml)
Add Cucumber
Add FactoryGirl
Add Spork
Add Guard (guard-rspec, guard-cucumber, guard-sass, guard-livereload, guard-spork)
Add Git, Github space, + amend .gitignore
Add Heroku (stage + production) spaces
I'll usually copy over my google_analytics helpers and sitemap_controller from other projects during the development process instead of being organised enough to do it from the start. I like to the the testing and deployment options setup from the get go so I can start developing and releasing early and often.
Dave
create rvm gemset, create .rvmrc, modify .gitignore
Then add gems
gem 'pg'
gem 'thin'
gem 'ruby-debug19', :require => 'ruby-debug'
gem 'rspec-rails'
gem 'factory_girl_rails'
gem 'capybara'
then depending on the project, I often use aws3, paperclip, resque, will_paginate and haml (although I try not to use it on new projects anymore)
Most of the time:
Configuration
add .rvmrc
amberbit-config gem (avaible at GH)
modify .gitignore
Views
haml to sass/coffee stack
rdiscount
Tests
rspec instead of unit tests
capybara, factory_gril, spork, timecop
Development
guard-livereload, with guard, libnotify etc.
active_reload for faster development with assets pipeline
annotate if relational db
pry
I almost forgot to mention: mix of html5 boilerplate for rails with twitter bootstrap it's good combo.
The first think that I do is head to http://railswizard.org/ and create a template, before "rails new app".
I always want to set up Factory Girl under /fixtures, and setup
Cucumber along Rspec. Sometimes I use shoulda too.
Initialize the project as a git repository and link it to
github. Set up the app to use PostgreSQL instead of SQLite.
And last I can think of is that I often make an entry, from the
beginning, to load .rb files form /lib automatically.
I don't add anything. Things get added if project requires them.
I don't load up CSS framework just because there's a need for two columns and a rounded button somewhere.
I don't load FactoryGirl because rails test fixtures actually do a fine job as long as you know how to use them. (Hint: you don't need 100 instances of User in your fixtures)
I don't load RSpec/Cucumber/etc because UnitTest is just as good and I prefer keeping things simple.
There's absolutely no reason to bloat project with things just because you "might need it"
I got tired of having to remember and repeat the mundane tasks required for every new app.
If you're looking for guidance on getting started, we've recently (yesterday!) released a tool to speed up the process, with all sorts of tried and tested libraries for the various aspects of a Rails web app, as well as cleanup scripts to get the fresh app just the way it should be.
Check out http://drone.bz to build an app the same way we do. Under the hood, it uses the app_drone gem to resolve dependencies and build the actual template, but the UI is probably all you need to get started.
There are several similar tools out there, but I decided to be highly opinionated in my recipe choices, and the end result is a solid foundation on which to start developing :)
P.S. Even if you don't use the drones, you can take a look at the steps that are common enough in Rails dev to be automated.
I'm working on creating my first Rails 3 engine and I'm currently getting the following error message
is a Railtie/Engine and cannot be installed as plugin (RuntimeError)
To give you a bit more background I'm not doing the Engine as a gem, but I've place the Engine files in the vendor/plugins folder. I know there is an issue with loading when in the plugins folder, but I'm not clear on how to solve the problem.
My rails/init.rb file in the Engine has the following code
require 'rails'
module RailsApp
module MyEngine
class Engine < Rails::Engine
config.after_initialize do
RailsApp::GameType.register do |game_type|
game_type.name = "TreasureIsland"
game_type.version = "0.1"
game_type.thumbnail = "teasure_island.jpg"
end
end
end
end
end
Suggestions?
I think I remember reading that Railties would not work in plugins directory, because they are intended to be loaded at a different point in the application boot process. I would recommend creating a gem using something like Jeweler, which does alot of the work for you. The purpose of the Railtie/Engine is to have a reusable component that can be included in multiple rails apps. Once you have a gem created, you can point to the local gem path within your Gemfile. This allows you to see changes in your engine code inside your rails app without having to build and reinstall the gem every time you make a change to the engine code. Of course you would want to point bundler to the installed gem in production. I would recommend putting it on github and using that URL in your Gemfile in production.
Bundler local gem example:
#Gemfile
gem "my_engine", :require => "my_engine", :path => "/my_engines/my_engine"
Check out the Modern Rubyist's website. He has a good series on creating Railties and Engines. There may have been some changes to Rails since this was written, but I think most of it is still relevant. It helped me out a good bit when I was learning how to write Engines with Rails 3.
http://www.themodestrubyist.com/2010/03/01/rails-3-plugins---part-1---the-big-picture/
http://www.themodestrubyist.com/2010/03/05/rails-3-plugins---part-2---writing-an-engine/
http://www.themodestrubyist.com/2010/03/16/rails-3-plugins---part-3---rake-tasks-generators-initializers-oh-my/
http://www.themodestrubyist.com/2010/03/22/rails-3-plugins---part-4---more-on-generators/
John, I believe engines (which are typically gems) vs plugins (which live in vendor) are loaded at different points in the rails initialization process.
Engines actually have a bit more flexibility, they can hook deeper into rails. In addition, packaging as a gem has a lot of advantages: easier to share across apps, easier to maintain in a separate code repo, easier version control.
I'm creating my first rails engine right now and created a useful starting point and walk-through for getting started:
http://keithschacht.com/creating-a-rails-3-engine-plugin-gem/
As a Rails developer I feel a bit stupid asking this question but hopefully I will learn something new and someone can put me out of my misery! In my rails applications I use (other peoples) gems all the time, I also use plugins from the community or my own.
I understand the benefits of use gems over plugins as they are version-able, segmented, system wide, easier to manage and share etc etc but I don't really know how to go about making a gem for my rails apps!?
Do you always start with a plugin and convert it to a gem, I've seen the words 'package it as Gem'. Also the gem I'm thinking of building would be no good in a normal ruby program, it's only useful to rails apps. I'm not even sure if the semantics of that make sense, 'RubyGem' that will only work in a rails application!?
I would like to create a gem (if that's what I should use?) for a discrete piece of functionality for my rails apps. It will need to add a database migration, new routes and provide controllers and views or useful view helpers. I'm know I can achieve this via a plug-in but would just like to know how/why to do it as a 'Ruby Gem'?
To avoid the risk of Over-engineering, I usually start with the feature I need directly into the application. Then, as soon as I need to use the same feature into another project, I check whether it is worth to extract it into a plugin or even a separate application providing an API.
Plugins and Gems are often interchangeable. Gems provides several significant advantages in terms of reusability and maintainability.
On the other side, there are some specific known issue. For instance, a Rails app actually can't load rake tasks defined into a plugin packaged as a Gem.
Almost every Rails plugin can be packaged as a Gem.
For instance, take my tabs_on_rails plugin.
You can install it as a Gem specifying the dependency on environment.rb. Or you can use script/plugin install command as you would expect.
If you want to achieve the same result, make sure to follow the standard Gem layout and provide the init.rb initialization script required by Rails.
Also, you might want to create an install.rb and uninstall.rb file to include the post-install and post-uninstall hooks when the plugin is installed as a standard Rails plugin.
Last but not least, if you package a plugin as Gem you can reuse it in non-Rails projects and provide Rails-specific initializations using the init.rb file. Non-Rails applications will simply ignore it.
If you want to make a plugin for Rails, https://peepcode.com/products/rails-2-plugin-patterns gives you a good start. After that, make the plugin into a gem.
To make a gem, this resource http://railscasts.com/episodes/183-gemcutter-jeweler will be helpful.
As of 2013 you'll want to use Bundler and the following tutorials:
#245 New Gem with Bundler -
RailsCasts
Make your own gem - RubyGems
Guides
Take a look at Jeweler. Jeweler gives you a set of rake tasks to make gem versioning and building very easy.