I have some constants I am using throughout my app.
I'd say there are three types:
some are really passwords to external stuff like sendgrid login/password
some are internal "secret codes" like devise secret key
some are just what I'd call global constants that is to say there are constants that we use a lot throughout the app and don't want anybody to easily change this. They nearly never change. Some examples: the ID of our facebook page, or the number of deals "per page" we define in our infinite scrolling on the homepage (critical for UX), or the url of our brand-validated logo on aws cdn(present in many view files html.erb and assets javascript .js files). One aspect I also have in mind when asking my question, is that even if they seem less critical than a devise key, for those constants, I would like to gather, to make sure very few people and only authorized developers can change those critical data.
Here's what we do today:
For 1 and 2: I put the constants on config/application.yml
And for 3 : I put the constants on a custom .rb config file as described by official Rails guide (guides.rubyonrails.org/v4.2/configuring.html#custom-configuration)
For example: on /config/initializers/app_custom.rb
Rails.application.configure do
config.x.infite_scrollhp_feed_per_page_deals = 30
end
then it is called in a controller this way:
nb_per_page = Rails.configuration.x.infite_scrollhp_feed_per_page_deals
But each time I am unsure if I should put global constants inside config/application.yml or in my custom config .rb file?
What is the recommended "Rails -way"? How to decide where to put them ? Is there a generally accepted "good-sense"/"proven to be efficient/well-structuring" practice/rule ?
Also is there a different in performance that is to say are application.yml "injected" faster into view (.html) and assets(.js) files when user load a page than if they are defined on my custom config file ?
I would advise using config/secrets.yml for sensitive data (1 and 2):
development:
some_password: ...
test:
some_password: ...
production:
some_password: <%= ENV["SOME_PASSWORD"] %>
This way you can put different settings for different environments (for development, test and production).
And I would highly recommend keeping the production sensitive data in ENV variables.
When it goes for non sensitive data (3) I would put in config/environments/*.rb files when different settings are needed for different environments.
If that's not the case and the setting is the same for all environments, I would put it into application.rb, application.yml or in a custom file in initializers/* or even as class constants.
There is the following task: My app has got one variable with name 'delivery_time'; this variable can be changed through admin panel. I think it's not a good way to store it in some database table. How can I store it in configs or anything else? May be I should store it in db yet?
You can easily store settings in the config file like this:
Create config.yml and store your settings
delivery_time: '...'
Add this config to initializers/load_config.rb
require 'ostruct'
require 'yaml'
app_config = YAML.load_file(File.join(::Rails.root, 'config', 'config.yml'))[Rails.env]
::AppConfig = OpenStruct.new app_config
And you can call it AppConfig.delivery_time anywhere in the project
Basically for static settings we use following gem
https://github.com/railsjedi/rails_config
so this gem will generate following file
config/settings.yml
you can define your variable(my_config) in this yml file. and use it throughout your application as follows:
Settings.my_config
Or you can use any similar gems
you can use PStore that implements a file based persistence mechanism based on a Hash.
OR
yaml based approach
I have many yaml files in config/ And I want to load all yaml files.
EX: I have two .yml files name is: application.yml and linkedin.yml. I want to load both files with application.rb.
To achieve this goal I Have written code in application.rb:
ENV.update YAML.load_file('config/application.yml')[Rails.env] rescue {}
ENV.update YAML.load_file('config/linkedin.yml')[Rails.env] rescue {}
But this is not appropriate way, Please suggest me how can I load all yaml files access with ENV variable that.
Assuming that your YAML files are placed in the config folder, in your application.rb you can do this right under the requires (before the module definition)
APP_YAML = YAML::load_file(File.join(File.dirname(File.expand_path(__FILE__)), 'application.yml'))
LINKED_IN = YAML::load_file(File.join(File.dirname(File.expand_path(__FILE__)), 'linked_in.yml'))
This way, you can then access the contents of the file in a constant that is available everywhere in the app ie. LINKED_IN["secret"]
This is a great way to handle constants that you don't want to check in to source control, but actually I've found that using Figaro is the best way to handle constants. Essentially, Figaro will autogenerate/load an application.yml and all you have to do is put your constants in there.
After this, you can access with ENV["LINKED_IN_SECRET"] - as a plus, this emulates how Heroku would do it with their config:set variable system so you don't have to worry about environment changes :)
Am I crazy, or is it a bad idea to keep my SMTP username and password for ActionMailer in the actual (development/production) config file? It seems like I should store it an encrypted place, or at the very minimum, exclude it from my Mercurial pushes.
Right now, I'm just removing the password from my source file before performing a push, but there's got to be a smarter way than the one I'm using. :)
Perhaps I should store it in my database as another user (which is already stored with encrypted passwords) and fetch it programatically?
Use an application configuration file that is not stored in your repository for storing sensitive information. Here is how I've done it:
Add an app_config.yml in your config directory. Its contents would look like this:
smtp_password: kl240jvfslkr32rKgjlk
some_other_password: 34hg9r0j0g402jg
and_so_on: lkn$#gJkjgsFLK4gaj
Add a preinitializer.rb in your config directory with the following contents:
require 'yaml'
APP_CONFIG = YAML.load(File.read(RAILS_ROOT + "/config/app_config.yml"))
Substitute your passwords for values in the APP_CONFIG variable, like so:
smtp_password = kl240jvfslkr32rKgjlk # old version
smtp_password = APP_CONFIG['smtp_password'] # new version
Make sure you don't include app_config.yml in your repository, though you may want to create an example file that is checked in, just to show a sample of what should be in it. When you deploy your application, make sure that app_config.yml is stored on the server. If you're using a standard Capistrano deployment, put the file in the shared folder and update your deployment task to create a symlink to it in the current release's directory.
Jimmy's answer is perfect (+1), I would also note that Github has recommended .gitignore files for every language and the Rails one is here Note that it includes config/*.yml so that no config/yml file is in the respository to begin with. Probably a good move.
Use Capistrano to ask for these things upon deploy:setup the same way you should be doing for your database stuff:
task :my_silly_task do
sendgrid_password = Capistrano::CLI.password_prompt("Sendgrid password: ")
require 'yaml'
spec = {... whatever yaml you need -- probably what Jimmy said...}
run "mkdir -p #{shared_path}/config"
put(spec.to_yaml, "#{shared_path}/config/mailer_config.yml")
end
I was wondering how to add custom configuration variables to a Rails application and how to access them in the controller?
Secondly, I was planning to have S3 support for uploads in my application, if I wanted to add a yaml file with the S3 access, secret key, how do I initialize it in my Rails App and how do I access the values that I have defined in that config file.
In Rails 3, Application specific custom configuration data can be placed in the application configuration object. The configuration can be assigned in the initialization files or the environment files -- say for a given application MyApp:
MyApp::Application.config.custom_config_variable = :my_config_setting
or
Rails.configuration.custom_config_variable = :my_config_setting
To read the setting, simply call the configuration variable without setting it:
Rails.configuration.custom_config_variable
=> :my_config_setting
UPDATE Rails 4
In Rails 4 there a new way for this => http://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html#custom-configuration
Update 1
Very recommended: I'm going with Rails Config gem nowadays for the fine grained control it provides.
Update2
If you want a quick solution, then check Jack Pratt's answer below.
Although my original answer below still works, this answer is now outdated. I recommend looking at updates 1 and 2.
Original Answer:
For a quick solution, watching the "YAML Configuration File" screen cast by Ryan Bates should be very helpful.
In summary:
# config/initializers/load_config.rb
APP_CONFIG = YAML.load_file("#{Rails.root}/config/config.yml")[Rails.env]
# application.rb
if APP_CONFIG['perform_authentication']
# Do stuff
end
In Rails 3.0.5, the following approach worked for me:
In config/environments/development.rb, write
config.custom_config_key = :config_value
The value custom_config_key can then be referenced from other files using
Rails.application.config.custom_config_key
In Rails 4
Assuming you put your custom variables into a yaml file:
# config/acme.yml
development:
:api_user: 'joe'
:api_pass: 's4cret'
:timeout: 20
Create an initializer to load them:
# config/initializers/acme.rb
acme_config = Rails.application.config_for :acme
Rails.application.configure do
config.acme = ActiveSupport::OrderedOptions.new
config.acme.api_user = acme_config[:api_user]
config.acme.api_pass = acme_config[:api_pass]
config.acme.timeout = acme_config[:timeout]
end
Now anywhere in your app you can access these values like so:
Rails.configuration.acme.api_user
It is convenient that Rails.application.config_for :acme will load your acme.yml and use the correct environment.
This works in rails 3.1:
in config/environment.rb (or in config/environments/.. to target a specific environment) :
YourApp::Application.config.yourKey = 'foo'
This will be accessible in controller or views like this:
YourApp::Application.config.yourKey
(YourApp should be replaced by your application name.)
Note: It's Ruby code, so if you have a lot of config keys, you can do this :
in config/environment.rb :
YourApp::Application.configure do
config.something = foo
config.....
config....
.
config....
end
Since Rails 4.2, without additional gems, you can load config/hi.yml simply by using Rails.application.config_for :hi.
For example:
touch config/passwords.yml
#config/passwords.yml
development:
username: 'a'
password: 'b'
production:
username: 'aa'
password: 'bb'
touch config/initializers/constants.rb
#config/initializers/constants.rb
AUTHENTICATION = Rails.application.config_for :passwords
and now you can use AUTHENTICATION constant everywhere in your application:
#rails c production
:001> AUTHENTICATION['username'] => 'aa'
then add passwords.yml to .gitignore: echo /config/passwords.yml >> .gitignore, create an example file for your comfort cp /config/passwords.yml /config/passwords.example.yml and then just edit your example file in your production console with actual production values.
Rails 6 and 7
Many outdated answers, so adding one that is specific to Rails 6.
Application specific configuration goes in initializer files. Details are here: edge guides
Example:
config/initializers/foo.rb
module MyApp
class Application < Rails::Application
config.test_val = 'foo'
end
end
Alternatively:
Rails.application.config.test_val = 'foo'
This can now be accessed as:
Rails.configuration.test_val
Many more possibilities.
edge guides #custom-configuration
ex, you can also set up nested namespace configurations:
config.x.payment_processing.schedule = :daily
config.x.payment_processing.retries = 3
config.super_debugger = true
or use config_for to load entire custom config files:
config/payment.yml
production:
environment: production
merchant_id: production_merchant_id
public_key: production_public_key
private_key: production_private_key
development:
environment: sandbox
merchant_id: development_merchant_id
public_key: development_public_key
private_key: development_private_key
Then load it with:
config/initializers/load_payment.rb
module MyApp
class Application < Rails::Application
config.payment = config_for(:payment)
end
end
I just wanted to update this for the latest cool stuff in Rails 4.2, you can now do this inside any of your config/**/*.rb files:
config.x.whatever.you.want = 42
...and this will be available in your app as:
Rails.configuration.x.whatever.you.want
See more here: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html#custom-configuration
Check out this neat gem doing exactly that:
https://github.com/mislav/choices
This way your sensitive data won't be exposed in open source projects
I created a simple plugin for YAML settings: Yettings
It works in a similar fashion to the code in khelll's answer, but you only need to add this YAML configuration file:
app/config/yetting.yml
The plugin dynamically creates a class that allows you to access the YML settings as class methods in your app like so:
Yetting.your_setting
Also, if you want to use multiple settings files with unique names, you can place them in a subdirectory inside app/config like this:
app/config/yettings/first.yml
app/config/yettings/second.yml
Then you can access the values like this:
FirstYetting.your_setting
SecondYetting.your_setting
It also provides you with default settings that can be overridden per environment. You can also use erb inside the yml file.
I really like the settingslogic gem. Very easy to set up and use.
https://github.com/binarylogic/settingslogic
If you use Heroku or otherwise have need to keep your application settings as environment variables, the figaro gem is very helpful.
I like to use rails-settings for global configuration values that need to be changeable via web interface.
Something we've starting doing at work is the ActiveSupport Ordered Hash
Which allows you to define your configuration cleanly inside the environment files e.g.
config.service = ActiveSupport::OrderedOptions.new
config.service.api_key = ENV['SERVICE_API_KEY']
config.service.shared_secret = ENV['SERVICE_SHARED_SECRET']
I would suggest good approach how to deal with configuration in your application at all. There are three basic rules:
change your configuration not a code;
use configurations over conditions;
write code that means something.
To have more detailed overview follow this link: Rails configuration in the proper way