Ruby on Rails - Introduction

What is Ruby?

Before we ride on Rails, let us recapitulate a few points of Ruby, which is the base of Rails.
Ruby is the successful combination of −

• Smalltalk's conceptual elegance,
• Python's ease of use and learning, and
• Perl's pragmatism.

Ruby on Rails - Installation

To develop a web application using Ruby on Rails Framework, you need to install the following software −

• Ruby
• The Rails Framework
• A Web Server
• A Database System

Ruby on Rails - Framework

A framework is a program, set of programs, and/or code library that writes most of your application for you. When you use a framework, your job is to write the parts of the application that make it do the specific things you want.
When you set out to write a Rails application, leaving aside the configuration and other housekeeping chores, you have to perform three primary tasks −

Ruby on Rails - Directory Structure

When you use the Rails helper script to create your application, it creates the entire directory structure for the application. Rails knows where to find things it needs within this structure, so you don't have to provide any input.

Ruby on Rails - Examples

In this chapter, we will create a simple but operational online library system for holding and managing the books.
This application has a basic architecture and will be built using two ActiveRecord models to describe the types of data that is stored −

Ruby on Rails - Database Setup

Before starting with this chapter, make sure your database server is up and running. Ruby on Rails recommends to create three databases - a database each for development, testing, and production environment. According to convention, their names should be −

Ruby on Rails - Active Records

Rails Active Record is the Object/Relational Mapping (ORM) layer supplied with Rails. It closely follows the standard ORM model, which is as follows −

• tables map to classes,
• rows map to objects and
• columns map to object attributes.

Ruby on Rails - Migrations

Rails Migration allows you to use Ruby to define changes to your database schema, making it possible to use a version control system to keep things synchronized with the actual code.
This has many uses, including −

Ruby on Rails - Controller

The Rails controller is the logical center of your application. It coordinates the interaction between the user, the views, and the model. The controller is also a home to a number of important ancillary services.

• It is responsible for routing external requests to internal actions. It handles people-friendly URLs extremely well.
  

Ruby on Rails - Routes

The routing module provides URL rewriting in native Ruby. It's a way to redirect incoming requests to controllers and actions. It replaces the mod_rewrite rules. Best of all, Rails' Routing works with any web server. Routes are defined in app/config/routes.rb.

Ruby on Rails - Views

A Rails View is an ERb program that shares data with controllers through mutually accessible variables.
If you look in the app/views directory of the library application, you will see one subdirectory for each of the controllers, we have created: book. Each of these subdirectories was created automatically when the same-named controller was created with the generate script.

Ruby on Rails - Layouts

A layout defines the surroundings of an HTML page. It's the place to define a common look and feel of your final output. Layout files reside in app/views/layouts.
The process involves defining a layout template and then letting the controller know that it exists and to use it. First, let's create the template.

Ruby on Rails - Scaffolding

While you're developing Rails applications, especially those which are mainly providing you with a simple interface to data in a database, it can often be useful to use the scaffold method.
Scaffolding provides more than cheap demo thrills. Here are some benefits −

Ruby on Rails - AJAX

Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Ajax is not a single technology; it is a suite of several technologies. Ajax incorporates the following −

• XHTML for the markup of web pages
• CSS for the styling
• Dynamic display and interaction using the DOM

Ruby on Rails - File Uploading

You may have a requirement in which you want your site visitors to upload a file on your server. Rails makes it very easy to handle this requirement. Now we will proceed with a simple and small Rails project.
As usual, let's start off with a new Rails application called testfile. Let's create the basic structure of the application by using simple rails command.

Ruby on Rails - Send Emails

Action Mailer is the Rails component that enables applications to send and receive emails. In this chapter, we will see how to send an email using Rails. Let’s start creating an emails project using the following command.

tp> rails new mailtest

This will create the required framework to proceed. Now, we will start with configuring the ActionMailer.

Ruby on Rails - Quick Reference Guide

Here we have listed out all the important functions, scripts, validations etc. You can bookmark this page for easy access.

• Ruby on Rails - Rake Utility
• Ruby on Rails - The Scripts
• Ruby on Rails - The Plugins
  

Ruby on Rails - Quick Guide

Ruby on Rails - Introduction

What is Ruby?

Before we ride on Rails, let us recapitulate a few points of Ruby, which is the base of Rails.
Ruby is the successful combination of −

• Smalltalk's conceptual elegance,
• Python's ease of use and learning, and
• Perl's pragmatism.

Ruby on Rails - Useful Resources

The following resources contain additional information on Ruby on Rails. Please use them to get more in-depth knowledge on this topic.

Discuss Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is an extremely productive web application framework written in Ruby by David Heinemeier Hansson. This tutorial gives you a complete understanding on Ruby on Rails.

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