Beginning Rails

From Novice to Professional

By: Jeffrey Allan Hardy, Cloves Jr. Carneiro, Hampton Catlin (As told to)

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Paperback | 2 August 2011

At a Glance

Paperback
394 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.23 x 14.61 x 1.91

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Beginning Rails is the practical starting point for anyone wanting to learn how to build dynamic web applications using the Rails framework for Ruby. You'll learn how all of the components of Rails fit together and how you can leverage them to create sophisticated web applications with less code and more joy.

This book is particularly well suited to those with little or no experience with web application development, or who have some experience but are new to Rails. Beginning Rails assumes basic familiarity with web terms and technologies, but doesn't require you to be an expert.

Topics include:

A gentle introduction to the Ruby programming language
Installing Ruby and Rails on a Mac, Linux, or Windows system
The philosophy behind Rails and why it matters
The Model-View-Controller architecture
The basics of relational databases and SQL
Setting up a MySQL database and creating a schema with migrations
Experimenting with your live application in the Rails console
Creating rich relationships between your models
Using controllers and templates properly
Leveraging helpers to keep your templates clean and logic free
Adding Ajax and visual effects to enrich your user interfaces
JavaScript with Prototype and script.aculo.us
How to send and receive mail from your application
Using and creating your own plug-ins
Ensuring your code against Murphy's Law through writing tests
Using Capistrano to deploy your application

Rather than delving into the arcane details of Rails, the focus is on the aspects of the framework that will become your pick, shovel, and axe. Part history lesson, part introduction to object-oriented programming, and part dissertation on open source software, Beginning Rails doesn't just explain how to do something in Rails, it explains why.

Every programmer fondly remembers the book that helped them get started. The goal of Beginning Rails is to become that book for you, today.

Industry Reviews

From the reviews:

"This book on Rails, a Web application development framework based on Ruby language, is both timely and accessible to beginners. ... this is an excellent book for a novice in both Web applications and the Rails framework. At the end of the book, the readers will have developed a fairly sophisticated Web application while learning about Rails." (Suma Adabala, ACM Computing Reviews, October, 2008)

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Computing & I.T.Computer Programming & Software Development Object-Oriented Programming or OOP Graphical & Digital Media Applications Web Graphics & Design Programming & Scripting Languages Web Programming Software Engineering Databases Digital Lifestyle & Online World: Consumer & User Guides Internet Guides & Online Services

About the Authors	p. xv
About the Technical Reviewer	p. xvii
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Preface	p. xxi
Introduction	p. xxiii
Introducing the Rails Framework	p. 1
The Rise and Rise of the Web Application	p. 1
The Web Is Not Perfect	p. 3
The Good Web Framework	p. 3
Enter Rails	p. 4
Rails Is Ruby	p. 5
Rails Encourages Agility	p. 6
Rails Is Opinionated Software	p. 9
Rails Is Open Source	p. 9
The MVC Pattern	p. 10
The MVC Cycle	p. 11
The Layers of MVC	p. 12
The Libraries That Make Up Rails	p. 15
Rails Is No Silver Bullet	p. 15
Summary	p. 16
Getting Started	p. 17
An Overview of Rails Installation	p. 17
Installing on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger	p. 19
Installing the Apple Developer Tools (Xcode)	p. 20
Installing MySQL	p. 20
Adding MySQL to Your Path	p. 23
Installing Ruby	p. 24
Installing RubyGems	p. 26
Installing Rails	p. 27
Automating Installation	p. 27
Installing on Windows XP	p. 28
Installing MySQL	p. 29
Installing Ruby	p. 30
Installing Rails	p. 31
Installing on Linux	p. 32
Installing MySQL	p. 33
Installing Ruby	p. 34
Installing RubyGems	p. 35
Installing Rails	p. 35
Creating Your First Rails Application	p. 36
Starting the Built-In Web Server	p. 37
Generating a Controller	p. 39
Creating an Action	p. 40
Creating a Template	p. 40
Summary	p. 43
Getting Something Running	p. 45
An Overview of the Project	p. 45
Creating the Events Application	p. 46
Creating the Project Databases	p. 48
Creating the Event Model	p. 50
Creating a Database Table	p. 51
Generating a Controller	p. 54
Up and Running with Scaffolding	p. 54
Adding More Fields	p. 57
Adding Validations	p. 59
Generating a Scaffold	p. 60
Summary	p. 63
Working with a Database: Active Record	p. 65
Introducing Active Record: Object-Relational Mapping on Rails	p. 66
What About SQL?	p. 67
Active Record Conventions	p. 68
Introducing the Console	p. 69
Active Record Basics: CRUD	p. 72
Creating New Records	p. 72
Reading (Finding) Records	p. 77
Updating Records	p. 82
Deleting Records	p. 83
When Good Models Go Bad	p. 85
Summary	p. 88
Advanced Active Record: Enhancing Your Models	p. 89
Adding Methods	p. 89
Using Associations	p. 92
Declaring Associations	p. 94
Creating One-to-One Associations	p. 95
Creating One-to-Many Associations	p. 99
Applying Association Options	p. 105
Creating Many-to-Many Associations	p. 107
Creating Rich Many-to-Many Associations	p. 112
Building Conditions for Advanced Finding	p. 115
Using a Conditions Hash	p. 115
Using a SQL Fragment	p. 116
Using an Array	p. 117
Using Association Proxies	p. 119
Applying Validations	p. 120
Building Custom Validation Methods	p. 121
Using Built-in Validations	p. 122
Making Callbacks	p. 125
Reviewing the Updated Models	p. 127
Updating the User Model	p. 128
Summary	p. 132
Action Pack: Working with the View and the Controller	p. 133
Action Pack Components	p. 133
Action Controller	p. 134
Action View	p. 137
Embedded Ruby	p. 138
Helpers	p. 138
Routing	p. 139
The Action Pack Request Cycle	p. 140
A Controller Walk-Through	p. 142
Setting Up Routes	p. 142
Generating a Controller	p. 146
Creating a Template	p. 148
Working with Layouts	p. 149
Creating a Registration Form	p. 151
Using Form Helpers	p. 153
Processing Request Parameters	p. 156
Writing a Create Action	p. 156
Rendering Responses	p. 157
Redirecting	p. 158
Displaying Error Messages in Templates	p. 158
Adding the Edit Form	p. 160
Staying Dry with Partials	p. 161
Adding the Login and Logout Actions	p. 165
Improving the Events Controller and Templates	p. 171
Cleaning Up the Events Controller	p. 171
Using Partials in the Events Templates	p. 172
Adding Categories to the Events Form	p. 173
Handling Categories in the Events Controller	p. 175
Using Controller Filters	p. 177
Requiring Authentication with Filters	p. 178
Applying Filters to Controllers	p. 180
Adding Finishing Touches	p. 182
Using Action View Helpers	p. 182
Escaping HTML in Templates	p. 184
Formatting a Description Field	p. 185
Adding Edit Controls	p. 186
Adding Custom Helpers	p. 188
Giving It Some Style	p. 189
Summary	p. 200
Improving Interaction with Ajax	p. 201
Ajax and Rails	p. 201
Prototype and Helpers	p. 202
JavaScript Libraries	p. 202
Using Ajax Helpers	p. 203
Making Remote Calls with link_to_remote	p. 204
Posting Forms Remotely with form_remote_tag	p. 210
Polling for Changes with observe_field and observe_form	p. 214
Using script.aculo.us Helpers	p. 217
Implementing Auto-Completion	p. 217
Adding an In-Place Editor	p. 219
Adding Visual Effects	p. 222
Using RJS Templates	p. 224
Implementing RJS in Templates	p. 224
Implementing RJS in the Controller	p. 227
Summary	p. 228
Sending and Receiving Mail	p. 229
Setting Up Action Mailer	p. 229
Configuring Mail Server Settings	p. 230
Configuring Application Settings	p. 231
Sending Email	p. 232
Handling Basic Email	p. 234
Sending HTML Email	p. 237
Adding Multiple Parts to Messages	p. 239
Adding Attachments	p. 240
Sending Incoming Email to a Rails Process	p. 241
Summary	p. 243
Testing Your Application	p. 245
How Rails Handles Testing	p. 246
Unit Testing Your Rails Application	p. 247
Testing the Event Model	p. 249
Testing Validations	p. 255
Functional Testing Your Controllers	p. 256
Testing the Events Controller	p. 256
Creating a Test Helper	p. 258
Running the Functional Test Suite	p. 264
Integration Testing	p. 267
Integration Testing the Events Application	p. 268
Story-Based Testing	p. 271
Running the Full Test Suite	p. 275
Measuring Test Coverage with Rcov	p. 276
Summary	p. 278
Extending Rails with Plugins	p. 279
Finding and Installing Plugins	p. 279
Finding Plugins	p. 280
Installing Plugins	p. 281
Using a Plugin in Our Application	p. 282
Modifying the Database	p. 282
Modifying the Application to Use the Plugin	p. 283
Creating Your Own Plugin	p. 287
Making the Plugin Available to Applications	p. 288
Creating the Plugin Module	p. 289
Updating the Controller and Views	p. 297
Summary	p. 300
Deploying Your Rails Applications	p. 301
Deploying with Capistrano	p. 301
Capistrano Installation	p. 302
Capistrano Recipes	p. 305
Capistrano on the Deployment Server	p. 307
Custom Capistrano Tasks	p. 308
Setting Up Your Server Architecture	p. 308
Monolithic Architecture	p. 308
Proxy-Cluster Server: The New Kid on the Block	p. 309
Becoming an Instant Deployment Expert	p. 311
Summary	p. 312
Ruby, a Programmer's Best Friend	p. 315
Instant Interaction	p. 315
Ruby Types	p. 316
Strings	p. 316
Numbers	p. 318
Symbols	p. 318
Arrays and Hashes	p. 319
Language Basics	p. 320
Variables	p. 320
Operators	p. 322
Blocks and Iterators	p. 322
Control Structures	p. 323
Methods	p. 325
Classes and Objects	p. 326
Objects	p. 326
Classes	p. 327
Ruby Documentation	p. 330
Databases 101	p. 331
Examining a Database Table	p. 331
Working with Tables	p. 332
Selecting Data	p. 333
Inserting Data	p. 335
Updating Data	p. 335
Deleting Data	p. 336
Understanding Relationships	p. 337
SQL and Active Record	p. 340
The Rails Community	p. 341
Rails Mailing Lists	p. 341
Rails IRC Channel	p. 341
Rails Blogs and Podcast	p. 342
Rails Wiki	p. 343
Rails APIs	p. 343
Rails Trac	p. 344
Working with Rails Directory	p. 344
Index	p. 345
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Beginning Rails

From Novice to Professional

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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