RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Templates’

Create skeleton applications with generators and templates

19 Mar

Last update on April 1th, 2010

Rails is a wonderful framework which help us to develop a modern web application. However, when you create a new one, you should perform several pretty boring operations: add plugins / gems, rescue a starting layout and whatever you usually use in yours applications.
To solve this, from version 2.3 you may use templates. You find lots of examples on internet, i give you another that show you how to take advantage of it combining with a cool rails generator. This guide explains how to make one. If you are impatient you can choose something already done, forking an existing project so did I. I customized Ryan Bates’s nifty-generators adding some new features:

  • nifty_layout now supports multiple styles: classic, and blackwhite cloudy. It are only a starting point
  • nifty_layout: I added the configuration file config.rb which is a container for all the application constants for example application name, the default style etc..
  • I introduced localization support: nifty_layout added YAML files for language en and it. To manage, some code is inserted into application controller: with the lang parameter you change the language setting (for example ?lang=en) that will be maintained throughout the session. The nifty_scaffold adds resources and its attributes, ready to be translated.
  • nifty_layout: the posts division has been moved into a partial in the shared folder. I preferred to do this to use it even through ajax
  • nifty_scaffold: the “new” and “edit” views now use two partial: render @ model which calls the second with the fields inside. So do the original version, it supports haml and sass, furthermore, I added support for formtastic. So you can choose the preferred combination!

The template I will show you download these new generators for you, however, these are the sources or you can even download latest gem and template.

What the generator should do and what the template?
Well, templates should be a container of things to do, executed only one time after creating a new project. Generators should create something like adding new files or customize something that already exists and can be executes whenever you want as well as within a template.

If you never have used a template before, you could start with a simple one or a tutorial could be even better:
this screencast show you how to make a template.
This is an article in html format.

I see many examples on internet which are filled with configuration’s parameters, that cause me strong headaches. I opted for one that ask me what i want. Surely, isn’t perfect yet but I think it’s a good base :

#This is a Rails 2.3 template
#Written by Marco Mastrodonato, last update on 01/04/2010 
#
# USAGE: rails yourapp -m template.rb
 
#This is the unique parameter, after first execution use FALSE to avoid installation
install_gems = false
git_http = true
 
WINDOWS = (RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /dos|win32|cygwin/i) || (RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /(:?mswin|mingw)/) 
 
#plugin/install doesn't work on my windows systems
def myplugin(name, url)
  url.sub! 'git://', 'http://' if git_http
  if WINDOWS
    #run "ruby script/plugin install #{url}"
    run "git clone #{url} vendor/plugins/#{name}"
  else
    plugin name, :git => url
  end
end
 
puts '*' * 40
puts "* Processing template#{WINDOWS ? ' on windows system': ''}..."
puts '*' * 40
 
use_git = yes?("Do you think to use git ?")
if use_git
  git :init
  file ".gitignore", <<-EOS.gsub(/^    /, '')
    .DS_Store
    log/*.log
    tmp/**/*
    config/database.yml
    db/*.sqlite3
    nbproject/*
  EOS
end
 
#Everyone must to have it!
plugin 'will_paginate',
        :git => "git://github.com/mislav/will_paginate.git" if yes?("Will Paginate ?")
 
# Attachments with no extra database tables, only one library to install for image processing
plugin 'paperclip',
       :git => "git://github.com/thoughtbot/paperclip.git" if yes?("Paperclip ?")
 
formtastic = yes?("Formtastic ?")
if formtastic
  #gem 'justinfrench-formtastic', :lib => 'formtastic', :source => 'http://gems.github.com'
  #rake "gems:install" if install_gem
 
  #A Rails FormBuilder DSL (with some other goodies) to make it far easier to create beautiful, semantically rich, syntactically awesome, readily stylable and wonderfully accessible HTML forms in your Rails applications.
  plugin 'formtastic',
        :git => "git://github.com/justinfrench/formtastic.git"
  #Adds reflective access to validations
  plugin 'validation_reflection',
        :git => "git://github.com/redinger/validation_reflection.git"
  generate "formtastic"
end
 
if yes?("Add testing framework ?")
  # RSpec's official Ruby on Rails plugin  
  plugin 'rspec', 
    :git => 'git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec.git'
 
  plugin 'rspec-rails',
         :git => "git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec-rails.git"
  generate "rspec"
 
  # BDD that talks to domain experts first and code 2nd
  plugin 'cucumber',
         :git => "git://github.com/aslakhellesoy/cucumber.git"
end
 
if yes?("Add authentication ?")
  puts "0. None"
  puts "1. Devise/warden"
  puts "2. Authlogic"
  puts "3. Restful authentication"
  choose = ask("Choose one:")
  case choose
    when "1"
      gem "warden", :version => "0.9.6"
      gem "devise", :version => "1.0.4"
      rake "gems:install" if install_gems
      generate "devise_install"
      generate "devise", "User"
      generate "devise_views"
      #User.create!(:email => 'admin@administrator.com', :password => 'secret')
    when "2"
      gem "authlogic"
      rake "gems:install" if install_gems
      generate "session", "user_session"
      generate "model", "user"
      generate "controller", "user_sessions"
      route "map.resource :user_session"
      create_users_file = Dir['db/migrate/*_create_users.rb'].first
      file create_users_file, <<-EOS.gsub(/^        /, '')
        class CreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
          def self.up
            create_table :users do |t|
              t.string    :login,               :null => false                # optional, you can use email instead, or both
              t.string    :email,               :null => false                # optional, you can use login instead, or both
              t.string    :crypted_password,    :null => false                # optional, see below
              t.string    :password_salt,       :null => false                # optional, but highly recommended
              t.string    :persistence_token,   :null => false                # required
              t.string    :single_access_token, :null => false                # optional, see Authlogic::Session::Params
              t.string    :perishable_token,    :null => false                # optional, see Authlogic::Session::Perishability
 
              # Magic columns, just like ActiveRecord's created_at and updated_at. These are automatically maintained by Authlogic if they are present.
              t.integer   :login_count,         :null => false, :default => 0 # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
              t.integer   :failed_login_count,  :null => false, :default => 0 # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
              t.datetime  :last_request_at                                    # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
              t.datetime  :current_login_at                                   # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
              t.datetime  :last_login_at                                      # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
              t.string    :current_login_ip                                   # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
              t.string    :last_login_ip                                      # optional, see Authlogic::Session::MagicColumns
 
              t.timestamps
            end
 
            add_index :users, :email
            add_index :users, :login, :unique => true
          end
 
          def self.down
            drop_table :users
          end
        end
      EOS
      file 'app/models/user.rb', <<-EOS.gsub(/^        /, '')
        class User < ActiveRecord::Base
          acts_as_authentic
        end
      EOS
      file 'spec/models/user_spec.rb', <<-EOS.gsub(/^        /, '')
        require 'spec_helper'
 
        describe User do
          before(:each) do
            @valid_attributes = {
              :login                 => "login",
              :email                 => "some@thing.com",
              :password              => "password",
              :password_confirmation => "password"
            }
          end
 
          it "should create a new instance given valid attributes" do
            User.create!(@valid_attributes)
          end
        end
      EOS
    when "3"
      plugin 'restful-authentication-i18n',
          :git => "git://github.com/dcrec1/restful-authentication-i18n.git"
      #—include-activation \ —stateful \ —rspec \ —skip-migration \ —skip-routes \ —old-passwords 
      generate "authenticated", "user", "sessions", "—include-activation"
  end
 
  if yes?("Authorization ?")
    gem "cancan"
    rake "gems:install" if install_gems
    #plugin 'cancan', :git => "git://github.com/ryanb/cancan.git" 
    file 'spec/models/ability.rb', <<-EOS.gsub(/^      /, '')
      class Ability  
        include CanCan::Ability  
 
        def initialize(user)  
          user ||= User.new # Guest user  
          if user.role? :admin  
            can :manage, :all  
          else  
            can :read, :all  
          end  
        end  
      end  
    EOS
    generate "migration", "add_roles_mask_to_users roles_mask:integer"
    puts "Add these lines to user model:"
    puts <<-EOS.gsub(/^      /, '')
      named_scope :with_role, lambda { |role| {:conditions => "roles_mask & \#{2**ROLES.index(role.to_s)} > 0 "} }
      def roles=(roles)
        self.roles_mask = (roles & ROLES).map { |r| 2**ROLES.index(r) }.sum
      end
      def roles
        ROLES.reject { |r| ((roles_mask || 0) & 2**ROLES.index(r)).zero? }
      end
      def role_symbols
        roles.map(&:to_sym)
      end
    EOS
 
  end
 
end          
 
haml = yes?("Haml?")
if haml
  # The world's greatest templating system
  #plugin 'haml', :git => "git://github.com/nex3/haml.git"
  gem "haml", :lib => "haml"
  rake "gems:install" if install_gems
  run "haml --rails ."
end
 
if yes?("Layout ?")
  plugin "marcomd-nifty-generators", 
    :lib => "marcomd-nifty-generators",
    :git => "git://github.com/marcomd/nifty-generators.git"
  puts " 1. classic"
  puts " 2. cloudy"
  puts " 3. blackwhite"
  puts "or. write names separed by space"
  style = ask("Choose style:")
  style = case style
    when "1" then "classic"
    when "2" then "cloudy"
    when "3" then "blackwhite"
    else style
  end
  generate "nifty_layout", "application #{style} #{haml ? '--haml' : ''} #{formtastic ? '--formtastic' : ''}"
end
 
# Link to local copy of edge rails
#inside('vendor') { run 'ln -s ~/dev/rails/rails rails' } if yes?("Rails ?")
rake("rails:freeze:gems") if yes?("Freeze rails gems ?")
 
# Mailer dummy config
initializer "mailer.rb", <<-EOS.gsub(/^  /, '')
  mailer_options = YAML.load_file("\#{Rails.root}/config/mailer.yml")
  ActionMailer::Base.smtp_settings = mailer_options
EOS
file "config/mailer.yml", <<-EOS.gsub(/^  /, '')
  :address: mail.authsmtp.com
  :domain: yourdomain.com
  :authentication: :login
  :user_name: USERNAME
  :password: PASSWORD
EOS
 
if yes?("Generate controller home ? (suggested)")
  generate "controller", "home", "index"
  route "map.root :controller => :home"
else
 
end
 
rake "gems:install" if install_gems
# Unpack all gems to vendor/gems
rake "gems:unpack" if yes?("Unpack to vendor/gems ?")
rake "db:create:all"
rake "db:migrate"
File.unlink "public/index.html"
 
git :add => ".", :commit => "-m 'initial commit'" if use_git
 
puts "ENJOY!"

This is a result:


marco@d9400:~/Rails$ rails Blog -m marcomd.rb
create bla bla bla
applying template: marcomd.rb
Processing template...
plugin will_paginate
Unpacking objects: 100% (57/57), done.
From git://github.com/mislav/will_paginate
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
Paperclip ?
y
plugin paperclip
Unpacking objects: 100% (78/78), done.
From git://github.com/thoughtbot/paperclip
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
Formtastic ?
y
gem justinfrench-formtastic
generating formtastic_stylesheets
Add testing framework ?
y
plugin rspec
From git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
plugin rspec-rails
From git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec-rails
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
plugin cucumber
From git://github.com/aslakhellesoy/cucumber
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
Add authentication ?
y
0. None
1. Devise/warden
2. Authlogic
3. Restful authentication
Choose one:
1
gem warden
gem devise
generating devise_install
Authorization ?
n
Haml?
n
Layout ?
y
plugin marcomd-nifty-generators
From git://github.com/marcomd/nifty-generators
* branch HEAD -> FETCH_HEAD
1. classic
2. cloudy
3. blackwhite
or. write names separed by space
Choose style:
2
generating nifty_layout
Freeze rails gems ?
n
initializer mailer.rb
file config/mailer.yml
Generate controller home ? (suggested)
y
generating controller
route map.root :controller => :home
Unpack to vendor/gems ?
n
rake db:create:all
rake db:migrate
ENJOY!
applied marcomd.rb

And here we are! Now let’s start up mongrel…


marco@d9400:~/Rails$ cd Blog/
marco@d9400:~/Rails/Blog$ script/server
=> Booting Mongrel
=> Rails 2.3.5 application starting on http://0.0.0.0:3000
=> Call with -d to detach
=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server

anche check our new blog
This is only the beginning

Now, let’s add the post resource and migrate:


marco@d9400:~/Rails$ cd Blog/
marco@d9400:~/Rails/Blog$ script/generate nifty_scaffold post title:string body:text
exists app/models
create app/models/post.rb
exists db/migrate
create db/migrate/20100319175545_create_posts.rb
exists test/unit
create test/unit/post_test.rb
exists test/fixtures
create test/fixtures/posts.yml
exists app/controllers
create app/controllers/posts_controller.rb
exists app/helpers
create app/helpers/posts_helper.rb
create app/views/posts
create app/views/posts/index.html.erb
create app/views/posts/show.html.erb
create app/views/posts/new.html.erb
create app/views/posts/edit.html.erb
create app/views/posts/_post.html.erb
create app/views/posts/_fields.html.erb
route map.resources :posts
exists test/functional
create test/functional/posts_controller_test.rb
marco@d9400:~/Rails/Blog$ rake db:migrate
(in /home/marco/Rails/Blog)
== CreatePosts: migrating ====================================================
-- create_table(:posts)
-> 0.0016s
== CreatePosts: migrated (0.0017s) ===========================================

Add post resource

Controllers and views uses I18n messages, for this reason, the new resource must be add to localization files. Nifty_scaffold will do it for you :

#config/locales/en.yml
en:
  activerecord:
    models: &models
      post: "Post"
      posts: "Posts"
    #DO NOT REMOVE MODELS
    attributes: &attributes
      title: "Title"
      body: "Body"
    #DO NOT REMOVE ATTRIBUTES
 
  formtastic:
    titles:
    labels:
    hints:
      post:
        title: "Choose a good title for your article"
        body: "Choose a good body for your article"
    #DO NOT REMOVE HINTS
    actions: &actions
      create: "Create my {{model}}"
      update: "Save changes"
  <<: *models
  <<: *attributes
  <<: *actions
 
#config/locales/it.yml
it:
  activerecord:
    models: &models
      post: "Messaggio"
      posts: "Messaggi"
    #DO NOT REMOVE MODELS
    attributes: &attributes
      title: "Titolo"
      body: "Corpo"
    #DO NOT REMOVE ATTRIBUTES
 
  formtastic:
    titles:
    labels:
    hints:
      post:
        title: "Choose a good title for your article"
        body: "Choose a good body for your article"
    #DO NOT REMOVE HINTS
    actions: &actions
      create: "Crea {{model}}"
      update: "Salva le modifiche"
  #DO NOT REMOVE FORMTASTIC
  <<: *models
  <<: *attributes
  <<: *actions

I have to use tag #DO NOT REMOVE ecc. to put attributes and resource name inside so please don’t remove it.

Post created sucessfully

I recently began testing Haml and Sass version for which there may be still some bugs.
I hope this can be helpful, enjoy!