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data/guides/source/engines.md

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+Getting Started with Engines
+============================
+
+In this guide you will learn about engines and how they can be used to provide
+additional functionality to their host applications through a clean and very
+easy-to-use interface.
+
+After reading this guide, you will know:
+
+* What makes an engine.
+* How to generate an engine.
+* Building features for the engine.
+* Hooking the engine into an application.
+* Overriding engine functionality in the application.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+What are engines?
+-----------------
+
+Engines can be considered miniature applications that provide functionality to
+their host applications. A Rails application is actually just a "supercharged"
+engine, with the `Rails::Application` class inheriting a lot of its behavior
+from `Rails::Engine`.
+
+Therefore, engines and applications can be thought of almost the same thing,
+just with subtle differences, as you'll see throughout this guide. Engines and
+applications also share a common structure.
+
+Engines are also closely related to plugins. The two share a common `lib`
+directory structure, and are both generated using the `rails plugin new`
+generator. The difference is that an engine is considered a "full plugin" by
+Rails (as indicated by the `--full` option that's passed to the generator
+command). We'll actually be using the `--mountable` option here, which includes
+all the features of `--full`, and then some. This guide will refer to these 
+"full plugins" simply as "engines" throughout. An engine **can** be a plugin,
+and a plugin **can** be an engine.
+
+The engine that will be created in this guide will be called "blorgh". This
+engine will provide blogging functionality to its host applications, allowing
+for new articles and comments to be created. At the beginning of this guide, you
+will be working solely within the engine itself, but in later sections you'll
+see how to hook it into an application.
+
+Engines can also be isolated from their host applications. This means that an
+application is able to have a path provided by a routing helper such as
+`articles_path` and use an engine also that provides a path also called
+`articles_path`, and the two would not clash. Along with this, controllers, models
+and table names are also namespaced. You'll see how to do this later in this
+guide.
+
+It's important to keep in mind at all times that the application should
+**always** take precedence over its engines. An application is the object that
+has final say in what goes on in its environment. The engine should
+only be enhancing it, rather than changing it drastically.
+
+To see demonstrations of other engines, check out
+[Devise](https://github.com/plataformatec/devise), an engine that provides
+authentication for its parent applications, or
+[Forem](https://github.com/radar/forem), an engine that provides forum
+functionality. There's also [Spree](https://github.com/spree/spree) which
+provides an e-commerce platform, and
+[RefineryCMS](https://github.com/refinery/refinerycms), a CMS engine.
+
+Finally, engines would not have been possible without the work of James Adam,
+Piotr Sarnacki, the Rails Core Team, and a number of other people. If you ever
+meet them, don't forget to say thanks!
+
+Generating an engine
+--------------------
+
+To generate an engine, you will need to run the plugin generator and pass it
+options as appropriate to the need. For the "blorgh" example, you will need to
+create a "mountable" engine, running this command in a terminal:
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails plugin new blorgh --mountable
+```
+
+The full list of options for the plugin generator may be seen by typing:
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails plugin --help
+```
+
+The `--mountable` option tells the generator that you want to create a
+"mountable" and namespace-isolated engine. This generator will provide the same
+skeleton structure as would the `--full` option. The `--full` option tells the
+generator that you want to create an engine, including a skeleton structure
+that provides the following:
+
+  * An `app` directory tree
+  * A `config/routes.rb` file:
+
+    ```ruby
+    Rails.application.routes.draw do
+    end
+    ```
+
+  * A file at `lib/blorgh/engine.rb`, which is identical in function to a
+    standard Rails application's `config/application.rb` file:
+
+    ```ruby
+    module Blorgh
+      class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
+      end
+    end
+    ```
+
+The `--mountable` option will add to the `--full` option:
+
+  * Asset manifest files (`application.js` and `application.css`)
+  * A namespaced `ApplicationController` stub
+  * A namespaced `ApplicationHelper` stub
+  * A layout view template for the engine
+  * Namespace isolation to `config/routes.rb`:
+
+    ```ruby
+    Blorgh::Engine.routes.draw do
+    end
+    ```
+
+  * Namespace isolation to `lib/blorgh/engine.rb`:
+
+    ```ruby
+    module Blorgh
+      class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
+        isolate_namespace Blorgh
+      end
+    end
+    ```
+
+Additionally, the `--mountable` option tells the generator to mount the engine
+inside the dummy testing application located at `test/dummy` by adding the
+following to the dummy application's routes file at
+`test/dummy/config/routes.rb`:
+
+```ruby
+mount Blorgh::Engine => "/blorgh"
+```
+
+### Inside an Engine
+
+#### Critical Files
+
+At the root of this brand new engine's directory lives a `blorgh.gemspec` file.
+When you include the engine into an application later on, you will do so with
+this line in the Rails application's `Gemfile`:
+
+```ruby
+gem 'blorgh', path: "vendor/engines/blorgh"
+```
+
+Don't forget to run `bundle install` as usual. By specifying it as a gem within
+the `Gemfile`, Bundler will load it as such, parsing this `blorgh.gemspec` file
+and requiring a file within the `lib` directory called `lib/blorgh.rb`. This
+file requires the `blorgh/engine.rb` file (located at `lib/blorgh/engine.rb`)
+and defines a base module called `Blorgh`.
+
+```ruby
+require "blorgh/engine"
+
+module Blorgh
+end
+```
+
+TIP: Some engines choose to use this file to put global configuration options
+for their engine. It's a relatively good idea, so if you want to offer
+configuration options, the file where your engine's `module` is defined is
+perfect for that. Place the methods inside the module and you'll be good to go.
+
+Within `lib/blorgh/engine.rb` is the base class for the engine:
+
+```ruby
+module Blorgh
+  class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
+    isolate_namespace Blorgh
+  end
+end
+```
+
+By inheriting from the `Rails::Engine` class, this gem notifies Rails that
+there's an engine at the specified path, and will correctly mount the engine
+inside the application, performing tasks such as adding the `app` directory of
+the engine to the load path for models, mailers, controllers and views.
+
+The `isolate_namespace` method here deserves special notice. This call is
+responsible for isolating the controllers, models, routes and other things into
+their own namespace, away from similar components inside the application.
+Without this, there is a possibility that the engine's components could "leak"
+into the application, causing unwanted disruption, or that important engine
+components could be overridden by similarly named things within the application.
+One of the examples of such conflicts is helpers. Without calling
+`isolate_namespace`, the engine's helpers would be included in an application's
+controllers.
+
+NOTE: It is **highly** recommended that the `isolate_namespace` line be left
+within the `Engine` class definition. Without it, classes generated in an engine
+**may** conflict with an application.
+
+What this isolation of the namespace means is that a model generated by a call
+to `bin/rails g model`, such as `bin/rails g model article`, won't be called `Article`, but
+instead be namespaced and called `Blorgh::Article`. In addition, the table for the
+model is namespaced, becoming `blorgh_articles`, rather than simply `articles`.
+Similar to the model namespacing, a controller called `ArticlesController` becomes
+`Blorgh::ArticlesController` and the views for that controller will not be at
+`app/views/articles`, but `app/views/blorgh/articles` instead. Mailers are namespaced
+as well.
+
+Finally, routes will also be isolated within the engine. This is one of the most
+important parts about namespacing, and is discussed later in the
+[Routes](#routes) section of this guide.
+
+#### `app` Directory
+
+Inside the `app` directory are the standard `assets`, `controllers`, `helpers`,
+`mailers`, `models` and `views` directories that you should be familiar with
+from an application. The `helpers`, `mailers` and `models` directories are
+empty, so they aren't described in this section. We'll look more into models in
+a future section, when we're writing the engine.
+
+Within the `app/assets` directory, there are the `images`, `javascripts` and
+`stylesheets` directories which, again, you should be familiar with due to their
+similarity to an application. One difference here, however, is that each
+directory contains a sub-directory with the engine name. Because this engine is
+going to be namespaced, its assets should be too.
+
+Within the `app/controllers` directory there is a `blorgh` directory that
+contains a file called `application_controller.rb`. This file will provide any
+common functionality for the controllers of the engine. The `blorgh` directory
+is where the other controllers for the engine will go. By placing them within
+this namespaced directory, you prevent them from possibly clashing with
+identically-named controllers within other engines or even within the
+application.
+
+NOTE: The `ApplicationController` class inside an engine is named just like a
+Rails application in order to make it easier for you to convert your
+applications into engines.
+
+Lastly, the `app/views` directory contains a `layouts` folder, which contains a
+file at `blorgh/application.html.erb`. This file allows you to specify a layout
+for the engine. If this engine is to be used as a stand-alone engine, then you
+would add any customization to its layout in this file, rather than the
+application's `app/views/layouts/application.html.erb` file.
+
+If you don't want to force a layout on to users of the engine, then you can
+delete this file and reference a different layout in the controllers of your
+engine.
+
+#### `bin` Directory
+
+This directory contains one file, `bin/rails`, which enables you to use the
+`rails` sub-commands and generators just like you would within an application.
+This means that you will be able to generate new controllers and models for this
+engine very easily by running commands like this:
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails g model
+```
+
+Keep in mind, of course, that anything generated with these commands inside of
+an engine that has `isolate_namespace` in the `Engine` class will be namespaced.
+
+#### `test` Directory
+
+The `test` directory is where tests for the engine will go. To test the engine,
+there is a cut-down version of a Rails application embedded within it at
+`test/dummy`. This application will mount the engine in the
+`test/dummy/config/routes.rb` file:
+
+```ruby
+Rails.application.routes.draw do
+  mount Blorgh::Engine => "/blorgh"
+end
+```
+
+This line mounts the engine at the path `/blorgh`, which will make it accessible
+through the application only at that path.
+
+Inside the test directory there is the `test/integration` directory, where
+integration tests for the engine should be placed. Other directories can be
+created in the `test` directory as well. For example, you may wish to create a
+`test/models` directory for your model tests.
+
+Providing engine functionality
+------------------------------
+
+The engine that this guide covers provides submitting articles and commenting
+functionality and follows a similar thread to the [Getting Started
+Guide](getting_started.html), with some new twists.
+
+### Generating an Article Resource
+
+The first thing to generate for a blog engine is the `Article` model and related
+controller. To quickly generate this, you can use the Rails scaffold generator.
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails generate scaffold article title:string text:text
+```
+
+This command will output this information:
+
+```
+invoke  active_record
+create    db/migrate/[timestamp]_create_blorgh_articles.rb
+create    app/models/blorgh/article.rb
+invoke    test_unit
+create      test/models/blorgh/article_test.rb
+create      test/fixtures/blorgh/articles.yml
+invoke  resource_route
+ route    resources :articles
+invoke  scaffold_controller
+create    app/controllers/blorgh/articles_controller.rb
+invoke    erb
+create      app/views/blorgh/articles
+create      app/views/blorgh/articles/index.html.erb
+create      app/views/blorgh/articles/edit.html.erb
+create      app/views/blorgh/articles/show.html.erb
+create      app/views/blorgh/articles/new.html.erb
+create      app/views/blorgh/articles/_form.html.erb
+invoke    test_unit
+create      test/controllers/blorgh/articles_controller_test.rb
+invoke    helper
+create      app/helpers/blorgh/articles_helper.rb
+invoke  assets
+invoke    js
+create      app/assets/javascripts/blorgh/articles.js
+invoke    css
+create      app/assets/stylesheets/blorgh/articles.css
+invoke  css
+create    app/assets/stylesheets/scaffold.css
+```
+
+The first thing that the scaffold generator does is invoke the `active_record`
+generator, which generates a migration and a model for the resource. Note here,
+however, that the migration is called `create_blorgh_articles` rather than the
+usual `create_articles`. This is due to the `isolate_namespace` method called in
+the `Blorgh::Engine` class's definition. The model here is also namespaced,
+being placed at `app/models/blorgh/article.rb` rather than `app/models/article.rb` due
+to the `isolate_namespace` call within the `Engine` class.
+
+Next, the `test_unit` generator is invoked for this model, generating a model
+test at `test/models/blorgh/article_test.rb` (rather than
+`test/models/article_test.rb`) and a fixture at `test/fixtures/blorgh/articles.yml`
+(rather than `test/fixtures/articles.yml`).
+
+After that, a line for the resource is inserted into the `config/routes.rb` file
+for the engine. This line is simply `resources :articles`, turning the
+`config/routes.rb` file for the engine into this:
+
+```ruby
+Blorgh::Engine.routes.draw do
+  resources :articles
+end
+```
+
+Note here that the routes are drawn upon the `Blorgh::Engine` object rather than
+the `YourApp::Application` class. This is so that the engine routes are confined
+to the engine itself and can be mounted at a specific point as shown in the
+[test directory](#test-directory) section. It also causes the engine's routes to
+be isolated from those routes that are within the application. The
+[Routes](#routes) section of this guide describes it in detail.
+
+Next, the `scaffold_controller` generator is invoked, generating a controller
+called `Blorgh::ArticlesController` (at
+`app/controllers/blorgh/articles_controller.rb`) and its related views at
+`app/views/blorgh/articles`. This generator also generates a test for the
+controller (`test/controllers/blorgh/articles_controller_test.rb`) and a helper
+(`app/helpers/blorgh/articles_controller.rb`).
+
+Everything this generator has created is neatly namespaced. The controller's
+class is defined within the `Blorgh` module:
+
+```ruby
+module Blorgh
+  class ArticlesController < ApplicationController
+    ...
+  end
+end
+```
+
+NOTE: The `ApplicationController` class being inherited from here is the
+`Blorgh::ApplicationController`, not an application's `ApplicationController`.
+
+The helper inside `app/helpers/blorgh/articles_helper.rb` is also namespaced:
+
+```ruby
+module Blorgh
+  module ArticlesHelper
+    ...
+  end
+end
+```
+
+This helps prevent conflicts with any other engine or application that may have
+an article resource as well.
+
+Finally, the assets for this resource are generated in two files:
+`app/assets/javascripts/blorgh/articles.js` and
+`app/assets/stylesheets/blorgh/articles.css`. You'll see how to use these a little
+later.
+
+By default, the scaffold styling is not applied to the engine because the
+engine's layout file, `app/views/layouts/blorgh/application.html.erb`, doesn't
+load it. To make the scaffold styling apply, insert this line into the `<head>`
+tag of this layout:
+
+```erb
+<%= stylesheet_link_tag "scaffold" %>
+```
+
+You can see what the engine has so far by running `rake db:migrate` at the root
+of our engine to run the migration generated by the scaffold generator, and then
+running `rails server` in `test/dummy`. When you open
+`http://localhost:3000/blorgh/articles` you will see the default scaffold that has
+been generated. Click around! You've just generated your first engine's first
+functions.
+
+If you'd rather play around in the console, `rails console` will also work just
+like a Rails application. Remember: the `Article` model is namespaced, so to
+reference it you must call it as `Blorgh::Article`.
+
+```ruby
+>> Blorgh::Article.find(1)
+=> #<Blorgh::Article id: 1 ...>
+```
+
+One final thing is that the `articles` resource for this engine should be the root
+of the engine. Whenever someone goes to the root path where the engine is
+mounted, they should be shown a list of articles. This can be made to happen if
+this line is inserted into the `config/routes.rb` file inside the engine:
+
+```ruby
+root to: "articles#index"
+```
+
+Now people will only need to go to the root of the engine to see all the articles,
+rather than visiting `/articles`. This means that instead of
+`http://localhost:3000/blorgh/articles`, you only need to go to
+`http://localhost:3000/blorgh` now.
+
+### Generating a Comments Resource
+
+Now that the engine can create new articles, it only makes sense to add
+commenting functionality as well. To do this, you'll need to generate a comment
+model, a comment controller and then modify the articles scaffold to display
+comments and allow people to create new ones.
+
+From the application root, run the model generator. Tell it to generate a
+`Comment` model, with the related table having two columns: a `article_id` integer
+and `text` text column.
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails generate model Comment article_id:integer text:text
+```
+
+This will output the following:
+
+```
+invoke  active_record
+create    db/migrate/[timestamp]_create_blorgh_comments.rb
+create    app/models/blorgh/comment.rb
+invoke    test_unit
+create      test/models/blorgh/comment_test.rb
+create      test/fixtures/blorgh/comments.yml
+```
+
+This generator call will generate just the necessary model files it needs,
+namespacing the files under a `blorgh` directory and creating a model class
+called `Blorgh::Comment`. Now run the migration to create our blorgh_comments
+table:
+
+```bash
+$ rake db:migrate
+```
+
+To show the comments on an article, edit `app/views/blorgh/articles/show.html.erb` and
+add this line before the "Edit" link:
+
+```html+erb
+<h3>Comments</h3>
+<%= render @article.comments %>
+```
+
+This line will require there to be a `has_many` association for comments defined
+on the `Blorgh::Article` model, which there isn't right now. To define one, open
+`app/models/blorgh/article.rb` and add this line into the model:
+
+```ruby
+has_many :comments
+```
+
+Turning the model into this:
+
+```ruby
+module Blorgh
+  class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
+    has_many :comments
+  end
+end
+```
+
+NOTE: Because the `has_many` is defined inside a class that is inside the
+`Blorgh` module, Rails will know that you want to use the `Blorgh::Comment`
+model for these objects, so there's no need to specify that using the
+`:class_name` option here.
+
+Next, there needs to be a form so that comments can be created on an article. To
+add this, put this line underneath the call to `render @article.comments` in
+`app/views/blorgh/articles/show.html.erb`:
+
+```erb
+<%= render "blorgh/comments/form" %>
+```
+
+Next, the partial that this line will render needs to exist. Create a new
+directory at `app/views/blorgh/comments` and in it a new file called
+`_form.html.erb` which has this content to create the required partial:
+
+```html+erb
+<h3>New comment</h3>
+<%= form_for [@article, @article.comments.build] do |f| %>
+  <p>
+    <%= f.label :text %><br>
+    <%= f.text_area :text %>
+  </p>
+  <%= f.submit %>
+<% end %>
+```
+
+When this form is submitted, it is going to attempt to perform a `POST` request
+to a route of `/articles/:article_id/comments` within the engine. This route doesn't
+exist at the moment, but can be created by changing the `resources :articles` line
+inside `config/routes.rb` into these lines:
+
+```ruby
+resources :articles do
+  resources :comments
+end
+```
+
+This creates a nested route for the comments, which is what the form requires.
+
+The route now exists, but the controller that this route goes to does not. To
+create it, run this command from the application root:
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails g controller comments
+```
+
+This will generate the following things:
+
+```
+create  app/controllers/blorgh/comments_controller.rb
+invoke  erb
+ exist    app/views/blorgh/comments
+invoke  test_unit
+create    test/controllers/blorgh/comments_controller_test.rb
+invoke  helper
+create    app/helpers/blorgh/comments_helper.rb
+invoke  assets
+invoke    js
+create      app/assets/javascripts/blorgh/comments.js
+invoke    css
+create      app/assets/stylesheets/blorgh/comments.css
+```
+
+The form will be making a `POST` request to `/articles/:article_id/comments`, which
+will correspond with the `create` action in `Blorgh::CommentsController`. This
+action needs to be created, which can be done by putting the following lines
+inside the class definition in `app/controllers/blorgh/comments_controller.rb`:
+
+```ruby
+def create
+  @article = Article.find(params[:article_id])
+  @comment = @article.comments.create(comment_params)
+  flash[:notice] = "Comment has been created!"
+  redirect_to articles_path
+end
+
+private
+  def comment_params
+    params.require(:comment).permit(:text)
+  end
+```
+
+This is the final step required to get the new comment form working. Displaying
+the comments, however, is not quite right yet. If you were to create a comment
+right now, you would see this error:
+
+```
+Missing partial blorgh/comments/comment with {:handlers=>[:erb, :builder],
+:formats=>[:html], :locale=>[:en, :en]}. Searched in:   *
+"/Users/ryan/Sites/side_projects/blorgh/test/dummy/app/views"   *
+"/Users/ryan/Sites/side_projects/blorgh/app/views"
+```
+
+The engine is unable to find the partial required for rendering the comments.
+Rails looks first in the application's (`test/dummy`) `app/views` directory and
+then in the engine's `app/views` directory. When it can't find it, it will throw
+this error. The engine knows to look for `blorgh/comments/comment` because the
+model object it is receiving is from the `Blorgh::Comment` class.
+
+This partial will be responsible for rendering just the comment text, for now.
+Create a new file at `app/views/blorgh/comments/_comment.html.erb` and put this
+line inside it:
+
+```erb
+<%= comment_counter + 1 %>. <%= comment.text %>
+```
+
+The `comment_counter` local variable is given to us by the `<%= render
+@article.comments %>` call, which will define it automatically and increment the
+counter as it iterates through each comment. It's used in this example to
+display a small number next to each comment when it's created.
+
+That completes the comment function of the blogging engine. Now it's time to use
+it within an application.
+
+Hooking Into an Application
+---------------------------
+
+Using an engine within an application is very easy. This section covers how to
+mount the engine into an application and the initial setup required, as well as
+linking the engine to a `User` class provided by the application to provide
+ownership for articles and comments within the engine.
+
+### Mounting the Engine
+
+First, the engine needs to be specified inside the application's `Gemfile`. If
+there isn't an application handy to test this out in, generate one using the
+`rails new` command outside of the engine directory like this:
+
+```bash
+$ rails new unicorn
+```
+
+Usually, specifying the engine inside the Gemfile would be done by specifying it
+as a normal, everyday gem.
+
+```ruby
+gem 'devise'
+```
+
+However, because you are developing the `blorgh` engine on your local machine,
+you will need to specify the `:path` option in your `Gemfile`:
+
+```ruby
+gem 'blorgh', path: "/path/to/blorgh"
+```
+
+Then run `bundle` to install the gem.
+
+As described earlier, by placing the gem in the `Gemfile` it will be loaded when
+Rails is loaded. It will first require `lib/blorgh.rb` from the engine, then
+`lib/blorgh/engine.rb`, which is the file that defines the major pieces of
+functionality for the engine.
+
+To make the engine's functionality accessible from within an application, it
+needs to be mounted in that application's `config/routes.rb` file:
+
+```ruby
+mount Blorgh::Engine, at: "/blog"
+```
+
+This line will mount the engine at `/blog` in the application. Making it
+accessible at `http://localhost:3000/blog` when the application runs with `rails
+server`.
+
+NOTE: Other engines, such as Devise, handle this a little differently by making
+you specify custom helpers (such as `devise_for`) in the routes. These helpers
+do exactly the same thing, mounting pieces of the engines's functionality at a
+pre-defined path which may be customizable.
+
+### Engine setup
+
+The engine contains migrations for the `blorgh_articles` and `blorgh_comments`
+table which need to be created in the application's database so that the
+engine's models can query them correctly. To copy these migrations into the
+application use this command:
+
+```bash
+$ rake blorgh:install:migrations
+```
+
+If you have multiple engines that need migrations copied over, use
+`railties:install:migrations` instead:
+
+```bash
+$ rake railties:install:migrations
+```
+
+This command, when run for the first time, will copy over all the migrations
+from the engine. When run the next time, it will only copy over migrations that
+haven't been copied over already. The first run for this command will output
+something such as this:
+
+```bash
+Copied migration [timestamp_1]_create_blorgh_articles.rb from blorgh
+Copied migration [timestamp_2]_create_blorgh_comments.rb from blorgh
+```
+
+The first timestamp (`[timestamp_1]`) will be the current time, and the second
+timestamp (`[timestamp_2]`) will be the current time plus a second. The reason
+for this is so that the migrations for the engine are run after any existing
+migrations in the application.
+
+To run these migrations within the context of the application, simply run `rake
+db:migrate`. When accessing the engine through `http://localhost:3000/blog`, the
+articles will be empty. This is because the table created inside the application is
+different from the one created within the engine. Go ahead, play around with the
+newly mounted engine. You'll find that it's the same as when it was only an
+engine.
+
+If you would like to run migrations only from one engine, you can do it by
+specifying `SCOPE`:
+
+```bash
+rake db:migrate SCOPE=blorgh
+```
+
+This may be useful if you want to revert engine's migrations before removing it.
+To revert all migrations from blorgh engine you can run code such as:
+
+```bash
+rake db:migrate SCOPE=blorgh VERSION=0
+```
+
+### Using a Class Provided by the Application
+
+#### Using a Model Provided by the Application
+
+When an engine is created, it may want to use specific classes from an
+application to provide links between the pieces of the engine and the pieces of
+the application. In the case of the `blorgh` engine, making articles and comments
+have authors would make a lot of sense.
+
+A typical application might have a `User` class that would be used to represent
+authors for an article or a comment. But there could be a case where the
+application calls this class something different, such as `Person`. For this
+reason, the engine should not hardcode associations specifically for a `User`
+class.
+
+To keep it simple in this case, the application will have a class called `User`
+that represents the users of the application (we'll get into making this
+configurable further on). It can be generated using this command inside the
+application:
+
+```bash
+rails g model user name:string
+```
+
+The `rake db:migrate` command needs to be run here to ensure that our
+application has the `users` table for future use.
+
+Also, to keep it simple, the articles form will have a new text field called
+`author_name`, where users can elect to put their name. The engine will then
+take this name and either create a new `User` object from it, or find one that
+already has that name. The engine will then associate the article with the found or
+created `User` object.
+
+First, the `author_name` text field needs to be added to the
+`app/views/blorgh/articles/_form.html.erb` partial inside the engine. This can be
+added above the `title` field with this code:
+
+```html+erb
+<div class="field">
+  <%= f.label :author_name %><br>
+  <%= f.text_field :author_name %>
+</div>
+```
+
+Next, we need to update our `Blorgh::ArticleController#article_params` method to
+permit the new form parameter:
+
+```ruby
+def article_params
+  params.require(:article).permit(:title, :text, :author_name)
+end
+```
+
+The `Blorgh::Article` model should then have some code to convert the `author_name`
+field into an actual `User` object and associate it as that article's `author`
+before the article is saved. It will also need to have an `attr_accessor` set up
+for this field, so that the setter and getter methods are defined for it.
+
+To do all this, you'll need to add the `attr_accessor` for `author_name`, the
+association for the author and the `before_save` call into
+`app/models/blorgh/article.rb`. The `author` association will be hard-coded to the
+`User` class for the time being.
+
+```ruby
+attr_accessor :author_name
+belongs_to :author, class_name: "User"
+
+before_save :set_author
+
+private
+  def set_author
+    self.author = User.find_or_create_by(name: author_name)
+  end
+```
+
+By representing the `author` association's object with the `User` class, a link
+is established between the engine and the application. There needs to be a way
+of associating the records in the `blorgh_articles` table with the records in the
+`users` table. Because the association is called `author`, there should be an
+`author_id` column added to the `blorgh_articles` table.
+
+To generate this new column, run this command within the engine:
+
+```bash
+$ bin/rails g migration add_author_id_to_blorgh_articles author_id:integer
+```
+
+NOTE: Due to the migration's name and the column specification after it, Rails
+will automatically know that you want to add a column to a specific table and
+write that into the migration for you. You don't need to tell it any more than
+this.
+
+This migration will need to be run on the application. To do that, it must first
+be copied using this command:
+
+```bash
+$ rake blorgh:install:migrations
+```
+
+Notice that only _one_ migration was copied over here. This is because the first
+two migrations were copied over the first time this command was run.
+
+```
+NOTE Migration [timestamp]_create_blorgh_articles.rb from blorgh has been
+skipped. Migration with the same name already exists. NOTE Migration
+[timestamp]_create_blorgh_comments.rb from blorgh has been skipped. Migration
+with the same name already exists. Copied migration
+[timestamp]_add_author_id_to_blorgh_articles.rb from blorgh
+```
+
+Run the migration using:
+
+```bash
+$ rake db:migrate
+```
+
+Now with all the pieces in place, an action will take place that will associate
+an author - represented by a record in the `users` table - with an article,
+represented by the `blorgh_articles` table from the engine.
+
+Finally, the author's name should be displayed on the article's page. Add this code
+above the "Title" output inside `app/views/blorgh/articles/show.html.erb`:
+
+```html+erb
+<p>
+  <b>Author:</b>
+  <%= @article.author %>
+</p>
+```
+
+By outputting `@article.author` using the `<%=` tag, the `to_s` method will be
+called on the object. By default, this will look quite ugly:
+
+```
+#<User:0x00000100ccb3b0>
+```
+
+This is undesirable. It would be much better to have the user's name there. To
+do this, add a `to_s` method to the `User` class within the application:
+
+```ruby
+def to_s
+  name
+end
+```
+
+Now instead of the ugly Ruby object output, the author's name will be displayed.
+
+#### Using a Controller Provided by the Application
+
+Because Rails controllers generally share code for things like authentication
+and accessing session variables, they inherit from `ApplicationController` by
+default. Rails engines, however are scoped to run independently from the main
+application, so each engine gets a scoped `ApplicationController`. This
+namespace prevents code collisions, but often engine controllers need to access
+methods in the main application's `ApplicationController`. An easy way to
+provide this access is to change the engine's scoped `ApplicationController` to
+inherit from the main application's `ApplicationController`. For our Blorgh
+engine this would be done by changing
+`app/controllers/blorgh/application_controller.rb` to look like:
+
+```ruby
+class Blorgh::ApplicationController < ApplicationController
+end
+```
+
+By default, the engine's controllers inherit from
+`Blorgh::ApplicationController`. So, after making this change they will have
+access to the main application's `ApplicationController`, as though they were
+part of the main application.
+
+This change does require that the engine is run from a Rails application that
+has an `ApplicationController`.
+
+### Configuring an Engine
+
+This section covers how to make the `User` class configurable, followed by
+general configuration tips for the engine.
+
+#### Setting Configuration Settings in the Application
+
+The next step is to make the class that represents a `User` in the application
+customizable for the engine. This is because that class may not always be
+`User`, as previously explained. To make this setting customizable, the engine
+will have a configuration setting called `author_class` that will be used to
+specify which class represents users inside the application.
+
+To define this configuration setting, you should use a `mattr_accessor` inside
+the `Blorgh` module for the engine. Add this line to `lib/blorgh.rb` inside the
+engine:
+
+```ruby
+mattr_accessor :author_class
+```
+
+This method works like its brothers, `attr_accessor` and `cattr_accessor`, but
+provides a setter and getter method on the module with the specified name. To
+use it, it must be referenced using `Blorgh.author_class`.
+
+The next step is to switch the `Blorgh::Article` model over to this new setting.
+Change the `belongs_to` association inside this model
+(`app/models/blorgh/article.rb`) to this:
+
+```ruby
+belongs_to :author, class_name: Blorgh.author_class
+```
+
+The `set_author` method in the `Blorgh::Article` model should also use this class:
+
+```ruby
+self.author = Blorgh.author_class.constantize.find_or_create_by(name: author_name)
+```
+
+To save having to call `constantize` on the `author_class` result all the time,
+you could instead just override the `author_class` getter method inside the
+`Blorgh` module in the `lib/blorgh.rb` file to always call `constantize` on the
+saved value before returning the result:
+
+```ruby
+def self.author_class
+  @@author_class.constantize
+end
+```
+
+This would then turn the above code for `set_author` into this:
+
+```ruby
+self.author = Blorgh.author_class.find_or_create_by(name: author_name)
+```
+
+Resulting in something a little shorter, and more implicit in its behavior. The
+`author_class` method should always return a `Class` object.
+
+Since we changed the `author_class` method to return a `Class` instead of a
+`String`, we must also modify our `belongs_to` definition in the `Blorgh::Article`
+model:
+
+```ruby
+belongs_to :author, class_name: Blorgh.author_class.to_s
+```
+
+To set this configuration setting within the application, an initializer should
+be used. By using an initializer, the configuration will be set up before the
+application starts and calls the engine's models, which may depend on this
+configuration setting existing.
+
+Create a new initializer at `config/initializers/blorgh.rb` inside the
+application where the `blorgh` engine is installed and put this content in it:
+
+```ruby
+Blorgh.author_class = "User"
+```
+
+WARNING: It's very important here to use the `String` version of the class,
+rather than the class itself. If you were to use the class, Rails would attempt
+to load that class and then reference the related table. This could lead to
+problems if the table wasn't already existing. Therefore, a `String` should be
+used and then converted to a class using `constantize` in the engine later on.
+
+Go ahead and try to create a new article. You will see that it works exactly in the
+same way as before, except this time the engine is using the configuration
+setting in `config/initializers/blorgh.rb` to learn what the class is.
+
+There are now no strict dependencies on what the class is, only what the API for
+the class must be. The engine simply requires this class to define a
+`find_or_create_by` method which returns an object of that class, to be
+associated with an article when it's created. This object, of course, should have
+some sort of identifier by which it can be referenced.
+
+#### General Engine Configuration
+
+Within an engine, there may come a time where you wish to use things such as
+initializers, internationalization or other configuration options. The great
+news is that these things are entirely possible, because a Rails engine shares
+much the same functionality as a Rails application. In fact, a Rails
+application's functionality is actually a superset of what is provided by
+engines!
+
+If you wish to use an initializer - code that should run before the engine is
+loaded - the place for it is the `config/initializers` folder. This directory's
+functionality is explained in the [Initializers
+section](configuring.html#initializers) of the Configuring guide, and works
+precisely the same way as the `config/initializers` directory inside an
+application. The same thing goes if you want to use a standard initializer.
+
+For locales, simply place the locale files in the `config/locales` directory,
+just like you would in an application.
+
+Testing an engine
+-----------------
+
+When an engine is generated, there is a smaller dummy application created inside
+it at `test/dummy`. This application is used as a mounting point for the engine,
+to make testing the engine extremely simple. You may extend this application by
+generating controllers, models or views from within the directory, and then use
+those to test your engine.
+
+The `test` directory should be treated like a typical Rails testing environment,
+allowing for unit, functional and integration tests.
+
+### Functional Tests
+
+A matter worth taking into consideration when writing functional tests is that
+the tests are going to be running on an application - the `test/dummy`
+application - rather than your engine. This is due to the setup of the testing
+environment; an engine needs an application as a host for testing its main
+functionality, especially controllers. This means that if you were to make a
+typical `GET` to a controller in a controller's functional test like this:
+
+```ruby
+get :index
+```
+
+It may not function correctly. This is because the application doesn't know how
+to route these requests to the engine unless you explicitly tell it **how**. To
+do this, you must also pass the `:use_route` option as a parameter on these
+requests:
+
+```ruby
+get :index, use_route: :blorgh
+```
+
+This tells the application that you still want to perform a `GET` request to the
+`index` action of this controller, but you want to use the engine's route to get
+there, rather than the application's one.
+
+Another way to do this is to assign the `@routes` instance variable to `Engine.routes` in your test setup:
+
+```ruby
+setup do
+  @routes = Engine.routes
+end
+```
+
+This will also ensure url helpers for the engine will work as expected in your tests.
+
+Improving engine functionality
+------------------------------
+
+This section explains how to add and/or override engine MVC functionality in the
+main Rails application.
+
+### Overriding Models and Controllers
+
+Engine model and controller classes can be extended by open classing them in the
+main Rails application (since model and controller classes are just Ruby classes
+that inherit Rails specific functionality). Open classing an Engine class
+redefines it for use in the main application. This is usually implemented by
+using the decorator pattern.
+
+For simple class modifications, use `Class#class_eval`. For complex class
+modifications, consider using `ActiveSupport::Concern`.
+
+#### A note on Decorators and Loading Code
+
+Because these decorators are not referenced by your Rails application itself,
+Rails' autoloading system will not kick in and load your decorators. This means
+that you need to require them yourself.
+
+Here is some sample code to do this:
+
+```ruby
+# lib/blorgh/engine.rb
+module Blorgh
+  class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
+    isolate_namespace Blorgh
+
+    config.to_prepare do
+      Dir.glob(Rails.root + "app/decorators/**/*_decorator*.rb").each do |c|
+        require_dependency(c)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
+```
+
+This doesn't apply to just Decorators, but anything that you add in an engine
+that isn't referenced by your main application.
+
+#### Implementing Decorator Pattern Using Class#class_eval
+
+**Adding** `Article#time_since_created`:
+
+```ruby
+# MyApp/app/decorators/models/blorgh/article_decorator.rb
+
+Blorgh::Article.class_eval do
+  def time_since_created
+    Time.current - created_at
+  end
+end
+```
+
+```ruby
+# Blorgh/app/models/article.rb
+
+class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
+  has_many :comments
+end
+```
+
+
+**Overriding** `Article#summary`:
+
+```ruby
+# MyApp/app/decorators/models/blorgh/article_decorator.rb
+
+Blorgh::Article.class_eval do
+  def summary
+    "#{title} - #{truncate(text)}"
+  end
+end
+```
+
+```ruby
+# Blorgh/app/models/article.rb
+
+class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
+  has_many :comments
+  def summary
+    "#{title}"
+  end
+end
+```
+
+#### Implementing Decorator Pattern Using ActiveSupport::Concern
+
+Using `Class#class_eval` is great for simple adjustments, but for more complex
+class modifications, you might want to consider using [`ActiveSupport::Concern`]
+(http://edgeapi.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveSupport/Concern.html).
+ActiveSupport::Concern manages load order of interlinked dependent modules and
+classes at run time allowing you to significantly modularize your code.
+
+**Adding** `Article#time_since_created` and **Overriding** `Article#summary`:
+
+```ruby
+# MyApp/app/models/blorgh/article.rb
+
+class Blorgh::Article < ActiveRecord::Base
+  include Blorgh::Concerns::Models::Article
+
+  def time_since_created
+    Time.current - created_at
+  end
+
+  def summary
+    "#{title} - #{truncate(text)}"
+  end
+end
+```
+
+```ruby
+# Blorgh/app/models/article.rb
+
+class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
+  include Blorgh::Concerns::Models::Article
+end
+```
+
+```ruby
+# Blorgh/lib/concerns/models/article
+
+module Blorgh::Concerns::Models::Article
+  extend ActiveSupport::Concern
+
+  # 'included do' causes the included code to be evaluated in the
+  # context where it is included (article.rb), rather than being
+  # executed in the module's context (blorgh/concerns/models/article).
+  included do
+    attr_accessor :author_name
+    belongs_to :author, class_name: "User"
+
+    before_save :set_author
+
+    private
+      def set_author
+        self.author = User.find_or_create_by(name: author_name)
+      end
+  end
+
+  def summary
+    "#{title}"
+  end
+
+  module ClassMethods
+    def some_class_method
+      'some class method string'
+    end
+  end
+end
+```
+
+### Overriding Views
+
+When Rails looks for a view to render, it will first look in the `app/views`
+directory of the application. If it cannot find the view there, it will check in
+the `app/views` directories of all engines that have this directory.
+
+When the application is asked to render the view for `Blorgh::ArticlesController`'s
+index action, it will first look for the path
+`app/views/blorgh/articles/index.html.erb` within the application. If it cannot
+find it, it will look inside the engine.
+
+You can override this view in the application by simply creating a new file at
+`app/views/blorgh/articles/index.html.erb`. Then you can completely change what
+this view would normally output.
+
+Try this now by creating a new file at `app/views/blorgh/articles/index.html.erb`
+and put this content in it:
+
+```html+erb
+<h1>Articles</h1>
+<%= link_to "New Article", new_article_path %>
+<% @articles.each do |article| %>
+  <h2><%= article.title %></h2>
+  <small>By <%= article.author %></small>
+  <%= simple_format(article.text) %>
+  <hr>
+<% end %>
+```
+
+### Routes
+
+Routes inside an engine are isolated from the application by default. This is
+done by the `isolate_namespace` call inside the `Engine` class. This essentially
+means that the application and its engines can have identically named routes and
+they will not clash.
+
+Routes inside an engine are drawn on the `Engine` class within
+`config/routes.rb`, like this:
+
+```ruby
+Blorgh::Engine.routes.draw do
+  resources :articles
+end
+```
+
+By having isolated routes such as this, if you wish to link to an area of an
+engine from within an application, you will need to use the engine's routing
+proxy method. Calls to normal routing methods such as `articles_path` may end up
+going to undesired locations if both the application and the engine have such a
+helper defined.
+
+For instance, the following example would go to the application's `articles_path`
+if that template was rendered from the application, or the engine's `articles_path`
+if it was rendered from the engine:
+
+```erb
+<%= link_to "Blog articles", articles_path %>
+```
+
+To make this route always use the engine's `articles_path` routing helper method,
+we must call the method on the routing proxy method that shares the same name as
+the engine.
+
+```erb
+<%= link_to "Blog articles", blorgh.articles_path %>
+```
+
+If you wish to reference the application inside the engine in a similar way, use
+the `main_app` helper:
+
+```erb
+<%= link_to "Home", main_app.root_path %>
+```
+
+If you were to use this inside an engine, it would **always** go to the
+application's root. If you were to leave off the `main_app` "routing proxy"
+method call, it could potentially go to the engine's or application's root,
+depending on where it was called from.
+
+If a template rendered from within an engine attempts to use one of the
+application's routing helper methods, it may result in an undefined method call.
+If you encounter such an issue, ensure that you're not attempting to call the
+application's routing methods without the `main_app` prefix from within the
+engine.
+
+### Assets
+
+Assets within an engine work in an identical way to a full application. Because
+the engine class inherits from `Rails::Engine`, the application will know to
+look up assets in the engine's 'app/assets' and 'lib/assets' directories.
+
+Like all of the other components of an engine, the assets should be namespaced.
+This means that if you have an asset called `style.css`, it should be placed at
+`app/assets/stylesheets/[engine name]/style.css`, rather than
+`app/assets/stylesheets/style.css`. If this asset isn't namespaced, there is a
+possibility that the host application could have an asset named identically, in
+which case the application's asset would take precedence and the engine's one
+would be ignored.
+
+Imagine that you did have an asset located at
+`app/assets/stylesheets/blorgh/style.css` To include this asset inside an
+application, just use `stylesheet_link_tag` and reference the asset as if it
+were inside the engine:
+
+```erb
+<%= stylesheet_link_tag "blorgh/style.css" %>
+```
+
+You can also specify these assets as dependencies of other assets using Asset
+Pipeline require statements in processed files:
+
+```
+/*
+ *= require blorgh/style
+*/
+```
+
+INFO. Remember that in order to use languages like Sass or CoffeeScript, you
+should add the relevant library to your engine's `.gemspec`.
+
+### Separate Assets & Precompiling
+
+There are some situations where your engine's assets are not required by the
+host application. For example, say that you've created an admin functionality
+that only exists for your engine. In this case, the host application doesn't
+need to require `admin.css` or `admin.js`. Only the gem's admin layout needs
+these assets. It doesn't make sense for the host app to include
+`"blorgh/admin.css"` in its stylesheets. In this situation, you should
+explicitly define these assets for precompilation.  This tells sprockets to add
+your engine assets when `rake assets:precompile` is triggered.
+
+You can define assets for precompilation in `engine.rb`:
+
+```ruby
+initializer "blorgh.assets.precompile" do |app|
+  app.config.assets.precompile += %w(admin.css admin.js)
+end
+```
+
+For more information, read the [Asset Pipeline guide](asset_pipeline.html).
+
+### Other Gem Dependencies
+
+Gem dependencies inside an engine should be specified inside the `.gemspec` file
+at the root of the engine. The reason is that the engine may be installed as a
+gem. If dependencies were to be specified inside the `Gemfile`, these would not
+be recognized by a traditional gem install and so they would not be installed,
+causing the engine to malfunction.
+
+To specify a dependency that should be installed with the engine during a
+traditional `gem install`, specify it inside the `Gem::Specification` block
+inside the `.gemspec` file in the engine:
+
+```ruby
+s.add_dependency "moo"
+```
+
+To specify a dependency that should only be installed as a development
+dependency of the application, specify it like this:
+
+```ruby
+s.add_development_dependency "moo"
+```
+
+Both kinds of dependencies will be installed when `bundle install` is run inside
+of the application. The development dependencies for the gem will only be used
+when the tests for the engine are running.
+
+Note that if you want to immediately require dependencies when the engine is
+required, you should require them before the engine's initialization. For
+example:
+
+```ruby
+require 'other_engine/engine'
+require 'yet_another_engine/engine'
+
+module MyEngine
+  class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
+  end
+end
+```