railties 3.0.0.beta

data/guides/source/rails_application_templates.textile

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+h2. Rails Application Templates
+
+Application templates are simple ruby files containing DSL for adding plugins/gems/initializers etc. to your freshly created Rails project or an existing Rails project.
+
+By referring to this guide, you will be able to:
+
+* Use templates to generate/customize Rails applications
+* Write your own reusable application templates using the Rails template API
+
+endprologue.
+
+h3. Usage
+
+To apply a template, you need to provide the Rails generator with the location of the template you wish to apply, using -m option :
+
+<shell>
+$ rails blog -m ~/template.rb
+</shell>
+
+It's also possible to apply a template using a URL :
+
+<shell>
+$ rails blog -m http://gist.github.com/31208.txt
+</shell>
+
+Alternatively, you can use the rake task +rails:template+ to apply a template to an existing Rails application :
+
+<shell>
+$ rake rails:template LOCATION=~/template.rb
+</shell>
+
+h3. Template API
+
+Rails templates API is very self explanatory and easy to understand. Here's an example of a typical Rails template :
+
+<ruby>
+# template.rb
+run "rm public/index.html"
+generate(:scaffold, "person name:string")
+route "map.root :controller => 'people'"
+rake("db:migrate")
+
+git :init
+git :add => "."
+git :commit => "-a -m 'Initial commit'"
+</ruby>
+
+The following sections outlines the primary methods provided by the API :
+
+h4. gem(name, options = {})
+
+Adds a +config.gem+ entry for the supplied gem to the generated application’s +config/environment.rb+.
+
+For example, if your application depends on the gems +bj+ and +hpricot+ :
+
+<ruby>
+gem "bj"
+gem "hpricot", :version => '0.6', :source => "http://code.whytheluckystiff.net"
+</ruby>
+
+Please note that this will NOT install the gems for you. So you may want to run the +rake gems:install+ task too :
+
+<ruby>
+rake "gems:install"
+</ruby>
+
+And let Rails take care of installing the required gems if they’re not already installed.
+
+h4. plugin(name, options = {})
+
+Installs a plugin to the generated application.
+
+Plugin can be installed from Git :
+
+<ruby>
+plugin 'authentication', :git => 'git://github.com/foor/bar.git'
+</ruby>
+
+You can even install plugins as git submodules :
+
+<ruby>
+plugin 'authentication', :git => 'git://github.com/foor/bar.git', 
+                         :submodule => true
+</ruby>
+
+Please note that you need to +git :init+ before you can install a plugin as a submodule.
+
+Or use plain old SVN :
+
+<ruby>
+plugin 'usingsvn', :svn => 'svn://example.com/usingsvn/trunk'
+</ruby>
+
+h4. vendor/lib/file/initializer(filename, data = nil, &block)
+
+Adds an initializer to the generated application’s +config/initializers+ directory.
+
+Lets say you like using +Object#not_nil?+ and +Object#not_blank?+ :
+
+<ruby>
+initializer 'bloatlol.rb', <<-CODE
+class Object
+  def not_nil?
+    !nil?
+  end
+  
+  def not_blank?
+    !blank?
+  end
+end
+CODE
+</ruby>
+
+Similarly +lib()+ creates a file in the +lib/+ directory and +vendor()+ creates a file in the +vendor/+ directory.
+
+There is even +file()+, which accepts a relative path from +RAILS_ROOT+ and creates all the directories/file needed :
+
+<ruby>
+file 'app/components/foo.rb', <<-CODE
+class Foo
+end
+CODE
+</ruby>
+
+That’ll create +app/components+ directory and put +foo.rb+ in there.
+
+h4. rakefile(filename, data = nil, &block)
+
+Creates a new rake file under +lib/tasks+ with the supplied tasks :
+
+<ruby>
+rakefile("bootstrap.rake") do
+  <<-TASK
+    namespace :boot do
+      task :strap do
+        puts "i like boots!"
+      end
+    end
+  TASK
+end
+</ruby>
+
+The above creates +lib/tasks/bootstrap.rake+ with a +boot:strap+ rake task.
+
+h4. generate(what, args)
+
+Runs the supplied rails generator with given arguments. For example, I love to scaffold some whenever I’m playing with Rails :
+
+<ruby>
+generate(:scaffold, "person", "name:string", "address:text", "age:number")
+</ruby>
+
+h4. run(command)
+
+Executes an arbitrary command. Just like the backticks. Let's say you want to remove the +public/index.html+ file :
+
+<ruby>
+run "rm public/index.html"
+</ruby>
+
+h4. rake(command, options = {})
+
+Runs the supplied rake tasks in the Rails application. Let's say you want to migrate the database :
+
+<ruby>
+rake "db:migrate"
+</ruby>
+
+You can also run rake tasks with a different Rails environment :
+
+<ruby>
+rake "db:migrate", :env => 'production'
+</ruby>
+
+Or even use sudo :
+
+<ruby>
+rake "gems:install", :sudo => true
+</ruby>
+
+h4. route(routing_code)
+
+This adds a routing entry to the +config/routes.rb+ file. In above steps, we generated a person scaffold and also removed +public/index.html+. Now to make +PeopleController#index+ as the default page for the application :
+
+<ruby>
+route "map.root :controller => :person"
+</ruby>
+
+h4. inside(dir)
+
+I have my edge rails lying at +~/commit-rails/rails+. So every time i have to manually symlink edge from my new app. But now :
+
+<ruby>
+inside('vendor') do
+  run "ln -s ~/commit-rails/rails rails"
+end
+</ruby>
+
+So +inside()+ runs the command from the given directory.
+
+h4. ask(question)
+
++ask()+ gives you a chance to get some feedback from the user and use it in your templates. Lets say you want your user to name the new shiny library you’re adding :
+
+<ruby>
+lib_name = ask("What do you want to call the shiny library ?")
+lib_name << ".rb" unless lib_name.index(".rb")
+
+lib lib_name, <<-CODE
+class Shiny
+end
+CODE
+</ruby>
+
+h4. yes?(question) or no?(question)
+
+These methods let you ask questions from templates and decide the flow based on the user’s answer. Lets say you want to freeze rails only if the user want to :
+
+<ruby>
+rake("rails:freeze:gems") if yes?("Freeze rails gems ?")
+no?(question) acts just the opposite.
+</ruby>
+
+h4. git(:must => "-a love")
+
+Rails templates let you run any git command :
+
+<ruby>
+git :init
+git :add => "."
+git :commit => "-a -m 'Initial commit'"
+</ruby>
+
+h3. Changelog
+
+"Lighthouse ticket":http://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/16213-rails-guides/tickets/78
+
+* April 29, 2009: Initial version by "Pratik":credits.html#lifo

data/guides/source/rails_on_rack.textile

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+h2. Rails on Rack
+
+This guide covers Rails integration with Rack and interfacing with other Rack components. By referring to this guide, you will be able to:
+
+* Create Rails Metal applications
+* Use Rack Middlewares in your Rails applications
+* Understand Action Pack's internal Middleware stack
+* Define a custom Middleware stack
+
+endprologue.
+
+WARNING: This guide assumes a working knowledge of Rack protocol and Rack concepts such as middlewares, url maps and +Rack::Builder+.
+
+h3. Introduction to Rack
+
+bq. Rack provides a minimal, modular and adaptable interface for developing web applications in Ruby. By wrapping HTTP requests and responses in the simplest way possible, it unifies and distills the API for web servers, web frameworks, and software in between (the so-called middleware) into a single method call.
+
+- "Rack API Documentation":http://rack.rubyforge.org/doc/
+
+Explaining Rack is not really in the scope of this guide. In case you are not familiar with Rack's basics, you should check out the following links:
+
+* "Official Rack Website":http://rack.github.com
+* "Introducing Rack":http://chneukirchen.org/blog/archive/2007/02/introducing-rack.html
+* "Ruby on Rack #1 - Hello Rack!":http://m.onkey.org/2008/11/17/ruby-on-rack-1
+* "Ruby on Rack #2 - The Builder":http://m.onkey.org/2008/11/18/ruby-on-rack-2-rack-builder
+
+h3. Rails on Rack
+
+h4. Rails Application's Rack Object
+
+<tt>ActionController::Dispatcher.new</tt> is the primary Rack application object of a Rails application. Any Rack compliant web server should be using +ActionController::Dispatcher.new+ object to serve a Rails application.</p>
+
+h4. +script/server+
+
+<tt>script/server</tt> does the basic job of creating a +Rack::Builder+ object and starting the webserver. This is Rails' equivalent of Rack's +rackup+ script.
+
+Here's how +script/server+ creates an instance of +Rack::Builder+
+
+<ruby>
+app = Rack::Builder.new {
+  use Rails::Rack::LogTailer unless options[:detach]
+  use Rails::Rack::Debugger if options[:debugger]
+  use ActionDispatch::Static
+  run ActionController::Dispatcher.new
+}.to_app
+</ruby>
+
+Middlewares used in the code above are primarily useful only in the development environment. The following table explains their usage:
+
+|_.Middleware|_.Purpose|
+|+Rails::Rack::LogTailer+|Appends log file output to console|
+|+ActionDispatch::Static+|Serves static files inside +RAILS_ROOT/public+ directory|
+|+Rails::Rack::Debugger+|Starts Debugger|
+
+h4. +rackup+
+
+To use +rackup+ instead of Rails' +script/server+, you can put the following inside +config.ru+ of your Rails application's root directory:
+
+<ruby>
+# RAILS_ROOT/config.ru
+require "config/environment"
+
+use Rails::Rack::LogTailer
+use ActionDispatch::Static
+run ActionController::Dispatcher.new
+</ruby>
+
+And start the server:
+
+<shell>
+[lifo@null application]$ rackup config.ru
+</shell>
+
+To find out more about different +rackup+ options:
+
+<shell>
+[lifo@null application]$ rackup --help
+</shell>
+
+h3. Action Controller Middleware Stack
+
+Many of Action Controller's internal components are implemented as Rack middlewares. +ActionController::Dispatcher+ uses +ActionController::MiddlewareStack+ to combine various internal and external middlewares to form a complete Rails Rack application.
+
+NOTE: +ActionController::MiddlewareStack+ is Rails' equivalent of +Rack::Builder+, but built for better flexibility and more features to meet Rails' requirements.
+
+h4. Inspecting Middleware Stack
+
+Rails has a handy rake task for inspecting the middleware stack in use:
+
+<shell>
+$ rake middleware
+</shell>
+
+For a freshly generated Rails application, this might produce something like:
+
+<ruby>
+use Rack::Lock
+use ActionController::Failsafe
+use ActionController::Session::CookieStore, , {:secret=>"<secret>", :session_key=>"_<app>_session"}
+use Rails::Rack::Metal
+use ActionDispatch::RewindableInput
+use ActionController::ParamsParser
+use Rack::MethodOverride
+use Rack::Head
+use ActiveRecord::QueryCache
+run ActionController::Dispatcher.new
+</ruby>
+
+Purpose of each of this middlewares is explained in the "Internal Middlewares":#internal-middleware-stack section.
+
+h4. Configuring Middleware Stack
+
+Rails provides a simple configuration interface +config.middleware+ for adding, removing and modifying the middlewares in the middleware stack via +environment.rb+ or the environment specific configuration file <tt>environments/&lt;environment&gt;.rb</tt>.
+
+h5. Adding a Middleware
+
+You can add a new middleware to the middleware stack using any of the following methods:
+
+* +config.middleware.use(new_middleware, args)+ - Adds the new middleware at the bottom of the middleware stack.
+
+* +config.middleware.insert_before(existing_middleware, new_middleware, args)+ - Adds the new middleware before the specified existing middleware in the middleware stack.
+
+* +config.middleware.insert_after(existing_middleware, new_middleware, args)+ - Adds the new middleware after the specified existing middleware in the middleware stack.
+
+<strong>Example:</strong>
+
+<ruby>
+# config/environment.rb
+
+# Push Rack::BounceFavicon at the bottom
+config.middleware.use Rack::BounceFavicon
+
+# Add Lifo::Cache after ActiveRecord::QueryCache.
+# Pass { :page_cache => false } argument to Lifo::Cache.
+config.middleware.insert_after ActiveRecord::QueryCache, Lifo::Cache, :page_cache => false
+</ruby>
+
+h5. Swapping a Middleware
+
+You can swap an existing middleware in the middleware stack using +config.middleware.swap+.
+
+<strong>Example:</strong>
+
+<ruby>
+# config/environment.rb
+
+# Replace ActionController::Failsafe with Lifo::Failsafe
+config.middleware.swap ActionController::Failsafe, Lifo::Failsafe
+</ruby>
+
+h5. Middleware Stack is an Array
+
+The middleware stack behaves just like a normal +Array+. You can use any +Array+ methods to insert, reorder, or remove items from the stack. Methods described in the section above are just convenience methods.
+
+For example, the following removes the middleware matching the supplied class name:
+
+<ruby>
+config.middleware.delete(middleware)
+</ruby>
+
+h4. Internal Middleware Stack
+
+Much of Action Controller's functionality is implemented as Middlewares. The following table explains the purpose of each of them:
+
+|_.Middleware|_.Purpose|
+|+Rack::Lock+|Sets +env["rack.multithread"]+ flag to +true+ and wraps the application within a Mutex.|
+|+ActionController::Failsafe+|Returns HTTP Status +500+ to the client if an exception gets raised while dispatching.|
+|+ActiveRecord::QueryCache+|Enable the Active Record query cache.|
+|+ActionController::Session::CookieStore+|Uses the cookie based session store.|
+|+ActionController::Session::MemCacheStore+|Uses the memcached based session store.|
+|+ActiveRecord::SessionStore+|Uses the database based session store.|
+|+Rack::MethodOverride+|Sets HTTP method based on +_method+ parameter or +env["HTTP_X_HTTP_METHOD_OVERRIDE"]+.|
+|+Rack::Head+|Discards the response body if the client sends a +HEAD+ request.|
+
+TIP: It's possible to use any of the above middlewares in your custom Rack stack.
+
+h4. Customizing Internal Middleware Stack
+
+It's possible to replace the entire middleware stack with a custom stack using +ActionController::Dispatcher.middleware=+.
+
+<strong>Example:</strong>
+
+Put the following in an initializer:
+
+<ruby>
+# config/initializers/stack.rb
+ActionController::Dispatcher.middleware = ActionController::MiddlewareStack.new do |m|
+  m.use ActionController::Failsafe
+  m.use ActiveRecord::QueryCache
+  m.use Rack::Head
+end
+</ruby>
+
+And now inspecting the middleware stack:
+
+<shell>
+$ rake middleware
+(in /Users/lifo/Rails/blog)
+use ActionController::Failsafe
+use ActiveRecord::QueryCache
+use Rack::Head
+run ActionController::Dispatcher.new
+</shell>
+
+h4. Using Rack Builder
+
+The following shows how to replace use +Rack::Builder+ instead of the Rails supplied +MiddlewareStack+.
+
+<strong>Clear the existing Rails middleware stack</strong>
+
+<ruby>
+# environment.rb
+config.middleware.clear
+</ruby>
+
+<br />
+<strong>Add a +config.ru+ file to +RAILS_ROOT+</strong>
+
+<ruby>
+# config.ru
+use MyOwnStackFromStratch
+run ActionController::Dispatcher.new
+</ruby>
+
+h3. Rails Metal Applications
+
+Rails Metal applications are minimal Rack applications specially designed for integrating with a typical Rails application. As Rails Metal Applications skip all of the Action Controller stack, serving a request has no overhead from the Rails framework itself. This is especially useful for infrequent cases where the performance of the full stack Rails framework is an issue.
+
+Ryan Bates' "Railscast on Rails Metal":http://railscasts.com/episodes/150-rails-metal provides a nice walkthrough generating and using Rails Metal.
+
+h4. Generating a Metal Application
+
+Rails provides a generator called +metal+ for creating a new Metal application:
+
+<shell>
+$ script/generate metal poller
+</shell>
+
+This generates +poller.rb+ in the +app/metal+ directory:
+
+<ruby>
+# Allow the metal piece to run in isolation
+require(File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../../config/environment") unless defined?(Rails)
+
+class Poller
+  def self.call(env)
+    if env["PATH_INFO"] =~ /^\/poller/
+      [200, {"Content-Type" => "text/html"}, ["Hello, World!"]]
+    else
+      [404, {"Content-Type" => "text/html"}, ["Not Found"]]
+    end
+  end
+end
+</ruby>
+
+Metal applications within +app/metal+ folders in plugins will also be discovered and added to the list.
+
+Metal applications are an optimization. You should make sure to "understand the related performance implications":http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2008/12/20/performance-of-rails-metal before using it.
+
+h4. Execution Order
+
+All Metal Applications are executed by +Rails::Rack::Metal+ middleware, which is a part of the +ActionController::MiddlewareStack+ chain.
+
+Here's the primary method responsible for running the Metal applications:
+
+<ruby>
+def call(env)
+  @metals.keys.each do |app|
+    result = app.call(env)
+    return result unless result[0].to_i == 404
+  end
+  @app.call(env)
+end
+</ruby>
+
+In the code above, +@metals+ is an ordered hash of metal applications. Due to the default alphabetical ordering, +aaa.rb+ will come before +bbb.rb+ in the metal chain.
+
+It is, however, possible to override the default ordering in your environment. Simply add a line like the following to +config/environment.rb+
+
+<ruby>
+config.metals = ["Bbb", "Aaa"]
+</ruby>
+
+Each string in the array should be the name of your metal class. If you do this then be warned that any metal applications not listed will not be loaded.
+
+WARNING: Metal applications cannot return the HTTP Status +404+ to a client, as it is used for continuing the Metal chain execution. Please use normal Rails controllers or a custom middleware if returning +404+ is a requirement.
+
+h3. Resources
+
+h4. Learning Rack
+
+* "Official Rack Website":http://rack.github.com
+* "Introducing Rack":http://chneukirchen.org/blog/archive/2007/02/introducing-rack.html
+* "Ruby on Rack #1 - Hello Rack!":http://m.onkey.org/2008/11/17/ruby-on-rack-1
+* "Ruby on Rack #2 - The Builder":http://m.onkey.org/2008/11/18/ruby-on-rack-2-rack-builder
+
+h4. Understanding Middlewares
+
+* "Railscast on Rack Middlewares":http://railscasts.com/episodes/151-rack-middleware
+
+h3. Changelog
+
+"Lighthouse ticket":http://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/16213-rails-guides/tickets/58
+
+* February 7, 2009: Second version by "Pratik":credits.html#lifo
+* January 11, 2009: First version by "Pratik":credits.html#lifo