Ruby on Rails 5

Rails Programming Environment

Setting up your working environment and learning how to use it effectively is the first step toward becoming a productive Rails developer. We'll show you how to:

• Install Ruby on Rails on your favorite operating system
• Edit Rails code using the Sublime Text editor
• Use the Rails console and supporting command-line tools effectively
• Search Rails documentation
• Use external RubyGems in your application
• Troubleshoot problems and understand common error messages

Routing

The router is the central dispatch of your application. It receives incoming requests (URLs) and, depending on a set of rules, dispatches the requests to an appropriate controller action. You'll learn how to:

• Define routes that recognize incoming URLs
• Use named route methods to generate URLs based on the routing scheme
• Apply and understand the RESTful routing conventions
• Design apps to take advantage of the REST conventions in Rails

Views and Controllers

Rails has some strong opinions about how web apps should be designed. You've probably heard about the MVC design in the abstract, but we'll break it down in practice so you understand where to put your code and the benefits of a decoupled design. You'll learn how to:

• Write controller actions to handle incoming requests and render views, or redirect to other actions
• Design clean and flexible HTML 5 views using layouts, partials, and helpers
• Write custom view helpers to encapsulate presentation logic
• Remove duplication using before actions

Models and Database Design

Well-designed models are the foundation of any good Rails app. In the simplest form, a model is a Ruby class that encapsulates your application's business logic. But a model also often represents an entity stored in your database. Active Record is the object-relational mapping library that Rails uses to connect your business objects (models) to your database tables. You'll learn how to:

• Manage your database schema with migrations
• Use models to create, read (query), update, and delete records in your database
• Use validations to enforce data integrity
• Design models for better reuse and testability

Forms

Want to accept user input and store it in a database? Rails has a whole bunch of conventions to help you create robust and friendly forms. We'll unveil the "magic" and show you how to:

• Design a form for creating and editing data
• Validate form data and provide actionable feedback to the user
• Store submitted form data in a database and dynamically display the data
• Avoid common security pitfalls

CSS and Sass Basics

As a web developer, it's important to understand the basics of web design whether you aim to do it all yourself or plan to work hand-in-hand with a web designer. You'll learn how to:

• Decouple your presentation (style) from the content using CSS stylesheets
• Keep your stylesheets tidy and flexible using Sass extensions including variables, nested rules, and functions
• Effectively use what Rails calls the asset pipeline

Model Relationships

One of the most powerful features of Rails is the ability to create relationships between different models and represent those relationships in a database. For example, if you're developing a movie review app then you'll need to associate each review with a particular movie. To do that properly, it's important to not only understand the Rails conventions but also what goes on behind the scenes. You'll learn how to:

• Design a one-to-many relationship in the database using foreign keys
• Declare associations in the models and use them to create associated records and navigate across the one-to-many relationship
• Use nested resources to design a user interface for a one-to-many relationship
• Encapsulate business logic that emerges once you have rich associations between models

Deployment

Putting your Rails app into production shouldn't cause fear and trembling. Deploying Rails apps has gotten a lot easier over the years thanks in large part to cloud services such as Heroku. We'll show you how to deploy your Rails app for the first time, and incrementally push out updates. You'll learn how to:

• Set up a (free) Heroku account
• Put your application code in a Git repository
• Deploy your app to your Heroku account
• Run remote Heroku commands such as to migrate your production database
• Upload image files and store them on Amazon S3
• Roll out updates to your app with ease!

Test-First Development Using RSpec and Capybara

Both the Ruby and Rails communities place a high value on testing, and it's for good reason. Writing effective tests allows you to make changes and add new features with confidence. As a result, you're a more productive Rails developer. Throughout the course, you'll learn how to:

• Use a test-first development approach to confidently add new features
• Write and run high-level feature specs using RSpec 2 and Capybara
• Test lower-level business logic by writing model specs using RSpec
• Refactor your application code, safely!

Rails Best Practices

Standing up a Rails app that just works isn't the same as designing a good Rails app. Mastering Rails—writing compact, readable, and flexible code—starts by learning the conventions, practices, and idioms fostered by the Rails community. So, in addition to learning the ins and outs Rails, we'll take you a step further. You'll learn:

• An iterative (agile) development style that easily adapts to changing requirements
• Design techniques for removing duplication, encapsulating business logic, and properly aligning responsibilities
• And a bunch of practical tips and tricks used by the pros to get the most out of Rails!