diff options
-rw-r--r-- | railties/guides/source/engines.textile | 126 |
1 files changed, 124 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/railties/guides/source/engines.textile b/railties/guides/source/engines.textile index 2366de33d7..1eb0dcb77b 100644 --- a/railties/guides/source/engines.textile +++ b/railties/guides/source/engines.textile @@ -106,6 +106,11 @@ The first thing to generate for a blog engine is the +Post+ model and related co <shell> $ rails generate scaffold post title:string text:text +</shell> + +This command will output this information: + +<shell> invoke active_record create db/migrate/[timestamp]_create_blorgh_posts.rb create app/models/blorgh/post.rb @@ -199,6 +204,14 @@ If you'd rather play around in the console, +rails console+ will also work just => #<Blorgh::Post id: 1 ...> </ruby> +One final thing is that the +posts+ 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 posts. This can be made to happen if this line is inserted into the +config/routes.rb+ file inside the engine: + +<ruby> +root :to => "posts#index" +</ruby> + +Now people will only need to go to the root of the engine to see all the posts, rather than visiting +/posts+. + h4. Generating a comments resource Now that the engine has the ability to create new blog posts, it only makes sense to add commenting functionality as well. To do get this, you'll need to generate a comment model, a comment controller and then modify the posts scaffold to display comments and allow people to create new ones. @@ -207,6 +220,11 @@ Run the model generator and tell it to generate a +Comment+ model, with the rela <shell> $ rails generate model Comment post_id:integer text:text +</shell> + +This will output the following: + +<shell> invoke active_record create db/migrate/[timestamp]_create_blorgh_comments.rb create app/models/blorgh/comment.rb @@ -220,6 +238,7 @@ This generator call will generate just the necessary model files it needs, names To show the comments on a post, edit +app/views/posts/show.html.erb+ and add this line before the "Edit" link: <erb> +<h3>Comments</h3> <%= render @post.comments %> </erb> @@ -244,28 +263,131 @@ Because the +has_many+ is defined inside a class that is inside the +Blorgh+ mod Next, there needs to be a form so that comments can be created on a post. To add this, put this line underneath the call to +render @post.comments+ in +app/views/blorgh/posts/show.html.erb+: <erb> -<%= render "comments/form" %> +<%= render "blorgh/comments/form" %> </erb> -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+ with this content to create the required partial: +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: <erb> +<h3>New comment</h3> <%= form_for [@post, @post.comments.build] do |f| %> <p> <%= f.label :text %><br /> <%= f.text_area :text %> </p> + <%= f.submit %> <% end %> </erb> +This form, when submitted, is going to attempt to post to a route of +posts/:post_id/comments+ within the engine. This route doesn't exist at the moment, but can be created by changing the +resources :posts+ line inside +config/routes.rb+ into these lines: + +<ruby> +resources :posts do + resources :comments +end +</ruby> + +The route now will exist, but the controller that this route goes to does not. To create it, run this command: + +<shell> +$ rails g controller comments +</shell> + +This will generate the following things: + +<shell> +create app/controllers/blorgh/comments_controller.rb +invoke erb + exist app/views/blorgh/comments +invoke test_unit +create test/functional/blorgh/comments_controller_test.rb +invoke helper +create app/helpers/blorgh/comments_helper.rb +invoke test_unit +create test/unit/helpers/blorgh/comments_helper_test.rb +invoke assets +invoke js +create app/assets/javascripts/blorgh/comments.js +invoke css +create app/assets/stylesheets/blorgh/comments.css +</shell> + +The form will be making a +POST+ request to +/posts/:post_id/comments+, which will correspond with the +create+ action in +Blorgh::CommentsController+. This action needs to be created and can be done by putting the following lines inside the class definition in +app/controllers/blorgh/comments_controller.rb+: + +<ruby> +def create + @post = Post.find(params[:post_id]) + @comment = @post.comments.build(params[:comment]) + flash[:notice] = "Comment has been created!" + redirect_to post_path +end +</ruby> + +This is the final part 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: + +<text> + 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" +</text> + +The engine is unable to find the partial required for rendering the comments. Rails has looked firstly 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 %> +</erb> + +The +comment_counter+ local variable is given to us by the +<%= render @post.comments %>+ call, as it will define this 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. h3. Hooking into application +Using an engine within an application is very easy. 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: + +<shell> +$ rails new unicorn +</shell> + +Usually, specifying the engine inside the Gemfile would be done by specifying it as a normal, everyday gem. + +<ruby> +gem 'devise' +</ruby> + +Because the +blorgh+ engine is still under development, it will need to have a +:path+ option for its +Gemfile+ specification: + +<ruby> +gem 'blorgh', :path => "/path/to/blorgh" +</ruby> + +If the whole +blorgh+ engine directory is copied to +vendor/engines/blorgh+ then it could be specified in the +Gemfile+ like this: + +<ruby> +gem 'blorgh', :path => "vendor/engines/blorgh" +</ruby> + +As described earlier, by placing the gem in the +Gemfile+ it will be loaded when Rails is loaded, as it will first require +lib/blorgh.rb+ in the engine and 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" +</ruby> + +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. + + + +This line will mount the engine TODO: Application will provide a User foundation class which the engine hooks into through a configuration setting, configurable in the application's initializers. The engine will be mounted at the +/blog+ path in the application. h3. Overriding engine functionality TODO: Cover how to override engine functionality in the engine, such as controllers and views. + IDEA: I like Devise's +devise :controllers => { "sessions" => "sessions" }+ idea. Perhaps we could incorporate that into the guide? TODO: Mention how to use assets within an engine? TODO: Mention how to depend on external gems, like RedCarpet. |