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-rw-r--r--railties/lib/rails/railtie.rb76
1 files changed, 76 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/railtie.rb b/railties/lib/rails/railtie.rb
index 43a0303c5b..cba18a5196 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/railtie.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/railtie.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,83 @@
module Rails
+ # Railtie is the core of the Rails Framework and provides all the hooks and
+ # methods you need to link your plugin into Rails.
+ #
+ # What Railtie does is make every component of Rails a "plugin" and creates
+ # an API that exposes all the powers that the builtin components need
+ # to any plugin author.
+ #
+ # In fact, every major component of Rails (Action Mailer, Action Controller,
+ # Action View, Active Record and Active Resource) are all now just plain
+ # old plugins.
+ #
+ # Developing a plugin for Rails does not _require_ any implementation of
+ # Railtie, there is no fixed rule, but as a guideline, if your plugin works
+ # by just being required before Rails boots, then there is no need for you
+ # to hook into Railtie, but if you need to interact with the Rails framework
+ # during boot, or after boot, then Railtie is what you need to do that
+ # interaction.
+ #
+ # For example, the following would need you to implement Railtie in your
+ # plugin:
+ #
+ # * creating initializers (including route insertion)
+ # * modifying the render path (think HAML et al)
+ # * adding Rails config.* keys to the environment
+ # * setting up a subscriber to the Rails +ActiveSupport::Notifications+
+ # * adding global Rake tasks into rails
+ # * setting up a default configuration for the Application
+ #
+ # Railtie gives you a central place to connect into the Rails framework. If you
+ # find yourself writing plugin code that is having to monkey patch parts of the
+ # Rails framework to achieve something, there is probably a better, more elegant
+ # way to do it through Railtie, if there isn't, then you have found a lacking
+ # feature of Railtie, please lodge a ticket.
+ #
+ # Implementing Railtie in your plugin is done with the following:
+ #
+ # * Create a class Railtie which inherits from Rails::Railtie and is namespaced
+ # to your plugin
+ #
+ # module MyPlugin
+ # class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
+ # end
+ # end
+ #
+ # * Require your own plugin as well as rails in this file.
+ #
+ # require 'my_plugin'
+ # require 'rails'
+ #
+ # module MyPlugin
+ # class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
+ # end
+ # end
+ #
+ # * Give your plugin a unique name
+ #
+ # require 'my_plugin'
+ # require 'rails'
+ #
+ # module MyPlugin
+ # class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
+ # plugin_name :my_plugin
+ # end
+ # end
+ #
+ # * Then start implementing the components of Railtie you need to
+ # get your plugin working!
+ #
+ #
class Railtie
include Initializable
+ # Pass in the name of your plugin. This is passed in as an underscored symbol.
+ #
+ # module MyPlugin
+ # class Railtie < Rails::Railtie
+ # plugin_name :my_plugin
+ # end
+ # end
def self.plugin_name(plugin_name = nil)
@plugin_name ||= name.demodulize.underscore
@plugin_name = plugin_name if plugin_name