In the past few months, I've posted several questions to this list
regarding the rail scaffold generator, and how it works. None of the
posting have received even one reply. Considering the caliber of the
talent that lurks here, and the quality of the replies to other post,
I don't think it's because no one understands the subject matter.
So, now I'm wondering: is these the wrong venue for scaffolding
questions? Is there a better one? Is scaffolding just something that
one does not discuss in polite company?
A resonse would be greatly appreciated. ( at least to let me know that
the message was read by someone
In the past few months, I've posted several questions to this list
regarding the rail scaffold generator, and how it works. None of the
posting have received even one reply. Considering the caliber of the
talent that lurks here, and the quality of the replies to other post,
I don't think it's because no one understands the subject matter.
So, now I'm wondering: is these the wrong venue for scaffolding
questions? Is there a better one? Is scaffolding just something that
one does not discuss in polite company?
A resonse would be greatly appreciated. ( at least to let me know that
the message was read by someone
I think I've seen responses to questions about scaffold here.. maybe, people were just busy :-S
Anyway, keep trying - this is a great place to ask
Cheers
Mohit.
Don't feel bad...everyone has had posts that didn't receive a reply. I
don't know if it has to do with you post subject, or the content of the
posts, or some bias against scaffolds. All I can say is keep trying and
you will probably get responses.
It's a super high traffic list, with a lot of noise. Plus, I'd be
willing to bet that not that many people actually use scaffolds for
real work anyway. They're a neat idea, and a good teaching tool, but
the views they generate are basically unusable and are going to be
customized anyway.
I normally only use the generator for models, migrations and controllers.
I'll second that. When I first started learning Rails, I went, "OMG
these scaffold things are sweet!" But in practice, it's usually better
to build your own code rather than trying to modify what the scaffold
will give you. But generators are useful for the "shells" of controllers
and models.
I'm not against using scaffolds at all for the stuff behind the
counter. Have you ever seen the part of the airport after you put
your bag on the belt? It's kinda scary, but the bag usually makes it
onto your plane.
If you need a quick interface to something the public won't use,
what's wrong with using scaffolds?
I agree that they aren't as useful for the public side of a site,
because there's usually better ways to create interfaces.
Thanks for the replies, and encouragement. I'll keep trying. If I
understood plugins better, I would probably use them intstead of
messing with scaffolding. But, right now, modifying the scaffold
generator to output controllers, models, and views in a certain manner
can save me a lot of repetitive typing, and allow me to prototype
something for the client. The result can be used , either, as is, or
as a basis for getting closer to what the client really wants.
For example, I'm currently modifying the scaffold generator to output
Markaby files instead of .rhtml, and insert audit-columns wrapped in
the correct permission matrix.
-Larry
Echoing Anthony, I'd say that in my job, the generated scaffold is
sometimes almost all that's needed. Streamlined is especially close to
"good enough as is."
Now, if you're making a website where appearance and flow and user
experience are primary, then scaffolds are a good teaching tool, and
that's about all.
However, I also have considered writing my own scaffolding, because
with just a few tweaks, they'd could be generated very nearly ready for
release on our intranet. I might even prefer to adapt the generator and
re-scaffold rather than tweak all the components. Any chance you might
make a tutorial on the subject? It looks like you'll soon be the
expert.
In the past few months, I've posted several questions to this list
regarding the rail scaffold generator, and how it works. None of the
posting have received even one reply. Considering the caliber of the
talent that lurks here, and the quality of the replies to other post,
I don't think it's because no one understands the subject matter.
So, now I'm wondering: is these the wrong venue for scaffolding
questions? Is there a better one? Is scaffolding just something that
one does not discuss in polite company?
I don't think the problem is that you're discussing scaffolding, per
se. I think the problem is that you're discussing the internal workings
of Rails. A lot of the people on this group aren't really concerned
with that.
Also, a lot of your posts are related to Markaby, which I don't think
is very commonly used. Even though your questions about the scaffold
generator aren't Markaby-specific, framing the questions with an intro
about Markaby is probably going to turn people off of what was already
going to be a low readership anyway.
I've just replied to your scaffold_generator questions, but in future
it might be coming up with a subject like "Questions about scaffold
generator internals", which would attract the right people, rather than
"understanding scaffolding", which makes it sound as if you are asking
a question about *using* scaffolding.
I hardly consider myself an 'expert', but I'd be willing to write a
tutorial once I understand a little more about scaffolding. It would
be more along the lines of 'this is what I did', rather than 'This is
how its done'.
-Larry
