Making a New Site

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi, I'm kind of new to Ruby on Rails, I've been slowly learning it for a while now, and think I am ready to further my learning, by actually attempting to make a site. I've already made a site and styled it, I only need to now include the code behind it. I figure there is only so much you can learn, before you actually start to put it in practice, and once I start to code this site, I'll learn things on the way. I heard ruby has one of the greatest and strongest communities surrounding it, so I look forward to your guys help.

Before, I make this site though, I don't know where to get started. The site will be a game site, and I'd hoped to just load all of the flash swf's into a folder, then use controllers to call each one. I plan on having tons of game though, so is there an easier way to generate urls for them, and creating an index page that will list games? Could I create a database that includes columns such as path to .swf, title, description, and genre? Then automatically call them, when the user types in a path.

For example, - the user types in the address http://site.com/games/billysadventure or clicks on a automatically generated link -Ruby on Rails then knows to look for the entry billysadventure in the database -Ruby takes the rest of the info for the entry and displays it in it's correct locations on the page

If this is really complex, I don't expect you to write out specific instructions, but if it's reasonable, that would be really, really nice. Otherwise, could you at least point me in necessary directions, so I can find out the way to do everything. Thanks for all or any help or comments. Let me know if I am unclear, and I'll restate it. Thanks again, Connor

2

I'm sorry if I was unclear, or am I posting this in the wrong area. Please any help or comments would be appreciated...Can anyone point me in the right direction on what will be involved with that type of site?

Thanks again...

3

Before, I make this site though, I don't know where to get started. The site will be a game site, and I'd hoped to just load all of the flash swf's into a folder, then use controllers to call each one. I plan on having tons of game though, so is there an easier way to generate urls for them, and creating an index page that will list games? Could I create a database that includes columns such as path to .swf, title, description, and genre? Then automatically call them, when the user types in a path.

That's pretty much what you get for free with rails if you generate a
scaffold. The only difference is that by default rails will generate urls like / games/123 (ie using the database id of the corresponding row) but you
can easily work around this (for exampl by overriding to_param in your
model)

Fred

4

I always have the same problem - learning everything is fun, but actually putting a site into production takes a lot of thought and hard work. Everyone has a different approach. I like to approach it like a drawing, start with basic shapes, then slowly fill in the details.

Start with what you're familiar with. As a front-end designer, I like to start with a basic HTML and CSS wireframe, as it gives structure to the information. Then I look at all the information I'm going to need for the page, and build my database structure (and thanks to migrations, I can easily fill in all the stuff I miss later). For example, you'll probably want to (at the very least) have a table called Games, where you store the name of the game, the url, and the other relevant info for it.

After I've got my db tables made, I flesh out my models, set up things like validations, relationships, and methods I know I'm going to need. Then I might start building my controllers, only to return to the models to write new methods and re-factor others, based on how I see my controllers functioning. (try to keep the controllers as free of business logic as possible).

I would also recommend using RESTful controllers. It's kind of a complicated topic for your first foray into rails, but I find that by working with the constraints it enforces on your controllers, it requires you to think more about the actual design (coding-wise) of your site. Totally optional though.

I personally don't bother with scaffolding. I don't think it does a whole lot to teach you about making a rails app. It's nice to see once or twice, but after that, building everything from scratch is a lot more educational.

Also, as far as the url scheme is concerned, you just have to set up your routes in routes.rb. Something like:   map.game "/games/:game_name", :controller => 'games', :action => 'show'

The reality of it is that nobody can really tell you exactly what you need to do. You just have to jump in somewhere and start hacking away. Thankfully, both this forum and the net at large are excellent resources for when you're stuck. I would also recommend getting at least one book on the topic. Agile Web Development with Rails is fantastic when you're beginning. Once you're comfortable with the basic topics, you might check out The Rails Way as it deals with more advanced topics. Also, one of the best things you can do for yourself as you learn rails is to really make yourself familiar with Ruby. That's pretty key.

Good luck.

5

Sorry, I forgot to include some specific info about how you might want to structure you controllers.

I would have a model named Game to represent each game. Then in the games controller, you'd use something like:

GamesController

def index @games = Game.find(:all) end

def show @game = Game.find(params[:id]) #where params would come from the link to a game end

6

Thanks for both of your replies. They helped as much as I could have hoped. Now I will have to plot out exactly what I'm going to do, and then answer the more specific questions later.

Thanks

7

Thanks for both of your replies. They helped as much as I could have hoped. Now I will have to plot out exactly what I'm going to do, and then answer the more specific questions later.

Thanks

8

Sorry, one other question: I'm going to be entering a lot of data into the database, and the way I learned to enter data for ruby on rails is through the command prompt. Is there an easier, more graphical way of doing this, like a program. Is sqllite or mysql or phpmyadmin work with ruby and database management? What do you guys use?

9

Sorry, one other question: I'm going to be entering a lot of data into the database, and the way I learned to enter data for ruby on rails is through the command prompt. Is there an easier, more graphical way of doing this, like a program. Is sqllite or mysql or phpmyadmin work with ruby and database management? What do you guys use?

10

cz231 wrote:

Sorry, one other question: I'm going to be entering a lot of data into the database, and the way I learned to enter data for ruby on rails is through the command prompt. Is there an easier, more graphical way of doing this, like a program. Is sqllite or mysql or phpmyadmin work with ruby and database management? What do you guys use?

Any tool your prefer to use should do the trick. I'm on a Mac, so like to use CocoaMySql as my basic db GUI.

However, rails does allow you populate your database using something called fixtures. Fixtures are just YAML structured files that map to your db columns. Mostly, they're used for testing, but I find them valuable for loading stuff into your development db as well. Fixtures go in "/test/fixtures/fixture_name.yml" and you can load them with "rake db:load:fixtures" in the command prompt

Here's an example of what one looks like. Notice you can embed ruby code. It's YAML format, so whitespace does matter (just like your database.yml file)

quentin:   id: 1   login: quentin   email: quentin@example.com   salt: 7e3041ebc2fc05a40c60028e2c4901a81035d3cd   crypted_password: 00742970dc9e6319f8019fd54864d3ea740f04b1 # test   created_at: <%= 5.days.ago.to_s :db %>   activation_code: 8f24789ae988411ccf33ab0c30fe9106fab32e9b   activated_at: <%= 5.days.ago.to_s :db %>

aaron:   id: 2   login: aaron   email: aaron@example.com   salt: 7e3041ebc2fc05a40c60028e2c4901a81035d3cd   crypted_password: 00742970dc9e6319f8019fd54864d3ea740f04b1 # test   created_at: <%= 1.days.ago.to_s :db %>   activation_code: 8f24789ae988411ccf33ab0c30fe9106fab32e9a

11

Ok thanks, I'm not sure if I can handle fixtures just yet... So then, how do you configure the database manager to edit a database for ruby?

Also, since I'm pretty new at databasing as well, I've already described my scenario, so how would you setup up the database? One table that is games. Then a column for path, name, and such. Then should I also add a column for popularity and such that will be edited automatically later? Or is there another way to do that?

12

Ok thanks, I'm not sure if I can handle fixtures just yet... So then, how do you configure the database manager to edit a database for ruby?

Also, since I'm pretty new at databasing as well, I've already described my scenario, so how would you setup up the database? One table that is games. Then a column for path, name, and such. Then should I also add a column for popularity and such that will be edited automatically later? Or is there another way to do that?