I have a question about refactoring, I just joined a company with a rails 2.3 code-base (pretty large and not many tests) this site has a user facing site, but the bulk of the functionality is for the admin facing portion of the site, I want to build a nice API with OAuth as well as make it easier to maintain and push the user facing portion forward, should I just try to build it on top of the existing rails 2.3, should I create a new site for the user and api portion on top of rails 3.1 (not sure how I would share the models and other logic between the two though), or some other method? ANy best practices here?
I believe you should refactor your app to rails 3.1 and then build a nice API.
I have a question about refactoring, I just joined a company with a rails 2.3 code-base (pretty large and not many tests) this site has a user facing site, but the bulk of the functionality is for the admin facing portion of the site, I want to build a nice API with OAuth as
That's not "refactoring" - that's writing new functionality.
ANy best practices here?
Good practice would be to get buy-in from your employers; explain to them the reason for your desire to spend time on this development, and explain about the benefits they'll gain. If they don't want you to do it, then it's likely to be moot.
If you've not done so already, read the "Refactoring: Ruby Edition" book, and start to try to apply its principles.
Thanks a lot Michael, if I can get sign-off what would be the right way to go about separating code. Try to leave the admin app alone and move the user facing and api app to rails 3.1 ? Would I then need to make a plugin for the models so I can share them between apps? Or should I use Engine?
Thanks,
I have *no* idea - it really depends on your codebase.
It might be a good plan to see if it's possible to bring the whole app up to Rails 3.x, and the starting place for that might be to spend some time getting good test coverage in place.
s/ might be / is definitely /
As someone who's taken over existing apps with little or no test
coverage (and would prefer not to repeat the experience!), I can
assure you that filling in that gap before you touch *anything* will
make your life more pleasant 
And if there aren't many tests, there's a good chance you'll find code that would benefit from refactoring anyway, which will make it easier to separate out or upgrade, whichever you choose.
FWIW,
Thanks Hassan, I appreciate it. Once I do get that test gap filled out based on your experience what would be the best way to move forward:
-
move the models to a plugin?
-
use Rails Engine?
-
re-write everything?
-
build the api/new user interface on top of the existing app?
Thanks a lot.
I think it's hard to say definitely without knowing more about the app, but my inclination would be to upgrade the whole thing to 3.1, which will also give you the opportunity to clean up the code.
Then you can take advantage of the Engine/mountable app approach
if it still makes sense. It seems like that would depend on the degree
of coupling between the admin/user/api parts, but -- by the time you
finish writing tests and upgrading, you'll be in a much better position to
evaluate that
HTH, and good luck,
Thanks for your help. When you do the engine/mountable app do you have to copy the codebase from one into the other or can you simply reference the other codebase? If upgrading the existing app is too much, do you have any other recommendations for user/api app moving forward?
Thanks
I'd be willing to bet that once you've got a full set of tests written and
done the inevitable cleaning up and refactoring, these questions will
be a lot easier to answer, if they're still relevant
Thanks Taffarel, and when the move to 3.1 is complete you think it best to leave the admin, user and api all in the same app is best since they use the same models etc? Or try to somehow separate out out into different apps somehow Luke SOA model?
Rog