railsStarterGuide

Note: there will be some generic things like app_name or model_name. Make sure that your app uses YOUR domain and not these generic names used in this guide

Rails App Checklist

1. Create it: $ rails new appName -d postgresql --

   ***Check: Run $ rails server to see if the welcome to rails message shows at http://localhost:3000

2. Make your database: $ rake db:create or $ rails db:create --

This will create a database called app_name_development in postgres

Check: get into postgres with psql, then connect to your database with \c app_name_development

3. Create controller: $ rails g controller controllerNames --

a. make sure the controller name is plural to follow rails conventions

Check: navigate to app/controllers to see if your controller is there

4. Create Model: $ rails g model modelName field1Name:dataType field2Name:dataType --

can add as many key value paris as youd like!

	a. Model names are singular
	b. If creating a foreign key, do “modelName:references”

Check: Navigate to db/migrate to see if there is a file, click on it to see if it contains your schema

5. Migrate your database: $ rake db:migrate --

Check: Navigate to db/schema.rb to see if your schema was loaded in

— Repeat steps 3-5 as many times as necessary —

6. Create seed data: An example below: --

House.destroy_all
House.destroy_all
Character.destroy_all
Character.destroy_all

house1 = House.create(name: "Targaryen")
house1 = House.create(name: "Targaryen")
house2 = House.create(name: "Zehnder")
house2 = House.create(name: "Zehnder")

character1 = Character.create(name: "Rob", indulgence: "whores", house: house1)
character1 = Character.create(name: "Rob", indulgence: "whores", house: house1)

character2 = Character.create(name: "Jeff", indulgence: "whores", house: house2)
character2 = Character.create(name: "Jeff", indulgence: "whores", house: house2)

character3 = Character.create(name: "Omar", indulgence: "violence", house: house1)
character3 = Character.create(name: "Omar", indulgence: "violence", house: house1)

character4 = Character.create(name: "Jimmy", indulgence: "alcohol", house: house2)
character4 = Character.create(name: "Jimmy", indulgence: "alcohol", house: house2)

Make sure that you do ClassName.create not Class name.new in the seed data or else it won’t work.

7. Seed your database: $ rake db:seed --

Check: open postgres, then open your database. do a SELECT * FROM table_name; to see if your data made it over.

8. Modify Your Routes to Reflect Your Controllers: Add the following for your routes file found at config/routes.rb --

# make sure it ends with an “s” for convention purposes. Repeat as necessary for each of your models.
resources :modelName

# The home page will default to the index view for this model
root "modelName#index"

Root route will help to set a location to create a test page in the next step

9. Create Home Page View: Make a hello world view for the index page by modifying the file app/views/modelname/index.html.erb
   --

10. View your routes: Run the $ rake routes command in terminal. You should always reference this! --

New Page Process

1. Create view under the views/modelName folder using viewName.html.erb as the name of the document

2. Create the action inside the controller file

# instead of action it would be something like: index, show, new, etc..
def action
	“stuff to send into the view”
end

3. Modify the view, so that it reflects whatever you want it to return in the HTML for that particular route

4. Create a home page for your index view using the new page process: Modify the page to however you like to display all the options --

   1. Need to create an index action in your controller
   2. Modify the view

   <% @houses.each do |house| %>

   <%= link_to house.name, house_path(house.id) %>

   <% end %>

   The output here is links to the show pages of each house with their names listed as the clickable link. Link to works like this:

   link_to “Text you want displayed in the anchor tag”, “the path you want the link to navigate to”

   because I used rake routes, I know that house_path leads to the show page,

   Route : house GET    /houses/:id(.:format)          houses#show
   

   so I have to structure my route, so that I go to the house path and pass in the house id as a param, hence, “house_path(house.id)”

   This should lead you to an error that asks for your show page view

5. Create the Show Page --

   — New Page Process —

   Identify desired path:

   house GET /houses/:id(.:format) houses#show

   1. Create view under the views >> controllerName folder using “show.html.erb” as the name of the document

   2. Create the action inside the controller file >> def show code goes here end

   3. Modify the view, so that it reflects whatever you want it to return in the HTML for that particular route

      The goons of <%=@house.name%>

      <% @house.characters.each do |person| %>

      Person: <%= person.name %> Indulgence: <%= person.indulgence %>

      <% end %>

   — End New Page Process —

6. Create the edit page --

   — New Page Process —

   Identify desired path:

   edit_house GET /houses/:id/edit(.:format) houses#edit

   1. Create view under the views >> controllerName folder using “edit.html.erb” as the name of the document

   2. Create the action inside the controller file >> def edit code goes here end

   3. Modify the view, so that it reflects whatever you want it to return in the HTML for that particular route

   — End New Page Process —

   *** Special step for any view requiring a form. If you know that you can use this form more than once, you can create a form reference page.

   Add form content (example below)

   <%= form_for @house do |f| %>
   
   	<p>
   		<%= f.label :name %><br>
   		<%= f.text_field :name %>
   	</p>
   
   	<p>
   		<%= f.submit %>
   	</p>
   
   <% end %>
   

   Add the reference tag in the view which you would like to connect to the reference form:

   <%= render 'form' %>

   *Note: You can do this for things that aren’t forms as well :)

   Next! You need to be able to post this information back to the database…

   def update @house = House.find(params[:id]) @house.update(house_params) redirect_to house_path end

   private def house_params params.require(:house).permit(:name) end

   *Note: You need to add the private method because only the controller should be able to modify data

7. Create the Create Page: --

   — New Page Process —

   Identify desired path:

   new_house GET /houses/new(.:format) houses#new

   1. Create view under the views >> controllerName folder using “new.html.erb” as the name of the document

   2. Create the action inside the controller file >> def new code goes here end

   3. Modify the view, so that it reflects whatever you want it to return in the HTML for that particular route

   — End New Page Process —

   1. Link the view to the form page
   2. IMPORTANT - need to create a 2nd method in the controller for actually creating your new object instance

   — New Page Process —

   Identify desired path:

   POST /houses(.:format) houses#create

   1. This step is not necessary here, you will redirect instead Create view under the views >> controllerName folder using “new.html.erb” as the name of the document

   2. Create the action inside the controller file >> def create code goes here end

   3. Modify the view, so that it reflects whatever you want it to return in the HTML for that particular route

   — End New Page Process —

   def create @house = House.create!(house_params) redirect_to houses_path end

   this is capturing the @house value which was generated in the form. It is then creating a new object and permanently altering the database, which is why it was banged

8. Create the delete method --

Add this where applicable :)

def destroy @house = House.find(params[:id]) @house.destroy redirect_to '/' end

<%= link_to 'Delete House', house_path(@house), method: :delete, data: { confirm: 'Are you sure?' } %>

Appendix

To update a table that was already created, take the following steps:

1. Open Terminal
2. rails generate migration add_migrationName_to_modelName newFieldName:dataType
3. rake db:migrate