Biodegradable Geek

Refactoring Tip: Eliminating Model.find(params[:id]) Duplication

In a controller, you’ll commonly have a method that requires you have an instance variable containing the object you’re working with. An example would be the show, edit, update, and destroy methods (REST). To eliminate having find(params[:id]) in multiple methods, you can use before_filter, like this: class Admin::PostsController < Admin::ApplicationController before_filter :find_post, :only => [:show, [...]

Using Javascript to Populate Forms During Development

During development, working with forms quickly gets annoying because you have to constantly fill in each field, sometimes with unique info. One way around this is to write a little Javascript code that just populates the fields. I use something like this on the bottom of the form. I had jQuery no-conflict mode on in [...]

How To Use Fixtures to Populate Your Database in Rails

UPDATE: I’ve been using this method for awhile now: http://railspikes.com/2008/2/1/loading-seed-data Seed data is data that the app is dependent on. It is data that has to exist if you were to wipe the database clean and reload your schema. Some examples would be a list of cities/states, a list of categories, or the initial ‘admin’ [...]

Introduction to Validations & Validation Error Handling in Rails

Validations in Ruby on Rails are essentially nothing more than methods that ensure that the data in a model is valid before saving it to the database. Traditionally, we validate data coming in using conditional expressions (for example, if email != NULL or if passwd==passwd_confirmation). This task is essential, but boring and tedious, but Rails’ [...]

Understanding Basic Database Relationships in Rails

This short tutorial will be beneficial for you if database relationships and keywords like belongs_to and has_many confuse you, or if you’re trying to find out how relationships are implemented in Rails. As we create a small demonstration project, you’ll see that one beauty of Rails is how it does most of the work gluing [...]

Using Vim as a Complete Ruby on Rails IDE

NOTE: If you are experiencing segmentation faults with vim and rails.vim, see this post. When coding in Ruby on Rails, you’ll usually be switching between files and running scripts a lot. It can be time-consuming and frustrating coding Rails using a traditional text editor designed for working on big files individually. Vim lets you hop [...]