Ruby on Rails

Revision: TE5002_20080310

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Course Length:

2 Days

Course Description:

This course describes how to write database-backed Web Applications using the Ruby on Rails (also pronounced RoR, or Rails) Framework. Students are taken through the various steps of creating a full-fledged Web Application. Topics include the MVC paradigm, object relational mapping, fill in forms, sessions, validation techniques, testing, and various other Rails topics.

Who Should Attend:

A typical student in this course has either been tasked with writing a Rails application, or has been tasked with evaluating the Rails framework. Thus, this course should be attended by developers and managers alike, and possibly system administrators.

Benefits of Attendance:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Download and install Rails along with various other products that allow one to write Rails applications
• Understand the Model, View, Controller paradigm and how this applies to Rails applications
• Understand the directory structure of a Rails application
• Build non-trivial database backed Web Applications
• Understand the ActiveRecord classes and how they wrap database tables
• Understand the interplay between various controller actions and .rhtml (template) files
• Understand the Create, Read, Update, and Destroy (CRUD) paradigm
• Validate Model data
• Test Rails applications
• Use the Rails console to debug applications

Prerequisites:

Students should have been through a course in the Ruby Programming language. They should also have an understanding of HTML. Students should also have experience with a SQL compliant database such as MySQL.

Course Outline:

• Chapter 1: An Overview Of Ruby on Rails
  1. What is Ruby on Rails?
  2. Downloading Rails
  3. A Rails Application
  4. Building the Controller
  5. Views
  6. Embedded Ruby
  7. Extended Time Functions
  8. The render Method
  9. The link_to Method
• Chapter 2: Fill in Forms
  1. Form Data
  2. Building a Form
  3. Explaining the Form
  4. The Controller
  5. The View
  6. Contacting the Application
  7. Checkboxes
  8. Radio Buttons
  9. Rails Helper Methods
  10. Loading the Form
  11. Submitting the Form
  12. result.rhtml
• Chapter 3: Databases and Rails
  1. Review of MVC
  2. Entities and Relationships
  3. Databases
  4. Setting the Database for Rails
  5. Controller and Model
  6. Running the Application
  7. The list Template - Beginning
  8. Adding a New Item
  9. Partial Rendering
  10. Saving the New Object
  11. The list Template - Continued
  12. The flash Hash
  13. Layouts
  14. Stylesheets
  15. Editing a Record
  16. Displaying a Record
  17. Deleting a Record
• Chapter 4: Validation Techniques
  1. Data Validation
  2. A Validation Application
  3. Validating the Presence of an Entry
  4. Validating a Numerical Field
  5. Validating for Uniqueness
  6. Validating Lengths
  7. Validating Formats
  8. Writing Your Own Validation Methods
  9. Validation Summary
• Chapter 5: Migrations
  1. Introduction
  2. The First Migration
  3. The Rails Console
  4. Writing a Simple Application
  5. The Next Migration
  6. Magic Fields
  7. The Next Migration - Revisited
  8. Data Types
• Chapter 6: Users
  1. Introduction
  2. A Simple Beginning
  3. A Little Review
  4. A Little Style
  5. The User Model
  6. Registration
  7. Login
  8. Logging in
  9. Logging Out
  10. Filters
• Chapter 7: Testing the Application
  1. Introduction
  2. Test::Unit
  3. Testing Your Own Classes
  4. Fixtures
  5. Testing Models
  6. Testing Controllers
  7. test_helper.rb
  8. Integration Testing
• Chapter 8: Odds and Ends
  1. Routing
  2. routes.rb
  3. Testing Maps
  4. Routing Shortcuts
  5. Fancy URLs
  6. RubyGems
  7. The Flash
  8. Before and After Filters
  9. rdoc
  10. Debugging