A MIRACLE posted:

Wow, that seems kind of awkward, I didn't know people still inlined ruby in their javascript code. I hate to recommend js frameworks since it seems like you're already really far along with this method, but I've been really happy using either Angular, Backbone, or Knockout.js (with underscore.js as a utility belt) for my ajax-y goodness.

prom candy posted:

After seeing your other response I really would advise you to put these bits into partials rather than the helper. Partials are great for this kind of thing. I just built a survey-builder type system for an app I was working on and the surveys are all built out of partials, it keeps the code pretty clean.

code:

          - question_group.questions.each do |question|
            .question
              %h2
                = question.title
                = question.required
              = question.explanation_text
              .answer= render question.answer_partial, :f => f, :question => question

(This is HAML but you should be able to see what I mean)

Shame Boner posted:

I'd also give Spine.js a look as an alternative to Backbone. Spine is written in Coffeescript, has no dependencies, and is teeny tiny. After learning Coffeescript, I found that it made me love Javascript more, but also never want to write Javascript again, if you know what I mean. There are some ugly parts of the syntax (mixed array/hash objects, I'm looking at you), but I find it much more readable, concise, and faster to write. Unlike Backbone, Spine doesn't really have a concept of a view, so you must plug your own templating solution into it. I use HAML/Coffeescript through the awesome haml_coffee_assets gem.

prom candy posted:

I don't know if CoffeeScript is the right choice for a huge Javascript-based app, but for your standard "need to write some stuff to complement my standard Rails app" it's really handy.

A MIRACLE posted:

Active Admin + your favorite SVG based javascript graphics library.

Pardot posted:

Ruby and Sinatra is better to start out with than Ruby and Rails. It's also better to end up at. Rails is good for the middle.

Doc Hawkins posted:

I think that past a certain scale, it's easier to run an app as a network of independently scalable single-purpose services than a single monolithic Rails project.

I also think that maybe twenty companies in the world have projects which have reached that scale.

Physical posted:

Reading the docu on Sinatra I still don't really see how to use it, I need pictures and visualizations of requests and dataflows, but it looks like its RESTful and replaces Rails in some unspecific (to me) way.

Obsurveyor posted:

I actually meant that quote more in the general sense. You don't have to limit rails to monolithic apps and you don't have to limit Sinatra to service oriented architectures.

Lately, I've become disenchanted with rails. It feels like an awful lot of it is too magic and I'm spending more time figuring out the right incantations than just building apps, especially as my applications have gotten more complex. Routing and routing helpers are particularly annoying. It sure seems that updates are fraught with deprecations and frankly, just happen too fast with too much bloat, it's a moving target that I am a bit tired of trying to keep hitting.

I'm seriously considering migrating away from rails and into something that uses sinatra as a base. RESTful, like padrino, but even lighter weight, just snagging the best bits. I really like the idea from padrino of the routes being right there in the controller instead of hidden away in their own file. I haven't made a decision yet because I'm sure there's all kinds of things I take for granted that rails gives me. I need to determine if not having those things is going to impact development time negatively.

I still like rails, learning it has taught me a lot about how web applications are built in ruby. With the heavier emphasis the rails team has put on breaking things out into gems instead of making them part of rails, I can still use a lot of the same things.

Sinatra: Up and Running is a great book for learning all about Sinatra. You can easily finish it in less than a day. There's Sinatra The Book too, that's free. I haven't gone through this one but the padrino guys like it.

Physical posted:

Do I do this with attr_accessors on a model or something? Or would I create a ruby class (or would that be against RoR best practices)?

I never thought of creating a ruby class before, I thought only models were available and they HAD to be tied to a db table. Using a ruby class would have answered a question I had way back about getting data from a model and manipulating it at runtime without the results going back to the DB row.

Lexicon posted:

Following on from my above question, I've found a way to use ActiveRecord infrastructure to make connections to a non-rails database:

Pardot posted:

Give sequel a looksee http://sequel.rubyforge.org/

A MIRACLE posted:

Depending on what you're trying to do you could look into extending existing ActiveModel classes with ActiveSupport::Concern (which usually go in app/concerns), or just creating your own folder app/myclasses/my_class.rb, and including it in whatever file you're using the class in. Alternately, load it in your environment config by adding the path there to make it available to all classes.

prom candy posted:

I think you want a class here, not a module.

Physical posted:

I created a folder in my app directory called classes with a file classes/input_field.rb defined as

code:

module InputField

end

then I tried including it in a controller but I keep getting
uninitialized constant MyController::InputField

Not sure what I am missing here. Eclipse knows that it exists, so the intellisense is working.

A MIRACLE posted:

What does your controller look like? Are you using relative pathing or including the path in your root environment?

Physical posted:

I'm not sure how to include it in my root env (I'm assuming it's already taken care of since it's in the app directory).

config/application.rb posted:

Ruby code:

# Custom directories with classes and modules you want to be autoloadable.
config.autoload_paths += %W{
      #{config.root}/app/models/extensions 
      #{config.root}/app/models/concerns
      #{config.root}/lib 
      #{config.root}/lib/offers_observers
    }

A MIRACLE posted:

Nope! Check this out:


e: looks like syntax highlighting is "broken" for string interpolation inside of a %w. What does SA use for syntax highlighting? Pygments?

Physical posted:

Thanks found that shortly before you replied. Now my issue is variables.

But now it keeps acting like things are methods instead of variables.

A MIRACLE posted:

Yeah... you haven't defined name as an instance/class variable for InputFields. There's a shortcut, attr_accessor :my_variable, which is like a getter/setter in C# for example.

Physical posted:

Holy poo poo I did namee and name. Forgot that I wanted to use namee in the controller. Even if I did spell it right I still have to use the attr_accessor.

Thanks for the help!

As for nesting inside a module, I thought I had to. When I drop the module part I get wrong argument type Class (expected Module)

Physical posted:

A MIRACLE posted:

Use the def initialize constructor.

Ruby code:

class Jedi
  attr_accessor :name
  def initialize
    name = "Luke"
  end
end

class Sith
  attr_accessor :name
  def initialize
    @name = "Vader"
  end
end

puts Jedi.new.name #=> ""
puts Sith.new.name #=> "Vader"