# Radiant Extensions - In Rails?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-extensions-in-rails/132794>\
**Category:** Radiant CMS\
**Created:** [March 24, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-extensions-in-rails/132794 "2008-03-24T19:57:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mario\_TSL](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Mario\_TSL](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mario_TSL)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-extensions-in-rails/132794/1 "2008-03-24T19:57:26Z")

</div>

I have been thinking about Rails modularity quite a bit and it’s  
interesting to see that there are quite a few approaches at it—Engines,  
Appable Plugins, Cells, etc. John has expressed this concern on a  
lacking standard.

[http://wiseheartdesign.com/2006/12/6/rails-needs-something-better-than-engines/](http://wiseheartdesign.com/2006/12/6/rails-needs-something-better-than-engines/)

Our very own Radiant offers extensions, and I have to say it does a fine  
job of it. Actually, I had become so reliant on Radiant Extensions for  
my personal app that I had almost forgotten about the Rails modularity  
issue altogether. It kinda has me wondering though, that if I wanted  
to take Radiant out of the mix to create a modular Rails site made up of  
several sub-apps (in Django fashion or even as I already do for  
Radiant), if there is a community adopted methodology for doing so.

In a way, I almost think it’d be nice if the Radiant extensions system  
was its own gem (depending on Rails) so that creating extensions on a  
Rails app might be just as easy. Then recently, I read about Appable  
Plugins and I started to wonder if it was the same thing as a Radiant  
Extension but in a purely Rails context.

Anyway, does anyone know if the Rails community is moving toward a  
standard on this? While I like seeing different ideas develop I hate to  
see too many take on solving the same problem in slightly different  
ways. This can result in a variety of mini-frameworks having to be  
installed on top of a Rails app in order to make use of even one single  
components developed on top of those approaches. That’s way too much  
muck.

Have any of you developed Radiant-independent Rails apps with drop in  
components that are similar to Radiant Extensions? If so, what have you  
used?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mario\_TSL](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Mario\_TSL](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mario_TSL)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-extensions-in-rails/132794/2 "2008-03-24T20:22:04Z")

</div>

The Spree project ([http://spreehq.org](http://spreehq.org)) is using the Engines plugin.  
Its working well so far but I’m not 100% sold on Engines and remain  
open to other solutions.

I’ve also been considering how to implement an extensions mechanism  
for Spree and I’m thinking about the Radiant extension model as one  
approach. Could get complicated though to have extensions on top of  
Engines on top of Rails.

Sean

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mario\_TSL](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Mario\_TSL](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Mario_TSL)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/radiant-extensions-in-rails/132794/3 "2008-03-24T22:56:38Z")

</div>

Actually, the Radiant Extension approach has perfectly met my needs so  
far. There are some minor things that I think could be improved, but  
overall, I really like the approach used in Radiant. I’ve found it very  
easy to transplant existing Rails mini-apps into Radiant Extensions  
especially because the inners of an Extension are very much the same as  
a Rails app.