Simple projects examples while learning Rails

Rails
1

Hello,

I think that I could benefit from implementing a simple project while
learning Rails. This project should be simple enough not to take too
much time, and be well suited for Rails.

Do you have ideas on such projects ? Or is there already a list of
suggestions compiled somewhere ?

Thanks for any help you can provide !

Eric

2

epoupaert wrote:

Eric

I can tell you what I’m working on as a mini side-project. Creating a
small software that logs my meetings (who I met, which company, when I
met them, what are the follow-up items, etc.) It’s going to use
acts_as_textiled for allowing “richer” text entry and will be protected
by some sort of password. It will allow files to be uploaded against
the meeting details. So, it’s a bit like a blog for meetings - just
slightly more specialized. This may have a rich enough web interface
(AJAX, etc. eventually).

In addition, it will have a separate portion that will be called
something like “/handheld” which will be quite similar to an RSS feed so
that a web-plucking software (something that just downloads a bunch of
pages from the net and formats it for the Palm) can retrieve all the
meeting logs and put it onto my Palm for offline reading and for
reference in meetings. The main requirement here will be to render
extremely lean HTML so that it takes less space on the device.

What will you be involved?

  1. File column
  2. Authentication
  3. Acts_as_textiled
  4. The usual formatting stuff
  5. Searches
  6. Routes for the different sections
    …

Further down the line, there may be other things to do:

  1. Write something for the PC that can submit to this log
  2. AJAX
  3. FckEditor or something to enter rich text directly.
  4. Web services or something to sync it with my blog (if I ever have
    one)

This will at least in the immediate sense run off my computer - I don’t
really need it to run off the web. The web plucking thing for my Palm
is already a standard download.

The need for this system comes mainly cos I found Typo and Pandora don’t
bend the way I need them to. Also, the whole idea of using Rails for
“disposable software” [1] is extremely appealing :wink:

Interested? :smiley: Comments from others are welcome :slight_smile:

Cheers
Mohit.

[1]
http://jooto.com/blog/index.php/2006/08/10/building-disposable-software-with-rails/

3

Hahaha… I think I spooked off the original poster :-s

Cheers
…m.

4

Thank you ! Your project is indeed interesting.

Eric

5

I highly recommend the book “Agile Web D. with Rails”. The
book starts with the development of a book store catalog site. Vers 2
of the book is in beta and is available as pdf (which gets updated as
new releases become available). Go to the ruby on rails site:
http://www.rubyonrails.org.(I’m just a happy customer.)

While learning Rails don’t forget to learn Ruby as well. They go
hand-in-hand.

Thank you. I am in fact reading both “Agile Web D. with Rails”
and “Ruby for Rails” books. I am not aware of version 2 of the first
book. What are the main differences? I already own the first version.
Is it worth buying the second edition too?

Thanks,

Eric

6

hi,
for my first project, i created a simple craigslist type of site. what i
learned was the whole Model, View, Controler interaction, migrations,
and passing variables back and forth from views and models. also
learning to use ym4r google map plugin. my next thing to do is provide a
form for a user to add stuff to the DB.

my next things i want to learn is uploading files and incorporating
ajax.

7

I highly recommend the book “Agile Web D. with Rails”. The
book starts with the development of a book store catalog site. Vers 2
of the book is in beta and is available as pdf (which gets updated as
new releases become available). Go to the ruby on rails site:
http://www.rubyonrails.org.(I’m just a happy customer.)

While learning Rails don’t forget to learn Ruby as well. They go
hand-in-hand.

8

bbqTree wrote:

for my first project, i created a simple craigslist type of site. what i
learned was the whole Model, View, Controler interaction, migrations,
and passing variables back and forth from views and models.
also learning to use ym4r google map plugin. my next thing to do is provide a
form for a user to add stuff to the DB.

my next things i want to learn is uploading files and incorporating
ajax.

I didn’t know of the ym4r plugin. This opens greatly the possibility to
make nice web applications. I like biking, so I will try to make a site
where anyone can upload GPS routes in GPX format and tag it. I can
implement some search capacities and use ym4r to display the routes on
a map. Ajax is also on my list !

Thanks for your ideas !

9

Eric Poupaert wrote:

…

Thank you. I am in fact reading both “Agile Web D. with Rails”
and “Ruby for Rails” books. I am not aware of version 2 of the first
book. What are the main differences? I already own the first version.
Is it worth buying the second edition too?

Thanks,

Eric

Don’t know how different v2 is from v1 but since I first bought v2
(which is still in beta) in June the “Active Record” chapter has been
expanded into three covering Basics, Relationships Between Tables and
Object Life Cycle; The Action Controller chapter has been expanded into
two: Routing and Action Controller And Rails. Subsequent chapters, I’m
sure, will also experience growth. (The one on Deployment and Production
seems especially in need of growth.)

10

CWu wrote:

Eric

Don’t know how different v2 is from v1 but since I first bought v2
(which is still in beta) in June the “Active Record” chapter has been
expanded into three covering Basics, Relationships Between Tables and
Object Life Cycle; The Action Controller chapter has been expanded into
two: Routing and Action Controller And Rails. Subsequent chapters, I’m
sure, will also experience growth. (The one on Deployment and Production
seems especially in need of growth.)

If you can afford it, I think you should switch to the second edition as
soon as possible. Rails, its tools, and the recommended ways of using
them have moved on a long way since the first edition was published.

regards

Justin F.