Hi
Is there a good tutorial on Rails that can give some insight on using
rails to do a billing system / use of multiple tables on one form.
Regards
Sandeep
Sandeep C. wrote:
Hi
Is there a good tutorial on Rails that can give some insight on using
rails to do a billing system / use of multiple tables on one form.Regards
Sandeep
Yes, there’s a great place called Google, I don’t know if you have heard
of them before, but you can do searches and stuff… duh! Dude, don’t be
lazy and start looking for it, there are plenty of good places out there
and most of them can be found if you search for.
Thanks for pointing me where I had already been! But so far I haven’t
had any luck. Most of them deal with simple stuff, not stuff that can be
used to make real world web application(IMHO).
Regards
Sandeep
Sandeep C. wrote:
Thanks for pointing me where I had already been! But so far I haven’t
had any luck. Most of them deal with simple stuff, not stuff that can be
used to make real world web application(IMHO).
Not sure I agree. There’s plenty of stuff like what you are talking
about plus plugins that do it for you.
Anyway, try:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=rails+tutorial+accounts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Bill
Sandeep C. wrote:
Thanks for pointing me where I had already been! But so far I haven’t
had any luck. Most of them deal with simple stuff, not stuff that can be
used to make real world web application(IMHO).Regards
Sandeep
Hi Sandeep,
I just wanted to say that I’ve had the same experience as you looking
for non-simple number-crunching type applications written in Rails. I
did find out by trying it that complex behind-the-scenes data
manipulation is possible (and looks very similar to that on the desktop
app I was trying to simulate). But I am having difficulty putting
together a robust user interface based on bits and pieces of simpler
examples that don’t all fit together easily.
The promise of being able to build a system quickly does not hold up
when there are no good examples of complex form handling and interactive
data entry and validation.
That said, one thing I found helpful was giving up on an exact
simulation of a complex form and going with displaying one table at a
time while giving the user a drill-down capability. For example, I can
list a table of Borrowers and in each row have a Loans link, then on
each loan row have a link for Payments. This is a different interface
than the one I’m simulating but I can get equivalent functionality (and
maybe even a more consistent design feel).
I’m still working on getting a good reporting interface going, and on
figuring out how to combine client-side and ajaxian techniques for
field-by-field data entry validation.
Shauna
I quite like the way rails handles all the database stuff. I am
impressed! I also quite like Ruby language.
I think there should be some open source project that develops some sort
of visual tool for rails. It should have controls like ASP.NET. Although
I am not a web developer(I have just started developing web
applications) I think most of the web developers spend too much time
doing UI using HTML+css and few other things(which I am not aware of).
As Tonypm pointed there is too much hand crafting required to get a
decent solution and this is what (IMHO) Rails should also try to take to
another level.
Regards
Sandeep
<…>
As Tonypm pointed there is too much hand crafting required to get a
decent solution and this is what (IMHO) Rails should also try to take to
another level.
I’d argue, that only “hand crafting” will provide decent solution.
Regards,
Rimantas
Now this is a subject that interests me.
When I first looked at Rails, it was with a view to finding a
convenient and practical way of developing a database application using
open source software. I was looking for a suitable client that would
give me flexible and easy to create form handling. I was aiming
towards a linux server, probably running MySql, and had a specific
application to develop. Not massive, but fairly taxing nonetheless. I
had previously written a simple form of the app using MS Access, but
was looking for a proper server based solution.
One direction that started to look promising was to use Open Office
Base as a client to a MySQL database. I started with a simple phone
book app. The Base forms front end looked promising, and a I found
the ability to use Base to connect to different databases (ie. access
and MySql) provided a good method of migrating data between apps.
However, I found trying to pull the forms together into an overall app
became cumbersome and was going to require some detailed coding. Also,
I couldnt get it to hang together as a stable app. Particularly where
some clients were on Windows 98.
When I started experimenting with Rails I was Very pleasantly surprised
at how quickly I could get things up and running and how by using
browser based clients, there were no stability problems. My biggest
concern was - how would Rails hold up when I extended the application
in terms of functionanality. I was developing a system for pulling
together several functions including a booking system for equipment
hire.
Any fears I had about Rails becoming unwieldy or unstable have been
totally dispelled. And as I get more to grips with it I find it
simpler and simpler to provide the functionality I require. (I am also
completely taken by Ruby as a programming language).
Now to your specific point. I have created some fairly interesting
forms to provide a neat user interaction. One of them presents a list
of equipment down the page with a view of each day of the week across
the page. Equipment can be booked by clicking in the cell at the
day/equipment intersection. I use active updating to just refresh the
individual cell, and the whole thing is incredibly stable and nice to
use. At the top of the page, different categories or views of
different orders can be selected and the page auto updates when the
selections change.
I have created a customer look up screen that lets me choose by radio
buttons for A-Z on first name and last name. The page auto updates and
by using paging on the result, updates instantly. On the page, I have
also included a drop down select listing names of customers for all
pages so that a selection can be made without having to page through
multiple pages.
So what is the point of this response you may ask??
- I get more and more excited about Rails all the time, continuing to
add functionality to my current app is getting me close to a full
office management system. - The drawback that I find is that every form has to be hand crafted
and the scaffold forms, though useful for what they are intended are
obviously too limited. - I believe that it should be possible to produce a forms creation
solution, ultimately allowing drag and drop positioning and I am trying
to move towards that approach. - As a first step, I have created quite a nice auto form layout that
uses data to define the order of field display, length of field and
type of field (including options for boolean fields to be Yes/No etc). - Master/Detail type forms require more consideration along with how
some of the more complex forms fit the CRUD approach. - Another area that vexes me is the desire to include some fairly
sophisticated process logic. For example, I use a standard menu system
in a consistent header section at the top of each page. The menu only
includes options relevant to the page and data state. eg. if deleting
something is not allowed then no delete option is offered. Currently
this uses lots of conditional statements, but clearly needs tidying up
into helper methods. - I would be pretty emabarrassed to share my code since these forms
were developed during my early Rails learning days and need serious
tidying up, as to does the data and business logic.
I often wonder just how many others are using Rails in an Intranet type
of application.
Your point about tutorials and examples IMHO is valid. The they all
tend to describe a similar simple application.
I think the area of how to develop forms with good user interaction is
potentially quite a large area where a sharing of ideas could be very
useful. Perhaps working towards some common ideas that could lead to
developing some useful plugins.
Even if we didnt come up with specific solutions, I think the sharing
of ideas could lead towards improving approaches on how to present
complex data based on multiple tables and manage process login etc.
For example, I currently store my form layout data in the model. I
then have a standard helper function that accesses this data when
rendering the form. Now I am not sure this sort of info belongs in the
model, and of course it would be better being table based.
If there are others who are willing to share ideas and experiences in
this aspect of Rails, I would be interested in contributing - perhaps
there could be some useful stuff for the wiki.
Tonypm
Rimantas L. wrote:
I’d argue, that only “hand crafting” will provide decent solution.
That might not be true(IMHO) if Ruby wants to compete with ASP.NET
Regards
Sandeep
Sandeep,
To get a good answer, you must first ask a good question
(and it must have merits).
Most people with the knowledge won’t bother to read an email titled :
“Good Tutorial”.
-> ""Can’t this f@&$ guy google for ‘rails tutorial’ “”
Is there a good tutorial on Rails that can give some insight on
using
rails to do a billing system / use of multiple tables on one form.
There are 2 subjets in your post, and your title has absolutely no
relations with any of them.
=> rewrite your questions, with the best title you can think of (NO:
not “free sex in your neighbourhood” !!)
Alain
Please,let me know tutorials and books sites of ruby which are free
Hey Sandeep, please take a look at the following as a starting point:
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/jfpaypal/index.html
http://dev.subimage.com/projects/substruct
Good luck,
-Conrad
I agree Alain, I thought it an innocent question, and I was rather taken
aback by the strength of the dressing down received.
It takes all sorts.
Sandeep C.:
I thought your question was perfectly acceptable, some people need to
understand how to express whatever frustration they feel w/o becoming
offensive
good luck. sorry I can’t help, but I’m in the same situation as you, I’m
looking for a good tutorial too!
MM
I didn’t write the quote in question, but if you type ‘ruby rails
tutorial’
in google, you get lots of good hits:
http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Tutorial
http://www.econsultant.com/web-developer/ruby-rails-tutorials/
and many more. I don’t want to put words in anybody’s mouth, but I think
one
prevailing sentiment is that if you can type almost the exact same
question
into Google, why not do that, then when you get stuck on a particular
issue,
bring it to the list.
I hope these links get you unfrozen, and this is a helpful, friendly
group.
Like every other group, there is a kind of personality to this one and I
would characterize it as: Lots of information on Google, go there first.
Lots of information on the Wiki (first link, above), go there second.
It’s
open source, so if you don’t find what you need on the net, you can
always
turn to the code.
Please don’t take this as a “dressing down.”
-sr
athem wrote:
offensive
–
View this message in context:
http://www.nabble.com/-Rails--Good-tutorial-tf2992924.html#a8460097
Sent from the RubyOnRails Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
Alain R. wrote:
Sandeep,
To get a good answer, you must first ask a good question
(and it must have merits).Most people with the knowledge won’t bother to read an email titled :
“Good Tutorial”.-> ""Can’t this f@&$ guy google for ‘rails tutorial’ “”
I don’t know who wrote this, but whoever wrote this should search google
and if is able to find any good tutorial put the links. I have searched
google and haven’t had any luck. The forums are for helping people and
not take out your frustration!
Is there a good tutorial on Rails that can give some insight on
using
rails to do a billing system / use of multiple tables on one form.There are 2 subjets in your post, and your title has absolutely no
relations with any of them.
=> rewrite your questions, with the best title you can think of (NO:
not “free sex in your neighbourhood” !!)
I am not trying to write a help document here! So what I thought best at
the time I wrote. And if you don’t like the title please keep your
opinion to yourself. Thats best I could do without being rude.
Sandeep, I found a tutorial that deals with multiple tables on one form.
It’s actually a two-parter. The first article deals with creating the
first child record at the same time the parent record is created, and
the second article (which you get to via a link at the bottom of the
first one) builds on that to deal with editing all the child records of
a particular parent record.
http://railsforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=717
HTH,
Shauna
I agree with MereMortal. Sandeep didn’t just ask if there were good
tutorials out there, he asked if there was a good tutorial on “a billing
system / use of multiple tables on one form.” And despite the number of
Rails tutorials out there, in my opinion there isn’t a good one on that
subject!
It’s hard for a newcomer to know exactly what to look for, and it’s
great to have a forum where others can suggest different approaches. Why
not keep things friendly and enjoyable?
Shauna