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Learning Rails: Live Edition

Release Date: July 2010

Pages: 480

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Ready to learn Rails? Get up to speed using the framework’s latest release. In this Live Edition, Learning Rails has been updated to cover Rails 2.3.5, making it an ideal guide for Rails beginners.

Unlike most Rails books, Learning Rails is for web developers, and not for programmers. Rather than begin with the inner layers of a Rails web application -- the models and controllers -- this book approaches Rails development from the outer layer: the view side of an application. You’ll start from the foundations of the Web you already know, and learn how to create something visible with Rails before reaching the more difficult database models and controller code. Each chapter includes exercises and review questions so you can test your understanding as you go.

Present content by building an application with a basic view and a simple controller, while learning Ruby along the way
Build forms and process their results, progressing from simple to more complex
Connect forms to models by setting up a database, and use Rails’ Active Record to create code that maps to database structures
Use Rails scaffolding to build applications from a view-centric perspective
Add common web application elements such as sessions, cookies, and authentication
Build applications that combine data from multiple tables
Create simple but dynamic interfaces with Rails and Ajax

O'Reilly Live Edition books give you access to updates to topics in between editions of a book. A Live Edition is an electronic and print-on-demand version of the book that is updated when there is a significant change to the software or technology the book covers, keeping you on top of .X releases or major fixes.

Chapter 1 Starting Up Ruby on Rails
1. Getting Started at the Command Line
2. What Server Is That?
3. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 2 Rails on the Web
1. Creating Your Own View
2. What Are All Those Folders?
3. Adding Some Data
4. How Hello World Works
5. Protecting Your View from the Controller
6. Parentheses Are (Usually) Optional
7. Adding Logic to the View
8. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 3 Adding Web Style
1. I Want My CSS!
2. Layouts
3. Setting a Default Page
4. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 4 Controlling Data Flow: Controllers and Models
1. Getting Started, Greeting Guests
2. Application Flow
3. Keeping Track: A Simple Guestbook
4. Finding Data with ActiveRecord
5. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 5 Accelerating Development with Scaffolding and REST
1. A First Look at Scaffolding
2. REST and Controller Best Practices
3. Examining a RESTful Controller
4. Escaping the REST Prison
5. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 6 Presenting Models with Forms
1. More Than a Name on a Form
2. Generating HTML Forms with Scaffolding
3. Form As a Wrapper
4. Creating Text Fields and Text Areas
5. Creating Checkboxes
6. Creating Radio Buttons
7. Creating Selection Lists
8. Dates and Times
9. Labels
10. Creating Helper Methods
11. Putting the Form Body in a Partial
12. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 7 Strengthening Models with Validation
1. Without Validation
2. The Original Model
3. The Power of Declarative Validation
4. Managing Secrets
5. A Place on the Calendar
6. Beyond Simple Declarations
7. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 8 Improving Forms
1. Adding a Picture by Uploading a File
2. Standardizing Your Look with Form Builders
3. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 9 Developing Model Relationships
1. Connecting Awards to Students
2. Connecting Students to Awards
3. Nesting Awards in Students
4. Many-to-Many: Connecting Students to Courses
5. What’s Missing?
6. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 10 Managing Databases with Migrations
1. What Migrations Offer You
2. Migration Basics
3. Inside Migrations
4. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 11 Debugging
1. Creating Your Own Debugging Messages
2. Logging
3. Working with Rails from the Console
4. The Ruby Debugger
5. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 12 Testing
1. Test Mode
2. Setting Up a Test Database with Fixtures
3. Unit Testing
4. Functional Testing
5. Integration Testing
6. Beyond the Basics
7. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 13 Sessions and Cookies
1. Getting Into and Out of Cookies
2. Storing Data Between Sessions
3. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 14 Users and Authentication
1. Installation
2. Storing User Data
3. Controlling Sessions
4. Classifying Users
5. More Options
6. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 15 Routing
1. Creating Routes to Interpret URIs
2. Generating URIs from Views and Controllers
3. Infinite Possibilities
4. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 16 Creating Dynamic Interfaces with Rails and Ajax
1. Ajax Basics
2. Supporting Ajax with Rails
3. Managing Enrollment through Ajax
4. Moving Further into Ajax
5. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 17 Mail in Rails
1. Sending Text Mail
2. Sending HTML Mail
3. Sending Complex HTML Email
4. Receiving Mail
5. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 18 Securing, Managing, and Deploying Your Rails Projects
1. Securing Your Application
2. Deploying Rails Applications
3. Test Your Knowledge
Chapter 19 Making the Most of Rails—And Beyond
1. Keep Up with Rails
2. Plug-ins
3. Ruby
4. Web Services
5. Explore Other Ruby Frameworks
6. Migrating Legacy Applications to Rails
7. Keep Exploring

Appendix An Incredibly Brief Introduction to Ruby
1. How Ruby Works
2. How Rails Works
3. Getting Started with Classes and Objects
4. Comments
5. Variables, Methods, and Attributes
6. Logic and Conditionals
Appendix An Incredibly Brief Introduction to Relational Databases
1. Tables of Data
2. Databases, Tables, and Rails
Appendix An Incredibly Brief Guide to Regular Expressions
1. What Regular Expressions Do
2. Starting Small
3. The Simplest Expressions: Literal Strings
4. Character Classes
5. Escaping
6. Modifiers
7. Anchors
8. Sequences, Repetition, Groups, and Choices
9. Greed
10. More
Appendix A Catalog of Helper Methods
1. Calling Helper Methods
2. ActiveRecordHelper
3. AssetTagHelper
4. AtomFeedHelper and AtomFeedHelper::AtomFeedBuilder
5. BenchmarkHelper, CacheHelper, and CaptureHelper
6. DateHelper
7. DebugHelper
8. FormHelper, FormTagHelper, and FormOptionsHelper
9. JavaScriptHelper
10. NumberHelper
11. PrototypeHelper
12. RecordIdentificationHelper
13. SanitizeHelper
14. ScriptaculousHelper
15. TagHelper
16. TextHelper
17. UrlHelper
Appendix Glossary
1. Speaking in Rails
Colophon

Books & Videos

Learning Rails: Live Edition

Read on Safari with a 10-day trial

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Starting Up Ruby on Rails

Getting Started at the Command Line

What Server Is That?

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 2 Rails on the Web

Creating Your Own View

What Are All Those Folders?

Adding Some Data

How Hello World Works

Protecting Your View from the Controller

Parentheses Are (Usually) Optional

Adding Logic to the View

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 3 Adding Web Style

I Want My CSS!

Layouts

Setting a Default Page

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 4 Controlling Data Flow: Controllers and Models

Getting Started, Greeting Guests

Application Flow

Keeping Track: A Simple Guestbook

Finding Data with ActiveRecord

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 5 Accelerating Development with Scaffolding and REST

A First Look at Scaffolding

REST and Controller Best Practices

Examining a RESTful Controller

Escaping the REST Prison

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 6 Presenting Models with Forms

More Than a Name on a Form

Generating HTML Forms with Scaffolding

Form As a Wrapper

Creating Text Fields and Text Areas

Creating Checkboxes

Creating Radio Buttons

Creating Selection Lists

Dates and Times

Labels

Creating Helper Methods

Putting the Form Body in a Partial

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 7 Strengthening Models with Validation

Without Validation

The Original Model

The Power of Declarative Validation

Managing Secrets

A Place on the Calendar

Beyond Simple Declarations

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 8 Improving Forms

Adding a Picture by Uploading a File

Standardizing Your Look with Form Builders

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 9 Developing Model Relationships

Connecting Awards to Students

Connecting Students to Awards

Nesting Awards in Students

Many-to-Many: Connecting Students to Courses

What’s Missing?

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 10 Managing Databases with Migrations

What Migrations Offer You

Migration Basics

Inside Migrations

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 11 Debugging

Creating Your Own Debugging Messages

Logging

Working with Rails from the Console

The Ruby Debugger

Test Your Knowledge

Chapter 12 Testing

Test Mode

Setting Up a Test Database with Fixtures