Bringing the Thunder with Thor & Rails Generators for the Command Line

1. Bringing the Thunder with Thor & Rails Generators for the Command Line *Boom*

3. Actual Summary • Thor (the ruby framework) • Rails Generators • Application Templates

4. What is Thor? *In practice, not so much.

5. Why Thor? • You need a CLI options parser • It’s already installed (Rails 3) • Useful file and directory operations • Creating a generator

6. Flavors of Code Gen ~/projects/myproject(master)$ rails g model Product name:string ~/projects$ rails new myproject -m stock_project.rb ~/projects/myproject(master)$ petstore upgrade

7. Key Resources • Thor::Actions - http://rdoc.info/github/wycats/thor/master/Thor/Actions.html • Rails::Generators - http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/Rails/Generators/Actions.html • Writing/Overriding Generators - http://guides.rubyonrails.org/generators.html

8. Using Generators rails generate model Turtle name:string

9. Rolling your own rails g generator product

10. Product Generator

11. Templates

12. Key Points • All public methods are invoked in order of declaration • Private methods are available in the template • Can have inline or external templates • ‘working’ directory is always the root of the project

13. Thor::Actions

14. Rails::Generators::Actions

15. Stupid Generator Tricks

16. Thor CLI Apps • Generating code can be done without a generator rails new MY_APP • Packaging as gem executable • Don’t need to clutter list of generators in projects • Example: A tool to upgrade to Rails 3

17. Making a Gem http://asciicasts.com/episodes/245-new-gem-with-bundler

18. Gemfile & gemspec

19. Hello World

20. Showing off

21. Multiple Commands

22. Running Thor Commands

23. Application Templates • Just a .rb file with thor/rails generator commands • Used to configure new rails projects • Can be local or remote

24. Sample Template

25. Easier kickstarting

26. Questions?