RailsApps

I’ve updated the website at railsapps.org to announce the project is no longer maintained. See the website for details.

The project was popular from 2012 to 2018. Tens of thousands of developers worldwide got started with Rails using the Railsapps project and my accompanying books and tutorials. Interest in Rails began to decline in 2018 and I moved on to other work.

Rails remains a popular and useful web application framework, though many new developers now begin with JavaScript frameworks. Fortunately, many excellent tutorials and starter applications are now available for developers who want to get started with Rails, making the Railsapps project obsolete.

I’m grateful for the support I received for the Railsapps project and for the knowledge, opportunities, and new experiences that came to me through the project. Bless you all 🙏.

I’m offering all the Capstone Rails Tutorials, plus the Learn Ruby on Rails books, for free. Until now, the combination of the books, the advanced tutorials and the videos were available for a one-time purchase of $95. Over 800 developers have purchased the RailsApps Tutorials in the previous four years. But Rails moves fast with major releases every two years. Rails 6.0 will soon be released. Though the Learn Ruby on Rails books have been updated for Rails 5.1 and the RailsApps example applications are up to date for Rails 5.0, the tutorials are written for Rails 4.2. I’d like to update all the material but until I’ve done so, I’m going to make access free for all the material.

I’ve completed the Rails 5.1 update for Book Two of my book series Learn Ruby on Rails.

It’s important to have an accurate and up-to-date tutorial for beginners getting started with Rails. I’ve updated all the code examples in the book for Rails 5.1.

The book shows how to integrate Bootstrap with Rails for layout and styling. Rails 5.1 drops jQuery which is required by Bootstrap so I’ve updated the book to show how to add a jQuery gem and modify the application.js manifest.

In previous editions of the book, I used the SimpleForm gem because I liked the elegance and simplicity of the form helpers in SimpleForm. It made forms a little easier for beginners. However the release of Rails 5.1 broke SimpleForm and it took a few weeks for a new release of SimpleForm to resolve the Rails 5.1 issues. I’ve decided to eliminate the dependency on SimpleForm, so the new edition of the book uses the new form_with helper.

The updates to the Learn Ruby on Rails book were made possible by contributors to my recent Kickstarter campaign for Rails Composer.

On June 5, 2017 we successfully concluded a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to update Rails Composer for Rails 5.1. 122 backers pledged $6,963. I’m always awed at the community support for the project. Thank you!

With support from the community, I will work on a new version of Rails Composer and update the RailsApps example applications for Rails 5.1.

Rails 5.1 requires extensive changes to the RailsApps example applications. All of the example applications use Bootstrap for layout and styling. Bootstrap requires jQuery but Rails 5.1 drops jQuery so we’ve got to add a jQuery gem and modify the application.js manifest to restore the jQuery dependency.

In Rails 5.1, the familiar form_for and form_tag helpers are replaced by a new consolidated form_with helper. The form_for and form_tag helpers will be deprecated in a future version of Rails so we have to take them out. Forms are ubiquitous in every web application. We’ll have to rework every form in every example application.

Before I tackle the updates to Rails Composer and the RailsApps example applications, I’ll update Book Two of my book series Learn Ruby on Rails. Beginners starting with Rails need an accurate and up-to-date tutorial to get started with Rails.

At the end of April I was invited to speak about Rails Composer at the RubyHACK conference in Salt Lake City. Half the audience already knew about Rails Composer and everyone was very enthusiastic. Judging from the response, Rails Composer has become a popular tool for Rails developers.

After the conference, RubyHACK participant Ian Mercaldi wrote a great blog post on “Starting New Apps With Rails Composer”.

The Kickstarter Campaign

Rails 5.1 is out and I’d like to update Rails Composer to include JavaScript frameworks:

• React
• Angular
• Vue.js

I’d like to ask you to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign to update Rails Composer for Rails 5.1 and add options for JavaScript frameworks. In 2015 I was able to raise $8,505 through a Kickstarter campaign to add Bootstrap templates to Rails Composer. I’m hoping to raise half that amount with the current Kickstarter campaign. If you contribute, there are great rewards such as the Capstone Rails Tutorials and subscriptions to Chris Oliver’s GoRails screencasts and Michael Hartl’s Learn Enough Society.

The community of Rails developers keeps Rails Composer going with its enthusiasm. It’d be great if you can help with a contribution to the Kickstarter campaign.

Today I finished updating the RailsApps example applications for Rails 5.0.

I currently maintain eleven example applications on GitHub, ranging from simple to moderately complex. The Rails Composer tool will generate any of the example applications. You can use the example applications as starter applications. Or use the example applications as reference implementations so you can see how basic features like authentication are implemented.

Here are the eleven example applications:

• learn-rails
• rails-bootstrap
• rails-foundation
• rails-mailinglist-activejob
• rails-omniauth
• rails-devise
• rails-devise-roles
• rails-devise-pundit
• rails-signup-download
• rails-stripe-checkout
• rails-stripe-coupons

The RailsDiff web site is the best way to see changes between versions of Rails in the default starter application. Rails 5.0 changes many of the boilerplate files in the Rails default starter application. In Rails 5.0, we also change models to inherit from an ApplicationRecord class and change jobs to inherit from an ApplicationJob class.

I’ve also made changes to the Rails Composer tool so it generates applications correctly for Rails 5.0.

I’ve also recently revised the free Learn Ruby on Rails book for Rails 5.0. Together with the book, the revised example applications should make it easier for beginners to get started with Rails.

Thank you to everyone who supports the RailsApps project with your appreciation and encouragement.

Today I’ve released the Rails 5.0 version of Book Two of the book set Learn Ruby on Rails.

A big thank you to the Kickstarter backers who made the revision possible!

To get your own copy of the Rails 5.0 book, use the invitation code you’ll find on the welcome page at

• learn-rails.com

If you’ve got access to the advanced Capstone Rails Tutorials, you’ll find you’ve already got the revised Learn Ruby on Rails Book Two available with the videos and advanced tutorials.

All the code in the tutorial application has now been updated for Rails 5.0. The book now uses the more popular Bootstrap front-end framework instead of the Zurb Foundation front-end framework. And I’ve made extensive revisions for greater clarity and easier troubleshooting.

It took longer than planned to make all the updates but it’s worth it, as it breathes new life into the book. It means the book will continue to help all beginners make a start with Rails.

Thank you!

I’ve begun updating the RailsApps example applications. So far, I’ve updated all the example applications to Ruby 2.3.1 and Rails 4.2.7 with the goal of eventually updating all the example applications to Rails 5.0.

Several of the example applications use Devise for authentication and Devise 4 introduced a new syntax for handling parameters submitted in registration and sign-in forms. I’ve updated the relevant example applications to accommodate Devise 4. In the process, I moved the logic for handling parameters from an initializer file to the project application controller, to follow recommendations of the Devise maintainers (see Devise initializer issue for details.)

Between the RailsApps example applications, the Rails Composer tools, and my Learn Ruby on Rails books, there’s a lot of work to be done to accommodate Rails 5.0 and keep the project current. I’m grateful to backers of the Kickstarter campaign for offering support so I can revise the Learn Ruby on Rails book and I’m continuing maintenance of other aspects of the RailsApps project as well, starting with updates of the example applications.

Bootstrap 4, the frontend framework, is in alpha release now. Many developers are already using it, so I’ve added it as an option to Rails Composer. Now, when you generate a starter application with Rails Composer, you can choose Bootstrap 4. You’ll get the bootstrap-rubygem with proper configuration of assets plus a navigation bar and flash messages styled for Bootstrap 4.

Rails Composer relies on the rails_layout gem to generate the navigation bar, flash messages, and layout files. There’s a rails-bootstrap example application that shows how to integrate Bootstrap 4 with Rails.

Developer David Smith of Newcastle, Australia, contributed the updates to the rails-bootstrap example application. I asked on the Rails Composer mailing list for assistance from developers who had experience with Bootstrap 4 and David Smith responded with a pull request within a few hours of receiving my email. His help made it easy to add the Bootstrap 4 Option to Rails Composer. Thanks, David!

Should you start using Bootstrap 4? Maybe for new projects. If you want to integrate existing Bootstrap themes into your Rails project, you’ll need to wait until the theme creators release Bootstrap 4 versions. And for existing projects? Bootstrap 4 is a major reworking of the framework. I would not recommend updating a Bootstrap 3 project to Bootstrap 4.

For those who are following my digital nomad progress, I’m currently in Sydney, Australia with plans to return to SE Asia soon (it’s getting cold here in Australia). I’ve spent several months performing consulting work on a stealth project in Bali and now in Australia. I’m keeping the RailsApps project going, though, and I’ve recently updated Rails Composer.

Rails 5 now prefers Puma instead of WEBrick as the default web server, so Rails Composer will no longer offer WEBrick as an option.

I’ve removed Figaro as an option for configuration variables as it seems it is no longer commonly used and the option caused errors for some people (issue 209).

Please open an issue if you use Rails Composer with Rails 5 and encounter any problems.