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- Feed Preview RailsCasts
#417 Foundation
ZURB's Foundation is a front-end for quickly building applications and prototypes. It is similar to Twitter Bootstrap but uses Sass instead of LESS. Here you will learn the basics of the grid sys...
#415 Upgrading to Rails 4
With the release of Rails 4.0.0.rc1 it's time to try it out and report any bugs. Here I walk you through the steps to upgrade a Rails 3.2 application to Rails 4.
#412 Fast Rails Commands
Rails commands, such as generators, migrations, and tests, have a tendency to be slow because they need to load the Rails app each time. Here I show three tools to make this faster: Zeus, Spring,...
#409 Active Model Serializers
The ActiveModel::Serializers gem can help you build JSON APIs through serializer objects. This provides a dedicated place to fully customize the JSON output.
#406 Public Activity
Learn how to easily add a user activity feed using the public_activity gem. Here I show both the default setup using model callbacks and a manual way to trigger activities.
#402 Better Errors & RailsPanel
Here we take a look at two tools to aid us in development: Better Errors which makes it easier than ever to debug exceptions, and RailsPanel, a Chrome extension to see Rails requests.
#400 What's New in Rails 4
Rails 4.0 is still unfinished, but it is shaping up to become a great release. Here I show how to setup a new Rails 4.0 (edge) application and walk through many of its new features.
#396 Importing CSV and Excel
Allow users to import records into the database by uploading a CSV or Excel document. Here I show how to use Roo to parse these files and present a solution for validations.
#393 Guest User Record
Instead of presenting a sign up form to the user, consider creating a temporary guest record so the user can try out the application without filling in their information up front. They can then b...
#390 Turbolinks
Turbolinks can make your Rails app feel faster by using JavaScript to replace the page content when clicking a link. It will be default in new Rails 4.0 applications, but here I show how to use i...
#387 Cache Digests
The cache_digests gem (also included in Rails 4) will automatically add a digest to the fragment cache key based on the template. If a template changes the cache will auto-expire. But watch out f...
#384 Exploring RubyGems
RubyGems can make it easy to add a feature to a Rails application, but it can also cause headaches down the road. Here I give some tips on researching gems to decide which one to choose, or when ...
#382 Tagging
There are several gems to help implement tags in a Rails app. Here I show you how to integrate acts-as-taggable-on and then show how to do it from scratch.
#378 FnordMetric
FnordMetric allows you to chart events in real time. This is great for keeping track of user activity in your Rails app as demonstrated in this episode.
#376 JRuby Basics
JRuby is a polished and stable Ruby implementation. Here I show the basics of setting it up and executing Java from within Ruby. I also see how it compares with MRI at running threads.
#374 Image Manipulation
Learn how to do extensive image manipulation with the ImageMagick commands. Also learn how RMagick can be used in combination with CarrierWave to process uploaded images.
#372 Bullet
Bullet will notify you of database queries that can potentially be improved through eager loading or counter cache column. A variety of notification alerts are supported.
#370 Ransack
Ransack allows you to easily build complex search forms. It also helps in adding sortable links and building a dynamic advanced search page.
#368 MiniProfiler
MiniProfiler allows you to see the speed of a request conveniently on the page. It also shows the SQL queries performed and allows you to profile a specific block of code.
#366 Sidekiq
Sidekiq allows you to move jobs into the background for asynchronous processing. It uses threads instead of forks so it is much more efficient with memory compared to Resque.
#364 Active Record Reputation System
If you need to calculate an average user's rating or sum up a number of votes, consider using the activerecord-reputation-system gem. Here I will cover the basics and also briefly present a from-...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/364-active-record-reputation-system
#362 Exporting CSV and Excel
As you will see it is easy to add a CSV export option to Rails. Here I also show how to export for Excel in a variety of formats.
#360 Facebook Authentication
This will show how to create a new facebook application and configure it. Then add some authentication with the omniauth-facebook gem and top it off with a client-side authentication using the Ja...
#358 Brakeman
The Brakeman gem will scan the Ruby code of a Rails application and alert you to common security vulnerabilities.
#356 Dangers of Session Hijacking
If a user's authentication cookie is sent over an insecure connection it is vulnerable to session hijacking, or more specifically, sidejacking. Learn how this is done, and how you can prevent it.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/356-dangers-of-session-hijacking
#354 Squeel
Squeel provides a comprehensive DSL for writing SQL queries in Ruby. It is built upon Arel giving you access to many of its powerful features.
#352 Securing an API
There are many approaches to locking down an API. Here I start off with HTTP Basic authentication then move on to generating a unique token which can be passed through a URL parameter or HTTP hea...
#350 REST API Versioning
APIs should be consistent, but it is difficult to do this when returning a JSON response along side the HTML interface. Here I show how to add a versioned, RESTful API. The version can be determi...
#348 The Rails API Gem
It is often asked: Is Rails a good fit if I only need to serve an API? In this episode I show how to use the Rails API gem to create a slimmer Rails application designed to respond with JSON.
#346 Wizard Forms with Wicked
Creating a wizard form can be tricky in Rails. Learn how Wicked can help by turning a controller into a series of multiple steps.
#347 Rubber and Amazon EC2
Deploying to Amazon EC2 allows you to scale an application quickly. Learn how to use Rubber to deploy to the cloud with just a few commands and monitor the cluster with various web tools.
#344 Queue Classic
PostgreSQL can act as a worker queue which can replace the need for a separate process to manage the background jobs. Here you will learn how to do this with the queue_classic gem.
#342 Migrating to PostgreSQL
Postgres is a feature-packed relational database that every Rails developer should consider using. Here you will learn how to install it, add it to a new application, and transition from an exist...
#340 DataTables
DataTables makes it easy to convert a plain HTML table into one with pagination, sorting, and searching - all done with JavaScript and jQuery. Here I show how to set this up and use a Rails appli...
#338 Globalize3
Rails has great internationalization (I18n) support making it easy to translate static text into other languages, but how do we translate database content? Learn how using Globalize 3 in this epi...
#336 Copycopter
Copycopter provides a nice interface that clients can use to edit the text in a Rails application. Learn how to deploy a Copycopter server using Heroku and integrate it in a Rails application thr...
#334 Compass & CSS Sprites
Compass improves the Sass experience by providing useful mixins, functions, and more. You will also learn how to make CSS sprites with it in this episode.
#332 Refinery CMS Basics
If you need to quickly create an informational site that can be easily edited, consider using a content management system. Here I show how to build a site using Refinery CMS.
#330 Better Sass with Bourbon
If you are tired of the browser vendor prefixes in CSS, check out Bourbon. It provides Sass mixins and functions to make CSS more convenient.
#328 Twitter Bootstrap Basics
Twitter Bootstrap can help make beautiful web apps quickly by providing you with useful CSS and JavaScript. Here you will learn how to include it into Rails with the twitter-bootstrap-rails gem.
#326 ActiveAttr
ActiveAttr provides what Active Model left out. If you need to create a table-less model with features similar to Active Record, watch this episode.
#324 Passing Data to JavaScript
There are a variety of ways to pass variables from a Rails application to JavaScript. Here I show three techniques: a script tag, a data attribute, and the Gon gem.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/324-passing-data-to-javascript
#322 RABL
RABL - Ruby API Builder Language - provides a DSL for generating JSON or XML responses in a Ruby application. Learn how to share and configure complex JSON data in this episode.
#320 Jbuilder
Jbuilder provides a DSL for generating JSON. It includes a template engine which allows you to create complex responses with helpers and conditions.
#318 Upgrading to Rails 3.2
Rails 3.2 sports many new features including automatic explain queries, tagged logging, key-value store in Active Record, improved migration generator and more. Learn all about these new features...
#316 Private Pub
Private Pub makes it easier than ever to publish and subscribe to real-time events in a Rails app. You can use publish_to with a block of JavaScript or supply a hash for use with JSON.
#314 Pretty URLs with FriendlyId
If you are tired of model ids in the URL, overriding to_param can only get you so far. The friendly_id plugin can help by making it easy to generate a URL slug and maintain a history.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/314-pretty-urls-with-friendlyid
#312 Sending HTML Email
HTML email can be difficult to code because any CSS should be made inline. Here I present a few tools for doing this including the premailer-rails3 and roadie gems.
#310 Getting Started with Rails
Learning Ruby on Rails can be overwhelming, especially if you are new to programming. Here I will take you on a tour through various resources to help get started with Rails.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/310-getting-started-with-rails
#308 Oh My ZSH
As Rails developers, we frequently use the command line. Here I will show how to switch to Z Shell using Oh My ZSH including how to make your own theme and plugins.
#306 ElasticSearch Part 1
Add full text searching using ElasticSearch and Tire. Here I will show the steps involved in adding this search to an existing application. This is the first part in a two part series.
#304 OmniAuth Identity
With the release of OmniAuth 1.0 there is a new Identity strategy which allows users to register/login with a password if they don't want to use an external provider.
#302 In-Place Editing
Edit an attribute in-place without leaving a page using the Best In Place gem. Learn how to add validations and support for various field types.
#300 Contributing to Open Source
GitHub makes it easier than ever to contribute to open source with pull requests. Here I show how to submit a pull request to the VCR project.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/300-contributing-to-open-source
#298 Getting Started with Spree
Spree allows you to quickly turn a Rails project into a full eCommerce application. Here I show how to set it up and configure the look and feel of the store.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/298-getting-started-with-spree
#296 Mercury Editor
Mercury allows you to edit a section of HTML directly in the web browser through a WYSIWYG editor. Here I show how to integrate Mercury into a Rails app and save the changes back to the database.
#294 Playing with PJAX
PJAX allows you to quickly update a section of a page using AJAX with automatic pushState support. Here I show how to use both pjax_rails and rack-pjax gems.
#292 Virtual Machines with Vagrant
Vagrant allows you to run your Rails application and all of its dependencies in a portable, sharable environment. Use for development, set it up as a staging server, or experiment with a producti...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/292-virtual-machines-with-vagrant
#290 SOAP with Savon
Communicating with a SOAP API can be a daunting task. Savon makes this easier by presenting the SOAP API through a Ruby interface.
#288 Billing with Stripe
Stripe is a full-stack payment solution with very reasonable pricing and is easy to setup. See how to add it to a Rails application here. Currently only available in the US.
#286 Draper
Clean up complex view logic using Draper. This gem provides decorators (much like presenters) which bundles view logic in an object oriented fashion. In this episode I do a step-by-step refactori...
#285 Spork
Spork improves the loading time of your test suite by starting up your Rails application once in the background. Use it with Guard for the ultimate combo in fast feedback while doing TDD.
#284 Active Admin
Active Admin allows you to quickly build an admin interface with just a few commands. Not only does it look great, but it is very customizable as shown in this episode.
#283 Authentication with Sorcery
Sorcery is a full-featured, modular solution to authentication which leaves the controller and view layers up to you.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/283-authentication-with-sorcery
#282 Upgrading to Rails 3.1
It is incredibly easy to upgrade to Rails 3.1, but if you want to take advantage of the asset pipeline you will need to put in some extra effort. Have no fear because I walk you through each of t...
#281 Foreman
Foreman can help manage multiple processes that your Rails app depends upon when running in development. It also provides an export command to move them into production.
#280 Pry with Rails
Pry is an alternative to IRB and sports many great features. Here I show how to integrate it into a Rails app, and how it can aid in debugging.
#279 Understanding the Asset Pipeline
The asset pipeline is probably the biggest feature in Rails 3.1, but it can seem like magic at first. Here I dive into exactly how the asset pipeline works.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/279-understanding-the-asset-pipeline
#278 Search with Sunspot
Sunspot makes it easy to do full text searching through Solr. Here I show how to search on various attributes and add facets for filtering the search further.
#277 Mountable Engines
Engines are receiving a major update in Rails 3.1. You can mount them at any path, embed assets, run generators and more. See how in this episode.
#276 Testing Time & Web Requests
It can be difficult to test code that deals with the current time or an external web request. Here I show you how to do both using the Timecop and FakeWeb gems.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/276-testing-time-web-requests
#275 How I Test
Here I show how I would add tests to the password reset feature created in the previous episode. I use RSpec, Capybara, Factory Girl, and Guard to make request, model, and mailer specs.
#274 Remember Me & Reset Password
It is easy to create authentication from scratch, but how do we extend it with more features? Here I add a "remember me" check box and a "forgotten password" link.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/274-remember-me-reset-password
#273 Geocoder
If you need to work with geographic data, Geocoder is an excellent gem for converting addresses and coordinates, finding nearby locations, determining distances, and more!
#272 Markdown with Redcarpet
Redcarpet is an easy-to-use gem which interprets Markdown. Here I show how to customize it and add syntax highlighting through Pygments and Albino.
#271 Resque
Resque creates background jobs using Redis. It supports multiple queue and comes with an administration interface for monitoring and managing the queues.
#270 Authentication in Rails 3.1
Here I show off three new features in Rails 3.1 that will help with authentication: easier HTTP Basic, SecurePassword in the database, and forcing SSL.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/270-authentication-in-rails-3-1
#269 Template Inheritance
In Rails 3.1 the controller inheritance also applies to the view layer. Here I show how to add an application template which is shared by all views, and a lookup path for overriding templates bas...
#268 Sass Basics
Sass extends CSS with variables, nesting, mixins and more. Here I show how to convert plain CSS to SCSS in a Rails 3.1 app.
#267 CoffeeScript Basics
CoffeeScript allows you to write JavaScript in a concise, elegant fashion. Here I convert JavaScript code to CoffeeScript in a Rails 3.1 app.
#266 HTTP Streaming
HTTP Streaming allows the browser to start processing the HTML response while the Rails app is still processing the rest of the request.
#265 Rails 3.1 Overview
This is the first episode in a series covering Rails 3.1. Here I show how to install the beta and show some of the new features.
#264 Guard
Guard watches files and runs a command after a file is modified. This allows you to automatically run tests in the background, restart your development server, reload the browser, and more.
#263 Client Side Validations
Showing validation errors inline as the user is filling out the form can lead to a better use experience. Learn how to do this using the Client Side Validations gem.
#262 Trees with Ancestry
The Ancestry gem works like a tree but also allows us to fetch deeply nested messages in a single query. It provides a method to arrange them after fetching.
#261 Testing JavaScript with Jasmine
Are you testing your JavaScript? Learn how to add specs using Jasmine. This episode also covers jQuery integration with jasmine-jquery.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/261-testing-javascript-with-jasmine
#260 Messaging with Faye
Faye is a subscription/publishing server which makes it easy to do push notifications within a Rails app.
#259 Decent Exposure
The decent_exposure gem makes it convenient to share controller data with the view through methods instead of instance variables.
#258 Token Fields
With the jQuery Tokeninput plugin it is easy to add an autocompleting list of entries for a many-to-many association.
#257 Request Specs and Capybara
Request specs in RSpec are a great way to ensure the entire application stack is working properly. Here I also show how to use capybara with integrated JavaScript testing using Selenium.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/257-request-specs-and-capybara
#256 I18n Backends
Internationalization is easy to add in Rails, but the YAML files can be difficult to manage. In this episode I show how to use Redis for managing the translations through a web interface.
#255 Undo with Paper Trail
Undo and redo behavior is easy to add with a versioning gem such as Paper Trail. Learn how to add an undo link to any model's flash message.
#254 Pagination with Kaminari
If you need pagination in Rails 3 try out Kaminari. It is a clean, flexible solution which uses scopes to flow nicely with Active Record queries. Did I mention it also works with Mongoid?
#253 CarrierWave File Uploads
CarrierWave makes it easy and clean to add file uploads to your application. It supports a variety of ORMs, frameworks and image processors.
#252 Metrics Metrics Metrics
Metric Fu, Metrical, SimpleCov, Rails Best Practices, and more are covered in this episode on metrics.
#251 MetaWhere & MetaSearch
MetaWhere provides a way to do complex find conditions without SQL in Active Record. MetaSearch makes it easy to create search forms with many find options.
#250 Authentication from Scratch
Password authentication is not too complicated to make from scratch, it will also help to get a better understanding of how it works.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/250-authentication-from-scratch
#249 Notifications in Rails 3
Rails 3 comes with instrument support through the ActiveSupport::Notifications class. Call "subscribe" to listen to notifications, and "instrument" to send them.
#248 Offline Apps Part 2
Learn how to make a site usable offline with HTML 5 localStorage. This last part of the series covers jquery-tmpl and jquery-offline.
#247 Offline Apps Part 1
Learn how to make a site usable offline through an HTML 5 cache manifest. This first part of the series covers rack-offline and problems you may run into.
#246 AJAX History State
The new pushState function in JavaScript allows us to change the full URL with AJAX. This means the back button, reloading, and bookmark support can be easily added.
#245 New Gem with Bundler
Creating new gems is easy with the `bundle gem` command. In this episode I will walk you through how this works.
#244 Gravatar
Gravatar is a service for providing user avatars. See how easy it is to use in Rails in this episode.
#243 Beanstalkd and Stalker
Beanstalk is a fast and easy way to queue background tasks. Stalker provides a nice wrapper interface for creating these jobs.
#242 Thor
Thor is an alternative to Rake. It has better support for command line arguments and provides a way to add global scripts.
#241 Simple OmniAuth
Authentication is incredibly simple to add with just OmniAuth if you don't need username/password or multiple authentications per user.
#240 Search, Sort, Paginate with AJAX
Many administration pages have search, sorting, and pagination on the index page. See how to add all of this including AJAX.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/240-search-sort-paginate-with-ajax
#239 ActiveRecord::Relation Walkthrough
The new Active Record query methods in Rails 3 might seem like magic at first. But in this episode I unravel how it works by browsing the Rails 3 source code.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/239-activerecord-relation-walkthrough
#238 Mongoid
Mongoid is a polished, high-level Ruby gem for accessing MongoDB. Here I cover installation, adding fields, validations, associations, and keys.
#237 Dynamic attr_accessible
It is important to use attr_accessible for security with mass assignment, but what if you need it to be dynamic based on user permissions? See how in this episode.
#236 OmniAuth Part 2
In this episode we continue our look at integrating OmniAuth with devise. Here I show how to set up new users with validations.
#235 OmniAuth Part 1
OmniAuth is an easy way to add many different authentication services to your app. In this episode we start integrating it with Devise.
#234 SimpleForm
Simple Form is a convenient way to generate forms with many options to customize the generated markup.
#233 Engage with Devise
Janrain Engage (aka RPX) makes it easy to support many authentication solutions through their one service.
#232 Routing Walkthrough Part 2
In this episode we continue our look into the Rails 3 router by exploring the Mapper class.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/232-routing-walkthrough-part-2
#231 Routing Walkthrough Part 1
How does routing work internally in Rails 3? In this episode I'll walk you through the Rails code that makes routing possible.
#230 Inherited Resources
Inherited Resource simplifies RESTful controllers by providing default actions which can be customized through inheritance.
#229 Polling for Changes
If you have frequently changing data on the server side, it's helpful to automatically display this to the user as well. Here I show how to accomplish this with polling in jQuery.
#228 Sortable Table Columns
Here I walk you through adding the ability to sort table columns in ascending or descending order by clicking the header.
#227 Upgrading to Rails 3 Part 3
Here we finish up this upgrade series by removing all deprecation warnings and fixing some problems in the view.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/227-upgrading-to-rails-3-part-3
#226 Upgrading to Rails 3 Part 2
Here we continue upgrading an application to Rails 3 by getting our specs up and running and going through the rails_upgrade plugin.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/226-upgrading-to-rails-3-part-2
#225 Upgrading to Rails 3 Part 1
In the first part of this series on upgrading a Rails 2 application to Rails 3, we'll start off by setting up Rails 3.0 Release Candidate in a clean environment. The rails_upgrade plugin will the...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/225-upgrading-to-rails-3-part-1
#224 Controllers in Rails 3
Embedded flash notices, permanent cookies, and the details of respond_with are in this episode.
#223 Charts
There are a number of libraries to help create graphs. Here I show how to integrate Highcharts into a Rails app.
#222 Rack in Rails 3
The router in Rails 3 is fully compatible with Rack. Learn how to embed Sinatra into an app, handle redirects, and improve on Rails Metal.
#221 Subdomains in Rails 3
It is now possible to add subdomains to Rails 3 without the use of additional plugins. Learn how in this episode.
#220 PDFKit
Generating PDFs in plain Ruby can be a lot of work. Instead, consider generating PDFs from HTML using PDFKit.
#219 Active Model
In Rails 3 the non-database functionality of Active Record is extracted out into Active Model. This allows you to cleanly add validations and other features to tableless models.
#218 Making Generators in Rails 3
Generators in Rails 3 have been rewritten to use Thor which means the code used to create a generator is quite different. Here you will learn the new way to make generators in Rails 3.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/218-making-generators-in-rails-3
#217 Multistep Forms
See how to create a multi-step (wizard) form from scratch in this episode.
#216 Generators in Rails 3
Generators in Rails 3 have been completely rewritten to be more modular. This allows you to customize any generator to fit your specific preferences.
#215 Advanced Queries in Rails 3
Learn some advanced techniques regarding named scopes and get an introduction to Arel in this episode.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/215-advanced-queries-in-rails-3
#214 A/B Testing with A/Bingo
A/B Testing (or Split Testing) is a way to experiment with variations in an application to see the most effective option.
#213 Calendars
If dates play an important role in your application, consider adding a date picker or calendar view as shown in this episode.
#212 Refactoring & Dynamic Delegator
Learn how to refactor a set of conditional Active Record queries using a Dynamic Delegator.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/212-refactoring-dynamic-delegator
#211 Validations in Rails 3
Rails 3 offers several new additions to validations. Here learn how to make a custom error_messages partial, reflect on validations, and clean up complex validations in a model.
#210 Customizing Devise
Here we dive deeper into Devise by customizing how the views, routing, validations, and authentication works.
#209 Introducing Devise
Devise is a full-featured authentication solution which handles all of the controller logic and form views for you. Learn how to set it up in this episode.
#208 ERB Blocks in Rails 3
Blocks in ERB templates are handled differently in Rails 3.0 Beta 2. Learn all about it in this episode.
#207 Syntax Highlighting
Here I talk about three popular choices for syntax highlighting in Rails: CodeRay, Ultraviolet and Pygments.
#206 Action Mailer in Rails 3
Action Mailer has been rewritten for Rails 3 providing a much cleaner API with its use of the Mail gem.
#205 Unobtrusive Javascript
Keep JavaScript out of your HTML content with unobtrusive JavaScript. Here I show how Rails 3 works with this best practice.
#204 XSS Protection in Rails 3
It is easy to be vulnerable to cross site scripting attacks in earlier versions of Rails, but Rails 3 solves this by automatically escaping unsafe input.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/204-xss-protection-in-rails-3
#203 Routing in Rails 3
Rails 3 sports a new routing interface. In this episode I show how to translate the old interface into the new one and show off a few new features.
#202 Active Record Queries in Rails 3
Rails 3 introduces a new query interface for performing finds in Active Record. See how it works along with the changes in named scopes.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/202-active-record-queries-in-rails-3
#201 Bundler
Bundler is the way to manage gem dependencies in Rails 3.0. Learn how to install gems and lock them down in this episode.
#200 Rails 3 Beta and RVM
Get started with Rails 3.0 Beta and install Ruby 1.9.1 using RVM: Ruby Version Manager. Stay tuned to the end for a challenge on giving back to open source.
#199 Mobile Devices
Change the look and behavior of a Rails app on mobile devices. Also use jQTouch to build a native-looking interface.
#198 Edit Multiple Individually
Use checkboxes to edit multiple records in one form, where each one has an individual set of form fields.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/198-edit-multiple-individually
#197 Nested Model Form Part 2
Add and remove nested model fields dynamically through JavaScript using either Prototype or jQuery.
#196 Nested Model Form Part 1
Handling multiple models in a single form is much easier with the accepts_nested_attributes_for method. See how to use this method to handle nested model fields.
#195 My Favorite Web Apps in 2009
Here I show several of my favorite web applications which I found most helpful as a Ruby developer over the past year.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/195-my-favorite-web-apps-in-2009
#194 MongoDB and MongoMapper
MongoDB is a document based database engine. Learn how to access it through MongoMapper in this episode.
#193 Tableless Model
If you want to create a model without a database backend, you simply need to define a couple methods in the model like I show in this episode.
#192 Authorization with CanCan
CanCan is a simple authorization plugin that offers a lot of flexibility. See how to use it in this episode.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/192-authorization-with-cancan
#191 Mechanize
Mechanize extends the power of Nokogiri allowing you to interact with multiple pages on the site: click links, submit forms, etc.
#190 Screen Scraping with Nokogiri
Screen scraping is easy with Nokogiri and SelectorGadget.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/190-screen-scraping-with-nokogiri
#189 Embedded Association
Learn how to set up a one-to-many or many-to-many association which is entirely embedded into a single column through a string or bitmask.
#188 Declarative Authorization
Declarative authorization provides an advanced and powerful solution for role based authorization.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/188-declarative-authorization
#187 Testing Exceptions
Sometimes bad code slips into production and triggers a 500 error. Learn how to be notified of this and resolve it through integration tests.
#186 Pickle with Cucumber
Pickle adds many convenient Cucumber steps for generating models. Also learn about table diffs in this episode.
#185 Formtastic Part 2
Learn about some of the more advanced functionality of Formtastic including handling many-to-many associations, required fields, and styling.
#184 Formtastic Part 1
Formtastic is a concise way to generate form views. In this episode (part 1 of 2) I show how to generate both a simple form and a more complex one which is customized with options.
#183 Gemcutter & Jeweler
Gemcutter is a new service for hosting RubyGems, and Jeweler provides an automated way to release versions of a gem.
#182 Cropping Images
Present a slick user interface for cropping image attachments using Jcrop and Paperclip.
#181 Include vs Joins
The :include and :joins options for the find method can be a little confusing because they are so similar. In this episode I show specifically when to use which option.
#180 Finding Unused CSS
Over time a CSS file can become large and filled with unused selectors. In this episode I show how to use the Deadweight gem to determine which CSS selects you can remove.
#179 Seed Data
Rails 2.3.4 includes a conventional way to add seed data to your application - no more including it in the migration files.
#178 7 Security Tips
Security is important! Here I show seven different security flaws which are common to Rails applications ranging from mass assignment to CSRF protection.
#177 Model Versioning
If you need to keep track of a model's history of changes and switch between versions, consider using the vestal_versions gem like I show in this episode.
#176 Searchlogic
Searchlogic makes searching models easier than ever with its assortment of named scopes. In this episode I show you how to create simple and advanced searches.
#175 AJAX History and Bookmarks
Browser page history and bookmarks do not usually work with AJAX requests, but in this episode I show you how to remedy this problem using a simple jQuery plugin.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/175-ajax-history-and-bookmarks
#174 Pagination with AJAX
Learn an easy, unobtrusive way to add AJAX functionality to an existing set of pagination links using jQuery.
#173 Screen Scraping with ScrAPI
Screen scraping is not pretty, but sometimes it's your only option to extract content from an external site. In this episode I show you how to fetch product prices using ScrAPI.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/173-screen-scraping-with-scrapi
#172 Touch and Cache
Rails 2.3.3 brings us a new feature called "touch". See how to use this to auto-expire associated caches in this episode.
#171 Delayed Job
Is there a long running task which should be handled in the background? One of the best ways is using the delayed_job plugin like I show in this episode.
#170 OpenID with Authlogic
Learn how to apply OpenID to an existing Authlogic setup as I show in this episode. This builds upon the app from episode 160.
#169 Dynamic Page Caching
Use JavaScript to allow dynamic content in a page cache. In this episode I show you how to insert the user-specific content into a page through JavaScript.
#168 Feed Parsing
Learn two different techniques for parsing an RSS feed using Feedzirra in this episode!
#167 More on Virtual Attributes
Use a virtual attribute to implement a simple tagging feature. In this episode I show you how to assign virtual attributes through a callback instead of a setter method.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/167-more-on-virtual-attributes
#166 Metric Fu
Metric Fu is a compilation of several tools to help find areas of code that could be improved. In this episode I show you how to setup this tool on the railscasts.com source code.
#165 Edit Multiple
Use checkboxes to select multiple records and edit them all in one form as shown in this episode. With virtual attributes you can even edit values relatively!
#164 Cron in Ruby
Cron is great for handling recurring tasks, but it is an external dependency with a crazy syntax. In this episode I show you how to use Whenever to create cron jobs with Ruby.
#163 Self-Referential Association
Creating a social networking site often requires a self-referential association on the User model to define friends/followers. In this episode I show how to do exactly that.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/163-self-referential-association
#162 Tree Based Navigation
The acts_as_tree plugin provides many methods for handling a tree based association. In this episode I show how to build a navigation system with tabs, subpages, and breadcrumbs.
#161 Three Profiling Tools
Ever want to know what Rails is doing under the hood during a request? In this episode I show three different profiling tools: New Relic RPM, FiveRuns TuneUp, and Rack::Bug.
#160 Authlogic
Authentication can get very complex. In this episode I show how Authlogic can handle this complexity while you stay in control of how it is presented to the user.
#159 More on Cucumber
There is a lot more to Cucumber than I showed in an earlier episode. See how to refactor complex scenarios in this episode.
#158 Factories not Fixtures
Fixtures are external dependencies which can make tests brittle and difficult to read. In this episode I show a better alternative using factories to generate the needed records.
#157 RSpec Matchers & Macros
You can improve the readability and remove duplication in RSpec by adding matchers and macros. Learn how in this episode.
#156 Webrat
If you prefer writing integration tests in ruby instead of Cucumber's plain english, consider interacting with Webrat directly as I show in this episode.
#155 Beginning with Cucumber
Cucumber is a high-level testing framework. In this episode we will create a new Rails application from scratch using behavior driven development.
#154 Polymorphic Association
Polymorphic associations can be perplexing. In this episode I show you how to set it up in Active Record and then move to the controller and view layer.
#153 PDFs with Prawn
Prawn is an excellent Ruby library for generating PDF documents. Learn how to use it along with the Prawnto plugin in this episode.
#152 Rails 2.3 Extras
This episode finishes up this series on Rails 2.3. Here you will learn about several smaller additions in 2.3.
#151 Rack Middleware
Rack middleware is a way to filter a request and response coming into your application. In this episode I show how to modify the response body using middleware.
#150 Rails Metal
Rails Metal is a way to bypass the standard Rails request process for a performance boost. In this episode you will learn how to shave off a few milliseconds using Metal.
#149 Rails Engines
Rails 2.3 brings us much of the same functionality as the Rails Engines plugin. Learn how to embed one application into another in this episode.
#148 App Templates in Rails 2.3
In Rails 2.3 you can provide a template when generating a new Rails application. See how in this episode.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/148-app-templates-in-rails-2-3
#147 Sortable Lists
Creating drag & drop sortable lists is fairly easy using Prototype and the built in helper methods. See how in this episode.
#146 PayPal Express Checkout
PayPal Express Checkout is easy to add to an existing ordering system. See how in this episode.
#145 Integrating Active Merchant
In this episode I show how to add Active Merchant's functionality to a Rails application to make a fully-functional checkout process.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/145-integrating-active-merchant
#144 Active Merchant Basics
Active Merchant is a great library for handling credit card transactions. In this episode I will show you the basics of using it to communicate with PayPal's gateway.
#143 PayPal Security
This episode shows how to encrypt the variables passed to PayPal and verify the authenticity of the payment notifications (IPN).
#142 PayPal Notifications
PayPal's IPN (Instant Payment Notification) service allows your app to get confirmation when an order is processed. In this episode I use IPN to mark a cart as purchased.
#141 PayPal Basics
This episode is the first in a series on handling the checkout process for orders. Here we show how to complete purchases through PayPal's Website Payments Standard service.
#140 Rails 2.2 Extras
This episode finishes up the Rails 2.2 series by showing a few miscellaneous additions that I find useful.
#139 Nested Resources
In this episode I show how to nest resources through routing and go into some new additions in Rails 2.2.
#138 I18n
Internationalization is one of the biggest additions in Rails 2.2. See how the basics work in this episode.
#137 Memoization
Rails 2.2 is out! In this episode I show how to upgrade Rails and then demonstrate one of the new additions: Memoization.
#136 jQuery
How do you use jQuery with Rails? In this episode I redo episode #43 using jQuery instead of Prototype/RJS.
#135 Making a Gem
Want to create a Ruby Gem instead of a Rails plugin? In this episode I will walk you through creating a gem to extend Rails.
#134 Paperclip
Need to add image attachments to a model? See how with paperclip in this episode.
#133 Capistrano Tasks
Do you know how to make Capistrano tasks? See how to change default deployment behavior with custom tasks in this episode.
#132 Helpers Outside Views
Have you ever wanted to access helper methods outside of the view layer? In this episode I show you a couple ways to do just that.
#131 Going Back
This episode demonstrates a couple ways to redirect the user back to a previous page. Applying this to your site can help minimize the user's need to press the back button.
#130 Monitoring with God
Need to ensure your background processes stay up and running and don't use too many resources? Check out the god gem as shown in this episode.
#129 Custom Daemon
Creating a custom daemon to handle background tasks is surprisingly simple. In this episode I will make a daemon to handle dynamically scheduled tasks.
#128 Starling and Workling
Need to run a task frequently in the background? Starling and Workling is a killer combination for doing just that. See how in this episode.
#127 Rake in Background
In need of a background process? You may be able to accomplish this with a simple Rake task. See how in this episode.
#126 Populating a Database
Have you ever wanted to fill up a database with a lot of test data? See how to do that in this episode using the populator and faker gems.
#125 Dynamic Layouts
Discover how to dynamically change the layout using content in the database. Check out this episode for details.
#124 Beta Invitations
You know those invitation systems where a given user can invite a number of other people to join? That's what I show you how to make in this episode.
#123 Subdomains
Learn how to unleash the full potential of subdomains with the subdomain-fu Rails plugin in this episode.
#122 Passenger in Development
Tired of juggling multiple Rails apps around with script/server? See how to set up Passenger in development so each one has its own local domain name.
#121 Non Active Record Model
This episode will show you how to make a model which isn't based on Active Record. You may want to do this if a resource isn't backed by the database.
#120 Thinking Sphinx
If you need a full text search engine, Thinking Sphinx is a great solution. See why in this episode.
#119 Session Based Model
If you have a lot of logic associated with the data inside a session, you'll need some central location to put this logic. See how to create a session based model in this episode.
#118 Liquid
Liquid is a safe way to provide a powerful template language to the site's users. See how in this episode.
#117 Semi-Static Pages
Static pages can sometimes be a little awkward to add to a Rails app. See a couple different solutions to this problem in this episode.
#116 Selenium
Selenium is a great way to test your app automatically through a browser. See how it works in this episode.
#115 Caching in Rails 2.1
Rails 2.1 brings some new caching features which makes it very easy to cache any values including models. See how in this episode.
#114 Endless Page
Ever wondered how some sites seem to have endless scrolling page with no pagination? Find out how easy it is to do this in Rails in this episode.
#113 Contributing to Rails with Git
If you want Rails to behave a certain way, try changing it and submitting a patch. This episode will show how to do exactly this using Git.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/113-contributing-to-rails-with-git
#112 Anonymous Scopes
The scoped method allows you to generate named scopes on the fly. In this episode I show how to use anonymous scopes to improve the conditional logic which was used in the previous episode on adv...
#111 Advanced Search Form
If you need to create an advanced search with a lot of fields, it may not be ideal to use a GET request as I showed in episode 37. In this episode I will show you how to handle this by creating a...
#110 Gem Dependencies
In Rails 2.1 we now have the ability to set gem dependencies. Now it's easier than ever to specify which ruby gems our rails app relies on.
#109 Tracking Attribute Changes
Rails 2.1 keeps track of the changes you make to a model's attributes. It also allows you to see what the previous value was. But watch out for the gotcha! See this episode for details.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/109-tracking-attribute-changes
#108 named_scope
The named_scope method in Rails 2.1 makes performing finds on models very elegant and convenient. See how in this episode.
#107 Migrations in Rails 2.1
Migrations now have a timestamp as their version number in Rails 2.1. In this episode I will explain this change as well as show you some other cool additions.
#106 Time Zones in Rails 2.1
In the past, time zones have been very difficult to work with, but no longer! Rails 2.1 brings with it great time zone support as you can see in this episode.
#105 Gitting Rails 2.1 RC1
Rails 2.1 Release Candidate 1 was just released! In this episode I will show you how to install it into your Rails project.
#104 Exception Notifications
If you're running a production site, it's a good idea to record all exceptions which occur. See how to set up a notification system which does that in this episode.
#103 Site Wide Announcements
Sometimes you need to display an administrative announcement to every page on the site and give the users the ability to hide the announcement. See how in this episode.
#102 Auto-Complete Association
Usually a select menu is used for setting a belongs_to association, but in this episode I will show you how to use a text field with auto completion.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/102-auto-complete-association
#101 Refactoring Out Helper Object
If you have complex view logic, this can easily lead to helper methods which call each other. See how to refactor this out into another object in this episode. This is also known as the presenter...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/101-refactoring-out-helper-object
#100 5 View Tips
Here's five quick tips to use in views. Be sure to catch the end of the episode where I reveal an exciting contest!
#99 Complex Partials
How do you handle partials which have differences depending on the action which is rendering them? Here's three suggestions for this problem.
#98 Request Profiling
You can use profiling to determine where the performance bottlenecks are in specific Rails actions. Watch this episode for details.
#97 Analyzing the Production Log
In order to improve performance of your Rails application you need to find the bottlenecks. A great starting point is your production log. In this episode you will see how to use RAWK to analyze ...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/97-analyzing-the-production-log
#96 Git on Rails
Git has been getting a lot of buzz lately, and for good reason. It's an excellent SCM which in many ways is more simple and powerful than subversion. See how to set up a Rails project with Git in...
#95 More on ActiveResource
See how to handle authentication and custom actions using ActiveResource in this episode.
#94 ActiveResource Basics
ActiveResource allows you to easily communicate between multiple Rails applications. See how in this episode.
#93 Action Caching
Action caching behaves much like page caching except it processes the controller filters. You can also make it conditional as seen in this episode.
#92 make_resourceful
The make_resourceful plugin is a great way to DRY up the 7 RESTful actions common in most controllers. Learn how to use it in this episode.
#91 Refactoring Long Methods
In this episode I walk you through an exercise in refactoring by taking a long method and making it more concise.
#90 Fragment Caching
Sometimes you only want to cache a section of a page instead of the entire page. Fragment caching is the answer as shown in this episode.
#89 Page Caching
Page caching is an efficient way to cache stateless content. In this episode I will show you how to cache the dynamic javascript we created last week.
#88 Dynamic Select Menus
See how to dynamically change a select menu based on another select menu using Javascript. In this episode everything is kept client side which leads to a more responsive user interface.
#87 Generating RSS Feeds
See how to easily generate and link to an RSS feed using new features in Rails 2.0. Watch this episode or details.
#86 Logging Variables
Have you ever wanted to easily log all variables? Now you can by using some advanced Ruby concepts as shown in this episode.
#85 YAML Configuration File
Application configuration shouldn't be spread throughout your code base. Instead a much better place to put it is an external YAML file. See how to do that in this episode.
#84 Cookie Based Session Store
In Rails 1.2 the default session store is file based. This is inefficient and difficult to maintain. In Rails 2.0 the default is now cookie based which has several benefits as you will see in thi...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/84-cookie-based-session-store
#83 Migrations in Rails 2.0
Migrations are now sexy in Rails 2.0! In this episode we will take a look at these improvements and the related rake tasks.
#82 HTTP Basic Authentication
Rails 2.0 offers an extremely easy way to do HTTP basic authentication. See how in this episode.
#81 Fixtures in Rails 2.0
In Rails 2.0, fixtures see many improvements which makes them much easier to manage. Watch this episode for details.
#80 Simplify Views with Rails 2.0
Rails 2.0 is almost here. One of the many features in this release is the smarter helper methods which can make your views much cleaner. Learn all about it in this Episode.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/80-simplify-views-with-rails-2-0
#79 Generate Named Routes
This more advanced episode will show you how to dynamically generate named routes by adding a method to the map object.
#78 Generating PDF Documents
In this episode I will show you how to create PDF documents using the excellent PDF::Writer gem.
#77 Destroy Without JavaScript
If the user has JavaScript disabled, the "Destroy" link might not work properly. In this episode I will explore a number of ways to work around this issue.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/77-destroy-without-javascript
#76 scope_out
The scope_out plugin will generate several helpful find methods for you automatically! It's the best way to move the find conditions into your model. Watch this episode for details.
#75 Complex Forms Part 3
In this third and final episode on complex forms I will show you how to edit a project and multiple tasks all in one form. This includes removing and adding tasks dynamically as well. See the sho...
#74 Complex Forms Part 2
See how to use Javascript and RJS to add and remove form fields dynamically. This episode will build upon the previous episode allowing you to create any number of tasks in one form the same time...
#73 Complex Forms Part 1
Complex forms often lead to complex controllers, but that doesn't have to be the case. In this episode see how you can create multiple models through a single form while keeping the controller cl...
#72 Adding an Environment
Rails comes with three environments: development, test, and production. But, you aren't restricted to just these. You can add your own! See how in this episode.
#71 Testing Controllers with RSpec
Controllers are tricky to test, and there's no perfect way to do it. In this episode you will see how I test controllers, and my reasoning behind it.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/71-testing-controllers-with-rspec
#70 Custom Routes
In this episode you will learn how to add custom routes, make some parameters optional, and add requirements for other parameters.
#69 Markaby in Helper
Do you ever need to generate HTML code in a helper method? Placing it directly in Ruby strings is not very pretty. Learn a great way to generate HTML through Markaby in this episode.
#68 OpenID Authentication
Ever wonder how to implement OpenID authentication in your Rails app? This episode will show you how to add it to a site with an existing authentication system.
#67 restful_authentication
Need multiple user authentication? If so, the restful_authentication plugin is a great way to go. It will generate some basic authentication code for you which is good starting point to your auth...
#66 Custom Rake Tasks
Rake is one of those tools that you don't realize how powerful it is until you start using it. In this episode you will learn how to create custom rake tasks and improve them by using rake featur...
#65 Stopping Spam with Akismet
The Railscasts site has been getting a lot of comment spam in the past, but no longer. In this episode I will show you how I solved this problem by using the Akismet web service.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/65-stopping-spam-with-akismet
#64 Custom Helper Modules
Rails designates one helper module per controller, but that shouldn't stop you from making custom helper modules to help structure the code. Learn how in this episode.
#63 Model Name in URL
By default, Rails uses the model's id in the URL. What if you want to use the name of the model instead? You can change this behavior by overriding the to_param method in the model. Watch this ep...
#62 Hacking ActiveRecord
Have you ever wanted to temporarily disable all validations? Well, ActiveRecord doesn't support this, but that doesn't mean we can't add it. This episode will show you how to open up an existing ...
#61 Sending Email
This is a brief guide to sending email in Rails. See how to configure the environment, generate a mailer, create a template, and deliver the mail.
#60 Testing without Fixtures
Tests which rely heavily on fixtures are brittle and can be difficult to maintain. This episode will show a couple techniques for creating tests which don't use fixtures.
#59 Optimistic Locking
When two people attempt to update the same record near the same time, one of the updates will likely be overwritten. You can solve this problem with optimistic locking.
#58 How to Make a Generator
Rails comes with many built-in generators, but what if you want to customize them or make your own? Rails gives you a great way to do this which you will learn in this episode.
#57 Create Model Through Text Field
Let's say you provide a select menu for setting which category a given product belongs to, but you also want the option of creating a new category by typing the name in a text field. See a great ...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/57-create-model-through-text-field
#56 The Logger
Learn all about the logger in this episode. See how to send messages to the log and how to customize it.
#55 Cleaning Up the View
This episode starts off with a big, messy template. Watch as this code shrinks and becomes more readable while the interface stays the same.
#54 Debugging with ruby-debug
This episode will show you how to debug a rails app using ruby-debug: set a breakpoint, inspect variables, change the code and more.
#53 Handling Exceptions
When an exception is raised in development you get the full error along with the stack trace. In production, only a simple message is displayed. Learn why this is and how to customize the handlin...
#52 Update through Checkboxes
See how to select multiple items using checkboxes and perform an action on the selected items in this episode.
#51 will_paginate
In edge rails (soon to be Rails 2.0), the built-in pagination has been moved into a plugin: classic_pagination. I recommend jumping over to the will_paginate plugin as shown in this episode.
#50 Contributing to Rails
The best way to contribute to the Rails project is to submit a patch. This episode shows how to do exactly that. There's also a surprise at the end that you don't want to miss!
#49 Reading the API
The Rails API docs are very useful but can be difficult to read. This episode will give some tips on reading the docs and mention a few alternative sites for accessing the API. Update: sorry abou...
#48 Console Tricks
The Rails console is one of my favorite tools. This episode is packed with tips and tricks on how to get the most out of the console.
#47 Two Many-to-Many
There are two different ways to set up a many-to-many association in Rails. In this episode you will see how to implement both ways along with some tips on choosing the right one for your project...
#46 Catch-all Route
Sometimes you need to add complex/dynamic routes. This is often impossible to do in routes.rb, but do not worry. It can be accomplished with a catch-all route. See how in this episode.
#45 RJS Tips
This episode is packed with little RJS goodies. Learn the different ways to access an element, how to add "if" conditions and how to apply an effect to multiple elements.
#44 Debugging RJS
RJS and AJAX can be difficult to debug. Many times you don't get any error message in the browser. Learn different techniques for solving these tricky problems in this episode.
#43 AJAX with RJS
This episode will walk you through adding AJAX functionality to a form using RJS. See how to easily update multiple elements on a page.
#42 with_options
Several methods in rails take a hash of options as the last argument. If you are passing the same options to several methods, you can remove this duplication by using with_options. Learn all abou...
#41 Conditional Validations
By default, validations will take place every time the model is saved. Sometimes you only want a validation to happen when certain conditions are met. See how to do that in this episode.
#40 Blocks in View
If you try to create a helper method which accepts a block, you will run into a few gotchas. Learn the secrets of blocks in views in this episode.
#39 Customize Field Error
When a validation error occurs, Rails helpfully wraps the field in a div tag so you can style it. But sometimes you don't want this behavior. In this episode you will see how to customize it.
#38 Multibutton Form
If you have a form with multiple buttons, you can detect which button was clicked by checking the passed parameters. Learn how in this episode.
#37 Simple Search Form
A search form is quite different than other forms, this is because it does not deal with model's attributes. See a good way to add a simple search form in this episode.
#36 Subversion on Rails
This episode will walk you through setting up a Rails project on subversion. It covers some helpful tips and gotchas you may experience along the way.
#35 Custom REST Actions
REST adds many constraints. It restricts your controllers to seven actions. Normally this is okay, but sometimes you need to add your own custom actions. Learn how in this episode.
#34 Named Routes
When you add a custom route, make it a named route so you have url helper methods to easily link to that new route. See episode for details.
#33 Making a Plugin
You can sometimes remove a lot of duplication by generating methods dynamic. In this episode I will show you how to create a plugin which does exactly that.
#32 Time in Text Field
Although Rails does allow you to edit time attributes with text fields, it's not very flexible. In this episode you will learn how to use a virtual attribute to format the time to your liking.
#31 Formatting Time
Learn how to use the trusty strftime method to format a time, and see how Rails allows you to save this format for later use.
#30 Pretty Page Title
If you are like me, you avoid creating page titles because it is kind of a pain. But in this episode I will show you a clean way to add titles to your pages.
#29 group_by Month
Learn how to use the very useful group_by method to group an array by anything you want! In this episode I group an array of tasks by month then sort it properly.
#28 in_groups_of
Have you ever wanted to visually line up items in rows and columns? The in_groups_of method makes this a cinch. Just watch out for the gotcha.
#27 Cross Site Scripting
Another common security issue is cross site scripting. In this episode you will see why it is so important to escape any HTML a user may submit.
#26 Hackers Love Mass Assignment
Your site may be at risk! When using mass assignment, you are giving the user complete control over that model and its associations. See how a hacker might use this vulnerability and learn how to...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/26-hackers-love-mass-assignment
#25 SQL Injection
One of the most common security problems for dynamic sites is SQL Injection. Thankfully Rails does everything it can in solving this issue, but you still need to be aware of it.
#24 The Stack Trace
The stack trace can be a very useful tool when it comes to debugging. Learn the ins and outs of how the stack trace works in this episode. Note: I am using an older version of the Rails bundle he...
#23 Counter Cache Column
If you need to display the record count for a has_many association, you can improve performance by caching that number in a column.
#22 Eager Loading
One way to improve performance is to cut down on the number of SQL queries. You can do this through eager loading. Learn all about it in this episode!
#21 Super Simple Authentication
The final piece of the administration puzzle: authentication. There are many different approaches which is why I saved this step for last. This episode will cover a few techniques including the s...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/21-super-simple-authentication
#20 Restricting Access
In this second part of the series on administration, you will learn how to lock down the site to keep the public from accessing the administration features.
#19 Where Administration Goes
This is the first part of a three part series on building an administration system. Many developers choose to separate it completely from the public side of the site by placing it into an admin s...
#18 Looping Through Flash
Displaying flash messages in the layout can be a pain at times. In this episode you will learn an easy way to display any kind of flash message by looping through the hash.
#17 HABTM Checkboxes
It is often asked: how do I create a list of checkboxes for managing a HABTM association? Ask no more because this episode will show you how to do exactly that.
#16 Virtual Attributes
Keep your controllers clean and forms flexible by adding virtual attributes to your model. This very powerful technique allows you to create form fields which may not directly relate to the datab...
#15 Fun with Find Conditions
You can pass more than simple strings to find conditions. Arrays, ranges, and nil values can be passed as well. In this episode you will see the tricks involved with passing these odd objects to ...
#14 Performing Calculations on Models
Did you know ActiveRecord provides class methods for performing calculations on models? You can even use these methods through associations.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/14-performing-calculations-on-models
#13 Dangers of Model in Session
Be careful when storing a model in a session. It will behave differently than you expect and can easily get out of sync with the database. Instead of storing the model directly in the session, st...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/13-dangers-of-model-in-session
#12 Refactoring User Name Part 3
In the final part of this series you will see how to refactor your tests. Keeping tests clean is important because it will make testing easier to do in the future.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/12-refactoring-user-name-part-3
#11 Refactoring User Name Part 2
Testing and refactoring go hand in hand. Refactoring is all about improving code without changing its behavior. Testing is all about making sure you don't change the behavior while you are improv...
http://railscasts.com/episodes/11-refactoring-user-name-part-2
#10 Refactoring User Name Part 1
Learn how to clean up your code through refactoring. This episode will show you how to move code from the view into the model to remove duplication and simplify the view.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/10-refactoring-user-name-part-1
#9 Filtering Sensitive Logs
Are you accepting sensitive user data? Passwords, credit card numbers, etc. By default, Rails stores all submitted parameters in plain text in the logs. This episode will show you how to filter t...
#8 Layouts and content_for
If you want to change something in the layout on a per-template basis, content_for is your answer! This allows templates to specify view code that can be placed anywhere in a layout.
#7 All About Layouts
Everything you wanted to know about layouts: global layouts, controller layouts, shared layouts, dynamic layouts and action layouts. Yes, there really are that many ways to specify a layout.
#6 Shortcut Blocks with Symbol to_proc
It may have a goofy syntax, but the Symbol#to_proc feature Rails adds allows you to do simple blocks very quickly and easily.
http://railscasts.com/episodes/6-shortcut-blocks-with-symbol-to-proc
#5 Using with_scope
Learn how to use with_scope - a very powerful method which will allow your custom find methods to accept any find options. Just like magic!
#4 Move Find into Model
Move a find into the model to clean up the controllers and remove duplication. Also see how you can call these custom find methods through an association.
#3 Find Through Association
No need to pass foreign keys in find conditions, just do the find through a has_many association.
#2 Dynamic find_by Methods
Shorten simple finds considerably and improve readability by using the dynamic find_all_by and find_by methods.
#1 Caching with Instance Variables
Learn a quick way to improve performance. Just store the end result of an expensive command in an instance variable!
http://railscasts.com/episodes/1-caching-with-instance-variables