Ruby on Rails Enterprise Application Development: Plan, Prog

出版者:PACKT Publishing

作者:Elliot Smith

页数:400

出版时间:October 2007

价格:$49.99

isbn号码:9781847190857

具体描述

Building a complete Ruby on Rails business application from start to finish

* Create a non-trivial, business-focused Rails application

* Solve the real-world problems of developing and deploying Rails applications in a business environment

* Apply the principles behind Rails development to practical real-world situations

All businesses have processes that can be automated via computer applications, thereby reducing costs and simplifying everyday operations. This book demonstrates that a modern web application framework makes an ideal platform for such applications. It shows how the attributes that make the Rails framework so successful for Internet applications also provide great benefit within a business intranet. These attributes include easy roll-out and update of applications, centralized processing and data handling, simple maintenance, straightforward code development, and scalability.

Ruby on Rails is an open-source web application framework ideally suited to building business applications, accelerating and simplifying the creation of database-driven websites. Often shortened to Rails or RoR, it provides a stack of tools to rapidly build web applications based on the Model-View-Controller design pattern.

This book covers topics such as installing Ruby, Rubygems, and Rails on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X; choosing and installing a database; installing an IDE for Rails development; setting up a Subversion repository to manage your code; creating a new Rails application; understanding Rails models; understanding controllers and views; improving user interfaces with Ajax; using Rails plugins to manage file uploads; using Capistrano to manage application deployment; techniques for scaling Rails applications, such as caching and using Apache to proxy through to the Mongrel server. The example application is straightforward to develop, easy to roll out, and simple to maintain.

What you will learn from this book

* Creating a new Rails application

* Installing an IDE for Rails

* Connecting Rails to a database

* Utilizing Rails' Model-View-Controller components

* Setting up Mongrel with Apache

* Adding Ajax to your Rails application

* Backing up Rails applications

* Adding an authentication system to your application

* Optimizing Rails applications using caching

* Scaling up your Rails production infrastructure using Apache, Mongrel, and load balancing

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the book. You will learn why Ruby on Rails should be used in preference to the multitude of other programming and scripting frameworks for developing database-driven web applications.

In Chapter 2, you will learn about some of the conventions used in Rails, and the Rails framework will be introduced. We describe some methods of controlling and logging user access and discuss their merits and limitations. We also discuss data validation and user input control via form design in this chapter.

Chapter 3 outlines how to lay some firm foundations for a sustainable Rails development project. The core of this is obviously the Rails stack itself. You will learn how to install and configure this in some detail. The chapter recommends a few of the technologies closest to the heart of Rails, which can readily be used to support your development work.

Chapter 4 will help you build from an idea and an expectant Rails installation to a fully-fledged data model, populated from an external data source, with full validation and unit test suite. This chapter also provides examples of how to integrate the application with external data sources, and how to share code development across a team.

Chapter 5 describes how to build a web interface on top of the models developed earlier. You will learn about creating a controller from scratch, how to add style sheets, writing complex controller actions to update multiple models simultaneously, and using pagination.

Chapter 6 describes how to set up a Rails production environment. In particular, it covers the decisions you will need to make to successfully get your business application up and running. Some coverage of error handling is presented, and we describe some systems that will make it easier to back up and restore your application.

Chapter 7 concentrates on the tools you can use to improve the user experience. These include providing links into the application, providing search tools, enhancements to the user interface, and providing help to the users.

Chapter 8 aims at showing more of the depth and usefulness of Rails, while at the same time demonstrating how to extend an existing application with new functionality.

Chapter 9 discusses advanced deployment of your application. You will learn how to deploy your application with Capistrano. You will also learn about troubleshooting deployment and optimizing your Rails applications.

Chapter 10 covers how you can improve your Rails skills further, and suggests alternative skills that complement Ruby on Rails, thereby broadening your skill set.

Approach

This book concentrates on application development as a whole process and is intended to complement existing Rails tutorials. Each chapter deals with a key feature or functional area of a complex, full-scale Rails application.

Who this book is written for

This book is aimed at developers who want to find out how to rapidly build easily-deployed, easily-supported business applications. It is for developers who have learned Ruby on Rails, probably from one of the tutorial books, and want to apply that knowledge to effectively build full, realistic applications.

作者简介

Elliot Smith

Elliot Smith has worked in IT since 1996, and currently works at Talis, as a software developer working on library systems. Prior to that, he worked at OpenAdvantage (an open-source solutions center) as a business analyst; as a learning technologist and web developer at the University of Birmingham, England; and as a technical writer for Armada Computer Publications. He has an M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham. His personal website is http://townx.org/.

He thanks Nicola, his wife, for giving him the time and space to write a book; Madeleine, his daughter, for keeping him sane while doing it; and Rob Nichols for giving him the opportunity in the first place.

Rob Nichols

Rob Nichols first started using computers during his apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce in the early 1980s. At 23 he decided to change direction and started a degree in Geology and Geography at Cardiff University. By 1995 he had gained a Ph.D. from Bristol University, studying the behavior of quicksand. During his time in Bristol and in a subsequent lectureship at Leeds University, he started using the fledgling Internet to communicate with co-workers, gather information, and present Geological information in the form of his first web pages. Following his return to Britain from a lectureship in U.S.P. Fiji, Rob found himself without another lectureship position to go on to. So, changing direction again, he started working for a U.K. computer manufacturer, where he rose to the position of Engineering Manager, managing a team of seventy maintenance and networking engineers, and support staff. Following the collapse of the U.K. computer market in 2002 he moved on to the role of IT manager for a small business providing products and services to the water industry. In this role, Rob has had great success developing intranet-based business applications that streamline business processes, save time, and increase efficiency. In so doing he has transformed the IT department from a business cost to a profit generator by reducing costs and thereby increasing margins. When not working with computers, Rob and his wife reside happily in a small Midlands town in England, where he writes scripts for the local movie-makers club, and photographs the local wildlife.

For Diane, for putting up with my disappearances into the study to “work on the book”.

用户评价

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从书籍的整体尺寸和重量来看，它显然是定位为一本“案头参考书”，而非可以随意塞进背包的便携读物。这尺寸（我目测是标准的A4或略小于A4的开本）确保了足够大的页面空间来展示代码片段和架构图，而不会让关键的逻辑流被切割得支离破碎。我可以想象，在搭建大型项目架构时，将这本书平摊在桌面上，可以同时对照阅读多个相互关联的章节，这种大开本带来的空间优势是小开本无法比拟的。此外，这本书的封面材质似乎采用了一种略带磨砂质感的覆膜，虽然触感上不如亮面光滑，但它极大地提高了抗指纹能力，即便是在长时间操作键盘和鼠标后翻阅，书本表面依然能保持相对干净整洁，这对于保持工作环境的专业性非常重要。总而言之，它的物理形态完全服务于深度学习和项目参考的需求，设计者显然深谙技术人员的工作场景。

这本书的包装设计着实吸引了我，那深邃的藏青色背景上，简洁的白色和亮眼的橙色字体搭配，营造出一种专业而又不失活力的氛围。拿到手里，沉甸甸的，这手感立刻给人一种内容充实的预期。封面上的文字排版布局考究，尤其是那个小小的标志，设计得非常别致，透着一股低调的奢华感。我最初被它吸引，很大程度上是出于对这种精致视觉呈现的偏爱。在书店里浏览时，众多技术书籍中，它就像一个沉静的智者，不张扬，但绝对引人注目。我当时想，光是设计者对细节的关注，也许就能侧面反映出内部内容的打磨程度。翻开扉页，纸张的质感也相当不错，光滑而又不反光，长时间阅读应该会比较舒适。整体而言，它给我的第一印象是：这是一本经过精心打磨、注重用户体验的专业书籍，外观上的考量已经超越了一般的技术手册范畴，更像是一件工艺品。我期待着，书中的知识体系也能像它的外观一样，结构清晰，逻辑严密。

这本书的装帧工艺细节处理得令人赞叹，特别是侧边切口的处理，非常平整光滑，没有一丝毛刺感，这在很多大规模印刷的书籍中是很难得的。我仔细观察了书脊的粘合处，即便是用力按压，也没有听到任何异响或看到裂痕的迹象，显示出出版社在装订环节投入了足够的重视。书中的插图或图表部分的印刷质量，色彩还原度极高，即便是最细微的线条和渐变层次也表现得淋漓尽致，这对于理解复杂的系统架构图或流程图至关重要。我特别留意了某一章关于数据库连接池的示意图，那图例中的不同组件之间的关系被清晰地用粗细不同的线条区分开来，即便是初次接触这些概念的人，也能通过视觉上的引导迅速抓住重点。这种对印刷和视觉呈现的极致追求，无疑极大地提升了阅读体验，让学习过程中的视觉疲劳感大大降低，也从侧面印证了出版方对待技术内容的尊重。

这本书的索引和目录设计简直是一流的范本。目录部分不仅按照章节进行了清晰的层级划分，而且在每个主要标题后面，还用非常精炼的几个词概括了该章节的核心技术点或要解决的问题，这使得在进行快速检索时，能够立刻判断章节内容是否符合当前需求，节省了大量翻阅时间。更让我感到惊喜的是书后的术语对照表，它不仅罗列了所有出现的专业名词，还提供了一个简短的上下文描述，这对于巩固学习成果，或者在遗忘某个细节时快速回忆起来，提供了极大的便利。这种对检索效率的极致优化，表明作者和出版团队在设计这本书的“使用寿命”时，考虑得非常长远，它不仅仅是一次性的阅读材料，更是一个可以长期依赖的知识库。这种对实用性的执着，从书本的“配件”设计上就可见一斑，体现了对读者学习效率的尊重。