2015-05-10 Ruby

Create A Rails Api Quickly

How to Create a Rails API quickly#

gem install rails-api
rails-api new myapi
rails g scaffold <NAME> fields...

eg. rails g scaffold user email:string cell:string
rake db:migrate
Test it out: rails s

go to http://localhost:3000/users

Notice: Plural
Add extra modules to Controllers. rails-api extends APIController so check in BaseController for extra modules you may want to include.
Slims down rack middleware stack. Current differences:

use ActionDispatch::Cookies use ActionDispatch::Session::CookieStore use ActionDispatch::Flash use WebConsole::Middleware use Rack::MethodOverride use Rack::Sendfile

So add the relevant lines above if you want session or cookies. Some modules depend on other modules so may need Helpers module as well.

eg. in Controller:

include ActionController::Cookies include ActionController::Helpers

Optional:

* Create a page to create or manage users
* `rails-api` doesn't allow showing views and hence this must be done in another app or in `/public.html`

```
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <style type="text/css" media="screen">
      html, body{
        background-color: #4B7399;
        font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;
        font-size: 14px;
      }

      a { color: #0000FF; }

      #container {
        width: 75%;
        margin: 0 auto;
        background-color: #fff;
        padding: 20px 40px;
        border: solid 1px black;
        margin-top: 20px;
      }
    </style>
    <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js"
        type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script>
        $(function(){
          function addUser(user){
            $('#users').append('<li>' + user.email + ', ' +
                                        user.cell + ', ' + '</li>');
          }

          $('#new_user').submit(function(e){
            console.log('click');
            $.post('/users', $(this).serialize(), addUser);
            this.reset();
            e.preventDefault();
          });

          $.getJSON('/users', function(users){
            $.each(users, function(){ addUser(this)});
          });
      });
    </script>
  </head>
<body>
  <div id="container">
    <h1>Add User</h1>
    <form id="new_user">
      <label for="email">Email</label>
      <input id="email" type="text" name="user[email]" id="user_email">
      <br/>
      <label for="cell">Cell</label>
      <input id="cell" type="text" name="user[cell]" id="user_cell">
      <br/>
      <input type="submit" name="Add">
    </form>
    <ul id="users"></ul>
  </div>
</body>
</html>```

source: Railscast rails-api gem