How does it work? First, make sure you have installed the rails 2.3 rc1 gem (available at http://www.rubyonrails.org/) and run the following command:

rails example_shop -m http://www.jeevidee.nl/instant_rails_application.txt


This will install a rails application with models, views, controllers, routes, and even translations and fixtures already generated. Plus it will do the migrations and start your server so can you have a look at your new application :).

There is still work to be done, because a good application will not go without tests. The plugin dm_generator is work in progress and I hope I can add this feature soon. Furthermore, the plugin has a low test coverage so bugs are likely to appear. Together with proper documentation this is another TODO item.

If you want to use your own templates, make a fork of dm_templates and change it the way you like it. If you see missing functionality report it here or fork dm_generator and add it yourself. If you have a cool design that you want to show? Please add it to the dm_designs repository by forking it and doing a pull request.


Here is a summary of features that I would like to see myself:

• Specs/tests for the generator itself
• Good documentation of the generator
• Test/Spec and Cucumber templates
• Better generation of routes
• Configuration of the default files that should be generated outside of dm_generator manifest

If you see missing features, please suggest them here in the comments.

Slides of my presentation at Amsterdam.rb can be found here or on slideshare

Some examples:

In your controller:

flash[:notice] = t("controller.#{current_resource}.#{current_action}",
                           :default => "controller.default.action")

If your using something like make_resourceful this becomes even more apparent. I have forked make_resourceful and implemented this which you can check on my github account.

A similar trick can be done in your views:

flash[:notice] = t("view.#{current_resource}.#{current_action}",
                          :default => t("view.default.#{current_action}") )

The only thing you have to is have a yaml file like this:

en:
  controller:
    default:
       create:
         "Succesfully created!
       ....

You can also add the translation of the resource you are working on by adding an option as in the following example:

flash[:notice] = t("view.#{current_resource}.#{current_action}",
                           :default => t("view.default.#{current_action}"),
                           :model => t("activerecord.model.#{model_name}") )

In your yaml file you will just have to add ‘{{model}}’ to include the translation.

en:
  controller:
    default:
       create:
         "Succesfully created {{model}}!
       ....

It might turn out that the above idea with this new feature in rails will make life even easier! Probably more on that in a future post!

Since this is my first blog post here I would welcome some feedback!

This blog will be a technical blog with (currently) a focus on Ruby and the Rails framework. I will write about my ideas of how things should be done.

That’s it for now. More to come!