h1. Rails Apps Composer Gem A gem with recipes to create Rails application templates you can use to generate Rails starter apps. Creates ready-to-run Rails web applications. Makes it easy to create and maintain a starter app. I use the Rails Apps Composer gem to create the "Rails Example Apps":http://railsapps.github.com/ for the "RailsApps project":https://github.com/RailsApps. h4. Based on Michael Bleigh's RailsWizard Gem The Rails Apps Composer gem is a fork of "Michael Bleigh's RailsWizard gem":https://github.com/intridea/rails_wizard (see credits below). The purpose of the fork is to provide recipes for ready-to-run Rails starter apps. Several recipes provided by the Rails Apps Composer gem are different from those provided by the rails_wizard gem. Applications generated with the Rails Apps Composer gem are more complete; for example, they may include a home page with sign-in, sign-out navigation links. Any issues? Please create a "GitHub issue":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/issues. h2. !http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/t_logo-a.png(Follow on Twitter)!:http://www.twitter.com/rails_apps Follow on Twitter !http://railsapps.github.com/images/mailing-list-icon.jpg(Join the Mailing List)!:http://eepurl.com/dQx3o Join the Mailing List Follow the project on Twitter: "@rails_apps":http://twitter.com/rails_apps. Tweet some praise if you like what you've found. Join the email list (low volume, announcements only) for project updates and my tips about Rails resources. h2. Suggested Use Any developer can quickly generate a Rails web application using the @rails new@ command. In practice, experienced Rails developers typically add an assortment of useful additional packages (gems) before beginning development of any web application. A developer often uses the same set of packages to get started and may create a "starter app" that can be copied and reused for any new project. It can be a hassle to integrate some of the most commonly used gems, particularly when new versions are released and there are minor "gotchas" that interfere with gems working together. Despite the apparent convenience of creating a starter app, it can be time consuming to maintain and update a starter app as component packages evolve. This project aims to simplify the process of building and maintaining a starter app by providing mix-and-match recipes to assemble the most commonly used Rails packages. If you use this gem to create your Rails starter app, you can expect the pieces to work together. If they don't, you can report problems and look for identified "issues":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/issues (and perhaps contributed fixes). If you use this gem to create a reusable application template (see the instructions below), you can check for changes to recipes here and reassemble your application template as packages evolve. h2. Dependencies Before generating a new Rails app, you will need: * The Ruby language (version 1.9.2) * Rails (3.0 or 3.1) Recipes will detect which version of Rails is in use. Some of the recipes behave differently depending on the version of Rails. See "Managing Rails Versions and Gems":http://railsapps.github.com/managing-rails-versions-gems.html for detailed instructions and advice. h2. Installation Installation is simple: @$ gem install rails_apps_composer@ h2. Usage h4. List Recipes You can display a list of recipes: @$ rails_apps_composer list@ You'll find more details about the available recipes by browsing the repository "recipes directory":https://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/tree/master/recipes. h4. Generate a Starter App There are two ways to use the Rails Apps Composer gem to generate a starter app. If you want to build a starter app for one-time use, you can build an application by providing a list of recipes with the @-r@ option. This will automatically generate an application using the specified recipes. If you want to create and save an application template that you can reuse as needed to "clone" identical starter apps, you can download the Rails Apps Composer project, customize recipes as needed, and use a @rake@ task to save a reusable application template file. Each of these approaches is described below. h2. Make Your Own Starter App for One-Time Use h4. Select Recipes You can mix and match recipes to create your own customized starter app. See an annotated list of available "recipes for the Rails Apps Composer gem":http://railsapps.github.com/rails-apps-recipes.html. For an up-to-date list, browse the repository "recipes directory":https://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/tree/master/recipes to see what is available. Then provide your list of recipes to the Rails Apps Composer gem using the @-r@ option and generate an app as needed. Here's an example that creates a simple app using jquery and haml: 
$ rails_apps_composer new myapp -r jquery haml
For example, to build the "rails3-mongoid-devise":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails3-mongoid-devise/ example application, run the command: 
$ rails_apps_composer new myapp -r jquery haml rspec cucumber guard mongoid action_mailer devise add_user home_page home_page_users seed_database users_page css_setup application_layout navigation cleanup ban_spiders git
Replace @myapp@ with the name you want for your application. h2. Make Your Own Starter App with a Reusable Application Template You can modify the recipes and save an application template that creates your own customized starter app. First, you'll need to make your own copy of the Rails Apps Composer gem. @$ git clone git://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer.git@ @$ cd rails_apps_composer@ The "mg":https://github.com/sr/mg "minimal gem" is required for development of the Rails Apps Composer gem. Several other gems are needed as well: @$ gem install i18n activesupport thor rspec mg@ h4. Customize the Recipes Modify or write new recipes as you wish (see below for details about writing recipes). You can run @rake spec@ to make sure your recipes conform to the required syntax. h4. Save the Application Template The Rails Apps Composer gem creates an application template as an intermediate step before generating an application. You can generate and save the application template. Here's an example of generating an application template and saving the template to a file: 
$ rake print --silent RECIPES=recipe1,recipe2 > ~/Desktop/template.txt
If you don't include the @--silent@ option, the rake task will generate the application template with an extraneous first line. Open the template file and remove the first line if you encounter this problem. The Rails Apps Composer gem creates an application template that can be used by the @rails new@ command with the @-m@ option. For example: 
$ rails new myapp -m ~/Desktop/template.txt
You can specify the @-T -O@ flags as needed to skip Test::Unit files and Active Record files. For Rails 3.0, you can also specify the @-J@ flag to skip Prototype files (not needed for Rails 3.1). That's all it takes. You'll have a ready-to-customize Rails web application in minutes. h4. Template for Rails 3 + Devise + RSpec + Cucumber To build a reusable application template for the "rails3-devise-rspec-cucumber":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails3-devise-rspec-cucumber/ example application, run the command: 
$ rake print --silent RECIPES=jquery,haml,rspec,cucumber,guard,action_mailer,devise,add_user,home_page,home_page_users,seed_database,users_page,css_setup,application_layout,html5,navigation,cleanup,ban_spiders,extras,git > ~/Desktop/template.txt
Then generate the application using the @-T@ flag. Add the @-J@ flag for Rails 3.0. 
$ rails new myapp -m ~/Desktop/template.txt -T
h4. Template for Rails 3 + Mongoid + Devise To build a reusable application template for the "rails3-mongoid-devise":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails3-mongoid-devise/ example application, run the command: 
$ rake print --silent RECIPES=jquery,haml,rspec,cucumber,guard,mongoid,action_mailer,devise,add_user,home_page,home_page_users,seed_database,users_page,css_setup,application_layout,html5,navigation,cleanup,ban_spiders,extras,git > ~/Desktop/template.txt
Then generate the application using the @-T -O@ flags. Add the @-J@ flag for Rails 3.0. 
$ rails new myapp -m ~/Desktop/template.txt -T -O
h4. Template for Rails 3 + Mongoid + OmniAuth To build a reusable application template for the "rails3-mongoid-omniauth":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails3-mongoid-omniauth/ example application, run the command: 
$ rake print --silent RECIPES=jquery,haml,rspec,cucumber,guard,mongoid,seed_database,add_user,omniauth,home_page,home_page_users,css_setup,application_layout,html5,navigation,users_page,omniauth_email,cleanup,ban_spiders,extras,git > ~/Desktop/template.txt
Then generate the application using the @-T -O@ flags. Add the @-J@ flag for Rails 3.0. 
$ rails new myapp -m ~/Desktop/template.txt -T -O
h2. The Recipes For your reference, here’s an annotated list of available "recipes for the Rails Apps Composer gem":http://railsapps.github.com/rails-apps-recipes.html. For an up-to-date list, browse the repository "recipes directory":https://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/tree/master/recipes. h2. Writing New Recipes You can find the Rails Apps Composer recipe collection in the GitHub repository's "recipes directory":https://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/tree/master/recipes. If you find errors or improve a recipe you can contribute to the project by submitting a pull request or creating a "Github issue":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/issues. h4. Rails Wizard Basics For more information on all available options for authoring recipes that can be read by the rails_wizard or Rails Apps Composer gems, please see the "wiki for Michael Bleigh's RailsWizard gem":https://github.com/intridea/rails_wizard/wiki. Recipes are made of up *template code* and *YAML back-matter* stored in a ruby file. The @__END__@ parsing convention is used so that each recipe is actually a valid, parseable Ruby file. The structure of a recipe looks something like this: 
gem 'supergem'

after_bundler do
  generate "supergem:install"
end

__END__

category: templating
name: SuperGem
description: Installs SuperGem which is useful for things
author: mbleigh
h4. Rails Apps Composer Differences The Rails Apps Composer gem is very similar to the rails_wizard gem, with one significant difference. The rails_wizard gem allows specification of execution order for recipes with @run_after@ and @run_after@ configuration flags. The Rails Apps Composer gem does not support @run_after@ or @run_after@; instead, the order which you provide the recipes sets the execution order. This makes it easier to chain a series of recipes in the order you prefer. For example, 
$ rails_apps_composer new myapp -r git jquery haml
installs jquery before haml. h4. Recipe Differences Several recipes provided by the Rails Apps Composer gem are different from those provided by the rails_wizard gem. h4. Rails Wizard RSpec Tests The gem has RSpec tests that automatically validate each recipe in the repository, so you should run @rake spec@ as a basic syntax check. Note that these don't verify that your recipe code itself works, just that the gem could properly parse and understand your recipe file. h4. How It Works Rails generators can use any methods provided by the "Thor::Actions":http://rdoc.info/github/wycats/thor/master/Thor/Actions module. The flexibility of mixing "recipes" for application templates comes from use of the @apply@ method from the Thor::Actions module. Given a web address or a local filepath, the "apply method":http://rdoc.info/github/wycats/thor/master/Thor/Actions#apply-instance_method loads and executes a file within the context of the generator script. h2. Documentation and Support This is the only documentation. h4. Writing Recipes To understand the code in these templates, take a look at "Thor::Actions":http://rdoc.info/github/wycats/thor/master/Thor/Actions. Your recipes can use any methods provided by "Thor::Actions":http://rdoc.info/github/wycats/thor/master/Thor/Actions or "Rails::Generators::Actions":http://railsapi.com/doc/rails-v3.0.3/classes/Rails/Generators/Actions.html. h4. About Rails Application Templates "Cooking Up A Custom Rails 3 Template (11 Oct 2010) by Andrea Singh":http://blog.madebydna.com/all/code/2010/10/11/cooking-up-a-custom-rails3-template.html "Rails Application Templates (16 Sept 2010) by Collin Schaafsma":http://quickleft.com/blog/rails-application-templates "Application templates in Rails 3 (18 Sept 2009) by Ben Scofield":http://benscofield.com/2009/09/application-templates-in-rails-3/ "Railscasts: App Templates in Rails 2.3 (9 Feb 2009) by Ryan Bates":http://railscasts.com/episodes/148-app-templates-in-rails-2-3 "Rails templates (4 Dec 2008) by Pratik Naik":http://m.onkey.org/rails-templates h2. Issues Any issues? Please create a "GitHub issue":http://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/issues. h2. Credits This project is based on "Michael Bleigh's RailsWizard gem":https://github.com/intridea/rails_wizard. The original idea for a RailsWizard and the innovative implementation is the work of Michael Bleigh. "Fletcher Nichol's":http://silversky.ca/ project "fnichol/rails-template-recipes":https://github.com/fnichol/rails-template-recipes provides the basis for several recipes. RSpec, Cucumber, and Yard recipes were contributed by "Ramon Brooker":http://cogniton-mind.tumblr.com/. Guard recipe contributed by "Ashley Woodard":https://github.com/ashley-woodard. Additional recipes by Daniel Kehoe, "http://danielkehoe.com/":http://danielkehoe.com/. Is the gem useful to you? Follow the project on Twitter: "@rails_apps":http://twitter.com/rails_apps and tweet some praise. I'd love to know you were helped out by the gem. h2. License h4. MIT License The Rails Apps Composer gem and its recipes are distributed under the MIT License.