Advanced Rails Recipes

With the help of a community of Rails chefs in the kitchen, here are 84 new ways to kick your Rails apps up a notch. Advanced Rails Recipes is a collection of practical recipes for spicing up your web application without a lot of prep and cleanup. You’ll learn how the pros have solved the tough problems using the most up-to-date Rails 2 techniques so you can deliver your stunning web app quicker and easier.

Contents
* REST and Routes Recipes
o Create A RESTful Resource
o Add Your Own RESTful Actions
o Nest Resources to Scope Access
o Toggle Attributes with AJAX
o Authenticate REST Clients
o Respond To Custom Formats
o Catch All 404s
* Database Recipes
o Add Foreign Key Constraints
o Write Custom Validations
o Take Advantage of Master/Slave Databases
o Siphon Off SQL Queries
o Use Fixtures For Canned Datasets
* User Interface Recipes
o Handle Multiple Models In One Form
o Replace In-View Raw JavaScript
o Validate Required Form Fields Inline
o Create Multi-Step Wizards
o Customize Error Messages
o Upload Images with Thumbnails
o Decouple JavaScript with Low Pro
o Format Dates and Times
o Support An iPhone Interface
* Search Recipes
o Improve SEO with Dynamic Meta Tags
o Build a Sitemap
o Quick & Dirty Search
o Full-Text Search with Ferret
o Full-Text Search with Sphinx
o Solr-Power Your Search
* Design Recipes
o Freshen Up Your Models With Scope
o Create Meaningful Relationships Through Proxies
o Keep Forms DRY and Flexible
o Prevent Train Wrecks
o Simplify Controllers With a Presenter
* Integration Recipes
o Process Credit Card Payments
o Play Nice with Facebook
o Mark Locations On a Google Map
o Tunnel Back to Your Application
* Console Snacks
o Writin’ Console Methods
o Console Loggin’
o Playin’ In the Sandbox
o Accessin’ Helpers
o Shortcuttin’ the Console
* Asynchronous Processing Recipes
o Send Lightweight Messages
o Off-Load Long-Running Tasks to BackgrounDRb
o Process Asynchronous, State-Based Workflows
* E-mail Recipes
o Validate E-mail Addresses
o Receive E-mail Reliably via POP or IMAP
o Send E-mail Via Gmail
o Keep E-mail Addresses Up To Date
* Testing Recipes
o Maintain Fixtures Without Frustration
o Describe Behavior from the Outside-In With RSpec
o Test First with Shoulda
o Write Domain-Specific RSpec Matchers
o Write Custom Testing Tasks
o Test JavaScript With Selenium
o Mock Models with FlexMock
o Track Test Coverage with RCov
o Automatically Validate HTML
o Mock With a Safety Net
o Drive a Feature Top-Down with Integration Tests
* Performance and Scalability Recipes
o Cache Data Easily
o Look Up Constant Data Efficiently
o Profile In The Browser
o Cache Up With the Big Guys
o Dynamically Update Cached Pages
o Use DTrace for Profiling
* Security Recipes
o Constrain Access to Sensitive Data
o Encrypt Sensitive Data
o Flip On SSL
* Deployment and Capistrano Recipes
o Upload Custom Maintenance Pages
o Generate Custom Error (404 and 500) Pages
o Config Files On-The-Fly
o Create New Environments
o Run Multi-Stage Deployments
o Safeguard the Launch Codes
o Automate Periodic Tasks
o Preserve Files Between Deployments
o Segregate Page Cache Storage with Nginx
o Load Balance Around Your Mongrels’ Health
o Respond To Remote Capistrano Prompts
o Monitor (and Repair) Processes with Monit
* Big-Picture Recipes
o Manage Plugin Versions
o Fail Early
o Give Users Their Own Subdomain
o Customize and Analyze Log Files