Developing an ROR app for Heroku - Things to consider

Why ROR with Heroku: ROR is a language framework combo which has received tremendous support from the web developers in the industry. This is due to its easy to learn approach, quick web development features etc. Anyway, Ruby developers are in top of the list when it comes about faster web development. In ROR, the database and the view part are so much connected that the developer will find it extremely easier and interesting to develop industry standard web solutions with all modern features. On the other hand, Heroku is a Cloud platform as a service (PaaS) which is extremely reliable for your web app. Heroku has the blessings from salesforce since 2010 and hence you can expect better service from it.

Well, Heroku has a strong relationship with Ruby since its inception in 2007; because, for first 3 years it was providing support to only Ruby. Later on, after 2010, it expanded its service to other languages like Java, nodeJS, PHP, and Python etc. So a ruby developer can expect premium feelings within Heroku environment. Today, we will discuss about ROR development under Heroku platform and we will consider few major points before we launch our app in Heroku.

Estimate your needs and requirements: Before launching your ROR app, you must consider what are the required resources for your app? As a web developer (ROR developer), you need to recognize how much memory you need i.e. RAM to run your app. Higher RAM is always better, but if your app is limited to less number of users you can take less RAM. In Heroku, there is a parameter known as Dynos that are responsible to run your app in an isolated container with sufficient energy from RAM. A Ruby developer has the option to choose the size of Dynos or RAM as per his requirement for the app.

Make sure you are using Postgres database: Yes, this is the most important part. Heroku supports Postgres database. So, as a web developer you must ensure that your app is running on postgres before you think of launching it in Heroku. For the same, you must develop your app using Ruby and Postgres so that you will not face any problem in future. You can do the same by including “pg” gem inside the Gemfile.

Don’t forget to store your app on git: Heroku has clearly mentioned that it has strong affection for git!! In other words, we can say Heroku relies on git. So, Ruby developer must put his web app on the git platform only. Git is a distributed source control management tool to deploy your project. So, web developer must ensure all the code of the app ready for git.

Support matters much: Last but not the least Support. It matters most for any app; because, it determines the fate of the app. ROR developer should take care of this feature to the maximum level. There are many plans to provide support for the developer. It starts with instant support to 1-day response time. So, be careful while choosing this service.

Besides above, Heroku also provides many add-ons for your app to make it even more powerful, more interactive and future ready. So, Ruby developer should also put his hands over these add-ons as well.

You can get in touch with a ROR development company who can help you develop apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Rails development services. If you would like to know more about our expertise or want to hire expert Ruby on Rails developers for your web app development needs, please contact us Mindfire Solutions.

Future of Ruby on Rails as a Programming Language

A number of recent reports have highlighted how Ruby on Rails (RoR) is being adopted widely by both established companies and startups across various sectors. Many reports have even indicated that Rails will be used widely for mobile application development. The most recent information clearly indicates a steady and consistent increase in the popularity of RoR as an open source and full stack internet application development.

The framework written in Ruby also supports several widely used software development architectures and patterns including model–view–controller (MVC), active record pattern, don't repeat yourself (DRY) and convention over configuration (CoC). So Rails makes it easier for programmers to create robust internet applications that complement the most recent trends in web development.

Why the Future of Ruby on Rails is Extremely Bright?

Full Stack

Unlike other popular web technologies, RoR is a full stack web development framework. So it can be used to cover the font-end as well as the back end. A web programmer can use Rails to create an entire internet application without relying on any other developers. Any developer familiar with HTML, JavaScript and CSS can start using RoR. Thus, the enterprises can easily hire Rails developers for their project.

Usable for Creating a Wide Range of Internet Applications

At present, Ruby is used by businesses belonging to different sectors to create internet applications and online portals. Along with allowing users to tweak or change the applications in a flexible way, Ruby also enables them to test the application quickly and efficiently. Further, businesses can use the programming language to update their internet applications by adding new features. In comparison to other web technologies, Ruby can better effectuate the development, testing and deployment of applications without requiring any extra time and efforts.

Option to Customize Internet Applications

Often programmers have to customize the look and feel of an internet app according to client’s specific requirements. Unlike other technologies, RoR enables developers to easily create their own building blocks, and add plug-and-play functionality to the application. The developers also have option to reuse the elements of their current project for future projects. So they can easily extend the performance and usage of the app without developing building blocks from the scratch.

Saves Time and Money

Many enterprises, nowadays, opt for open source technologies to curtail project costs. Along with being open source, RoR also enables developers to cut significant chunks out of internet app development project. At the same time, the framework also makes it easier for programmers to complete coding within a reduced span of time. Thus, a business can rapidly move from planning stage to development stage. Many startups and emerging companies rely on Rails to save both development time and cost.

Facilitates Software Updates

As RoR supports MVC architecture, it becomes easier for programmers to keep the model separate from view and controllers. They can simply create models using a wide range of objects, and modify the models to change the web application’s look and feel. Once the modifications are done, the models can be saved in the database and reused with different server side code. Rails further make it easier for database developers to create optimized SQL queries, while preventing SQL injection and XSS attacks. Thus, RoR is popular among businesses that require the web applications and online portals to be updated at regular intervals.

Support of a Large and Active Community

Like other open source technologies, Rails is also supported by a large and active community of developers. The community further contributes hugely towards increasing the adoptability of the framework. Along with improving Rails code consistently, the developers also help other programmers in completing their projects. So the novice Ruby developers can avail the assistance of the community to get software libraries to simplify certain tasks and to fix certain issues.

The web programmers can further use the most recent version of Ruby on Rails to avail several new and enhanced features. For instance, the latest version of Rails 4.1 allows them to avail new features like variants, spring, enums, mailer previews, and secrets.yml. You can get in touch with a ruby on rails development company, who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide ruby software development services. If you would like to hire Certified Rails Programmers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Soltuions.

Ruby on Rails - Some practices to avoid

The web framework of Ruby on Rails is open source and optimized so that sustainable productivity is inspired in programmers. It favours convention instead of configuration so that beautiful code can be written. However, those who are new to the framework find that there are some preferred ways to accomplish a task given; knowing about them is absolutely imperative since otherwise a lot of problems crop up. If you know how to handle a particular task and how to approach it, then the task becomes really smooth; then you will be able to write clean, more secure as well as maintainable codes. In order to write the best codes, here are some practices that you must always avoid.

Do not Rescue everything- The individual controller actions should not be embedded with rescues. Some edge cases may require stuff to be rescued specifically during actions but the entire controller should not be assaulted by rescue. In fact, a rescue must always be attached to individual exception as otherwise all exceptions are caught and then useful plugins do not get called. It leads to no generation of back traces which results in a scaffolding of handling error and then finding of collapses, leaving us with an inconsistently failing mess.

No overriding of existing methods- This must be avoided like the plague. An existing method mustnever be overridden unless the existing functionality is mimicked completely along with tests to prove the authenticity. If there is a compelling reason for you to do this then the resulting method must be put in place that is very clear; it should be documented extensively as well. It should not be put in somewhere bizarre such as a plugin; if the code fails then you would have to research through a big winding backtrace to find the problem.

The controller must not be long- The controller should in no conditions, be more than 1000 lines long. For 100 actions there must be at least 10 individual controllers; 1 huge one should not have them all. If the controller has 5 actions then whatever goes into every one of the actions should be reconsidered.

Validations should not be in the controller- Nothing should ever be validated in a controller; there can be no excuse for that. For validations there are helper methods in the moles which are quick as well as easy to use.

The params hash should never be modified- All data submitted from request is contained by params hash. In case of modifications, it cannot be accessed by later codes. Instead the params hash must be copied and the copy should be modified.

Avoid using time_ago_in_words- Rails developers often use time_ago_in_words so that time such as “4 minutes ago” may be displayed. However when the server side attempts to calculate the time it becomes too expensive. So client CPU must be used for time ago calculation.

Kill chubby controllers- A controller should not have any business logic. Remember that there are just two functions of controllers- taking data from session or params to send to model and then deciding what the user should see. The necessary logic is performed by the model. Including anything else in the action is simply overdoing.

Avoid copying and pasting huge swatches of CSS and code in a view- When copy pasting the code, make sure to paste it into a helper that is easily accessible so that if somebody has to change the code’s instances, it can be done in one place. Even in case of CSS, you surely do not want to confuse people with its size as during modification it will be a tiresome task, so avoid copying out huge amounts of CSS.

There are still plenty of places where you might go wrong while coding. The only thing to do is to carefully consider everything and then assign specific roles very strictly. The conventions as well rules must be taken very seriously. Make sure that the final output is tested thoroughly so that there is little room for errors. You can get in touch with a ruby on rails development company who can help you web develop apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

we provide Rails web development service. If you would like to hire Ruby on Rails developers for your development needs, please contact Mindfire Solutions.