Top 8 Most Useful Tools for a Rails Developer

In this slideshow I’ll show you my top 8 gem preferences to speed up your development workflow

1. DeviseFlexible and most complete user authentication solution

https://github.com/plataformatec/devise

What’s it for:If you want your web app to have the ability for users to sign up and sign in.

How hard is it to implement:gem ‘devise’rails generate devise:install rails generate devise user

VERY EASY

2. Simple FormEasiest way to build forms and add client side validation

https://github.com/plataformatec/simple_form

What’s it for:Rails forms can give you some trouble implementing. Simple form makes the whole process dead simple

How hard is it to implement:gem ‘simple_form’rails generate simple_form:install

VERY EASY

3. BootstrapEasily add beautiful responsive design to your app

https://github.com/seyhunak/twitter-bootstrap-rails

What’s it for:Make your website beautiful and responsive takes a lot of skill. Bootstrap gives you ready made classes to make your app beautiful.How hard is it to implement:gem ‘twitter-bootstrap-rails’rails generate bootstrap:install static

EASY

4. Rails AdminInstantly add an administration panel to your rails app

https://github.com/sferik/rails_admin

What’s it for:Building your own custom admin panel takes a long time and it can be challenging. Use this for instant gratification!

How hard is it to implement:gem ‘rails_admin’rails generate rails_admin:install

MEDIUM

Rails Admin

provide namespace for your routes

5. PaperclipEasy file attachment handling

https://github.com/thoughtbot/paperclip

What’s it for:Let’s say you want your users to upload their own profile pictures or any other attachment. This gem provides awesome helpers to achieve just that!How hard is it to implement:gem “paperclip”, “~> 4.2”add the following to the user model:

MEDIUM

Paperclip

has_attached_file :avatarrails generate paperclip user avatar

6. CancanOut of the box authorisation library

https://github.com/ryanb/cancan

What’s it for:Sometimes you want create different levels of access to different users. This gem provides you a set tools to limit how users access data around your app.How hard is it to implement:gem “cancan”rails g cancan:ability

HARD

CanCan

create ability classdefine abilities in views and controllers

7. Sunspot SolrBetter search with auto-indexing

https://github.com/sunspot/sunspot

What’s it for:You can do search procedures using Ruby on Rails’s core libraries. But take it to the next level and use a fast and production ready setup to let yours users search.How hard is it to implement:gem “sunspot_rails”rails g sunspot_rails:install

HARD

Sunspot Solr

bundle exec rake sunspot:solr:start

& gem “sunspot_solr”

8. StripeEasy Credit Card Payments out of the Box

https://www.stripe.com

What’s it for:At some point you will want to charge your wonderful users for your service. Stripe makes it dead simple to make it happen with their beautiful api.How hard is it to implement:gem “stripe”embed their own beautiful popup form

HARD

create a transactions controller