RailsCasts (Mobile)
346 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 11 years ago - ★★★★★ - 58 ratingsEvery other week you will be treated to a new, free RailsCasts episode featuring tips and tricks with Ruby on Rails, the popular web development framework. These screencasts are short and focus on one technique so you can quickly move on to applying it to your own project. The topics are geared toward the intermediate Rails developer, but beginners and experts will get something out of it as well. A Pro option is also available containing more screencasts each week. This version is for mobile devices which cannot support the full resolution version.
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Episodes
#96 Git on Rails
March 10, 2008 07:00 - 5 minutes - 5.41 MB VideoGit has been getting a lot of buzz lately, and for good reason. It's an excellent SCM which in many ways is more simple and powerful than subversion. See how to set up a Rails project with Git in this episode.
#95 More on ActiveResource
March 03, 2008 07:00 - 8 minutes - 9.99 MB VideoSee how to handle authentication and custom actions using ActiveResource in this episode.
#94 ActiveResource Basics
February 25, 2008 07:00 - 7 minutes - 7.67 MB VideoActiveResource allows you to easily communicate between multiple Rails applications. See how in this episode.
#93 Action Caching
February 18, 2008 07:00 - 7 minutes - 8.43 MB VideoAction caching behaves much like page caching except it processes the controller filters. You can also make it conditional as seen in this episode.
#92 make_resourceful
February 11, 2008 07:00 - 6 minutes - 6.64 MB VideoThe make_resourceful plugin is a great way to DRY up the 7 RESTful actions common in most controllers. Learn how to use it in this episode.
#91 Refactoring Long Methods
February 04, 2008 07:00 - 7 minutes - 7.61 MB VideoIn this episode I walk you through an exercise in refactoring by taking a long method and making it more concise.
#90 Fragment Caching
January 27, 2008 08:00 - 6 minutes - 8.76 MB VideoSometimes you only want to cache a section of a page instead of the entire page. Fragment caching is the answer as shown in this episode.
#89 Page Caching
January 20, 2008 08:00 - 6 minutes - 8.74 MB VideoPage caching is an efficient way to cache stateless content. In this episode I will show you how to cache the dynamic javascript we created last week.
#88 Dynamic Select Menus
January 13, 2008 08:00 - 7 minutes - 7.94 MB VideoSee how to dynamically change a select menu based on another select menu using Javascript. In this episode everything is kept client side which leads to a more responsive user interface.
#87 Generating RSS Feeds
January 06, 2008 08:00 - 6 minutes - 6.42 MB VideoSee how to easily generate and link to an RSS feed using new features in Rails 2.0. Watch this episode or details.
#86 Logging Variables
December 31, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 6.21 MB VideoHave you ever wanted to easily log all variables? Now you can by using some advanced Ruby concepts as shown in this episode.
#85 YAML Configuration File
December 24, 2007 07:00 - 7 minutes - 7.3 MB VideoApplication configuration shouldn't be spread throughout your code base. Instead a much better place to put it is an external YAML file. See how to do that in this episode.
#84 Cookie Based Session Store
December 16, 2007 08:00 - 4 minutes - 3.67 MB VideoIn Rails 1.2 the default session store is file based. This is inefficient and difficult to maintain. In Rails 2.0 the default is now cookie based which has several benefits as you will see in this episode.
#83 Migrations in Rails 2.0
December 10, 2007 07:00 - 5 minutes - 5.15 MB VideoMigrations are now sexy in Rails 2.0! In this episode we will take a look at these improvements and the related rake tasks.
#82 HTTP Basic Authentication
December 02, 2007 08:00 - 4 minutes - 4.88 MB VideoRails 2.0 offers an extremely easy way to do HTTP basic authentication. See how in this episode.
#81 Fixtures in Rails 2.0
November 26, 2007 07:00 - 4 minutes - 3.47 MB VideoIn Rails 2.0, fixtures see many improvements which makes them much easier to manage. Watch this episode for details.
#80 Simplify Views with Rails 2.0
November 19, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 5.78 MB VideoRails 2.0 is almost here. One of the many features in this release is the smarter helper methods which can make your views much cleaner. Learn all about it in this Episode.
#79 Generate Named Routes
November 12, 2007 07:00 - 5 minutes - 5.6 MB VideoThis more advanced episode will show you how to dynamically generate named routes by adding a method to the map object.
#78 Generating PDF Documents
November 05, 2007 07:00 - 7 minutes - 7.5 MB VideoIn this episode I will show you how to create PDF documents using the excellent PDF::Writer gem.
#77 Destroy Without JavaScript
October 29, 2007 07:00 - 7 minutes - 7.28 MB VideoIf the user has JavaScript disabled, the "Destroy" link might not work properly. In this episode I will explore a number of ways to work around this issue.
#76 scope_out
October 22, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 5.89 MB VideoThe scope_out plugin will generate several helpful find methods for you automatically! It's the best way to move the find conditions into your model. Watch this episode for details.
#75 Complex Forms Part 3
October 15, 2007 07:00 - 16 minutes - 15.7 MB VideoIn this third and final episode on complex forms I will show you how to edit a project and multiple tasks all in one form. This includes removing and adding tasks dynamically as well. See the show notes for updated code.
#74 Complex Forms Part 2
October 08, 2007 07:00 - 8 minutes - 8.45 MB VideoSee how to use Javascript and RJS to add and remove form fields dynamically. This episode will build upon the previous episode allowing you to create any number of tasks in one form the same time a project is created.
#73 Complex Forms Part 1
October 01, 2007 07:00 - 8 minutes - 7.83 MB VideoComplex forms often lead to complex controllers, but that doesn't have to be the case. In this episode see how you can create multiple models through a single form while keeping the controller clean.
#72 Adding an Environment
September 24, 2007 07:00 - 3 minutes - 3.86 MB VideoRails comes with three environments: development, test, and production. But, you aren't restricted to just these. You can add your own! See how in this episode.
#71 Testing Controllers with RSpec
September 17, 2007 07:00 - 11 minutes - 12.1 MB VideoControllers are tricky to test, and there's no perfect way to do it. In this episode you will see how I test controllers, and my reasoning behind it.
#70 Custom Routes
September 10, 2007 07:00 - 7 minutes - 6.6 MB VideoIn this episode you will learn how to add custom routes, make some parameters optional, and add requirements for other parameters.
#69 Markaby in Helper
September 03, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 6.59 MB VideoDo you ever need to generate HTML code in a helper method? Placing it directly in Ruby strings is not very pretty. Learn a great way to generate HTML through Markaby in this episode.
#68 OpenID Authentication
August 27, 2007 07:00 - 11 minutes - 12.1 MB VideoEver wonder how to implement OpenID authentication in your Rails app? This episode will show you how to add it to a site with an existing authentication system.
#67 restful_authentication
August 20, 2007 07:00 - 9 minutes - 11.8 MB VideoNeed multiple user authentication? If so, the restful_authentication plugin is a great way to go. It will generate some basic authentication code for you which is good starting point to your authentication system. Watch this episode for details.
#66 Custom Rake Tasks
August 13, 2007 07:00 - 10 minutes - 9.86 MB VideoRake is one of those tools that you don't realize how powerful it is until you start using it. In this episode you will learn how to create custom rake tasks and improve them by using rake features.
#65 Stopping Spam with Akismet
August 06, 2007 07:00 - 11 minutes - 15.7 MB VideoThe Railscasts site has been getting a lot of comment spam in the past, but no longer. In this episode I will show you how I solved this problem by using the Akismet web service.
#64 Custom Helper Modules
July 30, 2007 07:00 - 5 minutes - 6.51 MB VideoRails designates one helper module per controller, but that shouldn't stop you from making custom helper modules to help structure the code. Learn how in this episode.
#63 Model Name in URL
July 27, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 6.21 MB VideoBy default, Rails uses the model's id in the URL. What if you want to use the name of the model instead? You can change this behavior by overriding the to_param method in the model. Watch this episode for details.
#62 Hacking ActiveRecord
July 25, 2007 07:00 - 11 minutes - 12.2 MB VideoHave you ever wanted to temporarily disable all validations? Well, ActiveRecord doesn't support this, but that doesn't mean we can't add it. This episode will show you how to open up an existing class and change its behavior.
#61 Sending Email
July 23, 2007 07:00 - 7 minutes - 8.24 MB VideoThis is a brief guide to sending email in Rails. See how to configure the environment, generate a mailer, create a template, and deliver the mail.
#60 Testing without Fixtures
July 20, 2007 07:00 - 9 minutes - 9.58 MB VideoTests which rely heavily on fixtures are brittle and can be difficult to maintain. This episode will show a couple techniques for creating tests which don't use fixtures.
#59 Optimistic Locking
July 18, 2007 07:00 - 7 minutes - 7.8 MB VideoWhen two people attempt to update the same record near the same time, one of the updates will likely be overwritten. You can solve this problem with optimistic locking.
#58 How to Make a Generator
July 16, 2007 07:00 - 11 minutes - 12.7 MB VideoRails comes with many built-in generators, but what if you want to customize them or make your own? Rails gives you a great way to do this which you will learn in this episode.
#57 Create Model Through Text Field
July 13, 2007 07:00 - 5 minutes - 5.61 MB VideoLet's say you provide a select menu for setting which category a given product belongs to, but you also want the option of creating a new category by typing the name in a text field. See a great way to do that in this episode.
#56 The Logger
July 11, 2007 07:00 - 9 minutes - 13.7 MB VideoLearn all about the logger in this episode. See how to send messages to the log and how to customize it.
#55 Cleaning Up the View
July 09, 2007 07:00 - 9 minutes - 11 MB VideoThis episode starts off with a big, messy template. Watch as this code shrinks and becomes more readable while the interface stays the same.
#54 Debugging with ruby-debug
July 06, 2007 07:00 - 8 minutes - 8.69 MB VideoThis episode will show you how to debug a rails app using ruby-debug: set a breakpoint, inspect variables, change the code and more.
#53 Handling Exceptions
July 04, 2007 07:00 - 8 minutes - 11.1 MB VideoWhen an exception is raised in development you get the full error along with the stack trace. In production, only a simple message is displayed. Learn why this is and how to customize the handling of exceptions.
#52 Update through Checkboxes
July 02, 2007 07:00 - 10 minutes - 11.3 MB VideoSee how to select multiple items using checkboxes and perform an action on the selected items in this episode.
#51 will_paginate
June 29, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 7.79 MB VideoIn edge rails (soon to be Rails 2.0), the built-in pagination has been moved into a plugin: classic_pagination. I recommend jumping over to the will_paginate plugin as shown in this episode.
#50 Contributing to Rails
June 27, 2007 07:00 - 14 minutes - 18.7 MB VideoThe best way to contribute to the Rails project is to submit a patch. This episode shows how to do exactly that. There's also a surprise at the end that you don't want to miss!
#49 Reading the API
June 25, 2007 07:00 - 6 minutes - 13.9 MB VideoThe Rails API docs are very useful but can be difficult to read. This episode will give some tips on reading the docs and mention a few alternative sites for accessing the API. Update: sorry about the broken movie, it should work now.
#48 Console Tricks
June 22, 2007 07:00 - 10 minutes - 11.6 MB VideoThe Rails console is one of my favorite tools. This episode is packed with tips and tricks on how to get the most out of the console.
#47 Two Many-to-Many
June 20, 2007 07:00 - 9 minutes - 9.11 MB VideoThere are two different ways to set up a many-to-many association in Rails. In this episode you will see how to implement both ways along with some tips on choosing the right one for your project.