JSContact

In this project you’ll create a contact manager that functions like a simple Customer Relationship Manager (CRM). This project is designed for developers already familiar with Ruby and Rails. In this project you’ll practice “level 2” techniques including:

• Using RSpec and Cucumber tests to drive your development
• Creating view templates with HAML and SASS
• Generating code with Nifty Generators
• Creating named scopes to simplify your queries
• Modeling related objects with Single Table Inheritance (STI)
• Interacting with an external web-based API
• Refactoring
• Building complex forms with Formtastic and nested attributes.

This project assumes you have already completed the general Ruby setup and general Rails setup procedures. In addition, you’ll need to install several gems specific to this tutorial. On Linux or MacOS, use the command below. On Windows, use the same command but omit the “sudo” at the beginning:

sudo gem install formtastic haml nifty_generators rspec rspec-rails cucumber webrat mocha

At the time of this writing I am using Ruby 1.8.7 with the following relevant gem versions:

cucumber (0.6.2)
formtastic (0.9.7)
haml (2.2.20)
mocha (0.9.8)
nifty-generators (0.3.2)
rails (2.3.5)
rspec (1.3.0)
rspec-rails (1.3.2)
webrat (0.7.0)

The project will be developed in seven iterations below. The last page, Completed Iterations, has zip files of the complete project after each iteration:

• I0: 0-to-60 with Nifty Generators, HAML, and SASS

• I1: Testing with RSpec

• I2: Multiplying Attributes

• I3: Remodeling People into Contacts with STI

• I4: Implementing Notes & Attachments

• I5: Mapping Interface