Impression tracking is a valuable feature for many web applications as it allows you to keep a count of how many times a specific resource, like a post or a page, has been viewed. In this blog post, we will walk through the process of setting up impression tracking in a Ruby on Rails application using the Impressionist gem.
Step 1: Creating a New Rails Application
To get started, let's create a new Rails application. You can do this with the following commands:
rails new impressionist_1_gem
cd impressionist_1_gem
Step 2: Creating the Question Model
In our example, let's assume that we want to track impressions on a Question
model. We'll create a Question
model and set up the necessary associations:
rails generate model Question title content:text
rake db:migrate
Step 3: Adding the Impressionist Gem
Now, let's add the Impressionist gem to your Rails application. Include it in your Gemfile
and run the following commands:
gem 'impressionist'
bundle install
bundle install
rails generate impressionist
rails db:migrate
Step 4: Setting Up the Impressionist Table
The Impressionist gem generates a migration to create an impressions
table. Here's an example of what the migration might look like:
class CreateImpressionsTable < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.0]
def self.up
create_table :impressions, :force => true do |t|
t.string :impressionable_type
t.integer :impressionable_id
t.integer :user_id
t.string :controller_name
t.string :action_name
t.string :view_name
t.string :request_hash
t.string :ip_address
t.string :session_hash
t.text :message
t.text :referrer
t.text :params
t.timestamps
end
# Add necessary indexes
end
def self.down
drop_table :impressions
end
end
Step 5: Making the Question Model "Impressionable"
In your Question
model, you need to make it "impressionable" by adding the is_impressionable
method:
# app/models/question.rb
class Question < ApplicationRecord
is_impressionable
# ...
end
Step 6: Using Impression Tracking in the Questions Controller
In your QuestionsController
, you can use Impressionist to track impressions on specific actions. For example, to track impressions on the show
and index
actions:
# app/controllers/questions_controller.rb
class QuestionsController < ApplicationController
impressionist :actions => [:show, :index]
# ...
end
Step 7: Displaying Impression Counts
To display the impression counts in your view, you can use the impressionist_count
method provided by the Impressionist gem:
<h1>All Questions</h1>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Id</th>
<th>Title</th>
<th>Content</th>
<th>Views</th>
<th colspan="3">Actions</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<% @questions.each do |question| %>
<tr>
<td><%= question.id %></td>
<td><%= question.title %></td>
<td><%= question.content %></td>
<td><%= question.impressionist_count %></td>
<td>
<%= link_to 'Show', question_path(question.id) %> |
<%= link_to 'Destroy', question_path(question.id), method: :delete %> |
<%= link_to 'Edit', edit_question_path(question.id) %>
</td>
</tr>
<% end %>
</tbody>
</table>
This blog post provides a step-by-step guide on setting up impression tracking in a Ruby on Rails application using the Impressionist gem. It covers the installation of necessary gems, creating models, and configuring impression tracking. With this setup, you can keep track of views on specific resources in your application.
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