Launch a Rails database in under 5 minutes

A step by step tutorial

This will be strictly instructional, follow this step by step guide to quickly build your backend.

1) In your terminal: rails new APP-NAME --api

• Or add this flag if you have Postgres installed and would like to use it: rails new APP-NAME --database=postgresql —-api
• If you choose to use Postgres, remember to turn Postgres on when you launch your server.

2) In your terminal: cd APP-NAME && open Gemfile, then find and uncomment gem 'rack-cors', then add this line of code on the next line: gem 'active_model_serializers'

3) In your terminal: bundle && open config/initializers/cors.rb, then uncomment the following code and use * for origins:

	Rails.application.config.middleware.insert_before 0, Rack::Cors do
	allow do
	origins '*'
	resource '*',
	headers: :any,
	methods: [:get, :post, :put, :patch, :delete, :options, :head]
	end
	end

view raw cors.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

4) In your terminal: open config/routes.rb, then add namespacing and resources:

# resources :posts, only: [:index, :create] is an example for when you have more models.

	Rails.application.routes.draw do
	namespace :api do
	namespace :v1 do
	resources :users, only: [:index, :create, :update, :destroy]
	# resources :posts, only: [:index, :create]
	end
	end
	end

view raw routes.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

5) In your terminal: rails g model User username password_digest

• Replace User with the model that you need.
• Replace username with the attributes that you need.
• We’re going to keep User as our example model going forward.

6) In your terminal: open app/models/user.rb, then add your relationships:

	class User < ApplicationRecord
	# has_many :posts, dependent: :destroy
	end

view raw user.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

7) In your terminal: rails g controller api/v1/Users

• Replace Users with the controller that you need.

8) In your terminal: open app/controllers/api/v1/users_controller.rb, then add methods:

	class Api::V1::UsersController < ApplicationController
	before_action :find_user, only: [:update, :destroy]
	def index
	@users = User.all
	render json: @users
	end
	def create
	@user = User.create(user_params)
	render json: @user, status: :accepted
	end
	def update
	@user.update(user_params)
	if @user.save
	render json: @user, status: :accepted
	else
	render json: { errors: @user.errors.full_messages }, status: :unprocessible_entity
	end
	end
	def destroy
	@user.destroy
	render json: { message: "removed" }, status: :ok
	end
	private
	def user_params
	params.require(:user).permit(:username)
	end
	def find_user
	@user = User.find(params[:id])
	end
	end

view raw users_controller.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

9) In your terminal: rails g serializer User

• Replace User with the model that you need.

10) In your terminal: open app/serializers/user_serializer.rb, then add attributes and relationships to other models:

• Uncomment has_many :posts after creating your other model(s).

	class UserSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
	# has_many :posts
	attributes :username
	end

view raw user_serializer.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

11) In your terminal: rails db:create && rails db:migrate

12) Test this by running rails c in your terminal then User.create(username: 'bob')

• Ctrl + D to quit.

13) Launch! Type rails s in your terminal then go to [http://localhost:3000/api/v1/users](http://localhost:3000/api/v1/users) in your browser.

• Ctrl + C to quit.
• If not localhost:3000, your terminal will tell you:

// rails s
=> Booting Puma
=> Rails 5.2.2 application starting in development
=> Run `rails server -h` for more startup options
Puma starting in single mode…
* Version 3.12.0 (ruby 2.3.4-p301), codename: Llamas in Pajamas
* Min threads: 5, max threads: 5
* Environment: development
* Listening on tcp://0.0.0.0:3000

Repeat steps 4–10 for your other models and that’s it, you’re done (with your backend).

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