Ruby Bytes

Ruby Bytes is a tool to build application templates for Ruby and Rails applications, which helps to:

Build complex templates consisting of multiple independent components.
Test templates with ease.
Install application templates without Rails.
Publish templates to RailsBytes.

We also provide a GitHub action to compile and deploy templates continuously.

📖 Read more about Ruby Bytes and application templates in the Ruby Bytes, or generating standalone generators post.

Examples

See also examples in the templates folder.

Installation

To install templates, install the rbytes executable via the gem:

gem install rbytes

For templates development, add rbytes to your Gemfile or gemspec:

# Gemfile
gem "rbytes"

Installing templates

You can use rbytes install <url> similarly to rails app:template but without needing to install Rails. It's useful if you want to use a template in a Rails-less environment.

Usage example:

$ rbytes install https://railsbytes.com/script/x7msKX

Run template from: https://railsbytes.com/script/x7msKX
  apply  https://railsbytes.com/script/x7msKX
hello world from https://railsbytes.com 👋

IMPORTANT: Not all templates from RailsBytes may be supported as of yet. Please, let us know if you find incompatibilities with rails app:template, so we can fix them.

You can also install Ruby Bytes as a plugin for Thor (see Thor integration).

Writing templates

The quickest way to get started with using Ruby Bytes to build templates is to use our generator to create a project:

$ rbytes install https://railsbytes.com/script/V2GsbB

...

Splitting template into partials

Ruby Bytes adds partial support to Thor/Rails templates. For that, you can use #include and #render methods:

say "Welcome to a custom Rails template!"

<%= include "setup_gems" %>

file "config/initializers/my-gem.rb", <%= code("initializer.rb") %>

The #include helper simply injects the contents of the partial into the resulting file.

The #code method allows you to inject dynamic contents depending on the local variables defined. For example, given the following template and a partial:

# _anycable.yml.tt
development:
  broadcast_adapter: <%= cable_adapter %>

# template.rb
cable_adapter = ask? "Which AnyCable pub/sub adapter do you want to use?"

file "config/anycable.yml", <%= code("anycable.yml") %>

The compiled template will look like this:

cable_adapter = ask? "Which AnyCable pub/sub adapter do you want to use?"

file "config/anycable.yml", ERB.new(
  *[
  <<~'CODE'
    development:
      broadcast_adapter: <%= cable_adapter %>
  CODE
  ], trim_mode: "<>").result(binding)

NOTE: By default, we assume that partials are stored next to the template's entry-point. Partials may have the "_" prefix and ".rb" or ".tt" suffixes.

Compiling templates

You can compile a template by using the rbytes executable:

$ rbytes compile path/to/template

<compiled template>

You can also specify a custom partials directory:

rbytes compile path/to/template --root=path/to/partials

Testing

We provide a Minitest integration to test your templates.

Here is an example usage:

require "ruby_bytes/test_case"

class TemplateTest < RubyBytes::TestCasee
  # Specify root path for your template (for partials lookup)
  root File.join(__dir__, "../template")

  # You can test partials in isolation by declaring a custom template
  template <<~RUBY
    say "Hello from some partial"
    <%= include "some_partial" %>
  RUBY

  def test_some_partial
    run_generator do |output|
      assert_file "application.rb"

      assert_file_contains(
        "application.rb",
        <<~CODE
          module Rails
            class << self
              def application
        CODE
      )

      refute_file_contains(
        "application.rb",
        "Nothing"
      )

      assert_line_printed output, "Hello from some partial"
    end
  end
end

If you use prompt in your templates, you can prepopulate standard input:

class TemplateTest < RubyBytes::TestCasee
  # Specify root path for your template (for partials lookup)
  root File.join(__dir__, "../template")

  # You can test partials in isolation by declaring a custom template
  template <<~RUBY
    say "Hello from some partial"
    if yes?("Do you write tests?")
      say "Gut"
    else
      say "Why not?"
    end
  RUBY

  def test_prompt_yes
    run_generator(input: ["y"]) do |output|
      assert_line_printed output, "Gut"
    end
  end

  def test_prompt_no
    run_generator(input: ["n"]) do |output|
      assert_line_printed output, "Why not?"
    end
  end
end

Thor integration

We provide a custom Thor command, which can be used to apply templates (similar to rails app:template).

First, make sure you have Thor installed (gem install thor).
Install rbytes:template command by running:

thor install https://railsbytes.com/script/zNPsdN

Now you can execute Rails (and non-Rails) templates using Thor:

# hello world template
$ thor rbytes:template https://railsbytes.com/script/x7msKX

Run template from: https://railsbytes.com/script/x7msKX
  apply  https://railsbytes.com/script/x7msKX
hello world from https://railsbytes.com 👋

GitHub action

You can use our GitHub action to deploy your templates to RailsBytes.

Here is an example:

name: Publish

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - v*
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  publish:
    uses: palkan/rbytes/.github/workflows/railsbytes.yml@master
    with:
      template: templates/my-template.rb
    secrets:
      RAILS_BYTES_ACCOUNT_ID: "${{ secrets.RAILS_BYTES_ACCOUNT_ID }}"
      RAILS_BYTES_TOKEN: "${{ secrets.RAILS_BYTES_TOKEN }}"
      RAILS_BYTES_TEMPLATE_ID: "${{ secrets.RAILS_TEMPLATE_ID }}"

Publishing manually

You can use the rbytes publish command to compile and publish a template to RailsBytes:

RAILS_BYTES_ACCOUNT_ID=aaa \
RAILS_BYTES_TOKEN=bbb \
RAILS_BYTES_TEMPLATE_ID=ccc \
rbytes publish path/to/template

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/palkan/rbytes.

Credits

This gem is generated via newgem template by @palkan.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

petrosp / rbytes