Save Time with Custom Rails Generators

It's time to quit the copy-paste-search-replace dance.

Duplicate an existing file. Then duplicate the corresponding test file. Open them in your editor. Search and replace throughout both files. Manually update or delete a few more things.

Run the tests. Track down spots the search and replace didn't catch. Fix those issues, and run the tests again. Then you can get back to the real work.

That's no way to do things, and yet, we've all done it far too often.

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You already apply and re-use basic patterns on a regular basis. You're just doing it the hard way—either because you didn't know or because you believed custom generators required more effort than they're worth.

Believe it or not, with a little insight, you can effortlessly create well-tested, reliable, and easy-to-use generators that save time—no rocket science involved. And when you create a custom generator, it doesn't just save time for you but for your entire team. Over. And over. And over again.

Every single Rails project already provides all of the tools to build custom generators. With a little guidance, you can use them just as effortlessly as every other part of Rails.

Once you see how custom generators can turn those tedious and repetitive ten-minute distractions into ten-second commands, you'll never look back.

How much time could you save yourself and your teammates?

How many copy/paste/search/replace tasks could you automate once and for all?

What does it cover?

Frictionless Generators takes a holistic approach to help you see how to efficiently create and test custom Rails Generators so you and your team can save time.

The Book

Think of it as a guide for saving time that just happens to use custom Rails Generators as the methodology. We'll cover all of the key API's and tools for creating generators while also avoiding getting stuck in the weeds or creating generators nobody will ever use.

The book provides over 150 pages of pragmatic tips, tactics, and code samples to help you avoid speed bumps and get right into creating your own generators. But it's not just about learning how to create them. It's about learning when to not create one. It's about recognizing when and how to customize an existing generator so you don't reinvent the wheel.

Set aside any pre-conceived notions you may have about creating custom generators in Rails, and you'll add one more powerful tool to that tool belt of yours. And you'll waste less time on the tedious stuff so you can spend it on the high-value work you do.

Chapters & Topics

• Save Time & Reduce Tedium
  • Ensuring Generators are Net Time-savers
  • Identifying Generator Opportunities
  • Generating More than Code
  • Leveraging Tiny Generators
• Generate the Big Picture
  • Understanding Thor's Role
  • The Generator Generator is an Accelerant
  • Generating Your First Generator
  • The Elements & Structure of Generators
  • Templates, Sources, and Destinations
  • Actions & Inflections
  • The Command Line & Documentation
  • Arguments, Options, and Interactivity
  • Parent Class Options & Inheritance
• Arguments & Options
  • Knowing the Differences and Similarities
  • Defining, Passing, and Accessing
  • Types & Validation
  • Usage, Help, and Documentation
  • Judicious Arguments and Options
  • Your Generator's First Arguments
• Usability & Interactivity
  • Providing Helpful Documentation
  • Communicating Errors & Success
  • Collecting Values with Prompts
  • Printing Results & Data
  • Adding Custom Error Handling
  • Making Your Generator Easy to Use
• Leveraging Templates & Testing
  • The Magic & Power of Templates
  • Navigating Sources & Destinations
  • Writing Clean ERb in Templates
  • Using Rails Inflections
  • Supercharging Templates with Directories
  • JavaScript & Migration Templates
  • Automated Testing & Generators
  • Efficient Manual Testing
  • Dedicated Assertions & Helpers
  • Upgrading Your Own Generator
• Creating & Modifying Files
  • Creating without Templates
  • Creating/Updating Common Rails Files
  • Prepending, Appending, and Inserting Text
  • Managing Indentation & Whitespace
  • Quoting Strings in ERb
  • Commenting/Uncommenting in Ruby Files
  • Inline Global Substitutions
  • Deleting Files & Directories
• Utilities & System Commands
  • Running System Commands Directly
  • Running Ruby Commands Directly
  • Safely Navigating Directories
  • Version Control with Built-in Git Actions
  • Grab Bag of Extra Utilities
• Extending & Customizing
  • Using ActiveRecord Introspection
  • Calling Other Generators
  • Overriding Generator Templates
  • Extending the Built-in Generators
  • Hooking Generators Together
• Quick Reference
  • One-page Actions & Configuration Reference
  • One-page Values & Inflections Reference
• Cheat Sheets (Premium Version)
  • Generators Cheat Sheet
  • Generator Testing Cheat Sheet
  • Generator Templates Cheat Sheet
  • Generator Command Line Cheat Sheet
• Example Generators (Premium Version)
  • Variety of Ready-to-Use Generators
  • Use Directly or as Inspiration
  • Learn from Working Code Examples

Quick Reference and “Cheat” Sheets

For any resource to save time, it's not enough to just be a book. Books make for good trail guides, but paging back through a back to look up the name for that one method chips away at your time savings. Books are great, but the tidal wave of new knowledge can be more overwhelming than helpful at times.

That's why Frictionless Generators isn't just a book. It's truly designed to help you save time, and it includes quick reference and cheat sheets for those times when swimming back through the table of contents isn't fast enough.

Example Generators

In addition to the standard guidance, Frictionless Generators will also include a collection of pre-built generators for common scenarios. They can serve as well-documented examples and inspiration to learn from, or you can use them directly in your own projects. Use them as is or extend them for your unique needs.

• Specialized Object Patterns

  Quickly create various types of objects for modeling your application's logic with consistent, predictable, and well-tested patterns.

  • Value Objects
  • Query Objects
  • Form Objects
  • Policy Objects
  • Collection Objects
  • Singletons
  • Data/Struct
  • Presenters
  • Decorators
• Upgraded Rails Generators

  Examples of enhancing and modifying the existing generators to safely layer in additional functionality.

  • Partials & Helpers
  • Generators
  • Overriden Templates
• Scripts & Automation

  Leverage generators to spin up skeletons for other types of specialized scripts or automation.

  • Shell Scripts
  • Bin Scripts
  • Rake Tasks
  • Rails Commands
  • CSV & JSON Reports
• Documentation & Readme Updates

  Streamline the process of spinning up elements of documentation or reports related to the codebase.

  • Vendors
  • Dependencies
  • Reports
  • Changelogs

They're all written and documented to be read and easy to follow while also including relevant tests. They cover a wide variety of scenarios to help illustrate how custom generators can be used in a variety of ways for any kind of text files—not just generating code.

Additional Questions

Who's it for? Do I need to know Ruby and Rails extensively?

If you're a Rails developer who wants to save time on tedious tasks but never quite made it over the initial learning curve creating your own generators, you'll likely appreciate this book.

If you're deeply experienced with building custom generators already, it likely won't cover significant new ground for you, but it may still help surface some opportunities you've previously missed out on with custom generators.

Is it available to purchase elsewhere?

Yes. PragProg carries it as well. So if you've built up a significant library with them, you can purchase a copy there instead.

Is there a sample to read before purchasing?

Definitely! You can download a PDF of the first two chapters.

How long is the book?

The book takes about two or three hours to read straight through. I've intentionally done my best to keep it short and actionable so you can start saving time as quickly as possible.

Do you offer bulk discounts?

Absolutely. I've discovered that custom generators can be a huge benefit for teams because they standardize frequent tasks and help reduce errors while also reducing the need for detailed documentation for some tasks.

If you're looking to buy multiple copies for your team, let me know, and I'll send you a coupon for 10% off 2-5 copies or 25% off more than 5 copies.

What's your refund policy?

If you don't feel like you've learned how to quickly and efficiently build custom generators that save you time, let me know within a couple weeks of purchasing, and I'll kick off a refund immediately. It can take around five days for the credit to show up.

If possible, I'd appreciate it if you could include some feedback about how the book didn't meet your expectations so I can make sure to update the site or clarify anything that may have been incorrect or misleading for others.

Can I learn anything new if I'm already very familiar with the built-in generators?

Absolutely. Using the built-in generators is a great start that will provide great context, but designing and building your own generators from scratch is a whole other story. You'll invariably learn more about the built-in generators, but the real focus in the book is about helping you learn the ins-and-outs so you can quickly create your own for anything you need.

Can you help me convince my boss to purchase?

You bet. Here's a draft of an email that you can adjust and send to your boss.

Purchase Request Letter

Dear Boss,

Our team wants to create better code in far less time using Rails Generators. By creating custom Rails generators efficiently, we’ll be able to codify our team’s patterns and automate creating new code in a highly-testable manner.

Rails custom generators save time in the long-run by enabling us to perform standard tasks much more quickly. And since custom generators are built into our Rails codebase and support automated testing, they’re easier to create and more reliable than standard shell scripts.

Even better, by codifying common patterns into generators, it’s easier for new or junior team members to make progress without needing assistance from any other team members. Not only does that save time, but it helps empower them to contribute sooner.

We know it can work, but there’s a bit of a learning curve. That’s why we are asking for you to invest in licenses to Frictionless Generators (https://generators.dev) by Garrett Dimon.

Garrett has written a book with a laser focus on leveraging custom generators to save time and reduce tedium. Paired with a set of quick reference sheets and sample generators, it’s a short read that can help us ship better code faster.

With the bulk discounts, it seems like a great investment to enhance our skills. You can visit the Frictionless Generators site to read more and purchase licenses for us: https://generators.dev.

Thanks for giving it some thought!

The Team

How can I ask a question not covered here?

Just send me an email. I'll usually get back to you the same day—if not sooner.