In this blog, we will teach you to step by step how to create an API using Ruby on Rails, even without having a greater knowledge of this framework that works with the Ruby language.
What is Ruby on Rails?
Ruby on Rails is an open-source software that users can use to develop applications and collaborate to change their code.
They focus on optimizing their system for the programmers, choosing convention over configuration, which has been risky but certainly works. This framework works excellent with many other technologies and allows HTML, CSS and Java to help display user interfacing. As we said, it’s a simple to use open-source framework that integrates well with other technologies and has a growing community that’s always willing to help.
Step by Step: Create an API Using Ruby on Rails
Step 1: Create a Rails API
To do this, in the directory of your choice you must write the following code in your terminal. This will allow you to create a new API that will be named secret_menu_api
#in your terminal rails new secret_menu_api --api
Next, switch to the API menu by opening it by typing this in your terminal:
# in your terminal
cd secret_menu_api
code .
Step 2: Enable CORS (Cross Origin Resource Sharing)
CORS allows others to access your API. To prevent unwanted access to your API, Rails automatically disables CORS. In the file explorer of your newly created Rails API, expand the following directories to open the cors.rb file.
config>initializers>cors.rb
So, Uncomment lines 8-16. On line 10, change the code (origins 'example.com') to (origins'*') as shown below:
# in config>initializers>cors.rb
# lines 8-16
Rails.application.config.middleware.insert_before 0, Rack::Cors do
allow do
origins '*'
resources '*',
headers: :any,
methods: [:get, :post, :put, :patch, :delete, :options, :head]
end
end
In the 'explorer' file, scroll down and open Gemfile. Uncomment line 26, gem 'rack-cors':
# in Gemfile gem 'rack-cors'
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Then in the terminal run:
#in terminal bundle install
Step 3: Create the model, controller, database migration table, and route via the Rails g resource command
Command syntax:
# in terminal
rails g resource Secret_menu_item
After doing this, you will notice that this command created the following files (we include the file directory on the second line):
A model named secret_menu_item
app>models>secret_menu_item.rb
A controller named secret_menu_items_controller.rb app>controllers>secret_menu_items_controller.rb
A route named routes.rb
config>routes.rb
A database migration table named 202042720449_create_secret_menu_items.rb
db>migrate>202042720449_create_secret_menu_items.rb
NOTE: 202042720449 is just a timestamp, your file could have a different timestamp.
Step 4: In this step, you have to specify the attributes and data types of a secret menu item
The API was designed to display useful information about items in the secret menu, so we can display such information by setting the following as attributes:
- secret menu item name
- name of the restaurant offering the secret menu item
- menu description
Specify attributes
In your 02042720449_create_secret_menu_items.rb, you are going to copy and paste:
# in db>migrate>202042720449_create_secret_menu_items.rb
class CreateSecretMenuItems < ActiveRecord::Migration[6.0]
def change
create_table :secret_menu_items do |t|
t.string :menu_name
t.string :restaurant_name
t.string :menu_description
end
end
end
Migrate your table
# in your terminal rails db:migrate
You should see the following in the terminal if the migration was successful:
# Message in your terminal == 20200427020449 CreateSecretMenuItems: migrating ============================= -- create_table(:secret_menu_items) -> 0.0022s == 20200427020449 CreateSecretMenuItems: migrated (0.0023s) ====================
In your db directory, you need to open schema.rb. You will notice that this file now shows its data structure.
# in db>schema.rb
ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 2020_05_03_161829) do
create_table "secret_menu_items", force: :cascade do |t|
t.string "menu_name"
t.string "restaurant_name"
t.string "menu_description"
end
end
Step 5: Time to define index, display, create, update, and destroy actions
All this will allow our API to:
- Index: display instances of menu items in the database
- Show: reflect instance of a menu item
- Create: make an instance of the menu
- Update: update an instance of an existing menu item
- Delete: get rid of a secret menu item
Copy and paste in secret_menu_intems_controller.rb.
#in app>controllers>secret_menu_items_controller.rb
class SecretMenuItemsController < ApplicationController
def index
@secretMenuItems = SecretMenuItem.all
render json: @secretMenuItems
end
def show
@secretMenuItem = SecretMenuItem.find(params[:id])
render json: @secretMenuItem
end
def create
@secretMenuItem = SecretMenuItem.create(
menu_name:params[:menu_name],
restaurant_name:params[:restaurant_name],
menu_description: params[:menu_description]
)
render json: @secretMenuItem
end
def update
@secretMenuItem = SecretMenuItem.find(params[:id])
@secretMenuItem.update(
menu_name:params[:menu_name],
restaurant_name:params[:restaurant_name],
menu_description: params[:menu_description]
)
render json: @secretMenuItem
end
def destroy
@secretMenuItems = SecretMenuItem.all
@secretMenuItem = SecretMenuItem.find(params[:id])
@secretMenuItem.destroy
render json: @secretMenuItems
end
end
Step 6 - Create routes to index, show, create, update and destroy actions
When talking about routes, we refer to those that receive HTTP requests on the client-side, forwarding these requests to the appropriate actions. To configure them, copy and paste into your route.rb:
# in config>routes.rb Rails.application.routes.draw do resources :secret_menu_items, only: [:index, :show, :create, :update, :destroy] end
Step 7: Seed the data
Create instances of the secret menu items in the database:
# in db>seed.rb menu1 = SecretMenuItem.create(menu_name: "Chipotle Nachos", restaurant_name: "Chipotle", menu_description:"Build a plate of nachos with all of your favorite fixings") menu2 = SecretMenuItem.create(menu_name: "Starbucks butterbeer Frappuccino", restaurant_name: "Starbucks", menu_description:"Combine three pumps of toffee nut syrup and three pumps of caramel with a Crème Frappuccino base") menu3 = SecretMenuItem.create(menu_name: "Skittles", restaurant_name: "Jamba Juice", menu_description:"A mixture of lemonade, lime sherbet, frozen yogurt, and strawberries")
Seed the date
# in your terminal
rails db:seed
Check if it was done correctly:
# in your terminal
rails c
# It will pull up a console
2.6.1 :002 >
Type SecretMenuItem.all to extract all instances of the secret menu items that were seeded:
# in your terminal 2.6.1 :002 > SecretMenuItem.all (0.5ms) SELECT sqlite_version(*) SecretMenuItem Load (0.2ms) SELECT "secret_menu_items".* FROM "secret_menu_items" LIMIT ? [["LIMIT", 11]] => #<ActiveRecord::Relation [#<SecretMenuItem id: 1, menu_name: "Chipotle Nachos", restaurant_name: "Chipotle", menu_description: "Build a plate of nachos with all of your favorite ...">, #< SecretMenuItem id: 2, menu_name: "Starbucks butterbeer Frappuccino", restaurant_name: "Starbucks", menu_description: "Combine three pumps of toffee nut syrup and three ...">, #<SecretMenuItem id: 3, menu_name: "Skittles", restaurant_name: "Jamba Juice", menu_description: "A mixture of lemonade, lime sherbet, frozen yogurt...">]>
If you can see all instances, then all data was successfully seeded.
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