# Rails generate commands

Usage: rails generate GENERATOR_NAME [args] [options].

Use rails generate to list available generators. Alias: rails g.

# Rails Generate Model

To generate an ActiveRecord model that automagically creates the correct db migrations & boilerplate test files for your model, enter this command

rails generate model NAME column_name:column_type

'NAME' is the name of the model. 'field' is the name of the column in the DB table and 'type' is the column type (e.g. name:string or body:text). Check the Remarks section for a list of supported column types.

To setup foreign keys, add belongs_to:model_name.

So say you wanted to setup a User model that has a username, email and belongs to a School, you would type in the following

rails generate model User username:string email:string school:belongs_to

rails g is shorthand for rails generate. This would produce the same result

rails g model User username:string email:string school:belongs_to

# Rails Generate Migration

You can generate a rails migration file from the terminal using the following command:

rails generate migration NAME [field[:type][:index] field[:type][:index]] [options]

For a list of all the options supported by the command, you could run the command without any arguments as in rails generate migration.

For example, if you want to add first_name and last_name fields to users table, you can do:

rails generate migration AddNamesToUsers last_name:string first_name:string

Rails will create the following migration file:

class AddNamesToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.0]
  def change
    add_column :users, :last_name, :string
    add_column :users, :first_name, :string
  end
end

Now, apply the pending migrations to the database by running the following in the terminal:

rake db:migrate

rails db:migrate

Note: For even less typing, you can replace generate with g.

# Rails Generate Scaffold

DISCLAIMER: Scaffolding is not recommended unless it's for very conventional CRUD apps/testing. This may generate a lot of files(views/models/controllers) that are not needed in your web application thus causing headaches(bad 😦).

To generate a fully working scaffold for a new object, including model, controller, views, assets, and tests, use the rails g scaffold command.

Then you can run rake db:migrate to set up the database table.

Then you can visit http://localhost:3000/widgets (opens new window) and you'll see a fully functional CRUD scaffold.

# Rails Generate Controller

we can create a new controller with rails g controller command.

$ bin/rails generate controller controller_name

The controller generator is expecting parameters in the form of generate controller ControllerName action1 action2.

The following creates a Greetings controller with an action of hello.

$ bin/rails generate controller Greetings hello

You will see the following output


    create  app/controllers/greetings_controller.rb
      route  get "greetings/hello"
     invoke  erb
     create    app/views/greetings
     create    app/views/greetings/hello.html.erb
     invoke  test_unit
     create    test/controllers/greetings_controller_test.rb
     invoke  helper
     create    app/helpers/greetings_helper.rb
     invoke  assets
     invoke    coffee
     create      app/assets/javascripts/greetings.coffee
     invoke    scss
     create      app/assets/stylesheets/greetings.scss

This generates the following

File	Example
Controller File	`greetings_controller.rb`
View File	`hello.html.erb`
Functional Test File	`greetings_controller_test.rb`
View Helper	`greetings_helper.rb`
JavaScript File	`greetings.coffee`

It will also add routes for each action in routes.rb

# Parameters

Parameter	Details
`-h`/`--help`	Get help on any generator command
`-p`/`--pretend`	Pretend Mode: Run generator but will not create or change any files
`field:type`	'field-name' is the name of the column to be created and 'type' is the data-type of column. The possible values for 'type' in `field:type` are given in the Remarks section.

# Remarks

The possible values for 'type' in field:type are:

Data Type	Description
`:string`	For smaller pieces of text (usually has a character limit of 255)
`:text`	For longer pieces of text, like a paragraph
`:binary`	Storing data including images, audios and videos
`:boolean`	Storing true or false values
`:date`	Only the date
`:time`	Only the time
`:datetime`	Date and time
`:float`	Storing floats without precision
`:decimal`	Storing floats with precision
`:integer`	Storing whole numbers

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