Hovercraft

Generate a RESTful API from a directory of ActiveRecord models.

Short Disclaimer

I am not yet running this in production and the gem is not very extensible at this point. Consider it a proof of concept.

Get Up and Running

1. Throw this in your Gemfile:

   gem 'hovercraft'

2. Put your ActiveRecord models in models/ (make sure the file names are the same as the class names).

   Here's an example:

   # models/employee.rb
   
   class Employee < ActiveRecord::Base
      attr_accessible :name, :career
   end

   If you need help setting up an entire sinatra app here's a full example: http://github.com/vanstee/hovercraft_example

3. Create a rackup file that generates the application:

   # config.ru
   
   require 'bundler'
   Bundler.require
   
   run Hovercraft::Server.new

   If you need more setup I'd recommend using an application.rb file and requiring that in the config.ru instead.

4. Run the application like normal:

   bundle exec rackup
   

5. Make some requests:

   Create a record:

   curl -H 'Content-type: application/json' \
         -X POST \
         -d '{ "employee": { "name": "Philip J. Fry", "career": "Delivery Boy 1st Class" } }' \
         http://localhost:9292/employees.json

   Show all records:

   curl http://localhost:9292/employees.json

   Show a single record:

   curl http://localhost:9292/employees/1.json

   Update a record:

   curl -H "Content-type: application/json" \
         -X PUT \
         -d '{ "employee": { "name": "Philip J. Fry", "career": "Executive Delivery Boy" } }' \
         http://localhost:9292/employees/1.json

   Delete a record:

   curl -X DELETE http://localhost:9292/employees/1.json

Authentication

1. Include warden in your Gemfile:

   gem 'warden'

2. Use rack builder to add warden strategies to your rackup file:

   # config.ru
   
   require 'bundler'
   Bundler.require
   
   application = Rack::Builder.new do
     use Rack::Session::Cookie, secret: '...'
   
     Warden::Strategies.add :password do
       def valid?
         ...
       end
   
       def authenticate
         ...
       end
     end
   
     use Warden::Manager do |manager|
       manager.default_strategies :password
       manager.failure_app = ...
     end
   
     run Hovercraft::Server
   end
   
   run application

See the warden project for more in-depth examples or help troubleshooting.

Give Back

1. Fork it:

   https://help.github.com/articles/fork-a-repo

2. Create your feature branch:

   git checkout -b fixes_horrible_spelling_errors

3. Commit your changes:

   git commit -am 'Really? You spelled application as "applickachon"?'

4. Push the branch:

   git push origin fixes_horrible_spelling_errors

5. Create a pull request:

   https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests