Some Best Ruby on Rails Gems for Web Development

Some Best Ruby on Rails Gems for Web Development

Whether you’re a developer looking to learn a new development platform or a web development company looking to build rich web applications, Ruby on Rails web development can be a perfect development platform to choose for your next application. If you’re here and reading this article, it probably indicates that you have some knowledge about Ruby on Rails web development and its ‘gems’.

Before learning about some of the best Ruby on Rails Gems for web development, let’s first quickly recapitulate the basics of Ruby on Rails and its ‘gems’:

Overview – Ruby on Rails Web Development

Released in 2004, Ruby on Rails (also referred to as Rails or RoR) is a server-side web application framework that combines Ruby programming language with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It is a Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework needed to create database-backed web applications. Ruby on Rails web development is generally preferred by web development companies for their cost-effectiveness, short build time and sustainable productivity.

Ruby on Rails Gems

Ruby on Rails gems are created for various purposes such as authentication, authorization, payment processing and testing. These gems ensure stable Ruby on Rails web development and are free to use by Rails programmers. The Ruby Gems eliminate the need for writing certain parts of code from scratch and hence, it is much easier and faster to develop applications using Ruby on Rails.

So, know when you know the importance of using Ruby on Rails Gems for web development, here is a list of some of the best RoR Gems that you need to consider in 2019 and in the years to come.

1. ActiveRecord-import

ActiveRecord-import enables fast insertion of the bulk of records. This gem follows ActiveRecord associations and generates minimal SQL insert statements without letting the RoR developers encounter the N+1 insert problem.

ActiveRecord gem uploads 10 records at a time, therefore, when it comes to uploading hundreds of records, it can be a tedious task. However, it is beneficial for importing external data. Moreover, with ActiveRecord-import, the conversion time is reduced greatly.

2. Draper

Draper helps web developers to build decorators around their models easily. This helps them to make their views neat and clean. Draper in use eliminated the need of writing helpers, thus, it is easy for the developers to define a decorator without calling helpers procedurally with models. In addition, they also obtain a list of attributes and extended methods for the object.

3.Pry

Developers often get stuck with the library integration issue or find it difficult to bind the gems while generating the code. This is when they have to deal with a lot of technical errors. Therefore, it is usually recommended to hire a professional Ruby on Rails web development company that has a dedicated team of developers who render flawless Ruby on Rails development services with their in-depth knowledge and years of experience.

Pry helps to overcome these issues as it allows the developers to set the breakpoints and implement step-by-step debugging of codes. This gem provides full-fledged features such as Syntax highlighting, Command shell integration, Runtime invocation, Exotic object support, flexible and robust command system.

4. RSpec Rails

RSpec Rails is a true gem for the developers who create unit test cases for web applications. It helps the app developers with RSpec framework integration for their RoR projects. They only have to generate the required spec helpers and configuration files. The RSpec framework is mainly used in TDD and BDD environments. In a nutshell, RSpec Rails features neat and descriptive syntax.5

5. Figaro

Figaro handles app variable configurations on multiple deployment platforms including Heroku. It is a YAML and an ENV file for secure Rail app configuration. Figaro features a convention that efficiently separates the configuration data from SCM. It parses the value of the YAML file into ENV.

6. Devise

When the developers need to create an application on social networking sites or need to build an eCommerce solution, they are required to log into the social media pages which requires authorization and authentication of the developer for that particular application. Unlike some developers who prefer using their own code for the authentication purpose, there are developers who use the Devise gem for this purpose as it makes work effective and easy.

There are 10 modules available in Devise namely Omniauthable, Database Authenticatable, Registrable, Confirmable, Trackable, Recoverable, Lockable, Timeoutable, Rememberable, FriendlyId, and Validatable. The Primary key (database ID) of each module easily identifies the resources URLs. However, developers also encounter unoptimized URLs which makes it difficult to identify. This is when using the FriendlyId makes it easy to transform the URLs to meaningful and easy-to-remember web page URLs. This omits the need for any code modification in the web application.

7. Ahoy

Ahoy is a powerful analytics platform that allows the developers to track the events and visits in native applications such as JavaScript and Ruby. Technically, Ahoy is a Ruby engine that is responsible for creating visit tickets that has the traffic’s source, original location, and the user’s device information. Ahoy also allows the users to learn about the UTM parameters of the website visits as well.

8.Paperclip

It is difficult for the developers to flawlessly work with file attachments and ensure secured implementation of the tasks. Therefore, the Paperclip gem is used to record the entire process inside the Rails web application. Moreover, the Paperclip also changes images into thumbnails.

9. Delayed Job

The Delayed Job gem handles the longer running actions for background tasks efficiently. This gem also features image resizing, sending newsletters in bulk, updating smart collections, checking spams, the HTTP downloads, batch imports, and updating solr index after the product data has changed.

10. Kaminari

With the help of Kaminari gem, you can paginate anything. Pagination is commonly transferred from ActiveRecord-imports to easy arrays with the help of scope-based API which is extremely easy to use.

11. Cancancan

The Cancancan allows setting up of the user access restrictions easily which is efficiently managed in one place. It comes with the “Authorizations definition library” module that enables the developers to set numerous rules for users and also provides the ease of accessing different objects to the helpers.

12. Active Admin

The Active Admin gem abstracts the business application patterns and enables the developers to implement impressive and intuitive interfaces efficiently. Some of its features include Filters, Scopes, User Authentication, Action Items, Sidebar Sections, Global Navigation, Downloads, Index Styles, and APIS.

13. Active Merchant

Active Merchant is written and maintained by Shopify. It primarily aims at facilitating the users with a unified API that provides access to different payment gateways with the help of multiple internal API’s. It has been exclusively developed for Ruby on Rails web development and can also be integrated as a plugin. Moreover, it also provides support when used as a library.

14. Bullet

Bullet gems boost the performance of an application by minimizing the number of queries. It keeps a track of all the queries during the entire development process by notifying the users whenever (N+1) query is required. Additionally, this Ruby Gem also alerts the users when the counter cache is to be used.

15. Webpacker

Webpacker basically assists JavaScript and other assets including CSS, fonts and images that are related to component-based JavaScript. In simple words, it is an excellent solution for Ruby on Rails website development.

Conclusion

Ruby gems are beneficial for developers who are developing Ruby on Rails web applications. These above-mentioned Ruby on Rails Gems are sufficient to handle common issues related to Ruby on Rails web development such as file testing, authentication, authorization and uploads.

However, these Ruby gems cannot resolve every issue associated with Rails web application development. You need to consider hiring a professional offshore web development that offers exceptional and reliable Ruby on Rails development services for its clients.

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