NextRailsScaffold

The next_rails_scaffold gem is a powerful extension to the standard Ruby on Rails scaffold generator. It streamlines the development workflow by not only creating the backend structure with Rails but also automating the setup of a frontend directory using Next.js. Upon running the scaffold generator, this gem intelligently generates a Next.js application within the specified frontend directory.

The generated Next.js app follows best practices, including a structured page routing system, ensuring that each resource created by the scaffold has its corresponding page and components. This integration enables developers to seamlessly transition between Rails backend and Next.js frontend development, fostering a cohesive and efficient development environment.

Currently, https://www.hygen.io/ is used to create Next.js code, and the https://github.com/raphox/next-rails-scaffold repository contains template files.

Why?

In one of my posts on Medium I go into more detail about the reasons why I created this project. But to summarize, I’ll list a few relevant points:

1. When I compare the alternatives offered by Hotwire with the entire React ecosystem, for me Hotwire is stuck in the way of developing web applications that were practiced more than ten years ago when there were no frameworks like React;
2. The maturity and ease of the Ruby language and the Ruby on Rails framework justify having more than one language in the same project;
3. Nothing prevents me from keeping the static site or Single-Page Application (SPA) for smaller projects and, if there’s a need or demand, later maintaining my API and configuring my Next application to run on a Node server and offer SSR;
4. Like Ruby on Rails itself, it is a framework that seeks to offer tools that help you create a new project with almost everything that a web application normally needs. The purpose of this gem is also to select the best tools you’ll need to create a React application. In the future, new tools will be integrated into the project, but for now, you can see our current stack of Node packages;
5. The reason for generating a scaffold, apart from saving time, is also to provide you with a development standard that will be validated and adjusted by other developers and teams. You’ll have a path to follow when starting a new project;

Key Features:

• Automatic Frontend Setup: The gem automates the creation of a frontend directory within the Rails project, ready for Next.js development.
• Page Routing Integration: All scaffolded resources come with their own pages and components, organized using Next.js’ page routing system.
• Effortless Transition: Developers can seamlessly switch between Rails backend and Next.js frontend development within the same project.
• Boosted Productivity: Accelerate development by eliminating the manual setup of frontend components and pages, allowing developers to focus on building features.

Integrate next_rails_scaffold into your Ruby on Rails projects to enjoy a streamlined, organized, and efficient full-stack development experience.

Installation

Install the gem and add to the application’s Gemfile by executing:

$ bundle add next_rails_scaffold

If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:

$ gem install next_rails_scaffold

Usage

The next_rails_scaffold gem enhances the default Ruby on Rails scaffold generator by seamlessly integrating with Next.js, a React framework. This gem automates the process of scaffolding a Rails application along with a corresponding frontend directory containing a Next.js application. The generated Next.js app includes all necessary pages and components, leveraging the power of page routing for a smooth and organized development experience.

Example:

# Appending the `next_rails_scaffold` generator steps to the  to the Rails' scaffold generator.
bin/rails generate next_rails_scaffold:install

# Generate the RESfull API endpoints and Next.js app with respective components and pages.
bin/rails generate scaffold Post tile:string body:text

This will create:

app/
  controllers/
    posts_controller.rb
  models/
    post.rb
  ...
frontend/
  src
    components
      Post.js
      PostForm.js
    pages
      posts
        [id]
          edit.js
          index.js
        index.js
        new.js
    providers.js
    services.js

Sample app https://github.com/raphox/next-rails-app.

Development

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake test to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and the created tag, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/raphox/next_rails_scaffold.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.