Putting it All Together: Rails CRUD

Learning Goals

Generate an API that follows REST conventions
Handle full CRUD with one model

Introduction

Now's your chance to put all the CRUD actions we've been learning to good use! We're going to be building out an API in Rails as a backend for a spice store. There's a React application in the /client directory that's all set up for the frontend; your goal is to build out the necessary CRUD actions in the backend by following RESTful conventions.

Setup

To set up the frontend and backend dependencies, from the root directory, run:

$ npm install --prefix client
$ bundle install

Instructions

Spice Model

Generate a class and migrations for a Spice model with the following attributes:

title (string)
image (string)
description (string)
notes (string)
rating (float)

After you've created the model, check your work by running:

$ rails db:migrate db:seed

Then, use rails c to view data about the spices.

Routes

Your API should have the following routes:

GET /spices: return an array of all spices
POST /spices: create a new spice
PATCH /spices/:id: update an existing spice
DELETE /spices/:id: delete an existing spice

Make sure to follow REST conventions for generating these routes.

You should also use strong params in the controller for the POST and PATCH requests.

Use the tests to guide your progress and ensure that each route has the expected JSON response body and HTTP status code. You can also run the server with rails s and test out the routes manually using Postman.

Good luck! 💪

Once your API is working, you can try out the full application in the browser when you're ready to see everything come together. You can run the Rails application in one terminal by running:

$ rails s

Then, open another terminal and run React:

$ npm start --prefix client

Each application will run on its own port on localhost:

React: http://localhost:4000
Rails: http://localhost:3000