Over the past 10+ years I have built quite a few web apps using Ruby on Rails. One of the tools I’ve copied over and over again was one that let me:
- fill forms, like log in forms with some predefined details
- toggle the console for a quick lookup or to fire a Turbo Stream Broadcast
- highlight all Turbo Frames and Stimulus Controllers
- copy the actual resource’s id (ie. the primary key, instead of using the public-facing id)
The initial version was pretty simple, but over the years I’ve changed it a bit. It is built using a plain Rails helper and Stimulus (based on the @github/hotkey package, similar to Rails Designers’ GlobalHotkeyComponent.
Now I can type:
d f; fill fields with the predefined values;d s; fill fields and submit the form;d c; toggle the (web)console;d t; toggle highlight all Turbo Frames;d e; toggle highlight all Stimulus Controllers;d x; copy current URL;d r; copy the given resource’s id (customizable, you can pass anything).
The Rails Development Tool is now available to everyone. Packaged simply as a template, so you own the code and can simply change it, extend and break it!
As I am writing this; would this tool be better as a Rails Gem/Engine? Other things that might be useful to add:
- fire turbo stream responses;
- hotkeys for quickly running certain commands in the console (user-customizable);
- and so on.
The cons of a gem is another dependency to keep up to date (in your app, but also as a maintainer). Pro is: invite us to help it improve it; which is trickier with the current packaging. What do you think?