ContentsCore Gem Version

A Rails gem which offer a simple structure to manage contents in a flexible way.

NOTE: this is an ALPHA version, major changes could happens - this is a refactoring of another gem of mine (editable_components)

Goals:

  • attach the contents structure to a model transparently

  • improve block views management

  • add fields to blocks without migrations

Install

  • Add to the Gemfile: gem 'contents_core'

  • Copy migrations (Rails 5.x syntax, in Rails 4.x use rake): rails contents_core:install:migrations

  • Execute migrations

  • Add the concern Blocks to your model (ex. Page): include ContentsCore::Blocks

  • Add the blocks to a view (ex. page show): = render partial: 'contents_core/blocks', locals: { container: @page }

Config

Edit the conf file: config/initializers/contents_core.rb

conf = ContentsCore.config
# Adds a new custom block
conf[:cc_blocks][:custom] = {
  name: 'Custom block',
  items: {
    title: :item_string,
    content: :item_text,
    image: :item_file
  }
}
ContentsCore.config( { components: conf[:cc_blocks] } )

Create the new view blocks: app/views/contents_core/_block_custom.html.erb

- if block
  .title = block.get( 'title' )
  .text == block.get( 'content' )
  .image = image_tag block.get( 'image' ).url( :thumb )

Images

To add support for images add CarrierWave gem to your Gemfile and execute: rails generate uploader Image and update che config file config/initializers/contents_core.rb with:

module ContentsCore
  ItemFile.class_eval do
    mount_uploader :data_file, ImageUploader

    def init
      self.data_file = File.open( Rails.root.join( 'public', 'images', 'original', 'missing.jpg' ) )
      self
    end
  end
end

Another way is to override the ItemFile model (app/models/contents_core/item_file.rb):

module ContentsCore
  class ItemFile < Item
    mount_uploader :data_file, ImageUploader

    alias_attribute :data, :data_file

    def init
      self.data_file = File.open( Rails.root.join( 'public', 'images', 'original', 'missing.jpg' ) )
      self
    end

    def self.type_name
      'file'
    end
  end
end

Customizations

To create a "free form" block just use: Page.first.create_block :intro, name: 'IntroBlock', schema: { intro: :item_string, subtitle: :item_string }

Then create a app/view/contents_core/_block_intro view.

To list the blocks of a page: Page.first.cc_blocks.pluck :name

To add a new field to an existing block (ex. to first Page, on the first Block):

block = Page.first.get_block 'text-1'
block.create_item( 'ContentsCore::ItemString', 'new-field' ).set( 'A test...' ).save

Then add to the block view: block.get( 'new-field' )

To set a field value: block.set( 'new-field', 'Some value' )

ActiveAdmin

If you use ActiveAdmin as admin interface you can find a sample model configuration here

Notes

  • Blocks types: ContentsCore::Block.block_types

  • Default blocks here

Structure

  • Including the Blocks concern to a model will add has_many :cc_blocks relationship (the list of blocks attached to a container) and some utility methods

  • Block: UI component, a group of items (ex. a text with a title, a slider, a 3 column text widgets, etc.); built with a list of sub blocks (for nested components) and a list of items

  • Item: a single piece of information (ex. a string, a text, a boolean, an integer, a file, etc.)

Contributors