BigOldRailsTemplate – A Whole Dummy App in a Rails Template

Mike Gunderloy (ex-Rails activist and Rails Inside writer) has hit the ball out of the template park with BigOldRailsTemplate. We've written about Rails 2.3's templating features before, but Mike has taken it way beyond merely installing a few plugins to actually packing an entire dummy application into a single template!

If you're looking to start a new Rails application, consider using Mike's template. It'll save you a ton of time, and you can always remove the parts you're not keen on. Even better, fork it on Github and come up with alternatives.

The README gives the full scoop, but Mike's template includes the following features:

Works on Rails 2.3 and assumes a Git-based source control mechanism
Authlogic for user authentication
A simple authorization system
live-validations for client-side JavaScript data validation
Attachment management with Paperclip
Pagination with will-paginate
Search with Searchlogic
Testing tools included (Shoulda, Mocha, Object Daddy, parallel-test, rack-bug, and more..)
Administration interface using admin-data plugin

And.. this is only scratching the surface. Enjoy!

Alternatively, if you prefer some lighter alternatives, check out Jeremy McAnally's Rails-Templates project for a selection.

Also.. Jumpstart Lab is running Rails Jumpstart - an intro to Rails - on August 15&16 then JavaScript Jumpstart for intermediate Javascript & UI programmers on 9/12. All courses are in Washington, DC. Save 10% with code "rubyinside"!