Demo - Flex + Rails / Index Cards

This demo illustrates the use of PureMVC with Rails to create a unique conceptual mapper / study aid application.

Installation

These instructions assume that you have Rails running on your development machine. If not, I recommend  InstantRails or  RubyStack. Go get one of them, and then come back here.

Setting Up the Rails Application

Create a new Rails directory structure and copy the Ruby source files from the zip into the corresponding Rails directories.

1) Open a command window in your Rails applications directory. (If you're using Instant Rails, this is usually the rails_apps subdirectory of the Instant Rails folder. If you're using RubyStack, look for the BitNami RubyStack projects directory.)

2) At the command prompt, type rails index_cards. Your directory tree should now be generated for you. Keep the command window open; you will use it to set up the database.

3) Copy the contents of the org/puremvc/as3/demos/flex/rails/indexcards/app directory of the zip into the app subdirectory of the Rails application structure that you just created in step 2.

Setting Up the MySQL Database

Create the empty database, then run the create.sql script included in the zip.

1) Copy the file create.sql from the rails/db directory of the zip the the db subdirectory of the Rails application structure that you created above.

2) If you haven't already, open a command window as in step 1 of setting up the Rails application.

3) Log in to MySQL with the appropriate user name and password, then create a database called index_cards_development.

4) Still in the command window, navigate to the db subdirectory of your new Rails application and run the create.sql script. Leave the command window open.

Starting the Rails Application

1) With a command window open at the root directory of your new Rails application, type the following line to start the application:

ruby script/server

Setting Up the Flex Builder Project

Create a new Flex project and copy the Flex source files from the zip into the source directory of your new project.

1) File -> New -> Flex Project

2) Select the location in your file system where you would like to store the project. If using FB2, make sure that Web application (runs in Flash Player) is selected. In the Application server type combo box, make sure None is selected. Click Next.

2) Select your output folder (the default is fine). Click Next.

3) Select your main source folder (the default is fine), and type index_cards.mxml as the name of your Main application file. Set the root directory of your Rails application as the output folder. Click Finish.

4) Copy the contents of the src directory into the source directory of the Flex project you just created.

5) In a standard Rails development setup, your Rails application is most likely running on  http://localhost:3000/. If you are using a different configuration, you'll have to make a change to the ActionScript code. In the source folder of your new Flex project, open org/puremvc/as3/demos/flex/rails/indexcards/model/utils/URL.as and modify the value of the constant Stub to match your configuration.