0:00:16.800,0:00:18.400
ANDY MALEH: Sorry everybody. I lost the slides.

0:00:18.400,0:00:20.560
I had to reconstruct them right now.

0:00:20.560,0:00:24.280
Right, like in ten minutes.

0:00:24.280,0:00:26.560
Ultra light and maintainable Rails wizards.

0:00:26.560,0:00:29.880
Who has written a wizard in their lifetime?

0:00:29.880,0:00:34.490
OK. It's, it's almost like the most common[br]web

0:00:34.490,0:00:40.400
use case, yet it's the least under, under-valued[br]with

0:00:40.440,0:00:44.670
regards to providing patterns for doing, like,[br]writing good

0:00:44.670,0:00:47.350
code in order to provide for maintainable[br]wizards.

0:00:47.360,0:00:52.620
A lot of the time, people write, like, multi-step

0:00:52.620,0:00:54.010
wizards, where they end up doing a lot of

0:00:54.010,0:00:57.680
copy-paste between the steps or between a[br]bunch of

0:00:57.680,0:01:00.350
controllers. And that makes it a hell of a

0:01:00.360,0:01:02.650
problem to maintain that code a year or two

0:01:02.650,0:01:04.280
later. And every code base is, you know, meant

0:01:04.280,0:01:06.570
to be created for a year at least. Maintenance

0:01:06.580,0:01:09.360
cost is what's really expensive. It's not,[br]you know,

0:01:09.360,0:01:11.580
I can write a wizard in two weeks but

0:01:11.580,0:01:13.360
will I be able to maintain it cheaply over

0:01:13.360,0:01:16.890
a year. And that, that's really why I'm giving

0:01:16.890,0:01:18.970
a talk about this subject.

0:01:18.970,0:01:22.120
So just to give you an overview, I'll be

0:01:22.120,0:01:25.800
talking about, why do we even use a wizard?

0:01:25.800,0:01:32.280
Provide an example. Some implementation goals.[br]The 1001 wizard

0:01:32.280,0:01:36.370
implementations out there. And, finally, I'll[br]talk about what

0:01:36.370,0:01:37.950
I think is a good ultra light and maintainable

0:01:37.960,0:01:40.250
wizard approach.

0:01:40.250,0:01:45.110
So first of all, we don't want to overwhelm

0:01:45.110,0:01:47.530
the user with a huge form of information,[br]kind

0:01:47.530,0:01:49.910
of like those government forms that we have[br]in

0:01:49.940,0:01:55.810
Canada. So I come from Montreal, by the way.

0:01:55.820,0:01:58.790
This is painful on a computer screen. Computers[br]should

0:01:58.800,0:02:03.370
enable people to do better than actual physical[br]paper.

0:02:03.370,0:02:05.320
So one way of tackling this problem is to

0:02:05.320,0:02:10.979
divide it into multiple steps in a wizard.

0:02:10.979,0:02:15.641
So also it's about simplifying the workflow[br]into multiple

0:02:15.660,0:02:18.020
steps that make them digestible, just like[br]this protein

0:02:18.020,0:02:23.520
shake. And finally it, it gives you the opportunity

0:02:23.520,0:02:26.740
to provide more explanation for what each[br]form does,

0:02:26.740,0:02:29.570
by being able to fit more information when[br]you

0:02:29.570,0:02:31.950
break it up across multiple pages, like what[br]they

0:02:31.960,0:02:33.970
do with TurboTax.

0:02:33.970,0:02:39.060
Who here has filed their taxes?

0:02:39.060,0:02:42.510
Yeah. I did not. I just did this so

0:02:42.510,0:02:47.090
I see who raised his hand.

0:02:47.090,0:02:53.700
OK. So I had a, a software architecture gig

0:02:53.740,0:02:56.900
at EarlyShare about a couple of years ago[br]where

0:02:56.900,0:03:00.880
I helped them launch their site. EarlyShare[br]is kind

0:03:00.880,0:03:04.520
of like KickStarter or Indiegogo, except it's[br]focused on

0:03:04.520,0:03:09.290
allowing people to do crowd investment in[br]businesses.

0:03:09.300,0:03:11.650
And it was a website that was being built

0:03:11.650,0:03:13.960
fast in order to catch up with some legal

0:03:13.960,0:03:19.770
laws in the U.S. that would allow crowd investment.

0:03:19.780,0:03:24.020
So I helped them launch the site and they

0:03:24.020,0:03:29.000
had, they, as part of their website, they[br]needed

0:03:29.000,0:03:32.800
a couple of onboarding wizards. One for investors[br]and

0:03:32.800,0:03:36.290
one for business people.

0:03:36.290,0:03:38.579
But there were other requirements. Like, the[br]business was

0:03:38.580,0:03:43.541
bootstrapped. We were only two developers.[br]Me as the

0:03:43.541,0:03:45.820
senior and then there was a junior with a

0:03:45.820,0:03:49.240
CTO and a designer and that's it. He wanted

0:03:49.240,0:03:51.329
us to move super fast, and I was brought

0:03:51.329,0:03:54.591
in as the Rails expert.

0:03:54.600,0:03:56.560
So I had not written a wizard in like

0:03:56.580,0:03:59.140
four years before that. Or maybe five years.[br]Like,

0:03:59.140,0:04:02.170
maybe since the days I did Java development.[br]And

0:04:02.170,0:04:04.580
when I started tackling this problem in Ruby,[br]you

0:04:04.580,0:04:05.960
know, I like, I went online, checked some[br]Google

0:04:05.960,0:04:11.030
guides and all that or StackOverflow, whatever.

0:04:11.030,0:04:15.689
And none of their approaches satisfied me.[br]So let's

0:04:15.689,0:04:17.959
talk about what I found.

0:04:17.980,0:04:20.551
So the wizard example, though, is basically,[br]you have

0:04:20.560,0:04:23.629
four steps. Step one is collect basic info.[br]Step

0:04:23.629,0:04:26.641
two is details, more details. Step three is[br]upload

0:04:26.641,0:04:29.640
some document content. Step four is just preview[br]before

0:04:29.640,0:04:32.409
you finish the wizard. And then once it's[br]done,

0:04:32.409,0:04:34.870
it shows you a summary, like a landing page

0:04:34.870,0:04:38.401
for the project that, that the business is[br]proposing

0:04:38.420,0:04:40.420
for investment.

0:04:40.420,0:04:46.700
OK. So, I mean, the goals I had was

0:04:46.700,0:04:49.029
the Rails server had to persist every progress[br]on

0:04:49.029,0:04:53.251
every step. So no, like, js client-side tricks.[br]That

0:04:53.260,0:04:56.851
was out of scope. I wanted it to still,

0:04:56.860,0:05:00.869
like, be RESTful, like, which is a common[br]issue

0:05:00.869,0:05:03.200
with wizard, like, building wizards. How to[br]make them

0:05:03.200,0:05:05.080
properly RESTful.

0:05:05.080,0:05:09.460
I wanted to also stick with MVC, object-oriented[br]principles

0:05:09.460,0:05:11.841
because we're using an object-oriented language.[br]So I wanted

0:05:11.860,0:05:13.599
to make sure that the code is maintainable[br]by

0:05:13.600,0:05:18.200
other developers going to the feature.

0:05:18.200,0:05:22.151
And then some non-functional requirements,[br]like productivity. So that

0:05:22.151,0:05:26.749
was part of the concern that the CTO had,

0:05:26.749,0:05:27.890
which is he wanted us to move fast, like,

0:05:27.900,0:05:30.500
really, really fast. That was part of the[br]reason

0:05:30.500,0:05:32.291
why he brought me in. Well, big mistake. I,

0:05:32.300,0:05:36.330
I pay attention to details and nice design[br]concerns.

0:05:36.330,0:05:38.409
So I will slow him down but for good

0:05:38.409,0:05:38.740
reasons.

0:05:38.740,0:05:41.050
I'll slow him down and then he'll go much

0:05:41.050,0:05:44.060
faster later on.

0:05:44.060,0:05:48.840
Still, the story does have a happy ending.[br]So

0:05:48.840,0:05:53.521
maintainability, by both junior and senior[br]developers. They had

0:05:53.521,0:05:57.069
one senior developer in Brazil as well. Which[br]I

0:05:57.080,0:05:59.760
just remembered. He was brought in a little[br]later

0:05:59.760,0:06:01.520
on.

0:06:01.540,0:06:04.310
Performance concerns. Security concerns.

0:06:04.310,0:06:06.990
So it's pretty, it's pretty basic stuff. Like,[br]I

0:06:06.990,0:06:08.920
mean, these are the concerns that we should[br]care

0:06:08.920,0:06:13.320
about whenever we build any feature, really.

0:06:13.320,0:06:16.540
So one approach that I've seen on actual code

0:06:16.540,0:06:18.380
bases, I actually saw it on a code base

0:06:18.380,0:06:21.270
that I maintained on a following project after[br]that

0:06:21.270,0:06:26.920
one, was one controller per wizard step.

0:06:26.920,0:06:31.190
So you create a REST resource per wizard step.

0:06:31.200,0:06:36.990
And you had multiple controllers, multiple[br]sets of views

0:06:37.000,0:06:39.130
and helpers. And then each controller redirects[br]to the

0:06:39.140,0:06:41.630
next one. So something like this. And you[br]could

0:06:41.630,0:06:44.680
do it either with one ActiveRecord that has[br]conditional

0:06:44.680,0:06:46.281
validations for each step, where it says OK,[br]if

0:06:46.281,0:06:49.679
step one, validate presence of name, if step[br]two,

0:06:49.680,0:06:52.501
validate presence of blah, blah, blah. Or[br]you could

0:06:52.501,0:06:53.750
have multiple ActiveRecords.

0:06:53.750,0:07:01.850
But either way, who here could find concerns[br]with

0:07:01.850,0:07:03.831
this approach, or at least something that[br]could be

0:07:03.840,0:07:07.468
improved on? Somebody volunteer? Go ahead.

0:07:07.468,0:07:09.590
AUDIENCE: [indecipherable - 00:07:10]

0:07:09.590,0:07:13.660
A.M.: And what's the concern with that? So[br]what

0:07:13.660,0:07:18.420
if you have a whole bunch of controllers?

0:07:18.420,0:07:21.360
AUDIENCE: [indecipherable - 00:07:16]

0:07:21.780,0:07:26.030
A.M.: OK. I mean, I've built applications[br]that managed

0:07:27.340,0:07:34.340
user profiles, user accounts, blog posts,[br]for example, whatever.

0:07:35.300,0:07:36.651
You need a controller for each one of those.

0:07:36.651,0:07:38.439
I don't think you could escape that.

0:07:38.440,0:07:40.890
So I'm gonna give other people a chance to

0:07:40.890,0:07:42.601
talk, but I do get your point. I want

0:07:42.601,0:07:43.649
to clarify it.

0:07:43.649,0:07:44.441
Go ahead.

0:07:44.441,0:07:46.849
AUDIENCE: I was gonna say repetition-

0:07:46.849,0:07:47.640
A.M.: Exactly.

0:07:47.640,0:07:49.241
AUDIENCE: Re-usability and dependencies.

0:07:49.241,0:07:51.830
A.M.: Yeah. So quite a bit of that code

0:07:51.830,0:07:53.790
is repetitive. It was just, it was always[br]loading

0:07:53.800,0:07:58.059
the resource. It's almost the same resource.[br]Actually, if

0:07:58.060,0:07:59.900
you use one ActiveRecord, it is the same resource.

0:07:59.900,0:08:03.070
And then we'd run some validations and then[br]it

0:08:03.070,0:08:05.110
would pass to the next controller. So, I mean,

0:08:05.140,0:08:07.000
there was quite a bit of repetition.

0:08:07.000,0:08:11.170
We try to add features a couple of months

0:08:11.170,0:08:14.170
after the, after a developer had built that[br]wizard

0:08:14.170,0:08:18.040
on that project, and they wanted us to deliver

0:08:18.040,0:08:24.090
something in a week, and apparently another[br]developer, before

0:08:24.120,0:08:26.400
I joined that team, had tried to implement[br]that

0:08:26.400,0:08:27.790
feature and it took him a month. And he

0:08:27.790,0:08:30.440
still couldn't do it with the, with the design

0:08:30.440,0:08:30.940
they had.

0:08:30.940,0:08:32.640
It was still, it was just taking a long

0:08:32.640,0:08:34.510
time. Like, he was still not done. And then

0:08:34.520,0:08:39.309
that guy left. So I ended up solving the

0:08:39.309,0:08:41.760
problem with another senior guy. And it was,[br]so,

0:08:41.760,0:08:44.208
I ended up applying this ultra light maintainable[br]wizard

0:08:44.208,0:08:47.601
approach that I discovered on the EarlyShares[br]dot com

0:08:47.601,0:08:51.240
project, and it worked out really well. So,[br]which,

0:08:51.240,0:08:53.920
I'll talk about a little later. But that helped

0:08:53.920,0:08:57.510
us actually develop it in, if I remember right,

0:08:57.510,0:09:01.540
it was about seven days.

0:09:01.540,0:09:07.050
Test first, and rewriting the entire thing,[br]also.

0:09:07.060,0:09:08.610
But it was specifically because we didn't[br]have that

0:09:08.620,0:09:11.450
many controllers anymore. So, we wrote a lot[br]less

0:09:11.460,0:09:12.660
tests so we had a lot less code to

0:09:12.660,0:09:15.080
maintain. So that was part of it.

0:09:15.080,0:09:17.400
So, another approach I've seen is one controller.[br]Sorry.

0:09:17.400,0:09:20.930
Oh, OK, that's just the critique. We already[br]went

0:09:20.930,0:09:22.080
over that. I don't think I want to go

0:09:22.080,0:09:24.840
too much into details for that cause we're[br]limited

0:09:24.840,0:09:25.480
on time.

0:09:25.480,0:09:28.240
But yeah, let's go next to one action and

0:09:28.240,0:09:30.510
presenter per wizard step. So, I mean, another[br]approach

0:09:30.510,0:09:33.340
is, OK, keep one ActiveRecord, but I've also[br]seen

0:09:33.340,0:09:38.390
this approach in a code base, where there[br]were

0:09:38.390,0:09:43.900
different, say, new_step1, create_step1, new_step2,[br]create_step2. So there were

0:09:43.920,0:09:46.860
just, like, eight actions on that controller,[br]each mimicking

0:09:46.860,0:09:50.690
the new and, and, and create, say, on the

0:09:50.700,0:09:51.880
RESTful resource.

0:09:51.880,0:09:55.860
So, although it feels RESTful, it was not[br]REST

0:09:55.860,0:10:00.690
anymore. It already broke out of the REST[br]paradigm.

0:10:00.690,0:10:03.350
So we can improve over that.

0:10:03.350,0:10:07.240
Also, it still had some repetitive code across[br]the

0:10:07.240,0:10:09.830
actions. So, I mean, it was, it was just

0:10:09.840,0:10:14.060
a slight improvement to the problem. Not much.

0:10:14.060,0:10:17.820
Using presenters, which is an abstraction[br]layer between the

0:10:17.820,0:10:20.930
ActiveRecord and the controller is an improvement[br]in the

0:10:20.930,0:10:22.800
sense that you can put the validations for[br]each

0:10:22.800,0:10:28.060
presenter per step separately and not have[br]conditional validations.

0:10:28.060,0:10:32.240
I'll talk more about that going forward.

0:10:32.240,0:10:35.090
So it was more something like this, where[br]the

0:10:35.100,0:10:38.670
controller had a whole bunch of actions that[br]are

0:10:38.670,0:10:43.690
connecting to presenters that are talking[br]to an ActiveRecord.

0:10:44.480,0:10:45.520
OK.

0:10:47.500,0:10:52.450
So I already went over the caveats of that.

0:10:52.450,0:10:56.210
OK. Who here has written a wizard with session

0:10:56.280,0:11:00.840
accumulation approach? How, how did that work[br]out for

0:11:00.840,0:11:02.240
you or, do you think-

0:11:02.240,0:11:03.920
AUDIENCE: That's why I'm here.

0:11:03.960,0:11:06.940
-well, I'm sorry if it sounds. Well, tell[br]me

0:11:07.000,0:11:07.750
why you're here. I'm curious.

0:11:07.840,0:11:08.420
AUDIENCE: Well, I mean, right now it's just[br]that

0:11:08.420,0:11:12.330
it's to the point where we're breaking it[br]down

0:11:12.330,0:11:18.320
further, it was a very basic general implementation.[br]And

0:11:18.340,0:11:22.480
now dealing with the fact that we have so

0:11:22.480,0:11:26.160
much session iteration that I have to pass[br]it

0:11:26.160,0:11:26.730
between, you know, controllers. We deal with[br]it from

0:11:26.730,0:11:27.300
multiple angles, and it's, I mean, I can't[br]put

0:11:27.300,0:11:28.490
that stuff in a model. So my controllers are

0:11:28.490,0:11:29.120
getting really out of hand.

0:11:29.120,0:11:29.900
A.M.: Exactly. Yeah. Yup. Yup. Yup.

0:11:29.920,0:11:31.220
So you end up with the live session management

0:11:31.220,0:11:33.600
code in the controller, which breaks MVC.[br]So if

0:11:33.600,0:11:35.910
you're not breaking REST, you break MVC. It's[br]really

0:11:35.910,0:11:38.400
tough. It's a tough problem.

0:11:38.400,0:11:40.930
AUDIENCE: Can you explain what session accumulation[br]is?

0:11:40.940,0:11:42.820
A.M.: Yes. So, actually, maybe I should have[br]somebody

0:11:42.820,0:11:45.310
explain that. I saw you raise your hand. Would

0:11:45.310,0:11:47.820
you mind explaining it to the audience.

0:11:47.820,0:11:53.150
AUDIENCE: Sure. It's basically, as you're[br]going through the

0:11:53.150,0:11:58.450
specs, that you're storing all of the information[br]that

0:11:58.460,0:12:01.500
needs to be in the session. So then, you

0:12:01.500,0:12:03.240
go through step

0:12:03.240,0:12:06.460
one. You gather the basic info from the form.

0:12:06.460,0:12:08.880
When submitting the form, instead of storing[br]that in

0:12:08.880,0:12:11.250
an ActiveRecord, you actually store it in,[br]in the

0:12:11.250,0:12:15.520
session, using the session helper in the,[br]in the

0:12:15.540,0:12:17.970
Rails controller. And then once you move to,[br]and

0:12:17.980,0:12:19.730
then you redirect to step two, and then you

0:12:19.740,0:12:21.790
submit that form again, and then you add more

0:12:21.790,0:12:23.210
stuff to the session.

0:12:23.210,0:12:25.470
Once you reach the last step, kind of like

0:12:25.470,0:12:27.930
what you see in this diagram, that's when[br]you're

0:12:27.940,0:12:30.330
ready to create the ActiveRecord. So you pass[br]all

0:12:30.330,0:12:34.320
of this as the params and the ActiveRecord[br]will

0:12:34.320,0:12:41.320
validate it and then you're done.

0:12:41.440,0:12:48.440
OK. So, so I mean as far as critique.

0:12:49.480,0:12:52.900
So reliance of session, storing objects in[br]the session

0:12:52.940,0:12:55.980
has implications on scalability. Usually you[br]want to store

0:12:56.000,0:13:00.020
ids of primitives because they're easier to[br]move across

0:13:00.080,0:13:02.500
servers when it's primitive data and be able[br]to

0:13:02.500,0:13:04.290
support multiple servers.

0:13:04.300,0:13:07.220
My understanding is if you have actual objects[br]in

0:13:07.220,0:13:10.270
the session, it makes it harder for you to

0:13:10.280,0:13:11.930
scale.

0:13:11.960,0:13:14.870
Controller code is more complex because of[br]managing session

0:13:14.870,0:13:18.330
data. Validations could get defined twice,[br]because you might

0:13:18.380,0:13:20.190
have to validate on every step as well, in

0:13:20.220,0:13:23.000
JavaScript or in a, in a presenter or something.

0:13:23.000,0:13:25.630
And, also present at the last step in the

0:13:25.630,0:13:26.100
model.

0:13:26.100,0:13:28.200
So again, I mean, if you're not breaking REST,

0:13:28.200,0:13:29.820
you're breaking MVC. If you're not breaking[br]MVC, you're

0:13:29.820,0:13:34.670
breaking duplication whatever, concerns, so,[br]it's a tough problem.

0:13:34.670,0:13:38.710
Hidden value accumulation. Somebody share[br]with us what this

0:13:38.740,0:13:41.570
is, or, it's very similar to session accumulation.

0:13:41.570,0:13:42.720
Yeah, go ahead.

0:13:42.720,0:13:46.210
AUDIENCE: Really, when you're submitting the[br]form at each

0:13:46.210,0:13:49.680
step you're shoving all the values from the[br]form

0:13:49.680,0:13:53.170
into hidden fields on the page, and then eventually,

0:13:53.170,0:13:57.460
when you hit submit, the final version will[br]just

0:13:57.460,0:14:00.260
set everything to the server.

0:14:00.260,0:14:01.390
A.M.: Yup.

0:14:01.400,0:14:04.900
So it's not stateful, it's stateless, because[br]it keeps,

0:14:04.900,0:14:07.600
like, each request has its state. You don't[br]have

0:14:07.600,0:14:11.110
to maintain the state in a session. So the

0:14:11.110,0:14:14.970
performance implications are gone. Like, it[br]has no problems

0:14:14.980,0:14:18.860
in scalability.

0:14:18.860,0:14:21.740
But you might, you, you might not want to

0:14:21.740,0:14:23.400
expose the values all the time on the, on

0:14:23.400,0:14:25.440
the user page. You can hash them or do

0:14:25.440,0:14:29.090
encoding on them, so that could improve that,[br]that

0:14:29.090,0:14:32.540
problem with regards to keeping form data[br]in a,

0:14:32.540,0:14:34.100
in hidden fields on the page every step of

0:14:34.100,0:14:36.690
the way.

0:14:36.690,0:14:43.530
But there's, yeah, I mean, but the complexity[br]is

0:14:43.540,0:14:45.690
still there, with having to manage the accumulation[br]and

0:14:45.700,0:14:48.380
having to construct the model at the end.

0:14:48.380,0:14:49.580
So it's a slight improvement.

0:14:49.580,0:14:52.050
Who here has used the state matching for a

0:14:52.060,0:14:53.140
wizard?

0:14:53.140,0:14:58.080
OK. Do you mind sharing with us your experience

0:14:58.080,0:14:58.720
with it?

0:14:58.720,0:15:02.450
AUDIENCE: I think main problem that you run[br]into

0:15:02.450,0:15:06.180
is that you get fat models, cause you have

0:15:06.200,0:15:07.390
to put all of the different validations into[br]different

0:15:07.390,0:15:09.310
states. But overall, I found that it was a

0:15:09.310,0:15:12.500
better compromise than the other options.

0:15:12.500,0:15:15.650
A.M.: Generally it is. One, yeah. So, you[br]create

0:15:15.650,0:15:20.530
one ActiveRecord. You make the ActiveRecord[br]a state machine.

0:15:20.540,0:15:23.350
You have to add a step column on that

0:15:23.350,0:15:27.070
model to support which step you're on when[br]it,

0:15:27.080,0:15:29.250
in order for the validation to know which[br]validations

0:15:29.260,0:15:31.330
to run for what step. So that way you

0:15:31.330,0:15:33.750
say, OK, on step one, if you have that

0:15:33.750,0:15:35.630
column, you'll say, OK, you'll have validations[br]that say,

0:15:35.640,0:15:38.600
OK, if it's step one, then I'm gonna check

0:15:38.600,0:15:40.840
for first name and last name presence. If[br]it's

0:15:40.840,0:15:41.990
step two I'm gonna, I'm gonna check that the

0:15:42.000,0:15:44.370
project details are present. And so on and[br]so

0:15:44.370,0:15:48.730
forth, depending on what each form, what field,[br]what

0:15:48.730,0:15:51.360
field each form contains on the, in the specific

0:15:51.380,0:15:53.840
step.

0:15:53.840,0:16:00.840
So yeah, different view per step. I already[br]went

0:16:01.820,0:16:03.051
over conditional validations.

0:16:03.060,0:16:05.420
To share an example, it looks something like[br]that,

0:16:05.440,0:16:12.440
like validate :phone, presence: true, if current_step[br]is shipping.

0:16:12.680,0:16:14.000
So that's just one way of doing it. There's

0:16:14.000,0:16:15.870
other better ways of doing it. There's also[br]gems

0:16:15.870,0:16:17.020
out there that help you with that. But that's

0:16:17.020,0:16:18.280
one way of doing it.

0:16:18.280,0:16:20.960
AUDIENCE: ActiveRecord has the ability to[br]run conditional validations

0:16:20.960,0:16:22.430
like that. You don't have to run a block.

0:16:22.430,0:16:26.640
A.M.: Mhmm. Yup. Yup. I'm familiar with that.[br]Yeah,

0:16:26.640,0:16:28.090
that's why I mentioned, there's multiple ways[br]of doing

0:16:28.090,0:16:29.720
that. That's just one example.

0:16:29.720,0:16:32.340
AUDIENCE: How does, how is the state machine[br]different

0:16:32.340,0:16:39.340
than the first, better than any of the ones

0:16:40.140,0:16:43.580
you mentioned, [indecipherable - 00:16:39]

0:16:44.440,0:16:46.780
A.M.: OK. With the other one, you could cheat

0:16:46.780,0:16:50.130
a bit and set an in memory variable that

0:16:50.130,0:16:52.100
represents the step name that you're on and[br]then

0:16:52.100,0:16:55.190
do that conditional validation that way, whereas[br]with this

0:16:55.190,0:16:58.030
one, you have, you're only working with one[br]model

0:16:58.030,0:17:02.210
and you don't, you haven't managed the stepping.[br]So

0:17:02.220,0:17:03.750
yeah, with the other approach, the controller[br]is doing

0:17:03.750,0:17:06.009
management of the stepping. In this one the[br]model

0:17:06.009,0:17:09.191
is doing the management of the stepping.

0:17:09.200,0:17:13.869
So critique. Well, first of all, it puts in

0:17:13.880,0:17:15.799
presentation concerns, like adding an extra[br]column to our

0:17:15.800,0:17:20.069
presenter's state, sorry, step, is not part[br]of the

0:17:20.069,0:17:23.810
domain, the business domain. So when you're[br]doing MVC,

0:17:23.819,0:17:25.910
usually the model, you're trying to put in[br]it

0:17:25.910,0:17:29.970
as much decoupled logic that's focused on[br]the business

0:17:29.980,0:17:32.660
at hand as possible in order to maintain that

0:17:32.680,0:17:35.870
separately from any view concerns or controller[br]concerns.

0:17:35.870,0:17:39.071
I mean, you can put anything in the model,

0:17:39.080,0:17:41.369
really. But the reason why we do that is,

0:17:41.369,0:17:43.790
in my experience, when I'm maintaining a code[br]base,

0:17:43.790,0:17:47.171
if I'm not having to manage view concerns[br]like

0:17:47.180,0:17:49.950
stepping into a state machine and a model[br]concern,

0:17:49.950,0:17:53.999
like the business rules of, of what happens[br]when,

0:17:54.000,0:17:56.980
you know, like the project description is[br]not present

0:17:56.980,0:17:59.610
or whatever, then it's easier for me to maintain

0:17:59.620,0:18:01.640
that model, cause I'm not thinking on one[br]thing

0:18:01.640,0:18:03.441
at a time. I'm not thinking multiple things[br]at

0:18:03.441,0:18:05.299
the same time.

0:18:05.300,0:18:10.481
Also, it makes those models smaller files,[br]if you

0:18:10.481,0:18:12.940
separate those concerns. You don't want a[br]huge model

0:18:12.940,0:18:15.869
as maintaining a state machine and maintaining[br]business rules

0:18:15.869,0:18:18.510
and maintaining like ten other things. You[br]could manage

0:18:18.510,0:18:23.360
that with splitting that into modules or concerns,[br]but

0:18:23.380,0:18:26.821
still, when I'm working with that model, my[br]head

0:18:26.821,0:18:28.779
will have the context of everything at once.[br]SO

0:18:28.780,0:18:31.581
it wouldn't, like, this is more of an advanced

0:18:31.581,0:18:33.869
programming thing. Like, once you've been[br]programming for three

0:18:33.869,0:18:36.932
years at least, you'll, you'll start noticing[br]that.

0:18:36.940,0:18:42.728
You'll start noticing the subtleties with[br]regards to mixing

0:18:42.728,0:18:46.071
concerns. Like, you start understanding why[br]people say follow

0:18:46.080,0:18:49.369
the single responsibility principle. I'm not[br]a fan of

0:18:49.369,0:18:51.860
following it dogmatically, I, but I think[br]it's a

0:18:51.860,0:18:54.061
good guideline, like any other guideline,[br]where if you

0:18:54.061,0:18:57.499
could minimize responsibilities in a model[br]and have it

0:18:57.500,0:19:01.400
not manage view concerns, then do that. Especially[br]if

0:19:01.400,0:19:03.630
MVC prescribes that as well as that's what[br]all

0:19:03.660,0:19:06.071
Rails developers on the field would expect.

0:19:06.080,0:19:12.148
So I think I pretty much sold that. So

0:19:12.148,0:19:15.040
yeah, so I mean, I think that makes it

0:19:15.040,0:19:19.280
pretty clear why I don't like this approach[br]that

0:19:19.280,0:19:19.821
much.

0:19:19.821,0:19:22.559
Also, it's a bit techy. Like, thinking of[br]the

0:19:22.560,0:19:24.540
wizard as a state machine is a bit computer

0:19:24.540,0:19:27.250
science-y. Like, I mean, I have a background[br]in

0:19:27.250,0:19:29.650
computer science, but, the, the point of anything[br]you

0:19:29.650,0:19:31.071
learn is to apply it in the right place

0:19:31.080,0:19:33.700
for it, and I don't feel like, when I'm

0:19:33.700,0:19:35.590
thinking about a wizard I'm thinking about[br]the business

0:19:35.600,0:19:36.789
problem. That's what I really want to think[br]about.

0:19:36.789,0:19:38.130
I don't want to think about a state machine.

0:19:38.130,0:19:40.341
As cool as that is, that's not the time

0:19:40.341,0:19:41.289
to think about it.

0:19:41.289,0:19:45.691
So I mean, a thousand and one approaches is,

0:19:45.700,0:19:48.009
there's a whole bunch of gems out there. Most

0:19:48.009,0:19:50.250
of them will simplify the things I mentioned,[br]or

0:19:50.280,0:19:53.441
give you better, shorter DSLs for doing the[br]approaches

0:19:53.441,0:19:56.590
I mentioned. But none of them achieve all[br]the

0:19:56.590,0:19:58.899
goals at once, of having MVC, REST, and all

0:19:58.900,0:19:59.640
of that.

0:19:59.640,0:20:03.110
I mean, to get back to that, there's REST,

0:20:03.110,0:20:06.290
MVC, OO, and then the non-functional requirements.[br]So, let's

0:20:06.290,0:20:09.701
go to, jump into this. I think we have

0:20:09.701,0:20:14.290
about ten minutes left.

0:20:14.300,0:20:17.590
So the first thing that, so I, I'm like,

0:20:17.590,0:20:19.859
OK, let's try to solve this wizard problem[br]from

0:20:19.860,0:20:22.380
scratch, like, as if I just, I'm just gonna,

0:20:22.380,0:20:25.250
like, get my tools out there. Like, the object-oriented

0:20:25.260,0:20:30.640
principles, the domain-driven design principles.[br]Who, who here has

0:20:30.640,0:20:33.801
read the book Domain Driven Design? Or heard[br]of

0:20:33.801,0:20:36.200
it, at least?

0:20:36.200,0:20:38.349
It's a book that I, my team did a

0:20:38.349,0:20:41.340
book club on, or a previous team, like six

0:20:41.340,0:20:43.870
years ago, did a book club on for the

0:20:43.880,0:20:47.831
sake of learning how to do object-oriented[br]design on

0:20:47.840,0:20:49.879
real business problems. Cause a lot of the[br]time

0:20:49.880,0:20:51.900
you learn object orientation, but it's hard[br]to figure

0:20:51.900,0:20:54.191
out how to create the right objects for the

0:20:54.200,0:20:56.480
real, for the right person's problem. It's,[br]that, that

0:20:56.480,0:20:58.119
book is a very good book on how to

0:20:58.120,0:20:58.920
tackle that.

0:20:58.940,0:21:00.879
So I, I started using those tools. Like, whatever

0:21:00.880,0:21:02.400
I learned from that book, whatever I learned[br]from

0:21:02.400,0:21:07.770
object-oriented programming. Whatever I learned[br]from, like REST. To

0:21:07.780,0:21:11.280
try to figure out what a wizard is.

0:21:11.280,0:21:14.130
Before I go ahead and talk more of what

0:21:14.130,0:21:16.990
a wizard is, what do you think a wizard,

0:21:17.000,0:21:19.100
the wizard's highest goal is?

0:21:19.100,0:21:20.630
Go ahead.

0:21:20.630,0:21:25.051
AUDIENCE: To serve views for the user.

0:21:25.060,0:21:28.349
A.M.: That's correct. So, you stumped me.[br]Cause I

0:21:28.349,0:21:30.291
was gonna ask about the highest goal from[br]the

0:21:30.300,0:21:31.769
developer's point of view, but you're right,[br]we should

0:21:31.769,0:21:33.730
think about the user's perspective first.

0:21:33.740,0:21:38.091
Now, let's dig, let's dig a little. No, that's

0:21:38.100,0:21:40.830
good. Let's dig a level lower. So, OK, so

0:21:40.830,0:21:43.580
we know that. That's our guiding principle,[br]is OK,

0:21:43.580,0:21:45.149
to serve to make things easier for the user.

0:21:45.149,0:21:50.280
But, next, what, why, why, OK, technically[br]what, what

0:21:50.280,0:21:51.120
is a wizard doing?

0:21:51.140,0:21:52.790
OK, that's my next question. What is a wizard

0:21:52.790,0:21:54.160
really doing? Go ahead.

0:21:54.160,0:21:57.470
AUDIENCE: Collect the proper set of validated[br]values.

0:21:57.470,0:22:00.770
A.M.: That's part of the work. What else?

0:22:00.770,0:22:01.890
AUDIENCE: Break down the form so they're just[br]small

0:22:01.890,0:22:02.230
steps.

0:22:02.320,0:22:04.440
A.M.: OK. Break down the data. Yup. Like separate

0:22:04.520,0:22:05.920
it. What else?

0:22:05.920,0:22:06.960
AUDIENCE: I was gonna say something really[br]similar to

0:22:07.120,0:22:09.040
that. Organize the data into, like, you know,[br]making

0:22:09.040,0:22:13.220
it weighted or in comprehensible sections.

0:22:14.020,0:22:16.380
A.M.: OK. And what's the end goal of running

0:22:16.420,0:22:18.880
through the entire wizard?

0:22:18.920,0:22:21.391
AUDIENCE: Creating an object.

0:22:21.391,0:22:24.758
A.M.: Yup. Pretty much. So a wizard is nothing

0:22:24.780,0:22:29.220
but the good old builder design pattern. Anybody's[br]heard

0:22:29.220,0:22:30.821
of it. I mean, I used to be a

0:22:30.821,0:22:33.269
hardcore Java geek and design patterns were[br]big in-

0:22:33.269,0:22:35.761
[audio jump] seven days - in Ruby.

0:22:35.761,0:22:38.720
But it's still good to know about things like

0:22:38.720,0:22:40.980
that, cause that pattern flashed in my head[br]right

0:22:40.980,0:22:42.520
away. I'm like, oh wow, a wizard is nothing

0:22:42.540,0:22:44.831
but a builder. Like, it, all it does is

0:22:44.831,0:22:47.409
like an assembly line of building a car, where

0:22:47.409,0:22:50.370
step one, you know, whatever, you put the[br]chassis,

0:22:50.380,0:22:53.091
second, like, step two is you add more, I

0:22:53.100,0:22:54.649
don't know, you add the doors. Step three,[br]you

0:22:54.649,0:22:57.061
add the windows. Four, five, and then all[br]of

0:22:57.061,0:23:01.629
the sudden you've built a car. So that's really

0:23:01.629,0:23:06.681
what it is.

0:23:06.681,0:23:11.039
Second part of the philosophy that I was following

0:23:11.040,0:23:14.301
is, each step in a wizard is nothing but

0:23:14.301,0:23:16.570
a partial view of that main, full object you're

0:23:16.570,0:23:19.459
building. So, one, one step is about, say[br]I'm

0:23:19.460,0:23:21.030
ordering a car and I want to customize that

0:23:21.060,0:23:22.990
car. Like, one step will show me the exterior

0:23:22.990,0:23:25.770
body and another will show me the interior[br]to

0:23:25.770,0:23:29.941
customize the interior with, whatever, leather[br]or mahogany front-panel,

0:23:29.941,0:23:32.330
whatever. And then, and then a third part[br]lets

0:23:32.330,0:23:33.410
me customize the engine.

0:23:33.410,0:23:35.719
So it's just, so all what steps are, are

0:23:35.740,0:23:38.931
views. Like, instead of thinking about them[br]as states

0:23:38.940,0:23:41.330
and in a state machine, this is a more

0:23:41.340,0:23:43.470
higher level way of thinking about it. It's[br]less

0:23:43.470,0:23:46.919
technical and more, it's just, I'm viewing[br]one part

0:23:46.920,0:23:49.730
of a model.

0:23:49.740,0:23:54.721
Third part is if you were to, so, with

0:23:54.721,0:23:56.480
that in mind, if you ever think about the

0:23:56.480,0:23:59.869
REST resources, it's very simple now. It's[br]done. Like,

0:23:59.869,0:24:02.091
you have the main model, that's the main resource.

0:24:02.100,0:24:04.679
And then you have the model parts, nested[br]model

0:24:04.680,0:24:07.050
part, under the main model. That's the second[br]resource.

0:24:07.050,0:24:10.390
That's it. You have two RESTful resources.[br]Very clean.

0:24:10.390,0:24:12.640
So every time you're walking through the steps[br]of

0:24:12.640,0:24:17.040
a wizard, you're actually editing a model[br]part. So,

0:24:17.040,0:24:19.811
and, so that makes it very, very clear what

0:24:19.820,0:24:22.499
the REST resource is.

0:24:22.500,0:24:25.571
Another thing in my philosophy about it was[br]I

0:24:25.580,0:24:28.049
did not want to have conditional validations,[br]cause they

0:24:28.049,0:24:30.280
make a model hard to maintain. It's harder[br]to

0:24:30.280,0:24:31.910
read if statements. Like, if I can have those

0:24:31.910,0:24:35.250
without if statements, it would be better.[br]Especially when

0:24:35.250,0:24:37.250
you come back to maintain that wizard six[br]months

0:24:37.260,0:24:39.801
later and then a year later and, on, on

0:24:39.801,0:24:41.969
both projects I was on, they actually added[br]steps

0:24:41.969,0:24:43.630
to the wizard. So they started with four steps

0:24:43.640,0:24:46.030
and then they grew to nine steps.

0:24:46.030,0:24:51.120
And the more I can separate that stuff, the,

0:24:51.120,0:24:55.571
the better. And then finally I just wanted[br]to

0:24:55.580,0:24:57.729
maintain the views in separate view files[br]as well.

0:24:57.740,0:25:00.100
I didn't want a single view file that would

0:25:00.100,0:25:01.341
do it the way I used to write code

0:25:01.341,0:25:03.759
in ASB where I'd have a crazy if-else statement

0:25:03.760,0:25:06.081
that says if step1 show this part of the

0:25:06.081,0:25:09.529
form, if step2, show me the project details,[br]if

0:25:09.529,0:25:12.840
step3, show me a document content upload.[br]I don't

0:25:12.840,0:25:19.840
want that. That's, yeah. That's ASP programming.

0:25:21.060,0:25:28.060
AUDIENCE: If they change the order of the[br]steps,

0:25:28.060,0:25:31.440
you want the steps [indecipherable] step three[br]became step

0:25:31.540,0:25:32.660
four.

0:25:33.700,0:25:35.340
A.M.: Yeah. It'll work.

0:25:36.840,0:25:40.960
OK. So, so really I mean, high level is

0:25:41.040,0:25:42.829
just, I have the main model. That's the main

0:25:42.829,0:25:44.631
resource. And then the, on the, nested under[br]it,

0:25:44.640,0:25:49.130
there's the four different, so, what I end[br]up

0:25:49.130,0:25:52.400
doing is creating four different presenters.[br]One per step.

0:25:52.400,0:25:55.000
Which manages the validations for that step[br]separately, as

0:25:55.000,0:25:57.290
well as any stepping logic related to what[br]happens

0:25:57.290,0:25:58.681
when you land on that page. What are the

0:25:58.681,0:26:01.159
defaults for that form? Should we initialize[br]the phone

0:26:01.180,0:26:03.540
number with zero, zero, zero, zeros, or should[br]we,

0:26:03.540,0:26:05.810
like, should, should we prefil the name from[br]the

0:26:05.810,0:26:08.630
logged in user account? These kinds of concerns[br]now

0:26:08.630,0:26:10.331
are uploaded cleanly to the model.

0:26:10.340,0:26:12.700
So we're adhering to MVC. You handle all the

0:26:12.700,0:26:15.800
wizard intelligence and business logic in[br]the models now.

0:26:15.800,0:26:17.769
You're not, or presenters. I mean, a presenter[br]is

0:26:17.780,0:26:19.941
just another form of a model that focuses[br]on

0:26:19.941,0:26:22.629
presented a vi- a part of a model. So,

0:26:22.629,0:26:25.600
really, I'm, I'm using it in a loose sense.

0:26:25.600,0:26:27.210
There's many ways to do presenters. I don't[br]care

0:26:27.220,0:26:28.280
which way.

0:26:28.280,0:26:30.910
I do have a prescribed way here, but, the

0:26:30.910,0:26:34.311
point of first to grasp is that you're operating

0:26:34.320,0:26:36.029
on a part of the model. You're not operating

0:26:36.029,0:26:37.500
on the full model. And you're doing the logic

0:26:37.500,0:26:41.330
in the, in a model, not in a controller.

0:26:41.340,0:26:43.071
And then the, the controller is the, yeah.[br]So

0:26:43.080,0:26:44.700
there's two of them. There's the one that[br]manages

0:26:44.700,0:26:46.919
the main model creation. So the first step[br]of

0:26:46.920,0:26:49.191
a wizard, when you create it, you create it

0:26:49.200,0:26:51.710
with a main model controller. So if I have

0:26:51.710,0:26:54.560
projects controller, I have a create action.[br]And then

0:26:54.560,0:26:58.119
that triggers the wizard. It'll, it'll create[br]it and

0:26:58.120,0:27:00.471
then redirects me to the first step.

0:27:00.480,0:27:01.779
So when it redirects me to the first step

0:27:01.780,0:27:03.981
it takes me to the edit page of model

0:27:03.981,0:27:07.700
part, the nested model part, with id_step1,[br]for example.

0:27:07.700,0:27:10.779
Or id basic info. So you use the step

0:27:10.780,0:27:13.101
names as the ids of that RESTful resource.[br]Which

0:27:13.101,0:27:20.019
is perfect REST. Like, that's, that, that[br]goes with,

0:27:20.100,0:27:21.690
that gives you an example of why, when people

0:27:21.690,0:27:25.481
talk about REST outside of Rails, they tell[br]you

0:27:25.481,0:27:28.840
REST does not relate to having a database[br]table.

0:27:28.840,0:27:31.149
You can, so this, this, this is an example

0:27:31.149,0:27:35.000
where the RESTful resource is a step that[br]is

0:27:35.000,0:27:37.670
a view of the model, but it's not a

0:27:37.670,0:27:39.900
resource. It's not a database table. It's[br]not a

0:27:39.900,0:27:42.691
separate database table. It's just a virtual[br]resource.

0:27:42.700,0:27:44.499
I need to wrap it up and then I'll

0:27:44.500,0:27:47.040
take, I'll take questions. So in a nutshell,[br]you

0:27:47.040,0:27:49.790
have the model resource, nested model. So[br]you end

0:27:49.790,0:27:54.200
up with URLs like that, which is very restful,

0:27:54.200,0:27:58.800
again, cause, like, so you have projects,[br]with the

0:27:58.800,0:28:00.460
id. We were using friendly id on the projects,

0:28:00.460,0:28:03.440
so the project says, yeah, so project1, then[br]project_parts,

0:28:03.440,0:28:05.540
and then the name of the step. And there'll

0:28:05.540,0:28:07.700
be four steps for, you know, every time you

0:28:07.700,0:28:09.279
run through that wizard. So there'll be four[br]ids,

0:28:09.280,0:28:11.860
only. It's a finite set. You don't have to

0:28:11.860,0:28:13.520
store it in the database.

0:28:13.520,0:28:20.140
So yeah, step names. There's id, contains[br]validations, yeah.

0:28:20.200,0:28:22.771
I already talked about all of that. So let's

0:28:22.771,0:28:23.820
skip.

0:28:23.820,0:28:26.469
So the routes is very, are very simple. You

0:28:26.469,0:28:30.181
just have a resources projects. It's actually[br]only create

0:28:30.181,0:28:32.440
and show. I left the show out. There should

0:28:32.440,0:28:34.659
be a show as well. Show is the landing

0:28:34.680,0:28:37.300
page of the project when you finish the wizard.

0:28:37.300,0:28:39.400
And then the project parts, which is edit[br]and

0:28:39.400,0:28:41.571
update. And it's that simple.

0:28:41.571,0:28:44.289
So, so here's the project model. It's got[br]the

0:28:44.289,0:28:48.640
basic definition of that model. And associations[br]and so

0:28:48.640,0:28:51.421
on and so forth. However, what I end up

0:28:51.421,0:28:54.070
doing is creating a presenter per wizard step,[br]so,

0:28:54.070,0:28:56.550
and I nest them under a directory that matches

0:28:56.580,0:28:59.409
the model name, so, project, for example.[br]And that's

0:28:59.409,0:29:01.431
one way of doing it. There's many ways of

0:29:01.440,0:29:03.299
doing it, but.

0:29:03.300,0:29:06.230
In this case, only step one and two had

0:29:06.230,0:29:08.841
customizations over that model. Step three[br]did not have

0:29:08.841,0:29:10.989
validations of its own, so I didn't even have

0:29:10.989,0:29:14.520
to create a file for it. And step four

0:29:14.520,0:29:16.340
actually didn't have anything either so I[br]didn't have

0:29:16.340,0:29:17.240
to create a file for it.

0:29:17.260,0:29:20.480
But yeah. Step one, you can't see the details,

0:29:20.480,0:29:22.930
but the point is that this is, these are

0:29:22.930,0:29:27.000
validations for step one, only. So that's[br]the first,

0:29:27.000,0:29:29.220
and then the first step, as well as some

0:29:29.220,0:29:33.170
business logic related to it, like initializing[br]default, like

0:29:33.170,0:29:37.620
initialize from user, which initializes from[br]the signed in

0:29:37.620,0:29:38.191
user.

0:29:38.200,0:29:42.529
And then there's the project detail model,[br]which has

0:29:42.540,0:29:45.650
a few validations, only. Only three, cause[br]it only

0:29:45.650,0:29:49.280
has three fields on it. So that one is

0:29:49.280,0:29:53.900
also, like, cleanly separated. Nice, easy[br]to maintain. So

0:29:53.900,0:29:57.331
you go back to maintain the code and it's

0:29:57.340,0:29:58.679
like, it's like, it's squeaky clean. You know[br]it's

0:29:58.680,0:30:01.581
like so easy. It's like the way programming[br]should

0:30:01.581,0:30:06.039
be.

0:30:06.040,0:30:08.140
So the project's controller, the create action,[br]all it

0:30:08.140,0:30:10.540
does is it creates the project and then redirects

0:30:10.540,0:30:13.890
to the edit page of the first step, which

0:30:13.890,0:30:18.780
is basic info. And then the project parts[br]controller

0:30:18.780,0:30:20.850
has the edit and the update and all it

0:30:20.850,0:30:23.691
does is it steps through the wizard. Now,[br]what

0:30:23.700,0:30:25.430
I ended up doing here is the way I

0:30:25.430,0:30:28.940
reasoned about it is that the project in MVC,

0:30:28.940,0:30:32.039
or, sorry project controller in MVC is, or[br]project

0:30:32.040,0:30:36.071
parts controller, is actually, although it's[br]a controller, it's

0:30:36.080,0:30:38.239
a model of sorts. It's a model focused on

0:30:38.240,0:30:39.470
control flow.

0:30:39.470,0:30:41.571
And stepping through a wizard is control flow.[br]So

0:30:41.580,0:30:44.060
then I made the controller responsible for[br]it. So

0:30:44.060,0:30:47.599
the, so here, at the top, it, it defines

0:30:47.600,0:30:49.120
the order of the steps, and then based on

0:30:49.120,0:30:50.720
that it walks through them. So in a way

0:30:50.720,0:30:53.480
the controller is the state machine, except[br]I didn't

0:30:53.480,0:30:56.681
need a state machine cause I'm not maintaining[br]state.

0:30:56.681,0:30:58.830
I do it with, I don't need to maintain

0:30:58.830,0:31:00.450
state. Every time we finish a step we can

0:31:00.460,0:31:02.479
redirect to the next step. And I can pass

0:31:02.480,0:31:05.431
the id of the next step RESTfully and redirect

0:31:05.440,0:31:06.609
to the next resource.

0:31:06.609,0:31:08.500
So I, I don't need to maintain what step

0:31:08.500,0:31:11.061
I'm at, on. It's always on each page. Like,

0:31:11.061,0:31:12.659
on each page, I can know, if I'm on

0:31:12.660,0:31:15.110
step two, I know that if I hit submit

0:31:15.110,0:31:17.270
it'll take me to step three next. I don't

0:31:17.270,0:31:19.330
have to, like I just know that from this

0:31:19.340,0:31:23.931
array that we define over here, which orders[br]the

0:31:23.940,0:31:25.759
steps in the wizard.

0:31:25.760,0:31:29.050
So, yeah, we're almost done. But yeah. I mean,

0:31:29.050,0:31:32.681
it's got stepping logic. There is, there's[br]a gem

0:31:32.681,0:31:34.769
out there called wicked that helps to implement[br]this

0:31:34.769,0:31:39.241
sort of logic in a controller. I, I'm starting

0:31:39.270,0:31:42.720
a gem called ultralightwizard that will do[br]similar stuff,

0:31:42.720,0:31:48.490
except it'll add the, the concept of presenters[br]to

0:31:48.500,0:31:51.280
it as well. But until then you could use

0:31:51.280,0:31:53.400
wicked for the controller part.

0:31:53.400,0:31:57.130
The views, you'll just have a different wizard[br]part

0:31:57.130,0:32:00.100
view, or sorry, step view. And one thing I

0:32:00.100,0:32:02.850
didn't know is that this edit action, it actually,

0:32:02.850,0:32:04.431
when it renders the view, you don't render[br]and

0:32:04.440,0:32:07.379
edit dot html dot erb, you polymorphically[br]just render

0:32:07.380,0:32:09.580
the step name. And then it ends up picking

0:32:09.580,0:32:10.890
a view matching that step name.

0:32:10.890,0:32:13.280
So if I render basic_info, it renders basic_info[br]dot

0:32:13.280,0:32:16.051
html dot erb, which contains the edit form[br]for

0:32:16.060,0:32:20.039
that step. If I render the, the detail step,

0:32:20.040,0:32:23.671
then it renders detail dot html dot erb. So

0:32:23.680,0:32:25.289
that's why I have these. So that way we

0:32:25.289,0:32:27.260
have the views separated as well. So we achieve

0:32:27.260,0:32:30.540
that goal.

0:32:30.540,0:32:32.801
The form that you put can be the same

0:32:32.801,0:32:35.089
on all views actually. Because you have, you're[br]editing

0:32:35.089,0:32:37.480
the same model. You're just editing different[br]parts of

0:32:37.480,0:32:40.270
that model, but it's, it's the same model[br]on

0:32:40.280,0:32:44.080
all pages. So the root model is project, but

0:32:44.080,0:32:47.951
on one page I'm editing nested document content,[br]upload

0:32:47.960,0:32:50.639
the documents. On another page I'm, I'm, I'm[br]editing

0:32:50.640,0:32:52.331
just the first name and last name, and so

0:32:52.340,0:32:52.800
on and so forth.

0:32:52.800,0:32:54.300
So you could actually wrap this whole thing[br]up

0:32:54.300,0:32:58.979
in the helper, call it project_form_for. That's[br]super short.

0:32:58.980,0:33:00.921
Just use that. I know on one of my

0:33:00.921,0:33:03.709
projects, another senior developer on the[br]team did that,

0:33:03.709,0:33:07.980
like he did that as a refactoring step.

0:33:07.980,0:33:11.100
So, I mean, this is an example, but a

0:33:11.100,0:33:15.311
view, a very straightforward view form, like,[br]straight Rails.

0:33:15.320,0:33:19.570
Nothing special about it.

0:33:19.570,0:33:22.009
So that concludes the talk. So, I mean, I

0:33:22.040,0:33:23.341
talked about why use a wizard, provide a wizard

0:33:23.341,0:33:28.638
example, implementation goals, other implementations[br]out there, and finally

0:33:28.640,0:33:31.410
talked about what's my recommended approach[br]for sticking with

0:33:31.410,0:33:34.990
REST, MVC, OO, and, you know, all the things

0:33:34.990,0:33:37.410
that would help ensure that your code is not

0:33:37.410,0:33:40.000
maintainable only today but also a year from[br]now,

0:33:40.000,0:33:42.260
and also by other developers that will join[br]the

0:33:42.260,0:33:45.820
team with minimal training efforts, hopefully.

0:33:45.820,0:33:47.911
This is the project that I launched and is

0:33:47.920,0:33:49.599
empty right now, but I would like to, but

0:33:49.600,0:33:51.600
I mean, you can star it and monitor it

0:33:51.600,0:33:53.340
and hopefully I have something out soon. Maybe[br]I'll

0:33:53.340,0:33:55.910
do it at RailsConf. Somebody want to pair[br]with

0:33:55.910,0:33:58.390
me on this, you're welcome to. So yeah, my

0:33:58.400,0:34:00.811
name is Andy Maleh. I'm the VP of Engineering

0:34:00.820,0:34:06.190
at a remote only, or 100% remote option consulting

0:34:06.190,0:34:09.690
company called BigAstronaut. These are my[br]folks over here.

0:34:09.699,0:34:11.250
That's Lance, CTO.

0:34:11.250,0:34:15.909
Oh, oh yeah, Chief Fun Officer as well.

0:34:15.920,0:34:17.840
AUDIENCE: We've got t-shirts and stickers[br]and we're hiring.

0:34:18.179,0:34:20.580
A.M.: Sweet. Yeah. Thank you everybody.