Features - lstpsche/webring-rails GitHub Wiki

Webring for Rails provides the following features:

Core Features

• Complete Model-Controller structure for managing webring members

  • Member model with UID generation and validation
  • Navigation controller for webring traversal
  • Members controller with full CRUD functionality
  • Status management with active and disabled states for member control

• Circular navigation system between member websites

  • Navigation module provides next/previous/random traversal
  • Status-aware navigation that automatically excludes disabled members
  • Secure redirections with allow_other_host support
  • Handles edge cases when members are added or removed

• Streamlined routing configuration with webring_routes helper

  • One-line setup: Similar to Devise's devise_for approach
  • Customizable controllers: Easy switching between default and custom controllers
  • Flexible configuration: Control mount paths, skip components, and more
  • Route consistency: Ensures all webring routes are configured correctly

• UID-based member identification for security

  • 32-character hexadecimal unique identifiers
  • Prevents sequential ID enumeration attacks
  • Automatic generation for new members

• Member status management for webring administration

  • active and disabled status states
  • Easy toggling between states using enum methods
  • Status tracking in database with proper defaults

• Embeddable JavaScript widget for easy member site integration

  • Widget controller
  • Customizable appearance and behavior
  • Server-side customization including logo replacement
  • Optional metrics tracking for widget usage analytics

• Optional membership request system

  • MembershipRequest model for handling join requests
  • MembershipRequests controller for submitting requests
  • Simple approval workflow for managing new members

Routing Configuration

webring_routes Helper

The webring_routes helper method provides a Devise-like approach to configuring webring routes:

# Basic usage - sets up all default routes
webring_routes

# Custom controllers
webring_routes navigation: :custom_navigation, widget: :custom_widget

# Advanced configuration
webring_routes(
  mount_path: 'network'
)

Benefits:

• Cleaner routes.rb: Single line replaces dozens of route declarations
• Consistent setup: Ensures all necessary routes are configured correctly
• Easy customization: Simple options for common configuration needs
• Future-proof: Route changes are handled automatically in gem updates

Generators

WebringRails provides several generators to help you set up webring functionality in your application:

• Member Model Generator: Creates the Webring::Member model with necessary fields

  rails generate webring:member
  

• Navigation Controller Generator: Creates the navigation controller with navigation actions

  rails generate webring:navigation_controller
  

• Membership Request Generator: Creates the MembershipRequest model for handling join requests

  rails generate webring:membership_request
  

• Membership Requests Controller Generator: Creates the controller for handling membership requests

  rails generate webring:membership_requests_controller
  

• Custom Widget Controller Generator: Creates a controller for customizing the webring widget

  rails generate webring:custom_widget_controller
  

• Installation Generator (Legacy): Manually mounts the Webring engine in routes.rb

  rails generate webring:install  # Only needed for manual setup
  

[!TIP] The installation generator is no longer needed when using the webring_routes helper. Simply add webring_routes to your routes.rb file instead.

See Installation for detailed setup instructions.

For development information and contributing to the gem, see Development.