how do you create a simple web page with ruby?

code beginner · 06-30-2011, 05:55 AM

Hello,

I have webhosting that has Ruby/Ruby on Rails.

I know how to set up html web sites. I started learning php, and it's really easy to create a php web page. You just name the file extension .php, and then you intersperse any php code you want in the html with <?php .... ?>. You throw the page up on the web, and it works exactly like you think it would.

But I have *no idea* how to set up a simple "hello world" web page in ruby. Here's a simple web page. I thought you would just name it with .rb or .rhtml and then upload it to your web hosting server and it would work:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
<title>it would be so great if this ruby page worked</title>
</head>
<body>
<%= puts "Hello World!" %>
</body>
</html>

But it doesn't work:
1) If I try the file on the hosting server with a .rb extension, it tries to "open" the file like it's downloading a pdf file or something like that.
2) If I try to use an .rhtml extension, it doesn't work. It echoes the plain text code to the screen, but nothing renders.
3) If I try using .html as the extension, the page will load, but the ruby code I'm trying to run gets echoed to the screen as a string literal, so the screen outputs <%= puts "Hello World!" %> instead of Hello World!

So since I already have Ruby and Ruby on Rails in a box ready to go on the webhosting server, what do I do? I thought Ruby was built for the web. But it seems impossible to get a simple web page to render, even on a professional webhosting server that has Ruby/ROR fully installed as part of the package.

Thanks for any ideas here.

stephen_ · 03-15-2012, 12:10 AM

Okay firstly you need to gain a better understanding of what ruby is. Try this out http://fuelyourcoding.com/creating-y...-from-scratch/http://fuelyourcoding.com/creating-y...-from-scratch/

lartisse · 03-15-2012, 07:32 PM

Hi

I started learning RoR 2 weeks ago. It's been challenging, but it's worth it i think. My suggestion to you is to start from all over from scratch and really understand how RoR works inside out.

Here is a list of the resources I am using:

- PeepCode videos ****Excellent content, and CHEAP $12/vid

****
-Rubyonrails.org *great resource site*
-Code School
-Ruby Screencasts **Free&Paid***
-Agile Web Development with Rails -3rd Edition- Free PDF download
- Stanford/MIT CSC video classes Free
-The KHAN Academy.

I hope this will help you.... Don't get frustrated at the beginning like I did

Cheers

thebigkick · 12-04-2012, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lartisse

Hi
Here is a list of the resources I am using:

- PeepCode videos ****Excellent content, and CHEAP $12/vid

****
-Rubyonrails.org *great resource site*
-Code School
-Ruby Screencasts **Free&Paid***
-Agile Web Development with Rails -3rd Edition- Free PDF download
- Stanford/MIT CSC video classes Free
-The KHAN Academy.

I hope this will help you.... Don't get frustrated at the beginning like I did

Cheers

Whoa, awesome list! I'm using Lynda.com and Code Academy. Thanks for that.

annaharris · 03-25-2013, 01:33 PM

For creating a web page with ruby, first you need to understand about Model-view-controller architecture as it is the base for most web frameworks, including Ruby on Rails. You can pick up the book "Agile Web Development with Rails" for getting a detail explanation about that.