Rails App: Zoo App - Software Engineering

I have created a Rails web application called Zoo App. Its primary function is to let zookeepers have a convenient way to record their observations on the health and welfare of the animals kept under care.

I started by creating a new Rails app through the terminal.

rails new ZooApp

Probably the toughest part about my app was building the ReportsController. Since the report model serves as a join table between User and Animal I had to find a way to create a new report using both foreign keys.

ReportsController

I decided to have the current user create the report and select from a drop down of the species he or she was working with. It made more sense to have seeded data of animals already in the database, and to allow for the creation of new animal instances when one was not found.

I was not sure at first whether to have the nested new route coming from the user side or the animal side. I decided the user should be the main focus and since the goal of ZooApp was to facilitate recording user input, any new input should come from the user only.

 animal_reports GET    /animals/:animal_id/reports(.:format)                                                    reports#index
                                      POST   /animals/:animal_id/reports(.:format)                                                    reports#create
                    new_animal_report GET    /animals/:animal_id/reports/new(.:format)                                                reports#new
                   edit_animal_report GET    /animals/:animal_id/reports/:id/edit(.:format)                                           reports#edit
                        animal_report GET    /animals/:animal_id/reports/:id(.:format)                                                reports#show
                                      PATCH  /animals/:animal_id/reports/:id(.:format)                                                reports#update
                                      PUT    /animals/:animal_id/reports/:id(.:format)                                                reports#update
                                      DELETE /animals/:animal_id/reports/:id(.:format)                                                reports#destroy
                              animals GET    /animals(.:format)                                                                       animals#index
                                      POST   /animals(.:format)                                                                       animals#create
                           new_animal GET    /animals/new(.:format)                                                                   animals#new
                          edit_animal GET    /animals/:id/edit(.:format)                                                              animals#edit
                               animal GET    /animals/:id(.:format)                                                                   animals#show
                                      PATCH  /animals/:id(.:format)                                                                   animals#update
                                      PUT    /animals/:id(.:format)                                                                   animals#update
                                      DELETE /animals/:id(.:format)                                                                   animals#destroy
                         user_reports GET    /users/:user_id/reports(.:format)                                                        reports#index
                                      POST   /users/:user_id/reports(.:format)                                                        reports#create
                      new_user_report GET    /users/:user_id/reports/new(.:format)                                                    reports#new
                     edit_user_report GET    /users/:user_id/reports/:id/edit(.:format)                                               reports#edit
                          user_report GET    /users/:user_id/reports/:id(.:format)                                               

Now all new report instances are routed through the user parent resource. The reports index view is where all reports on the specific animal life is displayed. In this way only reports that belong to certain animal queries are shown. And the user’s show page is where one’s own reports on any animal life can be seen.

Here I used new_user_report_path. Using new_user_report_path

Here I used animal_reports_path. Using animal_reports_path

Not worrying too much on looks I worked mainly on getting the create action working in harmony with my views. I would say this project was not too difficult when you know what to prioritize versus not knowing. I enjoyed working through the Rails module and I would say I definitely have a greater grasp on how things work.