Question: File Management and Reports

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Brad Schell

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Jan 27, 2016, 3:49:04 PM1/27/16
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Hi all,

I have two questions or a request for opinions.

I have inherited an older application and it's using Ruport for report generation. Yes, it's an older version of Rails but that's another story.

1) Do you guys recommend using Ruport or just writing reports from scratch? Do you use another gem (or plugin, engine, etc)

2) What do you use for File Management? Vanilla rails or something else?

I would appreciate any feedback but it would also be helpful to know how long you've been using it and where, and if you have complaints or recommendations.

Cheers.
Brad


Alexander Miller

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Jan 29, 2016, 2:53:21 PM1/29/16
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I'm not a super experienced developer but it is generally pretty easy to groom data yourself in Rails, I wouldn't use a gem for that I would probably create a report model or concern to handle the data grooming. 

As for the output of the report I would use some thing like WickedPDF or Prawn for PDF generation. And I would use a javascript library like Dimple or an API like Google Charts for charting.

For management of report files, I would likely use vanilla rails unless a strong case was made that something fancier was needed. 

Brad Schell

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Feb 16, 2016, 9:37:07 PM2/16/16
to Ottawa Ruby
Thanks a lot Alexander!

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I had signed up for email updates but I'm not sure where it went?

I appreciate your points and the links you provided, I'm looking into them now.

My question for files was more around assets not just report files. For example: images, documents, songs, etc. Currently, the application is using a very dated version of Paperclip in some areas.

Cheers!
Brad

Alexander Miller

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Feb 17, 2016, 8:18:09 AM2/17/16
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PaperClip is a uploader gem, it's lightweight but not well maintained. I remember I tried using it once but it was buggy and I was already familiar with CarrierWave so I just used that instead. CarrierWave is the preferred uploader gem now, some people complain it's heavy and over engineered for what it does but the uploader service classes it creates are really helpful in keeping things organized in apps with complicated service objects. Here is a good blog entry on the subject. https://infinum.co/the-capsized-eight/articles/best-rails-image-uploader-paperclip-carrierwave-refile

Alexander Miller

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Feb 17, 2016, 8:20:58 AM2/17/16
to Ottawa Ruby
Sorry should have read:

Carrierwave is heavy and over engineered for what it does but the uploader service classes it creates are really helpful in keeping things organized in apps that are required to handle multiple types of uploads.

Brad Schell

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Feb 17, 2016, 9:41:59 PM2/17/16
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Wow! Again, thanks a lot for taking the time to reply.
I'm off to read the blog post.
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