A statement, and a question...

[Kevin Marvin]

First, yes, I am still alive.


Ok, question, I have a good sized rails app now, something that is
cooking along nicely. It supports content generation for several
different modules that are integrated into one Flex application on the
frontend. The Rails app is all backend, creating XML and stuff for
the frontend to consume.

Turns out, we have a few clients using the application suite now
(front end and back end), and as we add clients, we are adding
modules. However, if we add a module to a new client's front-end
application, we do not necessarily want to include the back-end editor
for it on all of the other implementations of the backend. For
example, if we created a "Kitties and Puppies List" module for the
front-end, the NRA would likely not want that in their backend
application.


So we've looked at / pondered Extensions, even played with Desert, and
can find nothing that seamlessly allows us to:

1. Create / store new controllers, models, and views for the new
module editors
2. Modify the core controllers for the application for each module
editor set we add
3. Include migrations that are run only if the module is installed.

Halp, plzkthxbaibbq.

- Kevin

--
XML is like violence, if it doesn’t solve your problem you’re not
using enough of it. —Anonymous

[Adam Keys]

I _think_ that Rails engines (apps bundled as plugins) should give you
1) and 3). Number 2 will probably require that you add an API to your
controllers that allows you to customize them.

If you haven't digested it already, this guide is pretty handy: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/plugins.html