Beginning Ruby on Rails -- About the Author -- Credits -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Introduction -- Who This Book Is For -- How This Book Is Structured -- What You Need to Use This Book -- Conventions -- Source Code -- Errata -- p2p.wrox.com -- Chapter 1: Welcome to Ruby -- Installing Ruby and Rails -- Creating a First Web Application -- Getting Started with Ruby -- Checking the Ruby Documentation -- Working with Numbers in Ruby -- Working with Strings in Ruby -- Storing Data in Variables -- Creating Constants -- Interpolating Variables in Double-Quoted Strings -- Reading Text on the Command Line -- Creating Symbols in Ruby -- Working with Operators -- Handling Operator Precedence -- Working with Arrays -- Using Two Array Indices -- Working with Hashes -- Working with Ranges -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 2: Conditionals, Loops, Methods, and Blocks -- It's All about Making Choices: the if Statement -- Using the case Statement -- Using Loops -- Creating and Calling a Method -- Making Use of Scope -- Working with Blocks -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 3: Classes and Objects -- All about Encapsulation -- Creating a Class -- Creating an Object -- Basing One Class on Another -- Understanding Ruby's Object Access -- Overriding Methods -- Creating Class Variables -- Creating Class Methods -- Creating Modules -- Creating Mixins -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 4: Welcome to Rails -- Putting Ruby on Rails -- Introducing Model-View-Controller Architecture -- Giving the View Something to Do -- Mixing Ruby Code and HTML Inside the View -- Passing Data from an Action to a View -- Escaping Sensitive Text -- Adding a Second Action -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 5: Building Simple Rails Applications -- Accessing Data the User Provides -- Using Rails Shortcuts for HTML Controls -- Working with Models -- Tying Controls to Models.

Initializing Data in Controls -- Storing Data in Sessions -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 6: Connecting to Databases -- Tutorial on Databases -- Creating a Data-Aware Rails Application -- Creating the Database -- Running the store Application -- Adding Another Record -- Beautifying the Display -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 7: Working with Databases -- Displaying Items to the Customer -- Creating a Shopping Cart -- Combining Purchases in the Cart -- Clearing the Cart -- Letting the User View the Cart Anytime -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 8: Validating and Testing -- Validating the Presence of Data -- Validating if Data Is Numeric -- Validating if Data Is Unique -- Creating the Validator Application -- Writing Your Own Validate Method -- Testing Your Model -- Testing Your Controller -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 9: Controlling the Action with the Action Controller -- Routing Refinements -- Creating Cookies -- Creating a Filter -- Logging in with Filters -- Using After Filters -- Rendering Text Directly -- Caching -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 10: Getting the Big Picture with Views -- Creating XML -- Creating XML Attributes -- Using View Helpers -- Using View Pagination -- Using Par tial Templates -- Passing Data to Par tial Templates -- Summary -- Exercises -- Chapter 11: Ajax and Rails -- Using Ajax -- Getting Access to Ajax Data -- Using XML and Ajax -- Using HTML Controls and Ajax -- Performing Ajax Searches -- Performing Visual Effects -- Summary -- Exercises -- Appendix A: Answers to Exercises -- Index.