Ruby on Rails 4.1 Release Notes¶ ↑
Highlights in Rails 4.1:
-
Spring application preloader
-
config/secrets.yml -
Action Pack variants
-
Action Mailer previews
These release notes cover only the major changes. To learn about various bug fixes and changes, please refer to the change logs or check out the list of commits in the main Rails repository on GitHub.
Upgrading to Rails 4.1¶ ↑
If you're upgrading an existing application, it's a great idea to have good test coverage before going in. You should also first upgrade to Rails 4.0 in case you haven't and make sure your application still runs as expected before attempting an update to Rails 4.1. A list of things to watch out for when upgrading is available in the Upgrading Ruby on Rails guide.
Major Features¶ ↑
Spring Application Preloader¶ ↑
Spring is a Rails application preloader. It speeds up development by keeping your application running in the background so you don't need to boot it every time you run a test, rake task or migration.
New Rails 4.1 applications will ship with “springified” binstubs. This
means that bin/rails and bin/rake will
automatically take advantage of preloaded spring environments.
Running rake tasks:
bin/rake test:models
Running a Rails command:
bin/rails console
Spring introspection:
$ bin/spring status Spring is running: 1182 spring server | my_app | started 29 mins ago 3656 spring app | my_app | started 23 secs ago | test mode 3746 spring app | my_app | started 10 secs ago | development mode
Have a look at the Spring README to see all available features.
See the Upgrading Ruby on Rails guide on how to migrate existing applications to use this feature.
config/secrets.yml¶ ↑
Rails 4.1 generates a new secrets.yml file in the
config folder. By default, this file contains the
application's secret_key_base, but it could also be used
to store other secrets such as access keys for external APIs.
The secrets added to this file are accessible via
Rails.application.secrets. For example, with the following
config/secrets.yml:
development: secret_key_base: 3b7cd727ee24e8444053437c36cc66c3 some_api_key: SOMEKEY
Rails.application.secrets.some_api_key returns
SOMEKEY in the development environment.
See the Upgrading Ruby on Rails guide on how to migrate existing applications to use this feature.
Action Pack Variants¶ ↑
We often want to render different HTML/JSON/XML templates for phones, tablets, and desktop browsers. Variants make it easy.
The request variant is a specialization of the request format, like
:tablet, :phone, or :desktop.
You can set the variant in a before_action:
request.variant = :tablet if request.user_agent =~ /iPad/
Respond to variants in the action just like you respond to formats:
respond_to do |format| format.html do |html| html.tablet # renders app/views/projects/show.html+tablet.erb html.phone { extra_setup; render ... } end end
Provide separate templates for each format and variant:
app/views/projects/show.html.erb app/views/projects/show.html+tablet.erb app/views/projects/show.html+phone.erb
You can also simplify the variants definition using the inline syntax:
respond_to do |format| format.js { render "trash" } format.html.phone { redirect_to progress_path } format.html.none { render "trash" } end
Action Mailer Previews¶ ↑
Action Mailer previews provide a way to see how emails look by visiting a special URL that renders them.
You implement a preview class whose methods return the mail object you'd like to check:
class NotifierPreview < ActionMailer::Preview def welcome Notifier.welcome(User.first) end end
The preview is available in localhost:3000/rails/mailers/notifier/welcome, and a list of them in localhost:3000/rails/mailers.
By default, these preview classes live in
test/mailers/previews. This can be configured using the
preview_path option.
See its documentation for a detailed write up.
Active Record enums¶ ↑
Declare an enum attribute where the values map to integers in the database, but can be queried by name.
class Conversation < ActiveRecord::Base enum status: [ :active, :archived ] end conversation.archived! conversation.active? # => false conversation.status # => "archived" Conversation.archived # => Relation for all archived Conversations Conversation.statuses # => { "active" => 0, "archived" => 1 }
See its documentation for a detailed write up.
Message Verifiers¶ ↑
Message verifiers can be used to generate and verify signed messages. This can be useful to safely transport sensitive data like remember-me tokens and friends.
The method Rails.application.message_verifier returns a new
message verifier that signs messages with a key derived from
secret_key_base and the given message verifier name:
signed_token = Rails.application.message_verifier(:remember_me).generate(token) Rails.application.message_verifier(:remember_me).verify(signed_token) # => token Rails.application.message_verifier(:remember_me).verify(tampered_token) # raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature
Module#concerning¶ ↑
A natural, low-ceremony way to separate responsibilities within a class:
class Todo < ActiveRecord::Base concerning :EventTracking do included do has_many :events end def latest_event ... end private def some_internal_method ... end end end
This example is equivalent to defining a EventTracking module
inline, extending it with ActiveSupport::Concern, then mixing
it in to the Todo class.
See its documentation for a detailed write up and the intended use cases.
CSRF protection from remote <script> tags¶ ↑
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection now covers GET requests with JavaScript responses, too. That prevents a third-party site from referencing your JavaScript URL and attempting to run it to extract sensitive data.
This means any of your tests that hit .js URLs will now fail
CSRF protection unless they use xhr. Upgrade your tests to be
explicit about expecting XmlHttpRequests. Instead of post :create,
format: :js, switch to the explicit xhr :post, :create,
format: :js.
Railties¶ ↑
Please refer to the Changelog for detailed changes.
Removals¶ ↑
-
Removed
update:application_controllerrake task. -
Removed deprecated
Rails.application.railties.engines. -
Removed deprecated
threadsafe!from Rails Config. -
Removed deprecated
ActiveRecord::Generators::ActiveModel#update_attributesin favor ofActiveRecord::Generators::ActiveModel#update. -
Removed deprecated
config.whiny_nilsoption. -
Removed deprecated rake tasks for running tests:
rake test:uncommittedandrake test:recent.
Notable changes¶ ↑
-
The Spring application preloader is now installed by default for new applications. It uses the development group of the Gemfile, so will not be installed in production. (Pull Request)
-
BACKTRACEenvironment variable to show unfiltered backtraces for test failures. (Commit) -
Exposed
MiddlewareStack#unshiftto environment configuration. (Pull Request) -
Added
Application#message_verifiermethod to return a message verifier. (Pull Request) -
The
test_help.rbfile which is required by the default generated test helper will automatically keep your test database up-to-date withdb/schema.rb(ordb/structure.sql). It raises an error if reloading the schema does not resolve all pending migrations. Opt out withconfig.active_record.maintain_test_schema = false. (Pull Request) -
Introduce
Rails.gem_versionas a convenience method to returnGem::Version.new(Rails.version), suggesting a more reliable way to perform version comparison. (Pull Request)
Action Pack¶ ↑
Please refer to the Changelog for detailed changes.
Removals¶ ↑
-
Removed deprecated Rails application fallback for integration testing, set
ActionDispatch.test_appinstead. -
Removed deprecated
page_cache_extensionconfig. -
Removed deprecated
ActionController::RecordIdentifier, useActionView::RecordIdentifierinstead. -
Removed deprecated constants from Action Controller:
| Removed | Successor | |:———————————–|:——————————–| | ActionController::AbstractRequest | ActionDispatch::Request | | ActionController::Request | ActionDispatch::Request | | ActionController::AbstractResponse | ActionDispatch::Response | | ActionController::Response | ActionDispatch::Response | | ActionController::Routing | ActionDispatch::Routing | | ActionController::Integration | ActionDispatch::Integration | | ActionController::IntegrationTest | ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest |
Notable changes¶ ↑
-
protect_from_forgeryalso prevents cross-origin<script>tags. Update your tests to usexhr :get, :foo, format: :jsinstead ofget :foo, format: :js. (Pull Request) -
#url_fortakes a hash with options inside an array. (Pull Request) -
Added
session#fetchmethod fetch behaves similarly to Hash#fetch, with the exception that the returned value is always saved into the session. (Pull Request) -
Separated Action View completely from Action Pack. (Pull Request)
-
Log which keys were affected by deep munge. (Pull Request)
-
New config option
config.action_dispatch.perform_deep_mungeto opt out of params “deep munging” that was used to address security vulnerability CVE-2013-0155. (Pull Request) -
New config option
config.action_dispatch.cookies_serializerfor specifying a serializer for the signed and encrypted cookie jars. (Pull Requests 1, 2 / More Details) -
Added
render :plain,render :htmlandrender :body. (Pull Request / More Details)
Action Mailer¶ ↑
Please refer to the Changelog for detailed changes.
Notable changes¶ ↑
-
Added mailer previews feature based on 37 Signals mail_view gem. (Commit)
-
Instrument the generation of Action Mailer messages. The time it takes to generate a message is written to the log. (Pull Request)
Active Record¶ ↑
Please refer to the Changelog for detailed changes.
Removals¶ ↑
-
Removed deprecated nil-passing to the following
SchemaCachemethods:primary_keys,tables,columnsandcolumns_hash. -
Removed deprecated block filter from
ActiveRecord::Migrator#migrate. -
Removed deprecated String constructor from
ActiveRecord::Migrator. -
Removed deprecated
scopeuse without passing a callable object. -
Removed deprecated
transaction_joinable=in favor ofbegin_transactionwith a:joinableoption. -
Removed deprecated
decrement_open_transactions. -
Removed deprecated
increment_open_transactions. -
Removed deprecated
PostgreSQLAdapter#outside_transaction?method. You can use#transaction_open?instead. -
Removed deprecated
ActiveRecord::Fixtures.find_table_namein favor ofActiveRecord::Fixtures.default_fixture_model_name. -
Removed deprecated
columns_for_removefromSchemaStatements. -
Removed deprecated
SchemaStatements#distinct. -
Moved deprecated
ActiveRecord::TestCaseinto the Rails test suite. The class is no longer public and is only used for internal Rails tests. -
Removed support for deprecated option
:restrictfor:dependentin associations. -
Removed support for deprecated
:delete_sql,:insert_sql,:finder_sqland:counter_sqloptions in associations. -
Removed deprecated method
type_cast_codefrom Column. -
Removed deprecated
ActiveRecord::Base#connectionmethod. Make sure to access it via the class. -
Removed deprecation warning for
auto_explain_threshold_in_seconds. -
Removed deprecated
:distinctoption fromRelation#count. -
Removed deprecated methods
partial_updates,partial_updates?andpartial_updates=. -
Removed deprecated method
scoped. -
Removed deprecated method
default_scopes?. -
Remove implicit join references that were deprecated in 4.0.
-
Removed
activerecord-deprecated_findersas a dependency. Please see the gem README for more info. -
Removed usage of
implicit_readonly. Please usereadonlymethod explicitly to mark records asreadonly. (Pull Request)
Deprecations¶ ↑
-
Deprecated
quoted_locking_columnmethod, which isn't used anywhere. -
Deprecated
ConnectionAdapters::SchemaStatements#distinct, as it is no longer used by internals. (Pull Request) -
Deprecated
rake db:test:*tasks as the test database is now automatically maintained. See railties release notes. (Pull Request) -
Deprecate unused
ActiveRecord::Base.symbolized_base_classandActiveRecord::Base.symbolized_sti_namewithout replacement. Commit
Notable changes¶ ↑
-
Default scopes are no longer overridden by chained conditions.
Before this change when you defined a default_scope in a model
it was overridden by chained conditions in the same field. Now it is
merged like any other scope. More
Details.
-
Added
ActiveRecord::Base.to_paramfor convenient "pretty" URLs derived from a model's attribute or method. (Pull Request) -
Added
ActiveRecord::Base.no_touching, which allows ignoring touch on models. (Pull Request) -
Unify boolean type casting for
MysqlAdapterandMysql2Adapter.type_castwill return1fortrueand0forfalse. (Pull Request) -
.unscopenow removes conditions specified indefault_scope. (Commit) -
Added
ActiveRecord::QueryMethods#rewherewhich will overwrite an existing, named where condition. (Commit) -
Extended
ActiveRecord::Base#cache_keyto take an optional list of timestamp attributes of which the highest will be used. (Commit) -
Added
ActiveRecord::Base#enumfor declaring enum attributes where the values map to integers in the database, but can be queried by name. (Commit) -
Type cast json values on write, so that the value is consistent with reading from the database. (Pull Request)
-
Type cast hstore values on write, so that the value is consistent with reading from the database. (Commit)
-
Make
next_migration_numberaccessible for third party generators. (Pull Request) -
Calling
update_attributeswill now throw anArgumentErrorwhenever it gets anilargument. More specifically, it will throw an error if the argument that it gets passed does not respond to tostringify_keys. (Pull Request) -
CollectionAssociation#first/#last(e.g.has_many) use aLIMITed query to fetch results rather than loading the entire collection. (Pull Request) -
inspecton Active Record model classes does not initiate a new connection. This means that callinginspect, when the database is missing, will no longer raise an exception. (Pull Request) -
Removed column restrictions for
count, let the database raise if the SQL is invalid. (Pull Request) -
Rails now automatically detects inverse associations. If you do not set the
:inverse_ofoption on the association, then Active Record will guess the inverse association based on heuristics. (Pull Request) -
Handle aliased attributes in ActiveRecord::Relation. When using symbol keys, ActiveRecord will now translate aliased attribute names to the actual column name used in the database. (Pull Request)
-
The ERB in fixture files is no longer evaluated in the context of the main object. Helper methods used by multiple fixtures should be defined on modules included in
ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.context_class. (Pull Request) -
Don't create or drop the test database if RAILS_ENV is specified explicitly. (Pull Request)
-
Relationno longer has mutator methods like#map!and#delete_if. Convert to anArrayby calling#to_abefore using these methods. (Pull Request) -
find_in_batches,find_each,Result#eachandEnumerable#index_bynow return anEnumeratorthat can calculate its size. (Pull Request) -
scope,enumand Associations now raise on “dangerous” name conflicts. (Pull Request, Pull Request) -
secondthroughfifthmethods act like thefirstfinder. (Pull Request) -
Make
touchfire theafter_commitandafter_rollbackcallbacks. (Pull Request) -
Enable partial indexes for
sqlite >= 3.8.0. (Pull Request) -
Make
change_column_nullrevertible. (Commit) -
Added a flag to disable schema dump after migration. This is set to
falseby default in the production environment for new applications. (Pull Request)
Active Model¶ ↑
Please refer to the Changelog for detailed changes.
Deprecations¶ ↑
-
Deprecate
Validator#setup. This should be done manually now in the validator's constructor. (Commit)
Notable changes¶ ↑
-
Added new API methods
reset_changesandchanges_appliedtoActiveModel::Dirtythat control changes state. -
Ability to specify multiple contexts when defining a validation. (Pull Request)
-
attribute_changed?now accepts a hash to check if the attribute was changed:fromand/or:toa given value. (Pull Request)
Active Support¶ ↑
Please refer to the Changelog for detailed changes.
Removals¶ ↑
-
Removed
MultiJSONdependency. As a result,ActiveSupport::JSON.decodeno longer accepts an options hash forMultiJSON. (Pull Request / More Details) -
Removed support for the
encode_jsonhook used for encoding custom objects into JSON. This feature has been extracted into the activesupport-json_encoder gem. (Related Pull Request / More Details) -
Removed deprecated
ActiveSupport::JSON::Variablewith no replacement. -
Removed deprecated
String#encoding_aware?core extensions (core_ext/string/encoding). -
Removed deprecated
Module#local_constant_namesin favor ofModule#local_constants. -
Removed deprecated
DateTime.local_offsetin favor ofDateTime.civil_from_format. -
Removed deprecated
Loggercore extensions (core_ext/logger.rb). -
Removed deprecated
Time#time_with_datetime_fallback,Time#utc_timeandTime#local_timein favor ofTime#utcandTime#local. -
Removed deprecated
Hash#diffwith no replacement. -
Removed deprecated
Date#to_time_in_current_zonein favor ofDate#in_time_zone. -
Removed deprecated
Proc#bindwith no replacement. -
Removed deprecated
Array#uniq_byandArray#uniq_by!, use nativeArray#uniqandArray#uniq!instead. -
Removed deprecated
ActiveSupport::BasicObject, useActiveSupport::ProxyObjectinstead. -
Removed deprecated
BufferedLogger, useActiveSupport::Loggerinstead. -
Removed deprecated
assert_presentandassert_blankmethods, useassert object.blank?andassert object.present?instead. -
Remove deprecated
#filtermethod for filter objects, use the corresponding method instead (e.g.#beforefor a before filter). -
Removed 'cow' => 'kine' irregular inflection from default inflections. (Commit)
Deprecations¶ ↑
-
Deprecated
Numeric#{ago,until,since,from_now}, the user is expected to explicitly convert the value into an AS::Duration, i.e. 5.ago => 5.seconds.ago ({Pull Request}[https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/12389]) -
Deprecated the require path
active_support/core_ext/object/to_json. Requireactive_support/core_ext/object/jsoninstead. (Pull Request) -
Deprecated
ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding::CircularReferenceError. This feature has been extracted into the activesupport-json_encoder gem. (Pull Request / More Details) -
Deprecated
ActiveSupport.encode_big_decimal_as_stringoption. This feature has been extracted into the activesupport-json_encoder gem. (Pull Request / More Details) -
Deprecate custom
BigDecimalserialization. (Pull Request)
Notable changes¶ ↑
-
ActiveSupport's JSON encoder has been rewritten to take advantage of the JSON gem rather than doing custom encoding in pure-Ruby. (Pull Request / More Details) -
Improved compatibility with the JSON gem. (Pull Request / More Details)
-
Added
ActiveSupport::Testing::TimeHelpers#traveland#travel_to. These methods change current time to the given time or duration by stubbingTime.nowandDate.today. -
Added
ActiveSupport::Testing::TimeHelpers#travel_back. This method returns the current time to the original state, by removing the stubs added bytravelandtravel_to. (Pull Request) -
Added
Numeric#in_milliseconds, like1.hour.in_milliseconds, so we can feed them to JavaScript functions likegetTime(). (Commit) -
Added
Date#middle_of_day,DateTime#middle_of_dayandTime#middle_of_daymethods. Also addedmidday,noon,at_midday,at_noonandat_middle_of_dayas aliases. (Pull Request) -
Added
Date#all_week/month/quarter/yearfor generating date ranges. (Pull Request) -
Added
Time.zone.yesterdayandTime.zone.tomorrow. (Pull Request) -
Added
String#remove(pattern)as a short-hand for the common pattern ofString#gsub(pattern,''). (Commit) -
Added
Hash#compactandHash#compact!for removing items with nil value from hash. (Pull Request) -
blank?andpresent?commit to return singletons. (Commit) -
Default the new
I18n.enforce_available_localesconfig totrue, meaningI18nwill make sure that all locales passed to it must be declared in theavailable_localeslist. (Pull Request) -
Introduce
Module#concerning: a natural, low-ceremony way to separate responsibilities within a class. (Commit) -
Added
Object#presence_into simplify value whitelisting. (Commit)
Credits¶ ↑
See the full list of contributors to Rails for the many people who spent many hours making Rails, the stable and robust framework it is. Kudos to all of them.