$ gem install rails --no-rdoc --no-ri

But there’s another way to prevent documentation from being installed. Create a .gemrc file in your home directory with the following:

gem: --no-ri --no-rdoc

Now you don’t have to worry about supplying the command line options, this will give you no documentation by default.

Get Vim

First, download/install your flavor of Vim: http://www.vim.org/download.php

Create a vimrc file

Now, before you start editing any files, you’ll probably want to do some customizations first.

Create a vimrc file: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Open_vimrc_file

In your vimrc you’ll want to add some basic settings such as the ones below:

" The set nocompatible setting makes vim behave in a more useful way
set nocompatible
 
" Enable filetype-specific indenting and plugins
filetype plugin indent on
 
" Turn syntax highlighting on
syntax on
 
" Highlight search results
set hlsearch
 
" Turn on line numbering
set number
 
" Make backspce behave more normally
set backspace=indent,eol,start
 
" Turn on automatic indenting
set smartindent
 
" Insert space characters whenever the tab key is pressed
set expandtab
 
" Set tabs
set tabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2

Create Vim sub-folders

Inside your .vim (vimfiles on Windows) folder, create some sub-folders for plug-ins and color schemes:

mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload
mkdir -p  ~/.vim/bundle
mkdir -p  ~/.vim/colors

Set a default color scheme and font

After you have your vimrc file, you can customize the look-and-feel of Vim by picking a default color scheme and font.

Here are some good color themes I have found:

• jellybeans: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2555
• railscasts: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2175
• vividchalk: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1891

The color theme files go in ~/.vim/colors or ~\vimfiles\colors if you’re on Windows. Then you in your vimrc file you can set your default color scheme:

" Set default color scheme
colorscheme jellybeans

It’s also nice to have a good programming font in Vim. Here’s a list of preferred fonts and also how to set a default font in your vimrc file:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/485174/programming-fonts
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Change_font

Install plug-ins

Next, it’s time to install some plug-ins. Here are some good ones that I have found:

• https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen
• https://github.com/tpope/vim-rails
• https://github.com/tpope/vim-endwise
• https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive
• https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree

I’m using pathogen to manage my Vim plug-ins, so after that’s installed, to install a new plug-in, you just navigate to your: ~/.vim/bundle (~\vimfiles\bundle on Windows) directory and run git clone commands to install the new plug-ins:

git clone git://github.com/tpope/vim-rails.git
git clone git://github.com/tpope/vim-endwise.git
git clone https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree.git
git clone git://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive.git

Summary

That’s my rough guide on setting up Vim for Ruby on Rails development. Like I said I just got start using Vim for Ruby on Rails myself, so I know there’s a lot of plug-ins and settings I haven’t discovered yet.

Here are some links to the resources I used to setup Vim for Ruby on Rails and also how I’ve been learning how to learn Git:

• http://www.derekwyatt.org/vim/vim-tutorial-videos/vim-novice-tutorial-videos/
• http://oldwiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoUseVimWithRails
• http://net.tutsplus.com/sessions/vim-essential-plugins/
• http://vimcasts.org/
• http://blog.interlinked.org/tutorials/vim_tutorial.html

Also, the vimtutor command line program and O’Reilly Vim book came in handy.

I’ve learned that keeping your Ruby methods well named, short and focused makes them easier to read and also easier to test.

Example:

messages.delete('twitter') unless user.twitter_username

Using the translation, this Ruby code would read as: delete twitter messages except if the user has a twitter username.

Using and reading unless in Ruby was like Greek to me when I first saw it, but now that my brain automatically makes the association/translation for me, using it has become second nature.

Hopefully this technique will help someone else struggling to use unless in Ruby.

This fix applies if you’re using cucumber on Windows.

It turns out the error message is related to the json gem that cucumber depends on. The details and solution are buried in this thread.

To fix it, you just have to run:

gem uninstall json

followed by:

gem install json --platform=ruby

Notes:
You need to have DevKit installed for this fix: https://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/wiki/Development-Kit

If you get an error when installing the new json gem, make sure a rails server or console isn't running in the background.

The offending version of json for me was 1.4.6-x86-mingw32, so you need to uninstall and install that version: gem install json --version=1.4.6 --platform=ruby

If you install new gems after you make this fix, the error message will pop-up again, so you'll have to uninstall/install the json gem again. If anyone knows a way around this, please let me know.

Anyway, I hope this fix is helpful, that error was driving me nuts!

First, I downloaded the latest SQlite3 DLL. (I grabbed the DLL of the SQLite library without the TCL bindings.)

Then, I exracted the .dll and .def files to my C:\ruby\bin directory and that fixed my issue. (You’ll might have to restart your console session.)

These steps will also fix this error message:
“The procedure entry point sqlite3_column_database_name could not be located in the dynamic link library sqlite3.dll.”

Hope this helps someone else running into the same issue.

def self.up
  if RAILS_ENV == 'development'
    # set all of your test data for development...
  end
end