13 Rails-specific hints for your rails 3 console.

.railsrc

# .railsrc for Rails 3, encoding: utf-8
#   see http://rbjl.net/49-railsrc-rails-console-snippets

if !Rails.application then warn "Rails isn't loaded, yet... skipping .railsrc" else
# # #

def ripl?; defined?(Ripl) && Ripl.instance_variable_get(:@shell); end

# # #
# loggers
ActiveRecord::Base.logger     = Logger.new STDOUT
ActiveRecord::Base.clear_reloadable_connections!

ActionController::Base.logger = Logger.new STDOUT

# # # 
# named routes and helpers
include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers
default_url_options[:host] = Rails.application.class.parent_name.downcase

#include ActionView::Helpers           # All Rails helpers
include ApplicationController._helpers # Your own helpers
#
# unfortunately that breaks some functionality (e.g. the named route helpers above)
#  so, look at actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers.rb and choose the helpers you need
#  (and which don't break anything), e.g.
include ActionView::Helpers::DebugHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::NumberHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::RawOutputHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::SanitizeHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::TextHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::TranslationHelper

# # #
# route list view helpers (requires hirb)

# hirb view for a route
class Hirb::Helpers::Route < Hirb::Helpers::AutoTable
  def self.render(output, options = {})
    super( output.requirements.map{ |k,v|
      [k, v.inspect]
    }, options.merge({
      :headers     => [output.name || '', "#{ output.verb || 'ANY' } #{ output.path }"],
      :unicode     => true,
      :description => nil,
    }) )
  end
end
Hirb.add_view ActionDispatch::Routing::Route, :class => Hirb::Helpers::Route

# short and long route list
def routes(long_output = false)
  if long_output
    Rails.application.routes.routes.each{ |e|
      puts Hirb::Helpers::Route.render(e)
    }
    true
  else
    Hirb::Console.render_output Rails.application.routes.routes.map{|e|
      [e.name || '', e.verb || 'ANY', e.path]
    },{
      :class   => Hirb::Helpers::AutoTable,
      :headers => %w<name verb path>,
    }
  end
end

# get a specific route via index or name
def route(index_or_name)
  route = case index_or_name
  when Integer
    Rails.application.routes.routes[ index_or_name ]
  when Symbol # named route
    Rails.application.routes.named_routes.get index_or_name
  end
end

# access to routeset for easy recognize / generate
def r 
  ActionController::Routing::Routes
end

# # #
# rails prompt
if ripl?
  module Ripl::RailsPrompt
    def prompt
      @prompt = "#{ Rails.application.class.parent_name.downcase }(#{ Rails.env[0...3] })> "
      super
    end
  end
  Ripl::Shell.include Ripl::RailsPrompt
else
  app_name = Rails.application.class.parent_name.downcase
  app_env  = Rails.env[0...3]
  IRB.conf[:PROMPT] ||= {}
  IRB.conf[:PROMPT][:RAILS] = {
    :PROMPT_I => "#{ app_name }(#{ app_env })> ",
    :PROMPT_N => "#{ app_name }(#{ app_env })| ",
    :PROMPT_C => "#{ app_name }(#{ app_env })| ",
    :PROMPT_S => "#{ app_name }(#{ app_env })%l ",
    :RETURN => "=> %s\n",
    :AUTO_INDENT => true,
  }
  IRB.conf[:PROMPT_MODE] = :RAILS
end

# # #
# per project histories
history_file = File.join Dir.pwd, '.console_history'
if ripl?
  Ripl.config[:history] = history_file
else
  if !IRB.conf[:PROMPT][:RVM]
    IRB.conf[:HISTORY_FILE] = history_file
  else # RVM workaround, code from ~/.rvm/scripts/irbrc.rb
    # NOTE: messes up your ~/.irb-history
    # consider editing the rvm script directly
    if File.exists?(history_file)
      lines = IO.readlines(history_file).collect { |line| line.chomp }
      Readline::HISTORY.clear
      Readline::HISTORY.push(*lines)
    end

    Kernel::at_exit do
      maxhistsize = IRB.conf[:SAVE_HISTORY] || 100
      history_file = File.join Dir.pwd, ".console_history"
      lines = Readline::HISTORY.to_a.reverse.uniq.reverse
      lines = lines[-maxhistsize, maxhistsize] if lines.compact.length > maxhistsize
      File::open(history_file, "w+") { |io| io.puts lines.join("\n") }
    end
  end
end

# # #
# plain sql
def sql(query)
  ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select_all(query)
end

# # #
# instead of User.find(...) you can do user(...)
#   without arguments it only returns the model class
#   based on http://www.clarkware.com/blog/2007/09/03/console-shortcut
Dir.glob( File.join(Dir.pwd, *%w<app models ** *.rb>) ).map { |file_name|
  table_name = File.basename(file_name).split('.')[0..-2].join
  Object.instance_eval do
    define_method(table_name) do |*args|
      table_class = table_name.camelize.constantize
      if args.empty?
        table_class
      else
        table_class.send(:find, *args)
      end
    end
  end
}

# # #
# edit records with vim, emacs...
# class Url
#   can_console_update
# end
# Url.first.console_update
# see https://github.com/cldwalker/console_update
require 'console_update'
# ConsoleUpdate.editor = 'vim' # not necessary if env var $EDITOR is set

# # #
# misc db helpers (requires hirb)
module DatabaseHelpers
  extend self

  def tables
    Hirb::Console.render_output ActiveRecord::Base.connection.tables.map{|e|[e]},{
      :class   => Hirb::Helpers::AutoTable,
      :headers => %w<tables>,
    }
    true
  end

  def table(which)
    Hirb::Console.render_output ActiveRecord::Base.connection.columns(which).map{ |e|
      [e.name, e.type, e.sql_type, e.limit, e.default, e.scale, e.precision, e.primary, e.null]
    },{
      :class   => Hirb::Helpers::AutoTable,
      :headers => %w<name type sql_type limit default scale precision primary null>,
    }
    true
  end

  def counts
    Hirb::Console.render_output ActiveRecord::Base.connection.tables.map{|e|
      [e, ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select_value("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #{e}")]
    },{
      :class   => Hirb::Helpers::AutoTable,
      :headers => %w<table count>,
    }
    true
  end

  # ...
end
def db; DatabaseHelpers; end

# # # 
# gems & plugin initializers

# initiate authlogic session
if defined? Authlogic
  Authlogic::Session::Base.controller =
      Authlogic::ControllerAdapters::RailsAdapter.new(self)
end

# ...


# # #
# temp patches

# hirb vs irb vs ripl
=begin
class << Hirb::View
  def enable_output_method
    if defined?(Ripl) && Ripl.instance_variable_get(:@shell)
      @output_method = true
      require 'ripl/hirb'
    elsif defined? IRB
      @output_method = true
      ::IRB::Irb.class_eval do
        alias_method :non_hirb_view_output, :output_value
        def output_value #:nodoc:
          Hirb::View.view_or_page_output(@context.last_value) || non_hirb_view_output
        end
      end
    end
  end
end
#Hirb::View.disable
#Hirb::View.enable
=end

# # #
end # if Rails.application
# # #
#
# J-_-L

I have a new rails app where I keep getting the message:

 Rails isn't loaded, yet... skipping .railsrc

I have another project where I never get this message. What did I forget to do this time around?