Middleman: the Missing View in the Rails API Stack
summary
Middleman is a production static-site stack that uses Tilt, Rack and the usual Ruby toolchain to build and deploy single-page apps. Poll Everywhere builds mobile SPAs with backbone.js and the asset pipeline, deploys via rsync or S3/CDN, and extracts shared code into a sprockets asset gem (pollev_assets). A custom Stream API provides realtime updates with graceful failover to short polling after AMQP stability issues. A quirky floppy demo proves offline booting. The stack integrates into PowerPoint 2013, works in production, and simplifies scaling and deployments.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Start
- 2:49Middleman is modular with a rich ecosystem of extensions
- 4:25Middleman is multi-environment aware
- 5:19A simple two step deploy process
- 10:31A Flex app was created within the rails project for PowerPoint visualizations
- 21:17Stream API was isolated to its own host and server fleet for isolation and stability purposes. Client-side SOA allowed us to start using the Stream API, stabilize in production, gain confidence, and ensure a smooth rollout
- 23:05Extract common Coffeescript, Sass, assets into a sprockets asset gem
- 23:21Create a sprockets asset gem to share assets between apps
- 26:31We reused mobile app assets to build PowerPoint 2013 app in 2 weeks
- 30:31Some dynamic components are still required
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