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Custom Rake Tasks
Episode #66Aug 13, 200755 comments

Custom Rake Tasks

Rake is one of those tools that you don't realize how powerful it is until you start using it. In this episode you will learn how to create custom rake tasks and improve them by using rake features. (10 minutes)
Stopping Spam with Akismet
Episode #65Aug 06, 200758 comments

Stopping Spam with Akismet

The Railscasts site has been getting a lot of comment spam in the past, but no longer. In this episode I will show you how I solved this problem by using the Akismet web service. (11 minutes)
Custom Helper Modules
Episode #64Jul 30, 200747 comments

Custom Helper Modules

Rails designates one helper module per controller, but that shouldn't stop you from making custom helper modules to help structure the code. Learn how in this episode. (5 minutes)
Model Name in URL
Episode #63Jul 27, 200760 comments

Model Name in URL

By default, Rails uses the model's id in the URL. What if you want to use the name of the model instead? You can change this behavior by overriding the to_param method in the model. Watch this episode for details. (6 minutes)
Hacking ActiveRecord
Episode #62Jul 25, 200746 comments

Hacking ActiveRecord

Have you ever wanted to temporarily disable all validations? Well, ActiveRecord doesn't support this, but that doesn't mean we can't add it. This episode will show you how to open up an existing class and change its behavior. (11 minutes)
Sending Email
Episode #61Jul 23, 200767 comments

Sending Email

This is a brief guide to sending email in Rails. See how to configure the environment, generate a mailer, create a template, and deliver the mail. (7 minutes)
Testing without Fixtures
Episode #60Jul 20, 200749 comments

Testing without Fixtures

Tests which rely heavily on fixtures are brittle and can be difficult to maintain. This episode will show a couple techniques for creating tests which don't use fixtures. (9 minutes)
Optimistic Locking
Episode #59Jul 18, 200735 comments

Optimistic Locking

When two people attempt to update the same record near the same time, one of the updates will likely be overwritten. You can solve this problem with optimistic locking. (7 minutes)
How to Make a Generator
Episode #58Jul 16, 200739 comments

How to Make a Generator

Rails comes with many built-in generators, but what if you want to customize them or make your own? Rails gives you a great way to do this which you will learn in this episode. (11 minutes)
Create Model Through Text Field
Episode #57Jul 13, 200759 comments

Create Model Through Text Field

Let's say you provide a select menu for setting which category a given product belongs to, but you also want the option of creating a new category by typing the name in a text field. See a great way to do that in this episode. (5 minutes)