Rails 4.0 is still unfinished, but it is shaping up to become a great release. Here I show how to setup a new Rails 4.0 (edge) application and walk through many of its new features. (20 minutes)

Learn how to add autocompletion to a search form and improve performance using Rack middleware, caching and switching from SQL to Redis. (17 minutes)

Models can quickly become a grab-bag of unrelated methods if behavior is constantly being pushed from the controller. Here I show how to refactor this using Concerns and Service Objects. (12 minutes)

A model's ID in the URL is not very helpful to the user. Consider adding the name which can also improve SEO. Learn how to override to_param, add a slug attribute, and make a catch all route for deep nesting. (9 minutes)

Find out exactly what Rails is doing under the hood when it renders a view template for a response. What object context handles the template? How does the lookup process work? That and more covered in this code walkthrough. (15 minutes)

Allow users to import records into the database by uploading a CSV or Excel document. Here I show how to use Roo to parse these files and present a solution for validations. (10 minutes)

Do you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes when a Rails controller handles a request? What do the "render" and "redirect_to" methods do exactly? This and more covered as we walk through the code of ActionController::Base. (11 minutes)

If your Rails app is content-heavy, consider organizing it in a tree menu structure. Here I show how to add top-level tabs, nested links in a side bar, and breadcrumbs to go up the hierarchy. (10 minutes)

Single Table Inheritance (STI) can help organize branching logic into separate classes, but a polymorphic association may be a better fit if there are unique database columns. (14 minutes)

Instead of presenting a sign up form to the user, consider creating a temporary guest record so the user can try out the application without filling in their information up front. They can then become a permanent member afterwards. (9 minutes)