gitlab-org / gitlab-ce

Ruby on Rails Framework

Overview

The GitLab application is built upon the Ruby on Rails framework, a popular open-source web application framework. Rails provides a robust foundation for building web applications, offering features like:

  • Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture: Rails follows the MVC pattern, separating application logic into distinct components for better organization and maintainability.

  • Active Record: Rails utilizes Active Record, an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) library that simplifies database interactions. This allows developers to interact with database records through Ruby objects, making data management more intuitive.

  • Routing: Rails provides a system for defining routes, which map URLs to specific actions within controllers. This simplifies the process of handling requests and directing them to the appropriate logic.

  • View templates: Rails uses ERB (Embedded Ruby) templates for rendering views, allowing developers to embed Ruby code within HTML markup.

  • Built-in features: Rails offers a wide range of built-in features, including support for session management, authentication, and testing.

Core Components

Models

  • Purpose: Models represent the data structure of the application, often corresponding to database tables. They encapsulate data access logic and business rules.

  • Example: The User model in GitLab represents a user of the platform, defining attributes like username, email, and password.

  • Source: app/models/user.rb

Controllers

  • Purpose: Controllers handle incoming requests, interact with models, and determine the appropriate response to send back to the client.

  • Example: The ProjectsController in GitLab manages actions related to projects, such as creating, updating, and deleting projects.

  • Source: app/controllers/projects_controller.rb

Views

  • Purpose: Views define the presentation layer of the application, rendering data from the controller into HTML (or other formats) to be displayed to the user.

  • Example: The show.html.erb view for a project in GitLab displays information about the project, such as its name, description, and activity.

  • Source: app/views/projects/show.html.erb

Routing

  • Purpose: Routing maps URLs to specific controllers and actions, determining which code should be executed in response to a request.

  • Example: The route /projects/:id in GitLab matches requests for specific projects based on their ID, directing them to the ProjectsController#show action.

  • Source: config/routes.rb

Database Interactions

  • Purpose: Rails leverages Active Record to interact with the database, simplifying data manipulation and querying.

  • Example: In GitLab, the User model can be used to query for users with specific attributes or to create new users.

  • Source: app/models/user.rb

Additional Resources