Getting Started with Editmode for Rails

Install The Gem

gem 'editmode'

Generate your config

rails generate editmode:config {project_id}

Configure caching

We use the rails cache to store content. This means if you don't have caching enabled your app will run quite slow.

# Rails 5+
rake dev:cache

Setting up cache expiration webhooks

When an editor makes changes inside the Content Hub, we need a way to let the Rails app know and expire the cache for that particular content. We use cache expiration webhooks for this. The rails gem comes pre-loaded with endpoints to receive and expire the cache, so all you have to do is configure your project settings to notify the app when content is updated.

Adding cache expiration endpoints in your project settings

One caveat is that this method obviously won’t work when working with content locally. To bring your local content in sync with remote changes on the Content Hub, you should enter Editmode and select “Clear Cache”.

Bringing local content up to date with remote changes.

We are using a method called delete_matched to purge your caches when a content gets updated, and this method isn’t supported in memcached. We highly recommend using redis_store or file_store.

Using Editmode in your Rails codebase

• There is full documentation on all of the editmode gem's methods and settings here.

• Our 2 minute explainer video below should help you understand the

  basics.

• Then, to help you get kicked off, we've also added code snippets

  that you can repurpose for your app.

Video: Editmode For Rails - Basic Syntax (2 minutes)

Code Snippets

Using Editmode for transactional email content in Rails

Setup Step 1. Create a collection in Editmode with "From", "Subject" and "Body" fields

Setup Step 2. Add a chunk to the newly created collection.

Create a new mailer using the following code

class UserMailer < BaseMailer
  def editmode_email(chunk_identifier,user,variables={})

    # Variables allow us to use things like "Hey {{first_name}}!" 
    # inside the email copy. 

    user_variables = {
      :email      => user.email,
      :first_name => user.first_name,
      :last_name  => user.last_name
    }

    # Also allow other variables to be specified when the method 
    # is triggered
    variables = user_variables.merge(variables)

    to      = user.email
    from    = Editmode.e(chunk_identifier, 'From',    :variables => variables)
    subject = Editmode.e(chunk_identifier, 'Subject', :variables => variables)
    body    = Editmode.e(chunk_identifier, 'Body',    :variables => variables)

    email = mail(
      content_type: 'text/html',
      to:            to,
      from:          from,
      subject:       subject,
      body:          body
    ) 
  end
end

Congratulations! You can now trigger emails from Editmode with a single line of code!

# The first argument here can take either the chunk's identifier or its content key
UserMailer.editmode_email("welcome_email",user).deliver_later