We’ve been working on upgrading a project to Rails 7. The app hadn’t been updated in a while, and it was running Ruby 2.6 and bundler 1.17. In order to do the Rails upgrade we had to do three things: Update Ruby, update Bundler & update Rails.

Rails 7.0 has introduced two methods sole and find_sole_by that are used to query the database for a unique record based on the provided constraints. Assertions are one of the most useful tools in Ruby, and they’re even more useful when you use them to test your application’s data. By asserting that the data you got back from an object or collection is what you expect, you can ensure that your code works as expected.

Adding an additional security layer in an application that handles sensitive data is definitely a necessity. Rails 7.0 introduces at-work encryption for sensitive attributes which protects against the exposure of personal information in the event a malicious party gains access to the database and is in a position to get a snapshot of it, as well as that of the application logs. The addition of encrypted attributes in ActiveRecord models is an extraction from HEY.

Ruby 3.1 ships with an entirely new rewritten debugger. Prior to this change, Ruby bundles lib/debug.rb that unfortunately was not maintained well. debug.gem is an entirely new replacement with great features that developers are sure to enjoy.

JIT (Just-In-Time) compiler was first introduced as an experimental feature in Ruby 2.6 with the intention of improving the performance of Ruby programs. Being experimental, memory-intensive workloads such as Rails application could not benefit from it at the moment of it’s introduction, despite achieving 1.7x faster performance as compared to Ruby 2.5.

Sprockets is a crucial Ruby library that is used to serve and compile web assets. However, in Rails 7.0 the library becomes an optional dependency unless the application needs to use Sprockets. In such situations, the sprockets-rails gem will have to be added to the Gemfile.

Rails 7.0 introduces a change that ensures conditions merged on the same column are not maintained, however, only the latter condition is retained.

Backtrace is very important when exceptions are raised. The sequential representation enables programmers to trace the exact location in their code where these exceptions are raised.

Rails 7 introduces a counter-fail measure in the ActiveJob framework. This is an indefinite job retries feature that would solve the different reasons why queued jobs would fail. Some of these reasons could be logical errors in the code, failure in the database, network issues, and queue malfunctions.

Let’s dive into how to run a Rails Puma webserver process and how to restart it.

Debugging information can help you understand what’s going on in your application. After Rails 5 and before Rails 7, the byebug gem was responsible for tracking the execution flow. It has been providing a way to view a complete backtrace of the code while working on the application. Rails 7 introduces debug as its default debugger.

When ActiveStorage handles media uploads, the Poppler gem takes care of preview generation to be used all across the application. In previous versions of Rails, a failure in creating a preview would capture a 0-byte IO stream and send that to ActiveStorage. For instance, if a user uploaded a media file and the preview failed to generate, a 0-byte preview would still be stored and rendered, causing unexpected errors in the application.

ActionCable is an awesome feature of Rails that allows for sending real-time messages. If your frontend is part of your Rails app, much of the plumbing is handled for you. However, sometimes you need to use ActionCable, outside of Rails. In this blog post I’ll show you how to subscribe to a channel, print out messages and publish messages, all with vanilla JavaScript. Although I’m using JS, the principles apply to any language that supports websockets.

When you access a Rails controller from another page, the originating URL is sent to the server as the referrer. In previous versions of Rails, the redirect_back query parameter with allow_other_host set as true could allow a vulnerability for an attacker to override this parameter and force the user to a malicious page.

The load_async method allows you to speed up queries by loading threads in an asynchronous way. It helps reduce the response time dramatically, especially for large databases. This method handles loading records, before they are referenced in the view, making the foreground thread do the work before it is sent to the background.

It’s invigorating to come up with a new piece of software. Team members are inspired to build something new that addresses an issue after brainstorming possibilities and envisioning potential. Ideation is thrilling, but if you don’t put your idea through its paces, you might not get the thing you want.

Some of the most successful applications rely heavily on interactive elements to maintain user engagement. For example, the social media sector has discovered how to tap into a variety of psychological features that motivate consumers to continue using their apps. These days, product design is much more than just static images. Creating interactive prototypes is now easier and more helpful than ever before when developing digital products.

Your leads are skeptical – maybe more so than they’ve ever been. As a result, your sales and marketing strategies aren’t enough anymore. To turn new leads into customers, you need to show them real-life results and get unbiased sources to vouch for you.

According to a 2020 study by Demand Gen Report, 67% of buyers are reading more content than ever before making purchases. In fact, 77% noted that they tend to read more than 3 pieces of content before even talking to a salesperson.

According to Toptal, 88% of customers are unlikely to return to your website if they have a bad experience. And a whopping 90% of users will stop using your apps if the interface doesn’t perform well.

It’s hard enough to attract quality talent as a startup. But when you’re strapped for cash, finding qualified candidates who fit your desired company culture and long-term goals is even harder.

It’s easy to hit a creative wall when you’re building landing pages for your audience. And sometimes, the only way to get through it is to flip through some high-quality examples.

Landing pages are a critical piece of any successful SaaS marketing strategy. But they aren’t the easiest to create. Not only do they have to fit seamlessly into your marketing funnel, but they also need to convince leads to give you valuable pieces of information.

Ruby on Rails is well-known for creating magic just with simple methods, and sometimes their benefits are underrated. With NumberHelper, Rails turns numbers into specifically formatted values.

You may feel like you have taken enough risks with your SaaS business so far, and for this reason, it seems better to follow the traditional sales-led growth strategy. As SaaS itself shakes up every traditional model we are used to, it’s time to look at how product-led growth can benefit your SaaS business.