Twitter on Rails
Michael Bleigh, RailsConf 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

What’s the big
f-ing deal?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

MySpace
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

MySpace
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Facebook
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Facebook
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

How is
different?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Audience.
Ben Garney via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Public.
three-B via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Search.
Vitó via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

API.
benben via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

In Code
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Search API
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

require 'open-uri'
require 'json'
def search_twitter_for(query)
query = CGI.escape(query)
JSON.parse(
open(\"http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=#{query}\").read
)['results']
end
search_twitter_for('RailsConf').collect{|s| s['text']}
[
\"Packing up for #railsconf. Swine flu here we come!\",
\"Putting new strings on some guitars for the #RailsConf music jam”,
\"Vegas, baby! All the @contrast boys laying into their first drinks...”,
...
]
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

OAuth
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

TCM Hitchhiker via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

There’s a gem
for that.
ArtWerk via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The OAuth Shuffle
• Consumer
• Request Token
• Authorization
• Access!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Sign in with Twitter
• Consumer
• Request Token
• Authorize (Just Once)
• Access!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

gem install oauth --version 0.3.2
require 'oauth'
require 'json'
# register your application at http://twitter.com/apps
consumer = OAuth::Consumer.new(
'mykey','mysecret',
:site => 'http://twitter.com/'
)
request_token = consumer.get_request_token
puts request_token.authorize_url
# go and visit the authorize URL
access_token = request_token.get_access_token
me = JSON.parse(access_token.get('/account/verify_credentials.json').body)
me['screen_name'] # => 'mbleigh'
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Caveat OAuth
• The Advisory (no callbacks)
• Solution: One Dev App
• Read/Write Inconsistency
• Solution: Delete and Recreate
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Rails
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

TwitterAuth
github.com/mbleigh/twitter-auth
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

TwitterAuth makes
Rails Twitter apps
stupid simple.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Just enough magic.
Steffe via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Livecoding!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Twisteners
Who actually listens?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Application Goals
• Log in via Twitter
• See a list of top mentioners
• Tweet the top three “twisteners”
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Step 1:
Credentials
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

twitter.com/apps
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Step 2:
Template
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Type the Magic Words
rails -m http://bit.ly/twitter-rails yourapp
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

TwitterAuth
• Engines-based login
• logged_in? and current_user
• user.twitter.get(‘/api/path’)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Twitter Template
• helpers for common twitter needs
• instant gratification
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Step 3:
Aggregate
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Step 4:
Share
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

twisteners.heroku.com
github.com/mbleigh/twisteners
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Follow me:
@mbleigh
Wednesday, May 6, 2009