Learn how to build a Twitter application on Rails. Fast. Presented at RailsConf 2009 by Michael Bleigh.

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

2. Wednesday, May 6, 2009

3. Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

5. MySpace
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

6. MySpace
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

7. Facebook
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

8. Facebook
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

9. How is
different?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

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

12. Search.
Vitó via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

13. API.
benben via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

14. In Code
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

15. Search API
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

17. OAuth
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

18. TCM Hitchhiker via Flickr
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

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

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

22. 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

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

24. Rails
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

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

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

28. Livecoding!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

29. Twisteners
Who actually listens?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

31. Step 1:
Credentials
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

32. twitter.com/apps
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

33. Step 2:
Template
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

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

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

37. Step 3:
Aggregate
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

38. Step 4:
Share
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

40. Follow me:
@mbleigh
Wednesday, May 6, 2009