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Installing a Ruby on Rails Development Environment in Windows

12:14 with Jason Seifer

In this video, you'll learn how to install a Ruby on Rails Development Environment in Windows.

Note: A more current version of this workshop is available here.

Install Ruby

http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads/

Install cmdr

http://cmder.net/

Install git

http://git-scm.com/download/win

Configure git

git config --global user.name "Jason Seifer"
git config --global user.email jason@teamtreehouse.com

Download and Install MySQL

MySQL can be downloaded from the MySQL Download Page.

Install sublimetext

Download at SublimeText Site

Create a new app

mkdir projects
cd projects
rails new testapp
cd testapp
subl -n .
bin\rails server

Create a quick scaffold

bin\rails generate scaffold name title:string first:string last:string
bin\rake db:migrate
bin\rails s
  • 0:00

    Hi, I'm Jason, the Ruby teacher here at Treehouse.

  • 0:03

    In this workshop,

  • 0:04

    we're going to set up a Ruby on Rails development environment in Windows.

  • 0:08

    We're going to download and install Ruby, Cmder,

  • 0:12

    a few different databases, a text editor, and a couple other different dependencies.

  • 0:18

    Next, we'll generate a quick Rails application to make sure everything's

  • 0:21

    working and test it out in a web browser.

  • 0:23

    Now, let's go ahead and get started.

  • 0:26

    Okay, so let's go ahead and

  • 0:28

    install Ruby on Rails development environment on our Windows computer.

  • 0:33

    Now, for demonstration purposes here, I am using Windows 10.

  • 0:37

    This is a preview release of Windows 10, but

  • 0:40

    these instructions still apply from Windows 7 up.

  • 0:43

    Now, the first thing that we need to do is download and install Ruby.

  • 0:48

    So, I'm going to use Google Chrome to head over to the RubyInstaller downloads page.

  • 0:54

    This is it, rubyinstaller.org/downloads.

  • 0:58

    You can also find this in the notes right below the video here.

  • 1:02

    So, go ahead and click on Ruby 2.1.6.

  • 1:07

    Now, you'll see there are differences.

  • 1:09

    One says x64 and one does not.

  • 1:13

    The x64 means it's for a 64-bit version.

  • 1:19

    If your Windows is x64, then go ahead and grab the x64 version.

  • 1:25

    This actually applies to most software that you will be using.

  • 1:29

    Once that finishes downloading, head on over to your Downloads folder and

  • 1:33

    double-click it, and press Run.

  • 1:39

    Click I accept the license after fully reading the terms of the license.

  • 1:46

    And then also make sure to check this button, Add ruby executables to your PATH.

  • 1:50

    Now, I'm backing out the -x64, and

  • 1:54

    just installing this to the Ruby21 directory on the C drive.

  • 2:00

    Then, press the Install button.

  • 2:04

    Okay, great that finished.

  • 2:06

    The other thing that we need to download from the RubyInstaller page

  • 2:11

    Is something called the dev kit.

  • 2:14

    This is going to make it easier to install certain other RubyGems and

  • 2:19

    libraries that we might need.

  • 2:21

    Now, I'm using the x64 version.

  • 2:24

    So, I'm going to grab this one, which is for use with Ruby 2.0 and 2.1.

  • 2:30

    We downloaded 2.1.

  • 2:33

    Now, the reason that we downloaded 2.1 as of the recording of this screencast, that

  • 2:39

    is the best version of Ruby to use with Windows mainly for compatibility reasons.

  • 2:47

    Now, once again go back to the folder where it downloaded.

  • 2:50

    Double-click and type run.

  • 2:53

    Now, I'm going to extract this to

  • 2:56

    the DevKit directory inside of the Ruby installation that we just created.

  • 3:01

    That is not created by default, so I'm gonna have to type it in.

  • 3:05

    Ruby21\devkit.

  • 3:09

    And then, press Extract.

  • 3:11

    Then go ahead and wait for all these files to extract.

  • 3:16

    Okay, there is another installation process that we do need to do for

  • 3:19

    the DevKit, and we're gonna get right back to that.

  • 3:23

    First, we're gonna download, something that is not entirely required,

  • 3:28

    but does make things a lot nicer, and that's called Cmder.

  • 3:32

    And this is a console emulator for Windows.

  • 3:36

    It also includes some other dependencies for

  • 3:38

    us that make developing with Rails a little bit easier.

  • 3:42

    Let's go ahead and hit Download full.

  • 3:45

    Okay, once Cmder finishes downloading, go ahead and

  • 3:49

    inside of that folder, press Extract All.

  • 3:55

    I'm just gonna leave it in this directory.

  • 3:56

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 3:59

    And that will go ahead and extract.

  • 4:03

    So once Cmder finishes, go ahead and double-click it to open it.

  • 4:08

    You can add this, or pin it to your Start Menu.

  • 4:12

    Now, go ahead and click on Run.

  • 4:14

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 4:18

    And we get this nice emulator window.

  • 4:23

    Okay, so once we get Cmder up and running, now we can start to install some things.

  • 4:30

    First, open your web browser back up and

  • 4:33

    go over to rubygems.org.

  • 4:38

    We need to install a couple of different gems that Rails needs in order to start

  • 4:43

    creating Rails applications.

  • 4:45

    And this is just a Windows specific thing that we need to do.

  • 4:50

    Click on SQLite3, and then notice we have different versions of SQLite3.

  • 4:57

    Click Show all versions.

  • 5:00

    Now, depending on whether you downloaded the regular or

  • 5:04

    64-bit version of ruby, that's the version that we need to see here.

  • 5:08

    So, grab the latest one.

  • 5:10

    I am going to be using the x64 version of 1.3.10.

  • 5:16

    Scroll down on the right side of the screen, click on Download.

  • 5:22

    This contains a precompiled version of different Ruby libraries that we'll need.

  • 5:29

    The next gem that we need to download is called Nokogiri.

  • 5:38

    And just like before, click show all versions, and

  • 5:41

    then get the most recent version.

  • 5:46

    It says x64.

  • 5:48

    Then scroll to the right and press Download.

  • 5:53

    Now I'm gonna minimize this and head back to our Cmder console.

  • 5:58

    I'm in the user's Jason Seifer directory.

  • 6:02

    So now, I'm in the Downloads directory,

  • 6:05

    which is where we just downloaded these gem files.

  • 6:09

    Now, type, gem install.

  • 6:12

    And you can start typing the name of the gem you downloaded.

  • 6:17

    I typed s and q, and then pressed tab.

  • 6:22

    And click allow access for the Ruby interpreter to do network installation.

  • 6:29

    Then do the same thing with the Nokogiri gem.

  • 6:34

    While Nokogiri's installing, we're going to setup some other dependencies for

  • 6:39

    our Rails environment.

  • 6:42

    I'm going to download the Sublime Text text editor.

  • 6:49

    This is not a requirement.

  • 6:51

    If you have a text editor that you like more than Sublime Text, you can use that.

  • 6:57

    This is just for demonstration purposes.

  • 6:59

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 7:03

    And I'm going to allow this app to make changes to my PC.

  • 7:07

    I'm also going to add to the explorer context menu.

  • 7:11

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 7:13

    Okay, so, Sublime Text is now installed.

  • 7:17

    Looks like Nokogiri is still working.

  • 7:21

    In the meantime, I'm also going to download MySQL for Windows.

  • 7:26

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 7:37

    Now, we'll have a link in the notes right below this video to download MySQL for

  • 7:41

    Windows.

  • 7:42

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 7:45

    And you can click, No thanks, just start my download.

  • 7:51

    Now, it looks Nokogiri has finished installing.

  • 7:54

    Let's go ahead and launch Sublime Text.

  • 7:59

    Now, we're going to create a File,

  • 8:04

    and type, gem: --no-document.

  • 8:09

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 8:12

    Now save this inside of your user folder.

  • 8:16

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 8:21

    And call it .gemrc.

  • 8:26

    This is going to tell RubyGems to not install the documentation for

  • 8:30

    gems that we install on the command line.

  • 8:35

    That's also not necessary to do, but it does speed up gem installation.

  • 8:40

    Now, I'm going to install a couple gems using the command line.

  • 8:45

    I'm going to install Bundler, which is a gem that rails needs.

  • 8:50

    And now I can install Rails.

  • 8:55

    This is going to take a little while.

  • 8:58

    Now that Rails has been installed, let's go ahead and check on our MySQL download.

  • 9:03

    It looks like that has finished downloading.

  • 9:06

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 9:15

    And we do wanna allow this program to make changes to our computer.

  • 9:18

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 9:22

    Go ahead and click full install.

  • 9:27

    And then click Execute.

  • 9:30

    We don't need to worry about this failure right now because it's not going to

  • 9:33

    impact our Rails applications.

  • 9:35

    Click Next and make sure that Development Machine is checked.

  • 9:39

    Choose a root password.

  • 9:44

    Make sure that you remember it.

  • 9:46

    And also, start the MySQL server at system startup.

  • 9:52

    Depending on your version of Windows, you might get a message

  • 9:55

    saying that the service list has changed, it's okay to dismiss that notification.

  • 10:02

    Now click Next and make sure to check your route password is correct, and

  • 10:06

    then click Next.

  • 10:08

    At the Apply Server Configuration screen, press Execute, and then click Finish.

  • 10:16

    Click Next, and then click Finish.

  • 10:19

    Now tab back to Cmder.

  • 10:21

    We're almost ready to configure everything.

  • 10:24

    Now I'm going to change back a directory, so now I'm in my regular user folder.

  • 10:30

    And I'm going to also change into the documents folder.

  • 10:34

    We're about to generate our Rails application.

  • 10:37

    First, let's go ahead and configure Git, which comes with Cmder.

  • 10:40

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 10:45

    I'm gonna configure my username, which is Jason Seifer.

  • 10:50

    And I'm also gonna use this global command to configure my email address.

  • 10:55

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 10:59

    I'm finally ready to create my Rails application.

  • 11:02

    I do that with the rails command, rails new,

  • 11:06

    and then the name of the application, in this case it's going to be example app.

  • 11:12

    Now if we get this error saying the, json native gem requires the installed

  • 11:16

    build tools, it's because we forgot to install the DevKit.

  • 11:21

    So, go back to the Ruby21 directory and DevKit.

  • 11:28

    And then type, ruby dk.rb init.

  • 11:34

    And then, ruby dk.rb install.

  • 11:37

    [BLANK_AUDIO]

  • 11:42

    Now, we can go back to our documents directory, and

  • 11:45

    the example app directory, and type bundle.

  • 11:50

    Now that that's done, type rails server.

  • 11:55

    Now, let's go back to our web browser.

  • 12:00

    And go to localhost on port 3000.

  • 12:05

    And now, we've installed a Ruby on Rails development environment.

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