The base code generator is bare-bones. It sets up the source and
destination paths and tells the logger whether to keep its trap shut.
It‘s useful for copying files such as stylesheets, images, or
javascripts.
For more comprehensive template-based passive code generation with
arguments, you‘ll want Rails::Generator::NamedBase.
Generators create a manifest of the actions
they perform then hand the manifest to a
command which replays the actions to do the heavy lifting (such as checking
for existing files or creating directories if needed). Create, destroy, and
list commands are included. Since a single manifest may be used by any command, creating
new generators is as simple as writing some
code templates and declaring what you‘d like to do with them.
The manifest method must be implemented by
subclasses, returning a Rails::Generator::Manifest. The record method is provided as a
convenience for manifest creation. Example:
class StylesheetGenerator < Rails::Generator::Base
def manifest
record do |m|
m.directory('public/stylesheets')
m.file('application.css', 'public/stylesheets/application.css')
end
end
end
See Rails::Generator::Commands::Create
for a list of methods available to the manifest.