Following Users

In this chapter, we will complete the core sample application by adding a social layer that allows users to follow (and unfollow) other users, resulting in each user’s Home page displaying a status feed of the followed users’ microposts. We will also make views to display both a user’s followers and the users each user is following. We will learn how to model relationships between users in Section 11.1, then make the web interface in Section 11.2 (including an introduction to Ajax). Finally, we’ll end by developing a fully functional status feed in Section 11.3.

       This final chapter contains some of the most challenging material in the tutorial, including some Ruby/SQL trickery to make the status feed. Through these examples, you will see how Rails can handle even rather intricate data models, which should serve you well as you go on to develop your own applications with their own specific requirements. To help with the transition from tutorial to independent development, Section 11.4 contains suggested extensions to the core sample application, along with pointers to more advanced resources

     As usual, Git users should create a new topic branch:

Because the material in this chapter is particularly challenging, before writing any code, we’ll pause for a moment and take a tour of the interface. As in previous chapters, at this early stage we’ll represent pages using mockups.1 The full page flow runs as follows: A user (John Calvin) starts at his profile page (Figure 11.1) and navigates to