Sample Data

We're not going to build the resources for creating and editing our projects just yet, because we'd like to get to the frontend so you can have a working application to look at.

But we'd like to have some projects in our database when we get there. Fortunately the Xing includes a standard pattern for creating rake tasks that generate sample data: synthetic, randomized data you can use to view and demo your application as if the database were already populated by users.

There's more on how sample data tasks work later on in the Framework guide. For now, just create the following file:

backend/db/sample_data/projects.rake

namespace :db do
  namespace :sample_data do
    namespace :projects do

      desc "Remove all projects"
      task :wipe do
        Project.delete_all
      end

      desc "Populate the DB with fake projects."
      task :load do
        return if Project.count > 0
        10.times do |n|
          Project.create(
            :name =>        Faker::Lorem.words(2..5).join(" ").titleize,
            :description => Faker::Lorem.sentences(1..6).join(" "),
            :deadline =>    (Date.today + rand(20).days).end_of_day,
            :goal =>        (2 + rand(20)) * 5000.00
          )
        end
      end
    end

    task :wipe => 'projects:wipe'
    task :load => 'projects:load'
  end
end

Then go to your command line (still in the backend/ subdirectory) and run this command:

backend$ bundle exec rake db:sample_data:load

When you're done, your DB should have 10 fake projects in it. Let's go build a front-end to see them!

Other Reading

• This sample data task uses the excellent gem faker.