--- title: 'Success Story: Big Room Consulting' teaser: tags: news author: Dan Croak published_on: 2009-09-22 --- We like to spotlight our [thoughtbot training](http://thoughtbot.com/services/training) students' work. ## Big Room In this installment, we're checking in with Mike Breen, a local Bostonian. Mike took one of our very first Boston classes. Since last year, he has been doing Rails consulting as an owner of [Big Room Technology](http://bigroomtechnology.com). [![Big Room](https://thoughtbot-training.s3.amazonaws.com/images/big_room.png)](http://bigroomtechnology.com) > Since last October I launched a family of products for SEAK.com: [Directory of > Expert Witnesses](http://seakexperts.com), Directory of Independent Medical > Examiners, and Directory of File Review Consultants, > > ... converted multiple ol' school ASP apps to a single Rails app, > > ... helped launch [IAC-EZ](http://iacez.com) with Lark Farm, Inc., > > ... worked with Auburn Quad and now I'm working on their non-profit wing > [Grassroots Giving Group](http://grassrootsgivinggroup.com), > > ... and helping out with the RailsBridge. I lead up [the > Builders](http://builders.railsbridge.org). We help non-profits build or rehab > Rails sites. thoughtbot developer Jason Morrison and the [Personal Genome > Project](http://www.personalgenomes.org) signed up recently. ## Rails is a productivity enhancer As if that wasn't enough, Mike also volunteered his time to run the inaugural Rails BugMash, which saw over 300 commits to Rails. [The next BugMash](http://wiki.railsbridge.org/projects/railsbridge/wiki/BugMash) is this weekend, September 25th-27th. Our own Tristan "Bucky" Dunn finished in the top 5 last time around. You can mash more bugs than Bucky, can't you? ## Training We're always pleased to see the great work that our alumni have produced. We think you can strengthen your --- title: "Suspenders" tags: rails author: Dan Croak --- Introducing [Suspenders](http://github.com/thoughtbot/suspenders), the thoughtbot Rails template. ## Install To create a new project, checkout [the github repository](http://github.com/thoughtbot/suspenders) and run: ./script/create_project projectname This will create a project in ../projectname. You should then follow the instructions on GitHub to upload that project there. **This script creates an entirely new git repository, and is not meant to be used against an existing repo**. Changes to the template can be easily pulled it into your project via: rake git:pull:suspenders This is funny, because you're pulling your suspenders. ## About Suspenders was created for use at [thoughtbot](http://thoughtbot.com) as a baseline application setup, with reasonable default plugins that the majority (if not all) of our applications used, as well as best-practice configuration options. Thanks to various Boston.rb people and rails rumble people for attempting to use suspenders this past weekend and giving it it's first non-thoughtbot-internal usage. Suspenders currently includes Rails 2.1.1 ## vendor/gems will_paginate RedCloth mocha factory_bot thoughtbot-shoulda quietbacktrace ## vendor/plugins hoptoad_notifier limerick_rake mile_marker squirrel helper_test ## config/initializers * `time_formats.rb` (Two time formats are available by default, `:short_date` and `:long_date`) * `action_mailer_configs.rb` (We use SMTP by default in all applications) * `hoptoad.rb` (Get your API key at [http://hoptoadapp.com](http://hoptoadapp.com)) * `requires.rb` (automatically requires everything in:) * `lib/` * `lib/extensions` * `test/mocks/RAILS_ENV` (Removed in Rails 2, we decided to keep it) ## Rake Tasks Rake tasks are contained in the `limerick_rake` gem. * bootstrap (Provides rake tasks for loading data into the database. These are used for an initial application dataset needed for production.) * capistrano (Standard capistrano deployment tasks) ## Testing The basic test setup uses `Test::Unit`, `Shoulda`, `factory_bot`, and `mocha`, and includes some standard shoulda macros that we've used on various projects. [Factory Bot](http://github.com/thoughtbot/factory_bot)[^1] is a fixture replacement library, following the factory pattern. Place your factories in test/factories.rb. The fixture directory has been removed, as fixtures are not used. [Shoulda](http://thoughtbot.com/projects/shoulda) is a pragmatic testing framework for TDD and BDD built on top of Test::Unit. A number of additional testing macros are provided in `test/shoulda_macros`: ## Deployment Deployment is done using capistrano, and deploys to a mongrel cluster, running under Apache. Rake tasks are provided for managing git branches which the different environments pull from for deploy. To push the git master to git staging branch run: rake git:push:staging To push the git staging branch to production branch run: rake git:push:production Setup your deployment environment by running: cap ENVIRONMENT deploy:setup You'll be prompted for the environment's database password Deploy to the desired environment by running: cap ENVIRONMENT deploy The default environment for deploy is staging, to deploy to staging, just run: cap deploy ## Mascot The official Suspenders mascot is [Suspenders Boy](http://tinyurl.com/5cvltb). ![suspenders boy](http://media.tumblr.com/1TEAMALpseh5xzf0Jt6bcwSMo1_400.png) with Rails skills through hands-on workshops in an intimate setting with thoughtbot developers. Early Bird tickets are now available for [October](http://rubyonrailsoctober.eventbrite.com) and [December](http://rubyonrailsdecember.eventbrite.com) classes. Previous spotlights on our students' work include open source libraries [Klang & strongbox](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/post/159805581/klang-strongbox) and beautifully designed Rails app (with 100% test coverage!) [yiloveit](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/post/159805930/yiloveit). [^1]: Looking for FactoryGirl? The library was renamed in 2017. [Project name history can be found here.](https://github.com/thoughtbot/factory_bot/blob/master/NAME.md)