Flash messages are an anti-pattern

Transcript

1. Flash messages are an anti-pattern claudiob.github.io ©Bombattack

2. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

3. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

4. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

5. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

6. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

7. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

8. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

9. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

   scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

10. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

    scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

11. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

    scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

12. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

    scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

13. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

    scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

14. $ rails new club $ cd club $ rails g

    scaffold member name age:integer $ rake db:create db:migrate && rails s What are flash messages?

15. What bad can flash messages do? 1.Disappear after reload 2.Distort

    the attention of the user 3.Are target of designers’ minimalism 4.Are not mobile-friendly def create @member = Member.new(member_params) respond_to do |format| if @member.save format.html { redirect_to @member, notice: 'Member was successfully created.' } format.json { render :show, status: :created} […]

16. What bad can flash messages do? 1.Disappear after reload 2.Distort

    the attention of the user 3.Are target of designers’ minimalism 4.Are not mobile-friendly def create @member = Member.new(member_params) respond_to do |format| if @member.save format.html { redirect_to @member, notice: 'Member was successfully created.' } format.json { render :show, status: :created} […]

17. What bad can flash messages do? 1.Disappear after reload 2.Distort

    the attention of the user 3.Are target of designers’ minimalism 4.Are not mobile-friendly 5.Require hacks to work with Javascript 6.Require I18N in the controller 7.Are not cache-friendly def create @member = Member.new(member_params) respond_to do |format| if @member.save format.html { redirect_to @member, notice: 'Member was successfully created.' } format.json { render :show, status: :created} […]

18. Symptoms of a problem We are not “sure” of the

    value of the information, so we choose a middle- ground of “showing it only once”. By doing this, we go against the REST paradigms of individual resources and nullipotence of the GET method.

19. How to avoid flash messages # On successful create redirect_to

    @member, notice: 'Member was successfully created.'

20. How to avoid flash messages # On successful create redirect_to

    @member, notice: 'Member was successfully created.'

21. How to avoid flash messages # On successful update redirect_to

    @member, notice: 'Member was successfully updated.'

22. How to avoid flash messages # On successful update redirect_to

    @member, notice: 'Member was successfully updated.'

23. How to avoid flash messages # On successful update redirect_to

    @member, notice: 'Member was successfully updated.'

24. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    index) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.'

25. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    index) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.'

26. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    index) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.'

27. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    show) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.’

28. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    show) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.’

29. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    show) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.’ redirect_to :back

30. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    show) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.’ redirect_to :back

31. How to avoid flash messages # db/migrate/20160114174326_add_status_to_member.rb class AddStatusToMember <

    ActiveRecord::Migration def change add_column :members, :status, :integer, default: 0, null: false end end # app/models/member.rb class Member < ActiveRecord::Base enum status: %i(active inactive) end

32. How to avoid flash messages # app/controllers/members_controller.rb class MembersController <

    ApplicationController def destroy @member.destroy end def index @members = Member.all end def show end end @member.inactive! Member.active render @member.status

33. How to avoid flash messages # app/views/members/active.html.erb <p> <strong>Last updated:</strong>

    <%= time_ago_in_words @member.updated_at %> ago </p> <p> <strong>Name:</strong> […] # it’s just show.html.erb renamed # app/views/members/inactive.html.erb <p>This user is no longer active.</p> <%= link_to 'Back', members_path %>

34. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    show) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.’ redirect_to :back

35. How to avoid flash messages # On successful destroy (from

    show) redirect_to members_url, notice: 'Member was successfully destroyed.’ redirect_to :back

36. Summing up We give “for granted” flash messages in Rails,

    but reasoning about them can lead to a better user experience. The real minimalism is not to hide flash messages, but to remove the reasons why we need them.

37. How to resist the temptation # config/application.rb module Club class

    Application < Rails::Application config.middleware.delete ActionDispatch::Flash end end Thanks! ! speakerdeck.com/claudiob