Introduction to "if Rails.env.development" statement in Ruby

In Ruby on Rails, the Rails.env.development statement checks whether the current environment is set to development. It is often used to execute certain code or configurations only in the development environment.

Syntax

if Rails.env.development?
  # Code to be executed in development environment
end

Example: Configuring A Payment Gateway

For instance, you may want to integrate a payment gateway service such as Stripe into your application. However, you do not want to make transactions using a real credit card in the development environment.

You can configure this by adding the following code in config/environments/development.rb file:

if Rails.env.development?
  ENV['STRIPE_API_KEY'] = 'your_test_api_key_here'
  ENV['STRIPE_PUBLIC_KEY'] = 'your_test_public_key_here'
end

Example: Seed Data

Another use case for if Rails.env.development? is to seed data only in the development environment. For example, you can create a seeds.rb file in the Rails root directory and add the following code:

if Rails.env.development?
  User.create(name: 'John Doe', email: 'john@example.com', password: 'password')
  # Add more seed data here
end

This will create a test user only in the development environment, providing you with the ease of testing your application locally.

Conclusion

The if Rails.env.development? statement is a powerful feature in Ruby on Rails that allows developers to execute certain code only in the development environment. By implementing this statement in your code, you can ensure that your application runs smoothly in all environments.