Add documentation for new resource stuffjk/resource_load

author: John Keiser <john@johnkeiser.com> 2015-07-23 12:31:13 -0600
committer: John Keiser <john@johnkeiser.com> 2015-07-27 09:38:25 -0600
commit: fbb483ec880264262494e908a00445c007aacc59 (patch)
tree: 75b842d58b932412e8d6d34ed9fe48053169d83f /DOC_CHANGES.md
parent: b2eb45c854f41dc9369968b56f94eae37ed9c30c (diff)
download: chef-fbb483ec880264262494e908a00445c007aacc59.tar.gz
1 files changed, 268 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/DOC_CHANGES.md b/DOC_CHANGES.md
index 92a178e20b..2073b4c089 100644
--- a/DOC_CHANGES.md
+++ b/DOC_CHANGES.md
@@ -22,3 +22,271 @@ will set the node's environment to `"pre-production"`.
 > *Note that the environment specified by `chef_environment` in your JSON will
 take precedence over an environment specified by `-E ENVIROMENT` when both options
 are provided.*
+
+### Resources Made Easy
+
+Resources are central to Chef. The system is extensible so that you can write
+your own reusable resources, and use them in your recipes, and even publish them
+so that others can use them too!
+
+However, writing these resources has not been as easy as we would have liked. In
+Chef 12.5, we are fixing this with a large number of DSL improvements designed
+to reduce the number of things you need to type and think about when you create
+a resource. Resources should be your go-to solution for many Chef problems, and
+these changes make them easy enough to dash off in an instant, while retaining
+all the power you're accustomed to.
+
+The process to create a resource is now:
+
+1. Make a resource file in your cookbook (like `resources/my_resource.rb`).
+2. Add the recipes defining your actions using the `action :create <recipe>` DSL.
+3. Add properties so the user can tweak some knobs on your resource (like paths,
+   or preferences), using the `property :my_property, <type>, <options>` DSL.
+4. Use the resource in your recipe!
+
+There are other things you can do, but this is the most basic (and the first)
+thing you will start with.
+
+Let's demonstrate the new features by taking a simple recipe from the awesome
+[learnchef tutorial](https://learn.chef.io/learn-the-basics/rhel/configure-a-package-and-service/),
+and turning it into a reusable resource:
+
+```ruby
+package 'httpd'
+
+service 'httpd' do
+  action [:enable, :start]
+end
+
+file '/var/www/html/index.html' do
+  content '<html>
+  <body>
+    <h1>hello world</h1>
+  </body>
+</html>'
+end
+
+service 'iptables' do
+  action :stop
+end
+```
+
+We'll design a resource that lets you write this recipe instead:
+
+```ruby
+single_page_website 'mysite' do
+  homepage '<html>
+    <body>
+      <h1>hello world</h1>
+    </body>
+  </html>'
+end
+```
+
+#### Declaring the Resource
+
+The first thing we do is declare the resource. We can do that by creating an
+empty file, `resources/single_page_website.rb`, in our cookbook.
+
+When you do this, the `single_page_website` resource will work in all recipes!
+
+```ruby
+single_page_website 'mysite'
+```
+
+It won't do anything yet, though :)
+
+#### Declaring an Action
+
+Let's make our resource do something. To start with, we'll just have it do exactly
+what the learnchef tutorial does, but in the resource.  Put this in
+`resources/single_page_website.rb`:
+
+```ruby
+action :create do
+  package 'httpd'
+
+  service 'httpd' do
+    action [:enable, :start]
+  end
+
+  file '/var/www/html/index.html' do
+    content '<html>
+      <body>
+        <h1>hello world</h1>
+      </body>
+    </html>'
+  end
+
+  service 'iptables' do
+    action :stop
+  end
+end
+```
+
+Now, your simple recipe can use this resource to do what learnchef did:
+
+```ruby
+single_page_website 'mysite'
+```
+
+We've got ourselves an httpd!
+
+You will notice the only thing we've done is to add `action :create` around the
+recipe. The `action` keyword lets you declare a recipe inline, which will be
+executed when the user uses your resource in a recipe.
+
+#### Declaring a resource property: "homepage"
+
+This isn't super reusable yet--you might want your webpage to say something other
+than "hello world".  Let's add a couple of properties for that, by putting this
+at the top of `resources/single_page_website`, and modifying the recipe to use
+"title" and "body":
+
+```ruby
+property :homepage, String, default: '<h1>hello world</h1>'
+
+action :create do
+  package 'httpd'
+
+  service 'httpd' do
+    action [:enable, :start]
+  end
+
+  file '/var/www/html/index.html' do
+    content homepage
+  end
+
+  service 'iptables' do
+    action :stop
+  end
+end
+```
+
+Now you can run this recipe:
+
+```ruby
+single_page_website 'mysite' do
+  homepage '<h1>My own page</h1>'
+end
+```
+
+And you've got a website with your stuff!
+
+What you've done here is add *properties*. Properties are the *desired state* of
+a resource, in this case, `homepage` defines the text on the website. When you
+add a property, you're letting a user give it whatever value they want.
+
+When you define a property, there are three bits:
+`property :<name>, <type>, <options>`. *Name* defines the name of the property,
+so that people can set the property using `name <value>` when they use your
+resource. *Type* defines the type of the property: for example, String, Integer
+and Array are all possible types. Type is optional. *Options* define a large
+number of validation and other options. You've seen `default` already now,
+but there are a ton of others.
+
+#### Adding another property: "not_found_page"
+
+What if we want a custom 404 page for when people try to go to other pages in
+our website? Let's add one more property, to make this even nicer:
+
+```ruby
+property :homepage, String, default: '<h1>hello world</h1>'
+property :not_found_page, String, default: '<h1>No such page! Sorry. 404.</h1>'
+
+action :create do
+  package 'httpd'
+
+  service 'httpd' do
+    action [:enable, :start]
+  end
+
+  file '/var/www/html/index.html' do
+    content homepage
+  end
+
+  # These together tell Apache to use your custom 404 page:
+  file '/var/www/html/404.html' do
+    content not_found_page
+  end
+  file '/var/www/html/.htaccess' do
+    content 'ErrorDocument 404 /404.html'
+  end
+
+  service 'iptables' do
+    action :stop
+  end
+end
+```
+
+Now you can run this recipe:
+
+```ruby
+single_page_website 'mysite' do
+  homepage '<h1>My own page</h1>'
+  not_found_page '<h1>Grr. Page not found. Sorry. (404)</h1>'
+end
+```
+
+#### Adding another action: "stop"
+
+What if we want to stop the website? Just add another action into the bottom of
+`resources/single_page_website.rb`:
+
+```ruby
+action :stop do
+  service 'httpd' do
+    action :stop
+  end
+end
+```
+
+This action looks a lot like the other.
+
+There are a ton of other things you can do to create resources, but this should
+give you a pretty basic idea.
+
+### Advanced Resource Capabilities
+
+#### Ruby Developers: Resources as Classes
+
+If you are a Ruby developer, we've made it easier to create a Resource outside
+of a cookbook (or in a library) by declaring a class! Declare
+`class SinglePageWebsite < Chef::Resource` and put the entire resource
+declaration inside, and the `single_page_website` resource will work!
+
+#### Reading the current value: load_current_value
+
+There is a pitfall inherent in a resource, where users will sometimes omit a
+property from a resource, and become surprised when the system overwrites it
+with the default! For example, if your website already exists, this recipe
+will replace the *homepage* with "hello world":
+
+```ruby
+single_page_website 'mysite' do
+  not_found_page '<h1>nice</h1>'
+end
+```
+
+It's not at all clear that that's what the user wanted--they didn't say anything
+about the homepage, so why did something happen to it?
+
+To guard against this, you can implement `load_current_value` in your resource.
+Put this in `resources/single_page_website.rb`:
+
+```ruby
+load_current_value do
+  if File.exist?('/var/www/html/index.html')
+    homepage IO.read('/var/www/html/index.html')
+  end
+  if File.exist?('/var/www/html/404.html')
+    not_found_page IO.read('/var/www/html/404.html')
+  end
+end
+```
+
+Now, the above recipe knows what the current homepage is, and will not change it!
+
+This capability is also used for several other things, including reporting (to
+describe what changed) and deeper custom resources (ones that don't use recipes,
+which we'll cover later).
author	John Keiser <john@johnkeiser.com>	2015-07-23 12:31:13 -0600
committer	John Keiser <john@johnkeiser.com>	2015-07-27 09:38:25 -0600
commit	fbb483ec880264262494e908a00445c007aacc59 (patch)
tree	75b842d58b932412e8d6d34ed9fe48053169d83f /DOC_CHANGES.md
parent	b2eb45c854f41dc9369968b56f94eae37ed9c30c (diff)
download	chef-fbb483ec880264262494e908a00445c007aacc59.tar.gz