Introduction

In this article, we will explore how to build a URL shortener using the Ruby on Rails framework. URL shorteners are handy tools that allow you to create concise, easy-to-share links. We will focus on generating short links in this tutorial, which is a crucial aspect of any URL shortener service.

Why Generate Short Links?

Generating short links has multiple benefits. Firstly, they are more manageable and visually appealing compared to long, complex URLs. Short links occupy less space in a message or tweet, providing more room for additional content. Moreover, they are easier to remember, reducing the likelihood of typos when manually inputting them.

Algorithm for Generating Short Links

There are various approaches to generating short links. One commonly used technique is to assign a unique identifier to each URL and then convert it into a short code. This can be achieved by combining alphanumeric characters. For example, the long URL “https://www.example.com/article/building-a-url-shortener-with-rails-generating-short-links” can be transformed into “abc123”.

It is important to ensure the uniqueness of the short links to avoid conflicts and collisions. Typically, this is done by checking if the generated code already exists in the database and generating a new one if there is a conflict. This guarantees that all short links remain unique within the system.

Implementing Short Link Generation in Rails

The Ruby on Rails framework provides a powerful environment for building web applications. To generate short links, we can leverage the built-in secure random library and active record components of Rails. By combining these, we can easily create unique short codes for each URL.

First, we need to add a migration to our Rails project that includes a “short_code” column in our URL table. This column will store the generated short codes. Once the migration is executed, we can update our model to generate a short code before saving it to the database. This can be done using a “before_save” callback in the model.

class Url < ApplicationRecord

    before_save :generate_short_code



    def generate_short_code

        self.short_code = SecureRandom.alphanumeric(6)

        while Url.exists?(short_code: self.short_code)

            self.short_code = SecureRandom.alphanumeric(6)

        end

    end

end

        

The “generate_short_code” method generates a random alphanumeric code of length 6. It then checks if the code already exists in the URLs table. If it does, it regenerates a new code until a unique one is obtained. Finally, it assigns the unique short code to the URL before saving it to the database.

Conclusion

Building a URL shortener with Rails involves several components, and one of the key aspects is generating short links. By implementing a unique code generation algorithm, we can ensure that each short link is distinct and does not collide with existing ones. The provided code snippet demonstrates how to generate short codes in a Rails model, offering a foundation for creating your own URL shortener service.