Using GNU's screen to set up Rails workspaces

Since I discovered GNU's screen a few months ago, I've been finding more and more uses for it. Recently, I thought it would be helpful to use it to set up and store various development workspaces using sets of custom screenrc-style configuration files. This example may be helpful to Rails developers, but can be modified to launch different development workspaces. If you're a command line warrior and haven't started using screen to manage terminal sessions, I highly recommend checking it out.

For Rails development, I typically like to have a separate window open for controllers, models, views, helpers, mysql shell, server, and application root. I use the application root to perform rake commands and run scripts from the script folder. It took some searching to find out how to change working directory in a screen window, so I'd like to share.

Here's my sample screenrc-style file I use for a site I'm currently developing:

startup_message off
vbell on
defscrollback 10000

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com
screen 0 bash
title "app root"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/models
screen 1 vim -p *.rb
title "models"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/controllers
screen 2 vim -p *.rb
title "controllers"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/views
screen 3 vim -p *.erb
title "views"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/helpers
screen 4 vim -p *.rb
title "helpers"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com
screen 5 bash
title "mysql"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com
screen 6 bash
title "server"

select 0
hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{= kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r} (%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B} %d/%m%{W}%c %{g}]'



Let's go through what this simple configuration file does:

startup_message off
vbell on
defscrollback 10000

This turns off the startup message, turns on the visual bell ("Woof!"), and sets the scrollback buffer to 10000 lines.



chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com
screen 0 bash
title "app root"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/models
screen 1 vim -p *.rb
title "models"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/controllers
screen 2 bash
title "controllers"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/views
screen 3 bash
title "views"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com/app/helpers
screen 4 bash
title "helpers"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com
screen 5 bash
title "mysql"

chdir /Users/jboukheir/Sites/inovatennis.com
screen 6 bash
title "server"

This will open 7 screen windows in the directory specified by screen's chdir command. Note that you need chdir BEFORE the screen directive. The line "screen 0 bash" tells screen to open a new window, number it 0, and then execute bash. Similarly, "screen 1 vim -p *.rb" tells screen to open a new window, number it 1, and then execute vim. You can set the window's initial title with the title command.




select 0
hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{= kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r} (%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B} %d/%m%{W}%c %{g}]'

These lines tell screen to select window 0 by default, set the status to the bottom of the window, and display this status along with some other useful information.

To launch your new workspace, just type

$ screen -c ~/.screens/inovatennis.com

where ~/.screens/inovatennis.com is the path of the screenrc-style configuration file you saved. For a good screen reference, see SGI's screen reference. I hope someone finds this useful!