Collaborative Text Editor

Install Ruby:

Download Ruby

Install Rails using gem:

gem install rails

Setup Rails Project

Create new Rails project with PostgreSQL

rails new collaborative-editor --database=postgresql --webpack=react

Install additional dependencies:

bundle add redis
bundle add sidekiq

To create test and development databases:

rails db:create

rails db:migrate

Example usage:

# Creating a document
doc = Document.create(content: "Hello", version: 1)

# Inserting text
operation = OpenStruct.new(type: :insert, position: 5, text: " World")
doc.apply_operation(operation)
# Result: "Hello World"

# Deleting text
operation = OpenStruct.new(type: :delete, position: 5, length: 6)
doc.apply_operation(operation)
# Result: "Hello"

Let's set up the WebSocket channel for real-time communication. We'll create this step by step

First, generate the Action Cable channel:

rails generate channel Document

We'll create two main operation types: Insert and Delete for our collaborative text editor

app/operations/insert_operation.rb
app/operations/delete_operation.rb
app/operations/transform_utility.rb

These operations handle:

Inserting text at a specific position
Deleting text from a specific position
Transforming operations when they conflict
Handling overlapping deletions
Maintaining consistency across all clients