Okay, so I wanted to mess around with Phoenix and see if I could get it working with Sherbrooke. Here’s how it all went down, step-by-step.
Getting Started
First things first, I needed to have Elixir and Phoenix installed. I already had Elixir set up from a previous project, so that part was easy. If you don’t, you’ll need to get that sorted first. Then, I grabbed the Phoenix installer. It was pretty simple, just followed the instructions on their website.
Creating the Project
Next, I created a new Phoenix project. I used the command line for this. I opened up my terminal and typed something like: mix * my_sherbrooke_project . Of course, ‘my_sherbrooke_project’ is just what I called it, you can name it whatever you want.
It asked me if I wanted to install dependencies. I said yes because, you know, you kinda need them.
Setting up Sherbrooke (or Trying To!)
This is where things got a little…interesting. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure what Sherbrooke is supposed to do. I thought it was some kind of data library or something to help with forms, but I couldn’t really find clear instructions. I did a bunch of searching, found some stuff on GitHub and Hex (the package manager for Elixir), but nothing that really clicked for me.
I tried adding it as a dependency in my file. Looked something like this:
defp deps do
{:phoenix, "~> 1.7"},
{:sherbrooke, "~> 0.2"} <-- Added this line
... other stuff ...
end
Then I ran mix * to install it. Seemed to work okay, no errors at least.
Trying to Use It (and Failing, Mostly)
So, I had Sherbrooke installed, but I had no idea how to use it. I looked at the documentation, which, to be frank, wasn’t super helpful for a beginner like me. I poked around in the example code, but it was a bit over my head. I messed with schema or some stuff but failed. I was trying to make a form, I think, and the form was not coming out. I made some changes to my model and controllers but they weren’t what I think I should be doing.
What I Learned (or Didn’t)
Phoenix itself is pretty cool. The project setup was smooth, and the basic structure made sense.
Sherbrooke…needs better documentation. Or maybe I just need to get better at Elixir first. Probably both.
I need to spend more time understanding the basics. I jumped in a little too deep without a solid foundation.
In the end, I didn’t really achieve anything with Sherbrooke. I got it installed, but that’s about it. It’s on my list to revisit later when I have a better grasp of the fundamentals. For now, I’m going to stick with plain Phoenix and build some simpler stuff to get more comfortable. This whole thing was a good reminder that sometimes you gotta take a step back before you can move forward. At least it didn’t keep me from watching an episode or two of my favorite show.
