Question

Are there simple ways to print debug strings in Rails? Something like the OutputDebugString() function in Windows.

Answer 1

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/debugging_rails_applications.html

“To write in the current log use the logger.(debug|info|warn|error|fatal) method from within a controller, model or mailer:”

logger.debug "Person attributes hash: #{@person.attributes.inspect}"
logger.info "Processing the request..."
logger.fatal "Terminating application, raised unrecoverable error!!!"

You could also use raise object.inspect.

Or, if you want more powerful debugging tool, take a look at pry: http://railscasts.com/episodes/280-pry-with-rails

binding.pry in your code and you’ll be able to debug ALL THE THINGS!