Elf List Goes Live

I really don't have much to say, but Elf List is live and ready for use.  Its in the pre-beta release with features to arive daily.  So check it out, http://www.elflist.net

-CH

Godfather on Wii

So time for another one of my reviews. Last week I finally picked up a copy of Godfather for the Wii on the recommendation of a friend. I really can't say more than this game rocks. I have had a great time playing it even though it has sucked me in for many hours already (as if I didn't have a million other things to do). So if your going to get it make sure you have a few hours of free time on your hands as the missions are completable but not overly hard making the game play very enjoyable from the start. Speaking of Godfather I better get back to my game.


-CH

find or create by

So today I was working on a venture application I am trying to develop, when I cam across the need to only create a product if its not in the database. In this case I want to create the product only if the name of it is not in the database. While this is dangerous because of spelling but I am trying to keep it open for local (community) use. Slang terms may come up for one area so they need to be allowed. However I was having a difficult time looking at the pile of code for actually doing this.

 if Product.find_by_name("spotted cow")
  product = Product.find_by_name("spotted cow")
else
  product = Product.create(:name => "spotted cow")
end

So I found out about this method from someone in the rails chat on irc.freenode.net (there is always someone willing to help in that chat room.)

Product.find_or_create_by_name( params[:product][:name],
                          :category_id => params[:product][:category_id],
                          :for => 'creation' )

So now the product will be either found or created by the name of the product and if it is going to be created it adds the category_id just like a normal create.

Here is the test that proves this works.

  def test_find_or_create_by_name
  assert Product.find_or_create_by_name("spotted cow",
                                        :category_id => 1,
                                        :for => :create)
  assert Product.find_or_create_by_name("spotted cow",
                                        :category_id => 1,
                                        :for => :create)
    assert Product.find_or_create_by_name("spotted cow",
                                        :category_id => 1,
                                        :for => :create)
    assert Product.find_or_create_by_name("spotted cow",
                                        :category_id => 1,
                                        :for => :create)
 
  products = Product.find_all_by_name("spotted cow")
  assert_equal(1, products.length)
end
 

-CH

CVNUG (Chippewa Valley .Net User Group)

Last night I was able to explain the basics of Ruby on Rails to the .Net group that I belong to. It was really a great experience and was greatly received by the group. I was nervous about the response I would get initially from the group as some members of the Rails community come across as arrogant bastards.

The presentation when off with out a hitch thanks to the help of Brian Hogan (http://www.napcs.com/) who was there to answer questions and explain information more in depth as I demonstrated building a "Cookbook" application. I stripped down a version of Brian's cookbook tutorial and turned it in to a demonstration.

I want to give a shout out to CVNUG (http://cvnug.wi-ineta.org/) for letting me present to them the wonders of working with Rails. I would also like to thank Brian for helping me out with the presentation.

-CH

Connecting to ms SQL from OS X

This one got me again today as I usually do not use SQL Server for my rails apps.  I was having a hard time remembering the steps for updating my odbc connector for SQL server.  Brian Hogan over at New Auburn Personal Computer Services has a great post on how to do this so check it out here: 
http://www.napcsweb.com/blog/2007/03/08/15/#more-15

Rock N' Roll Jesus

I recently purchased Kid Rock's new album, "Rock N' Roll Jesus"  So far I have really enjoyed this album.  All I can really say is this is a great album and Kid Rock is keeping up his tradition of keeping the southern-rock-rap-country mix flowing.  Like every other Kid Rock album it's going to be a main stay in my car and on my ipod!

Installing CS3 in OS X

Today I was upgrading my Adobe products to CS3 from CS2 and ran into a problem.  There was an issue with my "payload" so the installer could not function properly.  After an hour of searching I found the CS3 Clean application from adobe.  It clears out all of your previous adobe information and allows the install of CS3 to work like a charm.  I figured someone else maybe having this same problem so here is the direct link.
http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs3clean.html

-CH

Ok Seriously I need to keep blogging

Well Rails Rumble is over, and we have our site up. http://www.elflist.us If you want to check it out. The weekend was great, we had a super team just ran out of time. If there is something that I learned from this contest it is that if you put your mind to something you can get it done. We plan on working on Elf List in the next couple months and I hope we can take the beta version live to the public for use around the beginning of November. For information on the development of Elf List check out http://www.icanhaztrofy.com where you will find our team blog.

In other news I am almost finished with LauraSaidYes.net sometime next week I should have the site live. Its been such a crazy last couple of weeks with the start of school and the Rumble but now that everything has calmed down back to my crazy life I can concentrate on a million things rather than a million and one. :)

One more news worthy note, in October I will be presenting Ruby on Rails to the Chippewa Valley .Net User Group (http://cvnug.wi-ineta.org). This should be an exciting presentation opening some .Net developers to my world as they open me up to theirs every month.

-CH

Busy Busy

The last few weeks I haven't been able to post because I have been super busy. Coming up next weekend is the Rails Rumble (http://www.railsrumble.com) I have joined up with 2 other developers and a really good graphic designer. You can find out more about our project at http://www.icanhaztrofy.com we have a simple blog up that will be used during the 48 hour contest.

In other news I recently got engaged this past weekend. It really has been a blessing to have Laura in my life and her continuing support for me and everything I do.

Lastly I am presenting RoR to a group of .Net developers that I meet with every month. I will try and get my slidedeck up here as soon as I finish it for others to take a look at. Since I have been trying to learn .Net I think this will be a good communication point for me. I will say this, after programing in Ruby it makes it harder to want to give it up for another language. Because everything just makes sense.

Well stay tunned for more to come, as the fall semester is about to start I will inevitably find more information to share with the world.

-CH

Back to Search Results

So today I encountered a problem that I seem to encounter in every web application I develop. Most web applications require a search and a way to view each results details. When you view the details you most of the time want to go back to your search results and not have to re-enter all of the fields of your search form.

There are a few ways to do this.

First you can use the quick and dirty way that will not work all the time.

  input value="Go" onclick="history.go(-1)" type="button"

The javascript function history.go is very useful if the client has javascript enabled. If they do not have javascript enabled this button will do absolutely nothing and frustrate your user beyond all means

The second option is to use the server to store the search params

# staff_controller.rb
 def view_applications
   if params[:type] == "requery"
     search_params = session[:search_params]
   else
     search_params = params
     session[:search_params] = params
   end
   @applications = Staff.find_applications_by_params(search_params)
 end

As you can see when the view_applications method is called the params are checked for a variable called type, if this is being called from the original search that field would be empty and the else portion kicks in causing the params to be stored in session. Below you will see the link_to example from the page that shows the details of a record. You will notice that the params have a type that is set to requery, which triggers the function to use the params from session to display the results.

 link_to "<< Back to Search Results", :action => :view_applications, :type => "requery"

There you have it, a way in rails to use the search results from before. If you have any other ways of doing this please post a comment.


Enjoy,
-CH