Monkey's thumb

Delete/put links break your Rails app

2010-05-08T08:20:44Z

In Rails you can easily use the link_to helper in your templates to create links that will generate HTTP POST, PUT and DELETE requests when clicked. You can do this using simply setting the :method option, but this ease of use hides a very real problem.

The problem

These links only work for users with javascript enabled.

Visitors without javascript enabled the links will actually take them to the show action of your controller (or a 404 if you con't have a show action), which won't be what you or they expect.

It's easy not to notice this behaviour since mostly you test your app with javascript enabled.

For example:

link_to "Delete Image", @image, :method => :delete

Generates

<a href="/images/9" onclick="var f = document.createElement('form');
  f.style.display = 'none';
  this.parentNode.appendChild(f);
  f.method = 'POST';
  f.action = this.href;
  var m = document.createElement('input');
  m.setAttribute('type', 'hidden');
  m.setAttribute('name', '_method');
  m.setAttribute('value', 'delete');
  f.appendChild(m);f.submit();return false;">Delete Image</a>

Take note of all the javascript gymnastics to make this work.

The solution

The easy fix is to use the button_to helper instead.

For example:

button_to "Delete Image", @image, :method => :delete

Generates

<form method="post" action="/images/9" class="button-to">
  <input name="_method" type="hidden" value="put" />
  <input type="submit" value="Delete Image" />
</form>

A nice little submit button with no javascript and no pain.

This may even be a better user experience for all your users (with or without javascript) because the button will indicate to them that they are making a change (either updating or deleting something) rather than just visiting a link.

The solution (part II)

Of course perhaps you used the link_to helper because you wanted it to look like a standard link on the page (rather than a submit button).

One possible solution would be to use CSS but it's actually very difficult to use CSS to make a submit button look exactly like (rather than just similar to) your other links across a range of browsers.

Another is to use javascript to replace the form generated by the button_to helper with a link. Then javascript enabled visitors will see a link just like if you had used the link_to helper, and visitors without javascript enabled will see a button.

If you are using jQuery then this can be achieved by adding the following javascript to your site.

jQuery.fn.convert_submit_button_to_link = function () {
  this.each( function () {
    var button = jQuery(this);
    button.
      hide().
      after(jQuery('<a href="#">' + button.attr('value') + '</a>').attr('class', button.attr('class')).click(button.attr('onclick')));
  });
  return this;
};

$(document).ready(function () {
  // Convert any input with the class 'submit-link' to a link
  $('input.submit-link').convert_submit_button_to_link();
};

And then any submit button with the class 'submit-link' will be replaced by a link that will submit the form.

For example the submit button generated by the following would be converted to a link

button_to "Delete Image", @image, :method => :delete, :class => 'submit-link'

So there are no excuses for using link_to for destroy/update actions.

I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to convert this jQuery specific javascript to your favourite javascript library.

Trigger Integrity builds with a cron job

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

Updated 21 Dec 2009: modified code to work with integrity v. 0.2.9

Integrity is a great little continuous integration server, even if it is a little rough around the edges.

Out of the box Integrity expects that you will trigger all your builds using github's post receive hooks - although you need to be aware of this bug which means you have to miss the .git of the end of the project's git repository URI when setting this up.

I however prefer to poll my project's repositories for changes so that they do not need to be aware of my Integrity server.

If you are using Integrity v0.2.9 or greater then this can be achieved by adding the following rake task to the Rakefile in your Integrity installation.

desc "Will build the latest commit for any project that has already been built and the latest commit has not already been built"
task :build_new_commits do
  require "init"
  Integrity.log("Checking for new commits at #{Time.now}")
  Integrity::Project.all.each do |project|
    # Don't build if project is just being set up, or a build of 'HEAD' is already outstanding or the latest commit has already
    # been built.
    unless project.blank? ||
        project.last_build.commit.identifier == 'HEAD' ||
        (head = Integrity::Repository.new(project.uri, project.branch, 'HEAD').head) == project.last_build.commit.identifier
      project.build(head)
    end
  end
end

Then set up a cron job by adding the something like the following entry to your crontab. This will to automatically check every 2 minutes to see if there are any outstanding commits of your project to build. You will need to replace the /path/to/ section in each of the paths with appropriate values for your system.

*/2 * * * * cd /path/to/integrity && /path/to/ruby ./bin/rake build_new_commits >> /path/to/cron.log 2>$

Alternatively, if you are using for earlier versions of integrity

0.2.0 or greater: use this rake task
0.1.1 or greater: use bkoski's integrity-watcher

Or, if you want to add build triggers to git repositories not on github then take a look at morethanseven's post commit hook.

Cucumber screenshot gem

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

Cucumber is great for integration testing but when a feature fails for a web application you just get the content of the page spewed out onto the console.

If only you could see a screenshot of the whole web page that produced the failure.

The good news for those of you on OS X is that you can.

Just install my cucumber-screenshot gem.

gem install cucumber-screenshot

And follow the set up instructions to start snapping.

Enjoy.

If you are on another platform and want this functionality then feel free to change the code.

Thanks go to Juris Galang for writing the snapurl gem (which actually handles making the screenshots) and to Aslak Hellesoy and Matt Wynne for their help and advice integrating this with Cucumber.

Tuning Mail.app / Gmail IMAP integration

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

When setting up Mail.app on OS X to access your mail in your Gmail (or Google Apps) account via IMAP it is worth tweaking your 'Mailbox behaviours' and mailbox mappings to make them work together more smoothly.

However there is conflicting advice on this (from Gmail and Mac OSX Hints for example), so here's my definitive guide.

In this guide I assume you have already set up your Gmail account access via IMAP in Apple Mail following these clear instructions for Mail 2.0 or Mail 3.0.

In the guide below I will refer to changing your 'Mailbox behaviours' settings, you can find these by

Open Preferences in Mail
Select the 'Accounts' section
Select your Gmail account
Select 'Mailbox behaviours'

I will also refer to configuring Mail to treat some of your IMAP mailboxes as 'special'. You can do this by

Select the mailbox in your IMAP account you want to make 'special'.
Select the 'Mailbox' menu
Move the mouse over the 'Use This Mailbox For'
Select what you want to use the mailbox for, i.e. 'Drafts', 'Sent', 'Trash', 'Junk'

Drafts

In 'Mailbox behaviours' tick 'Store draft messages on the server'
Select the drafts mailbox in your IMAP account (probably [Googlemail]/Drafts) and set to be used as 'Drafts'.

These settings ensure that drafts will be stored in your IMAP account and will appear in the standard 'Drafts' mailbox in Mail.

Sent Mail

In 'Mailbox behaviours' tick 'Store sent message on the server'
Select the sent mail mailbox in your IMAP account (probably [Googlemail]/Sent Mail) and set to be used as 'Sent'.

These settings ensure that sent mail will be stored in your IMAP account and will appear in the standard 'Sent' mailbox in Mail.

Junk

In 'Mailbox behaviours'
- Tick 'Store junk messages on the server'
- For 'Delete junk mail when' select 'Never'
Select the junk mailbox in your IMAP account (probably [Googlemail]/Spam) and set to be used as 'Junk'.
In Mail Preferences > Junk Mail
- Tick 'Enable junk mail filtering'
- For 'When junk mail arrives', select move it to the Junk mailbox

These settings mean that you are using both Mail and Gmail's spam filters and that you will train them in parallel, i.e. when you mark mail as Junk / Not Junk the information will be passed back to Gmail and will improve their spam filtering too.

I set the Junk mail to never be deleted because Gmail already does this after 30 days and set junk mail to be moved straight to the Junk mailbox so that it doesn't clutter my inbox (this matches the behaviour on Gmail too).

Note: if you 'Erase Junk Mail' in Mail.app it will remove the mails currently in your junk mailbox from Mail's view of your junk mail box but not actually delete them on the server.

Trash

In 'Mailbox behaviours'
- Tick 'Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox'
- Tick 'Store deleted messages on the server'
- For 'Delete trash when' select 'Never'
Select the trash mailbox in your IMAP account (probably [Googlemail]/Bin) and set to be used as 'Trash'.

These settings will ensure that mail you delete locally is marked as deleted in the IMAP server, and will leave the actual removal of deleted messages from your IMAP account up to GMail (30 days)

Notes

I don't use notes so I leave 'Store notes in Inbox' unticked in 'Mailbox behaviours'

Updated - 28 Sep 2009

I double checked storing sent mail on the server at Shad's suggestion (see comments below), and I have found that it no longer results in multiple copies of sent mail. I am not sure when this was fixed but I have updated the recommendations to suggest you store sent mail on the server as a result.

I've also corrected the label on the Notes checkbox to 'Store notes in Inbox'.

Ruby docs on OS X with Fluid

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

Wouldn't it be nice to have a neat little an application on your desktop which allows you to search and view ruby docs.

Well it's just 4 easy steps away.

Step 1: Install Fluid

Download and install Fluid a site specific browser for OS X, that enables you to turn a website into an application.

Step 2: Download the Rails Searchable API Doc

Visit Rails Searchable API Doc
Press 'select gems' and decide which versions of Ruby, Rails and other common gems you want to include in your ruby docs application
Click download
Unpack the zip file you download and save it to '/Users/you/Library/Application Support/RubyDocs' say.

I chose the 'Rails Searchable API Doc' because it includes a number of other ruby gems, has a good search function and supports keyboard shortcuts.

Of course if you prefer a different rendering of the docs, e.g. Noobkit and RailsBrain then you could download one of those instead.

Step 3: Download a nice icon

Download conekt's excellent RubyDoc icon.

Step 4: Make your application

Open Fluid

Put the local URL of your docs, 'file:///Users/you/Library/Application%20Support/RubyDocs/index.html', say, in the URL field
Put 'RubyDocs' in the name field
Select 'Other' in the icon field and find your spiffy icon (downloaded in step 3)
Press the create button.

You're done. Enjoy.

Install old version of screen using Mac Ports

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

The latest version of Screen (version 4.0.3 port revision 3) that comes with MacPorts has a number of issues.

Most annoying for me were that 'mate' and 'gitx' stopped working from the command line (with the errors 'mate: failed to establish connection with TextMate' and 'gitx: failed to establish connection with GitX' respectively).

The screen port @4.0.3_1 (version 4.0.3 revision 1) is free of these problems and, with a little bit of work, you can install this version via MacPorts. The instructions below are based on Joe Horns' post, install old versions of ports using MacPorts.

Instructions

Set up a local port repository. In the file /opt/local/etc/macports/sources.conf, add this line before the rsync line:
```
file:///Users/Shared/dports
```
and create that directory.

Install the old revision of the port into your local repository, revision 45522 specifies screen port @4.0.3_1.

cd /Users/Shared/dports && svn co --revision 45522 \
http://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk/dports/sysutils/screen/ \ sysutils/screen/

Run portindex so that ports now finds your new (old) version of Screen.
```
portindex /Users/Shared/dports
```
Now you should be able to see two versions of the screen port by running
```
port list screen
```
However, rather unhelpfully, they will both be listed as version @4.0.3.
Install Screen
```
sudo port install screen @4.0.3_1
```
and you should be up and running.

Refresh data from production

2010-05-05T23:14:35Z

When working on web apps, it can really useful to be able to load production data into your development environment.

I am a sucker for anything that reduces typing so I put together a mysql_tasks rails plugin for my MySQL backed applications which makes it as easy as

rake mysql:refresh_from_production

Which makes a tar gzipped snapshot of the production database, downloads it into my development box and loads it into my development environment.

If you want to give it a go yourself then read these installation instructions for the mysql_tasks plugin.

This was inspired by the real Nate Clark.

Code Beautifier Textmate Bundle

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

Textmate's indent functionality does a passable job of formatting your code BUT there is a great deal of room for improvement.

Inspired by the Paul Lutus's ruby beautifier script and Tim Burks's post on making it into a Textmate bundle I've put together a Code Beautifier Textmate bundle

It only supports Ruby at present but does improve upon Textmate's indent functionality, in particular it is better at indenting multiline statements and cleans up white space.

It's all hosted on Github so if you want to make improvements then please fork away.

Installation

Run this:

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/TextMate/Bundles
git clone git://github.com/mocoso/code-beautifier.tmbundle.git Code\ Beautifier.tmbundle

Then select 'Bundles > Bundle Editor > Reload Bundles' from Textmate's menus

Updated on 21 May 2009

Changed the URL of the repository on GitHub to http://github.com/mocoso/code-beautifier.tmbundle/tree/master to fix a typo in the name (oops).

Screen Textmate Bundle

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

When working on a rails project I usually have script/server, script/console and autotest all running in GNU Screen. Jamie Flournoy has already described why using GNU screen is better than plain old Terminal Tabs.

I've put together a Screen Textmate Bundle to make it easy to configure and open per project screen sessions.

Installation

Run this:

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/TextMate/Bundles
git clone git://github.com/mocoso/screen.tmbundle.git Screen.tmbundle

Set up your screen configuration for a project

Create a .screenrc file in your project directory if you want to specify a particular configuration for your project.

For example for a Ruby on Rails project you might create a .screenrc file in your project directory like this

# Have the server running in screen 1
#
# Stuff is used so that when you exit the stuff-ed program, you drop back
# to the bash shell for that screen instead of immediately exiting that
# screen. This is useful for "^c, up-arrow, enter" restarting of programs.
screen -t server 1
stuff "script/server\012"

# Have autotest running in screen 2
screen -t autotest 2
stuff "autotest\012"

# Have the console running in screen 3 
screen -t console 3
stuff "script/console\012"

# Finally have a command line prompt at the project root in screen 4
screen -t project_root 4

Usage

Use this bundle's 'Start Session' command (ctrl-shift-s) to start (or reconnect to) your project's screen session.

If you have created a .screenrc file in your project directory then this will be used to initialize the new session.

Update (14th Sep 2008)

On Jonathon Palardy's suggestion I've added a 'Send to Screen' command (ctrl-alt-c) that copies selected text (or current line if no selection made) to your project's screen session. If you have multiple windows open in the session then it will paste to the currently selected window.

Update (22nd Jan 2009)

If you want similar functionality without learning screen then check out Nick Rutherford's Rails Workbench

Using Git with subversion: Part II (Practice)

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

More tips on how to use Git with a Subversion repository to get some of the Git goodness, local branches, stashes and much more, without having to persuade everyone else on your project to migrate to Git

If you don't already have git installed then see part I (Installation).

Clone you Subversion repository

Make a local clone of your subversion repository to work with.

Warning: Git does not support svn:externals but luckily you vendor everything with piston, don't you? If not then various people have written up hacks for managing svn:externals none of which are ideal but they will get you started.

Assuming you use a standard Subversion repository layout (with /trunk, /branches etc.) then this is as easy as

git-svn clone http://svn.foo.org/project/trunk

Tweak your local Git repository

There are a couple more things that you should do to the repository before beginning work

Firstly, tell Git about the files that Subversion ignores, using:

git svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude

This appears to work for some projects/Subversion installations and not others. If it doesn't work you'll need to create .git/info/exclude file in the project and add file patterns to exclude by hand.

Secondly, recreate any empty folders which are required by the project e.g. /log. You need to do this because Git does not track empty directories.

Now you are ready to go.

Get to work

Make your changes

Make changes to the code base in just the same way as you would with Subversion
Commit your changes to your local master branch

Unless you have been working with local branches this is easy as.
```
git commit -a
```
Which will commit all your changes to your local Git repository.

If you have added or removed files you will also need to use git add or git rm to ensure all your changes are committed.
Update your local repository from Subversion
```
git svn rebase>
```
This brings your local Git repository up to date with the central Subversion repository

It works just like git rebase in that it rewinds your local commits, applies the latest changes from subversion, and then replays your local commits over the top. If there are merge issues you will be warned about them here.
Push your local commits back into subversion
```
git svn dcommit
```
This applies each of your local commits in turn to the subversion repository.
Repeat (go back to step 1.)

CSV templating made easy in Rails

2010-05-05T23:20:58Z

CSV Builder is a simple little Rails (v2.1) plugin that makes it easy to write templates to generate CSV formatted output from your Rails application.

It does this by providing a little bit of plumbing gubbins to make a custom template handler from the FasterCSV gem.

So if you want to export data in CSV format from your rails app then install it like this

sudo gem install fastercsv
./script/plugin install git://github.com/econsultancy/csv_builder.git

This plugin was developed as part of project that I have been working on with Econsultancy.com.

Using Git with Subversion: Part I (Installation)

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

You can use Git with a Subversion repository to get some of the Git goodness, local branches, stashes and much more, without having to persuade everyone else on your project to migrate to Git

Install Git

You need to install git-svn first, with MacPorts this is as easy as

sudo port install git-core +svn +bash_completion

And then to enable bash completion (thanks to Graham Ashton for this tip)

cp /opt/local/etc/bash_completion.d/git ~/.git-bash-completion.sh
echo '[ -f ~/.git-bash-completion.sh ] && . ~/.git-bash-completion.sh' >> ~/.profile
. ~/.profile

And for those without macports here are some installation instructions

TextMate integration

If you use TextMate then install the Git Bundle

And you can set TextMate as the editor for git commit messages by adding the following to ~/.profile

export GIT_EDITOR="mate -w"

Basic git configuration

You should tell git who you are.

git config --global user.name 'your name*'
git config --global user.email 'your.email.address@foo.bar'

If you are on OS X, then tell git to ignore .DSStore files in all your projects.

git config --global core.excludesfile .gitexcludes

And create a file ~/.gitexcludes with '.DSStore' in it.

This all you need to configure but there's much more you can do with git config e.g. aliases for git commands if you want to save those typing fingers.

Coming soon

Using Git with Subversion - Part II (Practice)

'SELECT IN' in rails

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

#find supports select in conditions in just the way you would expect, so

Model.find(:all, :conditions => ["attribute IN (?)", [1,2,3]])

generates

SELECT * FROM models WHERE (attribute IN (1,2,3))

for MySQL.

Web apps on your desktop

2010-05-07T05:17:31Z

Fluid is a site specific browser for OS X, that lets you can take the web apps that you use all the time out of your browser and on to the desktop.

I've been using it with Gmail to give it's own application window, dock icon etc. on my desktop rather than it just being lost amongst the 101 other tabs I have open.

If you use it with Gmail I recommend you install Todd Ditchendorf's user script to stop a gmail popping up a blank window when you click on an external link.

MoreMoney gem

2010-05-07T05:17:31Z

The Money gem is a great little utility for representing money in ruby.

However it's formatting rules assume that the currency symbol will be a dollar ($) which is makes it far less useful for those of us who need to display other currencies, euros, pounds sterling (£) and yen (¥) to name a few.

Luckily Paolo Negri has come to the rescue with his More Money gem which has all the goodness of the original money gem (configurable currencies and exchange rates) with added support for international currencies.

Installing it is as easy as

gem install more_money

Select helper methods

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

Shining through has written an invaluable guide to the ruby on rails select helper methods.

Now if only someone would turn these into a documentation patch for rails.

Comix influx

2010-05-07T05:17:31Z

I am very pleased to see that there's a bit of a buzz building around Stephen Bett's most excellent project Comix Influx.

Stephen's interview with Paul Gravett explains more about this collaborative comics translation site.

Disclosure: I am a friend of Stephen's and a contributor to the Comix Influx code base.

Exception notifier

2010-05-07T05:29:36Z

Once installed the exception notifier plugin will send emails to your whenever your application raises an exception.

It's a sinch to install making it no brainer for low/medium traffic rails apps.

Install exception notifier

script/plugin install \
http://dev.rubyonrails.org/svn/rails/plugins/exception_notification/

Configure by adding to the list of email address you want to receive notifications your production environment

ExceptionNotifier.exception_recipients = %w(foo@bar.com)
ExceptionNotifier.sender_address = %w(exception.notifier@bar.com)

Deploy and that's it, you're done.

Update - 11 Feb 08

Edge rails changeset 8669 breaks the plugin but Lourens has posted a neat fix.

Taking rails to the masses

2010-05-05T22:26:50Z

Tom Stuart, has been doing his bit to make Rails a household name with this piece on the release of 2.0 in the Guardian today.

PHP is dead, long live ruby

2010-05-07T05:29:36Z

I finally got around to deploying the rails port of my site PrepForTests.com this week.

Moving it from PHP/Drupal to Ruby on Rails was surprisingly painless and now I can enjoy working on it rather than putting off new features.

And I don't think I'll ever write another line of PHP again. Never go back.

Update - a while later

Of course it wasn't long before I found myself ditching Mephisto (Ruby) as a platform for this blog and switching to WordPress (PHP), I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Monkey's thumb

Delete/put links break your Rails app

The problem

The solution

The solution (part II)

Trigger Integrity builds with a cron job

Cucumber screenshot gem

Tuning Mail.app / Gmail IMAP integration

Drafts

Sent Mail

Junk

Trash

Notes

Updated - 28 Sep 2009

Ruby docs on OS X with Fluid

Step 1: Install Fluid

Step 2: Download the Rails Searchable API Doc

Step 3: Download a nice icon

Step 4: Make your application

Install old version of screen using Mac Ports

Instructions

Refresh data from production

Code Beautifier Textmate Bundle

Installation

Updated on 21 May 2009

Screen Textmate Bundle

Installation

Set up your screen configuration for a project

Usage

Update (14th Sep 2008)

Update (22nd Jan 2009)

Using Git with subversion: Part II (Practice)

Clone you Subversion repository

Tweak your local Git repository

Get to work

Further reading

CSV templating made easy in Rails

Using Git with Subversion: Part I (Installation)

Install Git

TextMate integration

Basic git configuration

Coming soon

'SELECT IN' in rails

Web apps on your desktop

MoreMoney gem

Select helper methods

Comix influx

Exception notifier

Update - 11 Feb 08

Taking rails to the masses

PHP is dead, long live ruby

Update - a while later