foo.bar

irb + rails quickly

2009-06-06T14:41:00.001-05:00


irb -r "/config/environment"

Install ruby 1.9.1

2009-06-02T23:41:00.001-05:00

To install ruby1.9 without impacting your current ruby installation, try the following steps:
1. Compile and Install readline (latest is 6.0) if you don't have already.


curl -O http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-6.0.tar.gz
tar xzvf readline-6.0.tar.gz
cd readline-6.0
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make & sudo make install

2. Compile and install ruby 1.9.1.


curl ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.9/ruby-1.9.1-p129.tar.gz -o ruby-1.9.1-p129.tar.gz
tar xzvf ruby-1.9.1-p129.tar.gz
cd ruby-1.9.1-p129
autoconf
./configure --program-suffix=19 --enable-shared --with-readline-dir=/usr/local
make & sudo make install

3. Test


> irb19
> ruby19 -v
> gem19 -v

Rails plugins for authentication, metrics

2009-02-18T19:52:00.005-06:00

I found the authlogic plugin a great help for simplifying authentication for a rails app. I have also used restful_authentication before, but I liked the idea of having a plugin for the authentication rather than generating an User or likes.

Metric_fu as a plugin is very helpful in understanging an existing project or improving the code quality. I like the metrics from Flog, Saikuro and Source Control Churn.

Other Links:
What's a Good Flog Score?
Saikuro - a cyclomatic complexity analyzer.

Ruby Metaprogramming

2008-12-05T09:50:00.007-06:00

Define a metaclass


class Object
   def metaclass; class << self; self; end; end
end

Rails style of extending class and instance methods(also available as a textmate snippet mod ->)


module ModuleName
  module ClassMethods    
  end
  
  module InstanceMethods    
  end
  
  def self.included(receiver)
    receiver.extend         ClassMethods
    receiver.send :include, InstanceMethods
  end
end

Resources:
Seeing Metaclasses Clearly
Metaprogramming by Dave Thomas
Dynamically Created Methods In Ruby
Ruby Metaprogramming techniques
Eval options in ruby

Location of ruby libraries

2008-11-24T10:03:00.008-06:00

To find out the location of the ruby library modules, use command

ruby -e 'puts $:'

To find out the location of gem

gem which GEM-NAME

Upgrading to Rails 2.2.x for Leopard

2008-11-23T09:11:00.010-06:00

I am trying to upgrade one of my applications from the frozen rails version 2.1.1 to 2.2.2.
The steps I used:


rake rails:freeze:gems

As the mysql driver has been excluded from rails now, I thought the gem installation would be simple, but I had to find out the exact options needed and the path of the respective locations needed by those options.
As I had installed mysql with the OS X package installer, I had to use:


sudo gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-include=/usr/local/mysql/ --with-mysql-lib=/usr/local/mysql/lib --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

I got error LoadError: dlopen(/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7/lib/mysql.bundle, 9): Library not loaded:
/usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql/libmysqlclient.15.dylib, to fix that:


sudo install_name_tool -change /usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql/libmysqlclient.15.dylib /usr/local/mysql/lib/libmysqlclient.15.dylib /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7/lib/mysql.bundle

Then I had to fix the errors for rspec by


ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec.git
ruby script/plugin install git://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec-rails.git
ruby script/generate rspec

For mysql installation done with port


sudo gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-include=/opt/local/include/mysql5/mysql/ --with-mysql-lib=/opt/local/lib/mysql5/mysql/ --with-mysql-config=/opt/local/bin/mysql_config5

RSpec on textmate

2008-05-09T07:35:00.005-05:00

While working with Sreekanth V, we came across a peculiar problem with Textmate. For the *_spec.rb, the bundle need to be changed to the RSpec on textmate so that that particular test can be run as a spec otherwise it would throw the environment error. So we changed the *_spec.rb files to *.spec and associated the RSpec bundle to fileType *.spec. To make the rake spec task to work we changed the rspec.rake file to include 'spec/**/*.spec' in all the file lists e.g.


t.spec_files = FileList['spec/**/*_spec.rb', 'spec/**/*.spec']

IntelliJ Editor pane looks like Textmate

2008-05-02T01:04:00.004-05:00

Insipred by the VibrantInk theme used in Textmate, I have created a similar colors and fonts scheme for IntelliJ. I am using monaco font for this scheme.

Semantic Web

2008-04-19T13:30:00.004-05:00

Semantic web is a concept to design, collaborate, interpret and publish information on the web.
More details @ http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/SW-FAQ
A nice presentation on this topic at google tech talks:

Gutsy Gibbon

2007-10-19T23:09:00.002-05:00

I installed Gusty on my Dell D620 today. Few changes I made:

NVIDIA driver

Fonts Rendering

subpixel smoothing (LCDs)

medium

Monaco Font install

here


sudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype/custom
sudo mv Monaco_Linux.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/custom/
sudo fc-cache -f -v

Compiz settings manager

Cisco VPN Client on Ubuntu

2007-06-07T23:13:00.000-05:00

This post helped me in setting up Cisco VPN Client on Ubuntu in an effortless manner.

Ubuntu, Ruby & IntelliJ

2007-06-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

Ubuntu
<rant>
I had instlled Beryl 0.2R3 on Ubuntu 7.04. Though the deskop effects have been great so far, the behaviour of any new window being opened has been very unpredictable. The new window will be open up as a empty black window at first, I had to reset the window manager/window decorator sometimes to get the see that window functioning. Sometimes even the already opened winodws will be blackened. Finally I lost my patience and reverted back to the default metacity window manager.
</rant>

Ruby

Installed ruby and RoR with the help of the steps mentioned here.

IntelliJ

Installing IntelliJ (Selena EAP) was a simple affair too. Just unzip to the installation folder:

tar xzvf idea6918.tar.gz

Created a launcher in the Applications Menu too by right clicking on Applications, selecting Edit Menus and adding the launcher in the Programming group. Also Modified the /bin/idea.vmoptions file so that IntelliJ uses a little more memory to start with.

-Xms256m
-Xmx512m

I had to disable dektop effects on Ubuntu to see IntelliJ window [otherwise I could just see a white window with borders].

Next, I installed two plugins DBHelper and Ruby on IntelliJ.

Configure Ruby SDK on IntelliJ [File -> Settings -> Template Project Settings -> Project Structure -> Project 'Default (template) Project'], need to provide the ruby installation folder as /usr. To configure JSDK, point to /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun.

Configure Verizon PC-5740 EVDO in Ubuntu

2007-06-01T19:08:00.049-05:00

Off-late, using verizon wireless PC-5740 card on the laptop has been very helpful. Though the speed is low, it solves the purpose many times. In my windows installation, I had to download an installer from VZAccess Manager Software Download site after answering few stupid questions. But for Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn), I had to do the following simple steps:

Edit dialing config:

sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf

Change the contents of that file to:

[Dialer Defaults]
Phone = #777
Username = 0
Password = 0
Stupid Mode = on
New PPPD = yes
Save and exit the file

Connect PC-Card :

sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x106c product=0x3701
(To find out the vendor and product see Kernel Modules section of this post.)

Dial :

sudo wvdial

I had to comment out the following in /etc/ppp/options so that the connection does not drop every 2 minutes or so:

# lcp-echo-interval 30
# lcp-echo-failure 4

The configuration does not even need the phone number to use EVDO on Ubuntu, which was required to download the installer for windows.

In Ubuntu Land

2007-05-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Finally, I decided to resize the single partition (I had windows mounted on the single partition) and install Ubuntu in a dual boot system. I used the ubuntu 7.04 installer to do the partition resizing too. Before the installation process, I ensured that there is enough contigous space available. During installation, I selected manual disk partioning mode. I allocated 60% of the disk space to windows, 2Gb for linux swap, rest for primary ext3 partition. The installation process was very smooth and effortless. I currently use a Dell Latitude D620 laptop and ubuntu configured the video driver, wireless connection etc. correctly in that. I then followed the few tips provided by Seven Post-Install tips for Ubuntu 7.04 and installed Automatix2 which again made installation of some of the most often used applications simpler. I am now trying to figure out the best of the Beryl effects for me now.

Watch the windows vista vs. ubuntu beryl effects and I must say that the WOW begins with beryl.

Ubuntu 7.04 on VMWare

2007-05-14T22:04:00.000-05:00

I wanted to check the newly released Ubuntu Fiesty fawn (version 7.04) on my windows XP professional installtion. Though I really wanted to install Ubuntu on the hard drive, I could not do that primarily for two reasons. 1. The current windows installation is only on a single drive without any partition, thereby removing the possibility of dual boot option. 2. My present assignment is on .net/biztalk where I am figuring out how to use these two to their best, so I did not wanted to touch the current windows configuration.
So I instlled the free VMWare Player .
Then I downloaded a virtual image configuration from EasyVMX. I had to mention the location of the downloaded ubuntu iso image file at the CDROM Drives -> disk # 2 (slave) drive so that I could directly boot from that without even creating a CD. For installing from a CD, the disk #1 (master) drive can be used.

By just double cliking the .vmx file from the unzipped easyVMX configuration, the VMPlayer started and I could install ubuntu after selecting the CD2 from the menu bar of the VMPlayer.

But I still have not been able to enable the awesome desktop effects[see those to believe] on the virtual image. No idea if VMPlayer 2.0 supports this or not.

Trivia : The ubuntu version number follows year.month of release pattern, e.g. Fiesty fawn(7.04) was released in 07 April, Edgy eft (6.10) was released in 06 October.

Custom functoids with Visual Studio

2007-05-11T17:28:00.000-05:00

In my current project, I have been using Biztalk server 2004 with Visual Studio 2003. We have some custom functoids that are needed by some of the mappings. We made certain insignificant changes to the functoid and compiled that. After that we duly copied to the location 'biztalk installation folder'\Developer Tools\Mapper Extensions. Also we gac-ed the dll. But when we ran the deploy target from nant, the orchestrations that had this functoid started failing. Surprisingly, when we did the same in another computer it passed smoothly. The only difference in these two machines was that in the former machine, the custom functoid had been added to the toolbox of the visual studio.

So, the correct steps to use custom functoid is:

Make sure that you have removed the custom functoids from the toolbox.
Compile the functiods.
Copy it to 'biztalk installation folder'\Developer Tools\Mapper Extensions.

CollapseAll Macro for Visual studio

2007-05-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

A small but yet not-so-insignificant macro to help during the development with visual studio is CollapseAll Macro. I find it useful even after using Resharper. To use this, just add the code in the macro explorer and to assign a keyboard shortcut [I put the macro at Macros.Samples.Utilies and used the (ctrl + alt + ,) shortcut].