Working With Rails

Links for 2008-05-15 [del.icio.us]

• Design Gallery: eCommerce Progress Bars

Testing out BSAG’s Tracks, it’…

Best Costume Ever « Roissy in DC

Textmate Golbalt color theme for IntelliJ

Twitter Updates for 2008-05-15

Facebook's Big Facelift [del.icio.us]

Mentawai com suporte total ao JRuby

o Mentawai � um framework web Java nascido em 2005 mas ainda n�o � t�o conhecido como Struts ou Spring. sua principal proposta � implementar um ambiente de desenvolvimento com 100% de programa��o, abolindo XML e Annotations que aumentam muito a complexidade de projetos Java.

al�m disso, esta ferramenta permite a utiliza��o de linguagens din�micas como Ruby e Groovy, por exemplo, para configurar sua aplica��o.

cheguei a fazer pequenas aplica��es com ele e gostei bastante. � simples, r�pido e eficaz. a galera que desenvolve d� um suporte legal atrav�s do f�rum, o que � muito importante. sem contar que no site tem v�rios exemplos bem explicativos das funcionalidades.

a partir de agora, o Mentawai promete suporte total ao JRuby, permitindo que c�digo Ruby seja chamado de qualquer ponto da aplica��o Java.

recebi a newsletter dizendo:

--------------

A partir da vers�o 1.13 o Mentawai possui suporte total ao JRuby. Voc� pode agora escrever suas actions (e sua aplica��o) inteiramente em Ruby ou voc� pode chamar qualquer c�digo Ruby de dentro de suas actions em Java (ou de qualquer ponto da sua aplica��o em Java).

Receita completa em Portugu�s: http://recipes.mentaframework.org/posts/list/56.page

Um abra�o da equipe do Mentawai!

-------------

achei bem interessante essa proposta de facilidade e integra��o.

CCTV

Installing Trac on CentOS 5

I'm using Slicehost, but these instructions should work for any hosting provider running CentOS 5. I am not using Subversion (because it sucks and has been slain by Git). If you need SVN support, check out the posts by Nick or Daniel Skinner.

1. Install python and mod_python (for Apache)
   • yum install python mod_python
2. Install MySQL-python
   • Download the tarball from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python
   • Compile the package: python setup.py build && python setup.py install
3. Install Clearsilver, a templating package needed by Trac
   • Download Clearsilver from http://www.clearsilver.net/downloads/
   • Compile Clearsilver: ./configure --with-python=/path/to/python && make && make install
   • Note: My path to python is /usr/lib/python2.4
4. Install Trac
   • Download Trac from http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracDownload
   • Setup Trac: python ./setup.py install
5. Create a Trac project
   • I'm going to keep all of my Trac projects in /var/www/apps/trac, and for this example, I'll call my project MyTracProject
   • trac-admin /var/www/apps/trac/MyTracProject initenv
   • Give your project a name of your choosing, but accept the default for all other settings.
6. Install TracWebAdmin (optional)
   • In a temporaty directory, grab the TracWebAdmin package: svn co http://svn.edgewall.com/repos/trac/sandbox/webadmin/
   • cd webadmin
   • python setup.py egg_info
   • python setup.py bdist_egg
   • cp dist/TracWebAdmin-0.1.2devr5753-py2.4.egg /var/www/apps/trac/MyTracProject/plugins
   • Note: the actual filename may be different, depending on the build
7. Define some Trac users
   • Create a file to store your authorized users: touch /var/www/apps/trac/auth-file
   • Add a user to the file: htpasswd -m /var/www/apps/trac/auth-file <username>
8. Give admin permissions to the Trac user
   • trac-admin /var/www/apps/trac/MyTracProject permission add <username> TRAC_ADMIN
9. Configure Apache
   • Load mod_python by editing your httpd.conf (for me this is /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf) and add "LoadModule python_module modules/mod_python.so"
   • I want to access Trac via http://trac.mytrackproject.com
   • You'll need your CNAME record in your DNS to support the trac.mytrackproject.com subdomain.
   • You'll also need to create a VirtualHost section in Apache's httpd.conf file. For example:

<VirtualHost *:80>

  ServerName trac.mytrackproject.com

  <Location />
    SetHandler mod_python
    PythonHandler trac.web.modpython_frontend
    PythonOption TracEnv /var/www/apps/trac/mytrackproject
    PythonOption TracUriRoot /
  </Location>
  <Location "/login">
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "trac"
    AuthUserFile /var/www/apps/trac/auth-file
    Require valid-user
  </Location>

</VirtualHost>

1. Restart Apache: service httpd restart
2. Go to http://trac.mytrackproject.com and start using Trac

Phusion Passenger and Dreamhost

links for 2008-05-16

Watch Chris Matthews exposing Kevin James' ignorance on live television

Next time, when you don’t know what you’re talking about, just say “I don’t know”.

IIA congress highlights

I attended the IIA contress today (Thursday…). I hadn’t been before.

Joe Newell talked about Ammado. They’ve done a great job in penetrating the global market. I was a little bit surprised that ‘Donate Now’ wasn’t a feature introduced earlier. Although that just says that the community alone was enough to attract hundreds/thousands of not for profits and charities.

Barry Meehan from worldwidecycles impressed me. He came across as being incredibly down to earth and genuine. Sharing great experiences about how he’s using blogging, flickr, youtube to build a community around his business. His attitude is very much – add value to your community, and it will reward you in return.

Dell came across very well as innovators in customer engagement. I still dread few things more than having to call their call center, and their main store website is sucky…. Dell employ many people with job of contributing to their various customer engagement sites, and conversations emerging elsewhere on the web.

Bebo talked about some interesting stuff they’re doing – particularly with what you might call online interactive social television, Kate Modern, The Gap Year etc.. Interesting that some of these shows which started online are now being shown on traditional tv channels. Powerful ideas, and great revenue models – i don’t buy it – plenty of kids/teens do.

I ended up at the conference because I started working for IGOPeople about 2 weeks ago. CEO Campbell Scott presented about some of the trends behind the IGO idea and a few stories about what people can achieve on IGOpeople when it’s launched. I felt it went great – and I’m looking forward to launching out beta later this year. Mixed feelings on twittersphere – better than no feelings ;)

There was great consistency in the messages people talked about – consistent to the theme of the conference: ‘Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media’. Next year I’d love to see a little more diversity, in both the talks and the audience they attract. Kinda tiring hearing the same thing again and again for the day.

Why are my flights always late ?

谷歌去死吧

Lewis Black on Marriage

An oldie but a goodie:

<embed src="http://www.thedailyshow.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml" height="316" width="332"></embed>

Aprenda, Inicie e Envolva-se com Flex on Rails

links for 2008-05-16

links for 2008-05-16

Bedfellows: Is Ruby the perfect match for SaaS

Flex on Rails - Aprenda

Beat it

Flex on Rails - Envolva-se

Work Could be More Funner

Close enough

C&D's 5 Questions for Karryn Ransom, Communications Manager of carrieanddanielle.com

Just so our readers don’t think that we rig our staff to say nice things about us on camera (click here to watch Karryn’s Style Statement video…which was filmed before we hired her,) tell the world how you came on board C&D, Inc. Two years ago, when I first waddled into the studio - staggeringly pregnant, I was overcome with a moment of resigned longing: imagine if I could work here! ….and then it was back to: “Well, that would never happen.”

But it did happen.

It happened because Carrie and Danielle saw the power of possibility. When I had my Style Statement done, I realized that if they could see my possibilities and strengths, then I’d better see them too. Moreover, I had better excavate them. So I threw out my self-imposed limitations. I created a documentary for CBC. I gave birth. I quit my twelve-year teaching career. I started to write. I felt alive…and it allowed me to dive more juicily into the world of What If.

I loved it there so much that I made a vision board: a Post Card from What If Land. I pasted images of all the things I’d love to manifest in my life - no matter how “outrageous” they seemed, including a job with Carrie & Danielle. I hung it in my closet. I smiled whenever I saw it. It felt less and less outrageous the more used to it I became. I would see Carrie and Danielle’s picture every day - and now …I see them everyday.

That’s the power of possibility. I am blessed with the opportunity to work alongside two women whom I consider not only mentors, but visionaries and friends.

What inspires you?
I have a talent for complicating things. So anyone who can distill something down to its element; simplify it until it is beautiful, truly awes and inpsires me.

3 Books that left an impression on you: <u></u>

<u>To Kill a Mockingbird</u> by Harper Lee remains one of my all-time favourites. The story always stirs me with the gentle power of kindness and the necessity of justice. <u></u>

<u>Ask and it is Given</u> by Esther and Jerry Hicks is my truth.

The third one is still open…I’ll keep devouring books, and let you know which ones repeat on me…..

Fill in the blank: “If it were more socially acceptable, I would ……….”

..speak my mind. I think a lot of things that aren’t even socially acceptable to SAY, never mind do. In my mind, I am outrageous.

Favourite flower:

The Peace Rose. I wanted Peace Roses for my bridal bouquet and my mother insisted I carry white roses. In the interest of keeping everyone happy, I ordered the white roses. The florist showed up on my wedding day with a perfect little bouquet of Peace Roses, and said nothing other than, “This is what YOU wanted. Have a lovely day.” Peace Roses remind me that small kindnesses can have huge impacts.

¿Para que usar el X-JSON de Prototype?

Feed the monkey metric

If I’m working late, hard at it, and you’re puzzled as to how you can help, be a servant leader. Ordering or collecting food is a great start! So many people and companies let themselves down on this – I’m glad I work with people that do it right,.

Overwork: the visual

Mega Sea Creatures: The Savage Colors of Naked, Toxic Sea Snails

Making OpenCV prettier

A Word of Thanks

In no particular order, here’s a quick round-up of some recent blogosphere coverage of Carrie & Danielle. Thanks to each and all for the support and participation.

The Recollected Life

Morning’s Light

One Chic Mama

Wanda Works in Wiarton 

- Karryn, Classic Lustre

links for 2008-05-15

Clean Living

CLEAN LIVING

You can bring home the bacon. You can fry it up in the pan…and scrub the pan, the tub, the fridge, the floor; meet your deadlines, your amigas, your mates’ needs, and meditate on the way to work. Of course you can!

But why would you want to? Allow us to put it this way: Would you spend $100 bucks a month to have more quality play time with your friends and family, or a few more afternoons to be creative, get ahead on a work project, or simply rest?

We’ve taken a poll amongst our busy workin’ women friends, and they all said they held out too long before getting some domestic support. Read: too cheap, too guilty, too practical, too busy to get help at home. This week, we herald the virtues of getting a Cleaning Person! Even if you’re on a tight budget ($50 will get you a few hours of service,) getting help on the home front is an investment in your sanity, spirit, and self worth.

•    www.Craigslist.com is a great source for cleaners. Go to Services / Household. Check references. Expect to pay anywhere from $17 to $25/hour. Always start on a trial basis with someone.

•    You can request that your cleaner use eco-friendly products. We love: METHOD (great packaging is a bonus, tho’ the CleaningWipes aren’t exactly eco-cool) and Simple Green is tried ‘n true.

If you’re feeling less-than an over-achiever because you’re hiring a cleaner, just hear us cheering you on: “You’re worth it! The money you spend on cleaning will allow you to be more joyful, and joy attracts more joy!”

WhoGiveAShit.com - Main Page. See what people are posting today.

Don't take it personal

As most of you know, we released a product last year, Cashboard, which handles time tracking, invoicing, and project quotes (or estimates).

Since the release I’ve refined the product based on my own needs and the multitude of feedback I’ve received via email, forums, and comments strewn across blogs all over the web.

Cashboard is my baby. I pour my blood, sweat, and redbull into it each and every day. Working on something so hard and so often, one starts to develop a relationship with the work…an attachment.

I also handle the majority of customer support and potential customer emails. It’s great because I get to keep my finger on the pulse of what needs attention. However, the downside comes in the form of insane rants, negative comments, and downright outlandish demands a few people make.

Some days it takes all my restraint not to fire off an email that looks more like the lyrics to a gangsta rap track than a customer support response. I’ve slipped a couple of times, but I’m getting better at sleeping on things. It’s a crucial skill.

I try not to take jabs against my baby as a personal attack, but it’s hard. Yet another skill I’m still trying to master.

Of course, a lot of these comments are valid, once you strip away the venom and bile. Being able to sift through the garbage and determine the meaning has paid off multiple times now in the form of design updates, and changes to Cashboard.

So next time someone bashes something you’ve done, instead of immediately lashing out – sleep on it and take it in stride. Discard the way the comment was delivered, and get to the real meaning.

Who knows, there might even be some value in it.

Lifestream.fm una aplicación hecha en Ecuador

Can't Print Your Rails Webpage? Here's The Solution.

<u>The Story</u>
I'm still working on "Project TokiDoki", and I must say, I'm getting pretty excited about all the stuff that I managed to build into it.  Yay!

It's been slow going for the past few weeks, as I've changed gears from "Rails Power Coder" to "HTML/CSS/Gimp Artist".  Sorry, doing CSS Style Themes simply isn't my thing, and I'd rather have a root canal than spend several days with Gimp doing gradient blends, or cobbling together "Yet Another Rounded Corner Solution".

One thing that creeped up on me over the last day or two, though -- I wanted to print out some of my Rails-Generated pages so I can mark some notes on them for the next redesign iteration.  And then it happened.  "Print Preview" in Firefox just wouldn't render my pages correctly, no matter how much I tried.  Those nice toolbars I floated across the top-right of the screen with some clever CSS rules became an unsightly mess when I tried to print from Firefox.  Even my "rounded corner" boxes weren't rendering -- at all!

I spent an hour Googling for the answer.  Surely there was something I was missing.  Tried Firefox 2, tried Firefox 3, and then finally I fired up my trusty Windows Notebook to try Internet Explorer -- and was surprised to see the same "print preview" behavior.

"WTF, Internet Explorer did the same thing that Firefox did?"  It must be in my Rails HTML code!  So after getting back onto the right path, I started thinking about why the CSS wasn't applying in Printing Mode.  And then a Lightbulb Moment finally hit me.  I did a "View Source" on the page, and sure enough, I saw the problem in my CSS link tags, automatically generated by Rails when you call stylesheet_tag()

media="screen"

<u>The Solution</u>

The fix is pretty straight-forward.  Add this to the end of your stylesheet_tag calls:

, :media=>:all

And lo and behold, those pretty rounded-corner boxes are rendered, the toolbars floated in the upper-right corner show up perfectly, and the printed page now looks almost exactly like the rendered Web Page.  Now why the hell doesn't Rails just ALWAYS issue media="all" and let power programmers separate that into media="screen" and media="print" when they really need such fine-grained flexibility?  *GRRR*

Twitter Updates for 2008-05-15

Cours de SQL, révision !

Mash Note: WordPress