Recent notes

The purpose of this method

This method keeps track of whether a hidden id field needs to be created when the form builder is generating fields for a nested model. It gets set to true by #hidden_field when that method is used to create a field named ‘id’.

Here’s an example of what this can be useful for: http://railsforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=39640

Help Link :)

www.relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-mocks/docs/message-expectations/receive-counts!

Your scope cannot be called 'locked'

• see: http://github.com/rails/rails/issues/7421

• see: http://github.com/rails/rails/pull/6985

  class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
    scope :locked, where(...
  end
  

will cause intermittent problems of the type

undefined method 'locked' for #<Class:0x007fdab3025298>

Use something like ‘access_locked’ instead

How does enum#each_index differ from enum#with_each_index ?

Here is the working one each_with__index:

a=[11,22,31,224,44].each_with_index { |val,index| puts "index: #{index} for #{val}" if val < 30}
  index: 0 for 11
  index: 1 for 22
  => [11, 22, 31, 224, 44]

Below couldn’t produce the output, as with_index couldn’t work on the array.To make it workble, we need to first convert it to enumerator. And that can be done via the help of .to_enum, .each, or .map

a = [11,22,31,224,44].with_index { |val,index| puts "index: #{index} for #{val}" if val < 30}
=>NoMethodError: undefined method `with_index' for [11, 22, 31, 224, 44]:Array
       from (irb):2
       from C:/Ruby193/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'

Here is the working one with_index:

a = [11,22,31,224,44].each.with_index { |val,index| puts "index: #{index} for #{val}" if val < 30}
index: 0 for 11
index: 1 for 22
=> [11, 22, 31, 224, 44]

Difference between enum#with_object and enum#each_with_object

I found a very good post on SO - which clearly explained the difference between enum#with_object and enum#each_with_object. The link is as follows:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14671881/how-does-enumwith-object-differ-from-enumeach-with-object/14672305#14672305

Enumerator#with_index has confusing documentation

Enumerator#with_index has confusing documentation, but hopefully this will make it clearer.

Code example

a=[11,22,31,224,44].to_enum
=> [11, 22, 31, 224, 44]
a.with_index { |val,index| puts "index: #{index} for #{val}" }
index: 0 for 11
index: 1 for 22
index: 2 for 31
index: 3 for 224
index: 4 for 44

a=[11,22,31,224,44].to_enum
=> #<Enumerator: [11, 22, 31, 224, 44]:each>
a.with_index(2){ |val,index| puts "index: #{index} for #{val}" if val > 30 }
index: 4 for 31
index: 5 for 224
index: 6 for 44
=> [11, 22, 31, 224, 44

Other Example

##

class Exam
 cattr_reader :code, :description, :points, :instance_reader => false

 @@code = "EXM"
 @@description = "Sent Exam"
 @@points = 1000
end

In this case it’s possible to use

Exam.code # => EXM
Exam.description # => Sent Exam
Exam.points # => 1000

Works also with Mongoid

What works for Active Record, also works for Mongoid:

de:
  mongoid:
    attributes:
      picture:
        explanation: Description

Use sqlite3, not sqlite

Note that typically if you want to connect to an SQLite database the adapter would be “sqlite3”; not “sqlite” as depicted in the documentation above. Just using the term “sqlite” might result in the error message: “database configuration specifies nonexistent sqlite adapter”

Using an unobtrusive Ajax (UJS) :onchange call to the controller#action

An :onchange call can be made using the Rails 3 jquery-ujs helper in the form:

check_box_tag( name, value, checked, html_and_other_options)

For example:

select_tag( "my_tag_id", entity.id,
  class: "progress bar update_msg", disabled: disabled?
  data: {
    remote: true,
    url: url_for( action: :my_controller_action, id: my_id)
    // application symbols
    progress_bar: "progress_bar_div_id",
    update: "message_div_id"
  }
)

The jquery_ujs looks for data-remote and data-url. These can be spelled-out or placed in the data hash. The url must be formed as select_tag does not call url_for, unlike some of the other related tags. Values for application symbols can also be passed through. jQuery triggers will work on the Ajax events that occur. This generates the following:

<input class="progress_bar update_msg" data-progress-bar="progress_bar_div_id" data-remote="true" data-update="message_div_id" data-url="/my_controller/my_controller_action/my_id" id="my_tag_id" name="my_tag_id" type="checkbox" value="4"/>

In this example, by tying into the events the program makes visible an existing hidden progress bar while awaiting a server response, and then displays a div containing a message returned by the server and hides the progress bar. If the div contains a class= for notice or error, then they will fade out.

$(".layout")
  .on('ajax:beforeSend', ".progress_bar", function(){ 
    // get id of element to make visible
    var progress_bar_id = '#' + this.getAttribute('data-progress-bar');
    $(progress_bar_id).show();
  })
  .on('ajax:complete', ".progress_bar", function(){ 
    // get id of element to hide
    var progress_bar_id = '#' + this.getAttribute('data-progress-bar');
    $(progress_bar_id).hide();
  })
  .on('ajax:complete', ".update_msg", function(evt, xhr, options){ 
    // get id of element to contain message
    var update = this.getAttribute('data-update'); 
    $("#" + update).replaceWith($(xhr.responseText).attr("id", update));
    // cause responses with these classes to fade away...
    $('.notice').fadeOut(2500);
    $('.error').fadeOut(8000);
  });

for rails >= 3

template_root= is deprecated, use prepend_view_path instead

source: ActionMailer/DeprecatedApi/ClassMethods/template_root

Some documentation available in RailsGuides

The Rails engines getting started guide discusses the usage of isolate_namespace: http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/engines.html

Pass a block

While this example is not so obvious on first look what the block passed does, here’s a small explanation:

when the block is passed to this function, the uniqueness is checked based on a value returned by that block.

For example if it’s array of objects with “user_id” method, then this would be:

tasks.uniq{|t| t.user_id } # returns only tasks with unique user_id 

Note sure if doco is correct

(Note this was an issue in Ruby 1.9.2, 1.9.3 has been corrected, not sure why the generated doc is still incorrect)

Both exist? and exists? use the same underlying C function

file.c, line 5444

define_filetest_function("exist?", rb_file_exist_p, 1);
define_filetest_function("exists?", rb_file_exist_p, 1);

rb_file_exist_p does an rb_stat call, and just checks for no error.

rb_stat returns the result of a call to fstat, if the passed in value is a IO object, or stat (or your platforms equivalent). Both these return 0 on success, -1 on failure.

So both really just check that the underlying “thing” can respond to “stat” correctly. There are many things in a unix-style filesystem that have a “file” structure, not just traditional files. These functions help when you don’t care what type an entry is, just that it exists.

There doesn’t seem to be any difference in the two methods

File.directory? can test if a named file is a dir

Minor edit of pluralize_without_count

patrickberkeley’s method works great. I corrected the grammar a bit for inflection (the singular error).

application_helper.rb

def pluralize_without_count(count, noun, text = nil)
  if count != 0
    count == 1 ? "an #{noun}#{text}" : "#{noun.pluralize}#{text}"
  end
end

This should work in much older versions of Rails also.

Helper Methods inside of a Controller

When needing to include a helper method inside of a controller, instead of including the ENTIRE helper module, simply use this method like so:

module ApplicationHelper
  def fancy_helper(str)
    str.titleize
  end
end

class MyController < ApplicationController
   def index
     @title = view_context.fancy_helper "dogs are awesome"
   end
end

Changing time/date separators

@hayafirst — it is possible to remove that “:” or change it to something else. Just pass `:time_separator` option. Inspect ActionView::Helpers::DateTimeSelector#separator method for more.

Using an unobtrusive Ajax (UJS) :onchange call to the controller#action

An :onchange call can be made using the Rails 3 jquery-ujs helper in the form:

select_tag( name, option_tags, misc_html_options, html_5_data-stuff)

For example:

select_tag( "my_tag_id", get_ids(@entity), class: "progress_and_message",
  data: {
    remote: true,
    url: url_for( action: :my_controller_action, id: my_id)
    // application symbols
    progress_bar: "progress_bar_div_id",
    update: "message_div_id"
  }
)

The jquery_ujs looks for data-remote and data-url. These can be spelled out or placed in the data hash. The url must be formed as select_tag does not call url_for, unlike some of the other related tags. Values for application symbols can also be passed through. jQuery triggers will work on the Ajax events that occur. This generates the following:

<select class="progress_and_message" data-progress-bar="progress_bar_div_id" data-remote="true" data-update="message_div_id" data-url="/my_controller/my_controller_action/my_id" id="my_tag_id" name="my_tag_id"><option value=etc...></option>

For example, tying into the events in this case the program makes visible an existing hidden progress bar while awaiting a server response, and then displays a div containing a message returned by the server and hides the progress bar. If the div contains a class= for notice or error, then they will fade out.

$(".layout")
  .on('ajax:beforeSend', ".progress_and_message", function(){ 
    // get id of element to make visible
    var progress_bar_id = '#' + this.getAttribute('data-progress-bar');
    $(progress_bar_id).show();
  })
  .on('ajax:complete', ".progress_and_message", function(evt, xhr, options){ 
    // get id of element to contain message and to hide
    var update = this.getAttribute('data-update'); 
    var progress_bar_id = '#' + this.getAttribute('data-progress-bar');
    $("#" + update).replaceWith($(xhr.responseText).attr("id", update));
    $(progress_bar_id).hide();
    // cause responses with these classes to fade away...
    $('.notice').fadeOut(2500);
    $('.error').fadeOut(8000);
  });

Example

NOTE: you pass all the keys and values in one long list:

fruit = ActiveSupport::OrderedHash[
  'apple',      'Apple',
  'banana',     'Banana',
  'kiwi',       'Kiwi fruit',
]

fruit.keys => ["apple", "banana", "kiwi"]

Now called class_attribute in Rails 3.2.x

See github.com/novafabrica/make_exportable/pull/4

@drewyoung1

Including module in a class does not automatically over-write methods defined with the same name.

Ex:

module Mod

def exit(code = 0)
  puts "Exiting with code #{code}"
  super
end

end

class OriginalClass

include Mod
def exit
  puts "Original message"
end

end

OriginalClass.new.exit 99

Produces:

exit': wrong number of arguments (1 for 0) (ArgumentError)

if you use this construct, the alias_method will work similar to super:

module Mod

alias_method :super_exit, :exit
def self.included base
  base.instance_eval do
    def exit(code = 0)
      puts "Exiting with code #{code}"
      super_exit
    end
  end
end

end

Beware: default system crypt functionality silently ignores characters beyond the 8th

On some systems:

"1".crypt('aa')                     => "aacFCuAIHhrCM"
"12".crypt('aa')                    => "aa8dJzr7DFMPA"
"123".crypt('aa')                   => "aamrgyQfDFSHw"
"1234".crypt('aa')                  => "aatxRPdZ/m52."
"12345".crypt('aa')                 => "aajt.4s3e3SZA"
"123456".crypt('aa')                => "aaAN1ZUwjW7to"
"1234567".crypt('aa')               => "aaOK9MRbwVNmQ"
"12345678".crypt('aa')              => "aaNN3X.PL2piw"
"123456789".crypt('aa')             => "aaNN3X.PL2piw"
"1234567890".crypt('aa')            => "aaNN3X.PL2piw"
"1234567890abcdefghij".crypt('aa')  => "aaNN3X.PL2piw"

you will be redirect to signin, when you want to create post before signin

code

def test_should_signin_first_before_add_post
  get "/admin/posts/new"
  follow_redirect!
end

post user authentication info to sessions create action

post_via_redirect(“sessions”, {:user=>{:email=> user.email, :password => user.password}})

This method is deprecated in rspec 2.0

• be_close(1, 0.1) is deprecated.

• please use be_within(0.1).of(1) instead.

Beware: virtual attributes are ignored

Even though validations are called, virtual attributes are ignored.

Can't find documention on :find_by option

I found code that had a :find_by option on belongs_to. I’m sure it’s more or less self explanatory, but I couldn’t find it listed anywhere as an option.

My bad, belongs_to was in a controller, not a model.

String to date conversion not necessarily symmetric

Note that converting from Date to String and back again is not necessarily symmetric, because the conversion to string may result in a format that is not properly converted by `to_date`.

For one thing, `to_date` sets the century argument in _parse to false. Thus if the default date format has a two-digit year, like the :short one, the century will be dropped.

Date.today.to_s.to_date #=> Mon, 28 Nov 0012 

Actually one can see from the source that it just calls utc

From utc:

Returns a Time or DateTime instance that represents the time in UTC.

Seems to have changed in 3.1.0

Use collect instead of inject/reduce

You can still use collect when you nest content_tag . Just join the collection in the end and remember to add html_safe if you don’t want your html to be escaped.

a = ['a','b','c']
content_tag(:ul, :class => 'a class') do
  a.collect do |item|
    content_tag(:li, item)
  end.join.html_safe
end