cap deploy_with_migrations default behaviour

Posted on 30 November 2007 by kosmas

Problem
When using cap deploy_with_migrations, the default behaviour is to deploy with the migrations in the production environment.

Solution
To change this behavior add:

set  :rails_env,  "development"

1	set :rails_env, "development"

in your config/deploy.rb

Keeping uploaded files between deployments

Posted on 26 November 2007 by kosmas

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Problem
You are using file_column plugin (or maybe another plugin?), to upload files in your ruby on rails application. Because the files are big you don’t want to have a different copy stored in your subversion repository for each different deployment version. You want to keep a common folder with all your uploaded files, and use it with every different deployment version.

Solution
For the example, we will have a numbers table that has two file_column uploadable columns (intro,voice_mail), with the following migration:

class CreateNumbers &lt; ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :numbers do |t|
      t.column :customer_id, :int, :null =&gt; false
      t.column :phone_no, :string, :null =&gt; false
      t.column :intro, :string
      t.column :vmail, :string
      t.column :created_at, :datetime
      t.column :updated_at, :datetime
    end

  def self.down
    drop_table :numbers
  end
end

class CreateNumbers < ActiveRecord::Migration

def self.up

create_table :numbers do |t|

t.column :customer_id, :int, :null => false

t.column :phone_no, :string, :null => false

t.column :intro, :string

t.column :vmail, :string

t.column :created_at, :datetime

t.column :updated_at, :datetime

end

def self.down

drop_table :numbers

end

If you already have used cap deploy or cap setup you should have a shared folder in your deployment server.
You should copy the intro and vmail folders that should be located on your public/number folder on your local development client, on a folder called number in your development server in your shared folder.

Create a file in your local pc in lib/cap_recipes.rb:

Capistrano.configuration(:must_exist).load do

  desc "Keep generated uploaded files between deployments"
    task :after_symlink do
       run "rm -drf #{deploy_to}/#{current_dir}/public/number"
       sudo "ln -nfs #{shared_path}/number #{deploy_to}/#{current_dir}/public"
    end
  end

Capistrano.configuration(:must_exist).load do

desc "Keep generated uploaded files between deployments"

task :after_symlink do

run "rm -drf #{deploy_to}/#{current_dir}/public/number"

sudo "ln -nfs #{shared_path}/number #{deploy_to}/#{current_dir}/public"

end

Be careful with the naming of the task as (at least for capistrano 1.4 that I’m using), it must have a special name as after_symlink.
Also be careful that if you try to use before_symlink, it won’t work as the current symlink won’t be setup.

In your config/deploy.rb file add at the top the following:

require 'lib/cap_recipes'

1

require 'lib/cap_recipes'
Now you should be ready to deploy your new version so:

svn -m "added customised capistrano recipes" commit

1

svn -m "added customised capistrano recipes" commit

make sure that you check in your version in subversion, and then:

cap deploy

1

cap deploy

you should be able to see a link in your current/public folder called number that points to the shared/number folder that hold all the uploaded files.

Adding icons to ActiveScaffold’s actions

Posted on 16 November 2007 by kosmas

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Problem
You want to replace the standard text descriptions in ActiveScaffold’s actions with your icons.

Solution

Create a file called active_scaffold_overrides.css in ror_project/public/stylesheets
Copy the css code from ror_project/vendor/plugins/active_scaffold/frontends/default/stylesheets/stylesheet.css and paste it in to the file created in the previous step.
Create a directory my_images in ror_project/public/images/activescaffold to hold your images.
Copy to the new directory the images you want to use in the application.

In the active_scaffold_overrides.css file find the section named:

/* Table :: Actions (Edit,Delete) .... */

1	/* Table :: Actions (Edit,Delete) .... */

and for each action that you want to use an icon add (ie edit)

.active_scaffold tr.record td.actions a.edit {
    display:     block;
    width:        16px;
    height:       16px;
    background: transparent url(../../../images/active_scaffold/my_images/image.png) no-repeat right 50%;
}

.active_scaffold tr.record td.actions a.edit {

display: block;

width: 16px;

height: 16px;

background: transparent url(../../../images/active_scaffold/my_images/image.png) no-repeat right 50%;

}

In the application.rb, if you want the links to be the same for the whole application add:

ActiveScaffold.set_defaults do |config| config.update.link.label ="" end

1
2
3

ActiveScaffold.set_defaults do |config|
config.update.link.label =""
end
in your layout/application.rhtml (create one if you don’t already have one), include

<%= stylesheet_link_tag "active_scaffold_overrides" %>

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<%= stylesheet_link_tag "active_scaffold_overrides" %>
Restart webrick/mongrel

Controller testing in Active Scaffold

Posted on 8 November 2007 by kosmas

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Problem

You need to have to functionally test your controller when you are using ActiveScaffold. There are pieces of code that tell you how to do that on a normal ror application (ie without ActiveScaffold), like recipe 7.17 on the Rails Cookbook, or a fragment of code in an Active Scaffold application, but they don’t have the full details.

Solution

Here is an attempt to give some more detailed step by step instructions on how to do it.

The migration for the example customer model.

class CreateCustomers &lt; ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    # Create customers table
    create_table  :customers do |t|
      t.column  :customer_code, :string, :null =&gt; false
      t.column  :created_at, :datetime
      t.column  :updated_at, :datetime
    end
  end
end

class CreateCustomers < ActiveRecord::Migration

def self.up

# Create customers table

create_table :customers do |t|

t.column :customer_code, :string, :null => false

t.column :created_at, :datetime

t.column :updated_at, :datetime

end

The customer model, with the extra function to display the customer code

class Customer &lt; ActiveRecord::Base

  has_many    :numbers

  def to_label
    "#{customer_code}"
  end
end

class Customer < ActiveRecord::Base

has_many :numbers

def to_label

"#{customer_code}"

end

The customer controller app/controllers/customers_controller.rb, using the Active Scaffold

class CustomersController &lt; ApplicationController

  active_scaffold :customer do |config|
    config.list.columns = [:customer_code, :numbers, :created_at, :updated_at]
    config.columns[:customer_code].inplace_edit = true
 end

end

class CustomersController < ApplicationController

active_scaffold :customer do |config|

config.list.columns = [:customer_code, :numbers, :created_at, :updated_at]

config.columns[:customer_code].inplace_edit = true

end

The fixtures YML file test/fixtures/customers.yml

first_customer:
  id:               1
  customer_code:    123
  created_at:       2007-09-26 11:17:07
  updated_at:       2007-09-26 11:17:07

second_customer:
  id:               2
  customer_code:    456
  created_at:       2007-09-26 11:17:13
  updated_at:       2007-09-26 11:17:13

first_customer:

id: 1

customer_code: 123

created_at: 2007-09-26 11:17:07

updated_at: 2007-09-26 11:17:07

second_customer:

id: 2

customer_code: 456

created_at: 2007-09-26 11:17:13

updated_at: 2007-09-26 11:17:13

And here are some functions to test some pages and a full CRUD test

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'
require 'customers_controller'

class CustomerControllerTest &lt; Test::Unit::TestCase
  fixtures  :customers

  def setup
    @controller = CustomersController.new
    @request = ActionController::TestRequest.new
    @response = ActionController::TestResponse.new
  end

  def test_index
    get :index
    assert_response :success
    assert_template 'list'
  end

  def test_new
    get :new
    assert_response :success
    assert_template 'create_form'
  end

  def test_edit
    get :edit, :id =&gt; customers(:first_customer).id
    assert_response :success
    assert_template 'update_form'
  end

  def test_show
    get :show, :id =&gt; customers(:first_customer).id
    assert_response :success
    assert_template 'show'
  end

  def test_customer_controller_CRUD

    # CREATE
    # Get the number of records
    record_no = Customer.count
    # Create a new record
    post  :create, {"commit"=&gt;"Create", :record=&gt;{"customer_code"=&gt;"890"}}
    # Assert that the record is not nil
    assert_not_nil  assigns("record")
    # Look that the number of records has been increased by 1
    assert_equal  record_no+1, Customer.count

    # UPDATE
    # Get the number of records
    record_no = Customer.count
    # Update a record
    new_customer_code = "987"
    put :update, {"commit"=&gt;"Update",:id=&gt;customers(:first_customer).id,
                                      :record=&gt;{"customer_code"=&gt;new_customer_code}}
    # Assert that the record is not nil
    assert_not_nil  assigns("record")
    # Look that the number of records has stayed the same
    assert_equal  record_no, Customer.count
    # Check that the update took place
    customer = Customer.find(customers(:first_customer).id)
    assert_equal  new_customer_code, customer.customer_code

    # DELETE
    # Get the number of records
    record_no = Customer.count
    # Delete a record
    delete  :destroy, :id =&gt; customers(:first_customer).id
    # Look that the number of records has been decreased by 1
    assert_equal  record_no-1, Customer.count
  end

end

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'

require 'customers_controller'

class CustomerControllerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase

fixtures :customers

def setup

@controller = CustomersController.new

@request = ActionController::TestRequest.new

@response = ActionController::TestResponse.new

end

def test_index

get :index

assert_response :success

assert_template 'list'

end

def test_new

get :new

assert_response :success

assert_template 'create_form'

end

def test_edit

get :edit, :id => customers(:first_customer).id

assert_response :success

assert_template 'update_form'

end

def test_show

get :show, :id => customers(:first_customer).id

assert_response :success

assert_template 'show'

end

def test_customer_controller_CRUD

# CREATE

# Get the number of records

record_no = Customer.count

# Create a new record

post :create, {"commit"=>"Create", :record=>{"customer_code"=>"890"}}

# Assert that the record is not nil

assert_not_nil assigns("record")

# Look that the number of records has been increased by 1

assert_equal record_no+1, Customer.count

# UPDATE

# Get the number of records

record_no = Customer.count

# Update a record

new_customer_code = "987"

put :update, {"commit"=>"Update",:id=>customers(:first_customer).id,

:record=>{"customer_code"=>new_customer_code}}

# Assert that the record is not nil

assert_not_nil assigns("record")

# Look that the number of records has stayed the same

assert_equal record_no, Customer.count

# Check that the update took place

customer = Customer.find(customers(:first_customer).id)

assert_equal new_customer_code, customer.customer_code

# DELETE

# Get the number of records

record_no = Customer.count

# Delete a record

delete :destroy, :id => customers(:first_customer).id

# Look that the number of records has been decreased by 1

assert_equal record_no-1, Customer.count

end

:int and :integer problem in Ruby on Rails migration

Posted on 5 November 2007 by kosmas

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After spending some time trying to make a migration work, and having the error message coming back:

You have a nil object when you didn't expect it!
You might have expected an instance of Array.
The error occurred while evaluating nil.[]

You have a nil object when you didn't expect it!

You might have expected an instance of Array.

The error occurred while evaluating nil.[]

I’ve decided to do a google search for the specific problem, as it was working fine with other test migrations.

It turns out that if the migration is not model specific, but a different one (ie trying to add a new column to an existing table), the :int for the column doesn’t work!
It has to be :integer.
Full bug report and the article are here:
Migrations: :integer works, :int doesn’t – datatype discrepancy

dhtmlcalendar in ActiveScaffold

Posted on 2 November 2007 by admin

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To control the date format in dhtmlcalendar within ActiveScaffold in Ruby on Rails, to make the date of 2 November 2007 appear like 02-11-2007, use:

i) if you want to affect the settings in all the application add the following to the top of your controllers/application.rb

ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Date::Conversions::DATE_FORMAT[:default] = ‘%d-%m-%Y’
ii) If you only want to affect the settings of the calendar in one specific controller, then add the same line only to the controller that you want:

ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Date::Conversions::DATE_FORMAT[:default] = '%d-%m-%Y'

1	ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Date::Conversions::DATE_FORMAT[:default] = '%d-%m-%Y'

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

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Web notebook about thoughts and discoveries in DevOps, SRE, Software Engineering….

Monthly Archives: November 2007

cap deploy_with_migrations default behaviour

Keeping uploaded files between deployments

Adding icons to ActiveScaffold’s actions

Controller testing in Active Scaffold

:int and :integer problem in Ruby on Rails migration

dhtmlcalendar in ActiveScaffold