Default Date Format Horrors in Rails

Posted August 20, 2007 * Comments(0)

How nice of rails to make it easy to change the default date format that is used when
showing a date from the database.

ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Date::Conversions::DATE_FORMATS.merge!(
:default => “%d-%m-%Y”
)

Very easy. Simple writing:

model.date.to_s

outputs the date in my format.

All seems to work well, but a few days later. TODAY!! I found out my application wasn’t saving dates anymore.

The cause:

Rails uses the “:default” date definition to format the date when it builds an SQL statement. Well my MySQL version doesn’t seem to understand this date format.

For now I stay away from the :default date formatter.
I’ve changed my custom date_picker field so now it first formats the date with the date format before showing..

Btw. I found a possible solution and a remark that this has been solved for future rails version. You can find this info at, the rails date kit.

Ruby Constants - Note to Self ::

Posted August 17, 2007 * Comments(0)

Well after trying to access a ruby class constant for the zillionth time with Class.CONSTNAME.
( Which btw. very nicely gives the error “Undefined Method Class.CONSTNAME”…)
I’ve decided to write this note on my blog…

Remember:

print Class::InnerClass::CONSTANT
print Class::InnerClass.method_name

* kick * to my own butt..

Great method to_json

Posted August 13, 2007 * Comments(0)

A very nice method to convert a Ruby array to Javascript.

print { ‘key1′ =>  ‘value1′, ‘key2′ => [ 1,  2, 3 ] }.to_json
outputs:  { key1: ‘value1′, key1: [ 1, 2, 3 ] }

Rails: unit test fixture_path NameError.

Posted August 5, 2007 * Comments(0)

Last day of my Holiday :(
Trying to write a unit test for my Rails application, I constantly got the error message below:

NameError: undefined local variable or method `fixture_path’ for #<LessonTest:0×9a611f8>
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-1.13.3/lib/action_controller/test_process.rb:452:in `method_missing’
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.3/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb:593:in `load_fixtures’
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.3/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb:538:in `setup_with_fixtures’
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.3/lib/active_record/fixtures.rb:575:in `setup’

Very strange: the Unit Test I’ve written was generated and exactly the same as shown in the example in the “Agile Web Development with Rails 2nd Edition” book.

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + ‘/../test_helper’
class LessonTest &lt; Test::Unit::TestCase
  def test_truth
     assert true
  end
end

Well I found a solution, but I still haven’t found the reason WHY this is happening. You can see this is as a temporary hack.

In your: “/test/test_helper.rb” add the following method:

def fixture_path
  File.dirname(__FILE__) + “/fixtures/”
end

Ruby on Rails automatic reload of libraries

Posted July 31, 2007 * Comments(0)

Currently I’m busy developing a Rails Application. I’m busy developing some general classes that aren’t part of a model/controller or view. I placing these classes in the ‘lib’ directory.
Things are fine … well not quite …

The problem while developing is the libraries aren’t reloaded on each request. This is very frustrating when you are trying to write a library.

Some things I found (but don’t seam to work):

Rest the application in the console. Well the application reset, but not the libraries.

$ ./script.console
Loading development environment…
&gt;&gt; Dispatcher.reset_application!

I assume the libraries directory is loaded in the ruby booting class loader. ( I’m still thinking Java ). So when Webrick starts these libs are loaded.
The models and controllers etc. are loaded by the rails class loader.

Somehow I need to reload the library in the rails class loader space…. Doesn somebody have a solution!?
Perhaps I should find another directory…

I will keep you informed if I find a solutions.

—

1 august 2007: Well found a solution for the problem, I even wonder if it really was a problem….. (shame on me)
If I place the class “MyOwnClass” in the file “lib/my_own_class.rb” without including the source file. (This isn’t required, because Rails automatically includes it) it seems to be refreshed every time I do a request…

Nice.. !

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