Merb and Subdomains with Nginx

Quick Lessons Learned

I encountered two issues and learned two quick lessons when deploying a Merb application I have been working on. Aside from the fact that you can use request.subdomains to get an array of subdomains, you must do two little things to get this to play nice when your application is deployed upstream on Nginx (and likely apache, too) as well as handling the same situation in local development.

First, in your Nginx configuration file be sure to set the proper header for host, otherwise the host that Merb will see is the name you give to the upstream section of your configuration. To pass this information on correctly, do this: proxy_set_header Host $host; inside the "location" block for your application's root.

Second, in order to get the right subdomains, Merb expects you are using a TLD or top-level-domain, such as example.com. If you, like me, are using a local hostname, such as localhost, you aren't going to get anything when you ask for subdomains. So, in /etc/hosts I simply set up a domain pointing to 127.0.0.1 for a place I know I'll never go.

I hope these two little tips will help you to avoid some of the trouble I had to deal with, even if it was only 5 minutes of my time, or yours.

Verizon Fios Internet & TV

Using Your Own Router, Not the Actiontec Router

The basic steps are as follows:

1. Order Verizon Fios
2. During installation have the installer turn on the ethernet port in the MOCA, not the coax
3. Have the installer leave you with a "NIM"
4. Setup your router as you would have with any other ISP
5. Connect the "NIM" to your router
6. Connect the "NIM" to a coax port in your house
7. Have the installer connect and activate your television set-top-boxes (STB)

Now for some explanation

I think ordering should be pretty self-explanatory. However, I have not said anything about why a sane person would wish to do this instead of letting the nice Verizon installer do their job. It's all in the hardware Using the Actiontec router Verizon provides is fine, if you've never had a wireless home network before. For the rest of us, being allowed to use our own, existing, setup is not possible without the foreknowledge or the will to fight for the information.

Onto the more technical stuff

The MOCA is the box that is left outside of your house. Essentially, it receives and interprets the signal. It takes the place of what we once called a MODEM. In this box, there are multiple connections, one of which is the standard ethernet port any Linksys, DLink, or Apple router knows and loves. There is also a port that passes the network information over a coax (short for coaxial) cable. This is the port left on by Verizon normally because the Actiontec router (which, with a simple google search, one will find is nearly worthless) is intended to work with it. Using the ethernet port is required so that every other brand of standard router will operate.

Next, we set up our router in much the same way it would be set up with a DSL or Cable ISP. Verizon uses the standard, DHCP, to give your router an IP address. At this point, assuming the internet has been activated by the installer, you should be able to get on the internet at the wonderfully blazing speeds that Fios provides.

The last major step is asking the installer to give you a "NIM". I never found out what "NIM" stood for, but it's purpose is clear. In order to get access to the programming guide or to video-on-demand services your STBs must have internet access, too. The "NIM" should have two ports. The first is an ethernet port and the second is a coax connector. Can you guess what to do? Plug an ethernet cable from your router into the "NIM" and plug a coax cable into the other port. The final coax connection should be made to any coax cable outlet in your home as they are all inter-connected. The "NIM" acts as translator in place of the Actiontec router and provides internet access for the STBs to use. The STBs do have ethernet ports (at least the latest Motorola box Verizon provided) but internet access does not appear to be the purpose, but rather, home network connection for certain media-sharing capabilities (music, movies, pictures to the TV).

At this point, the installer should be able to simply plug in all of your STBs and activate them as needed through Verizon.

Disclaimer: I am not a Verizon technician. If for some strange reason any of these instructions mess up your system I take no responsibility as these are only the methods that worked FOR ME. Your Mileage May Vary!

Three Games

In Three Weeks of Midnight Launches

The past three weeks (including tonight) have seen the launch of the three biggest games of 2008. Two weeks ago was the launch of Fable 2, the much anticipated sequel to an award winning, though short, game by the famed Peter Molyneux. Much of the gameplay has been tweaked, the game is much longer, and you have a friendly dog to aid your character. Though I am not done with the game, my roommate (who is on his second time through) are enjoying it thoroughly. Last week, Chris and I were lucky enough to attend the launch of Bethesda's version of Fallout, number 3. I have spent more time playing through Fallout 3 and, though I'm not done, I would say it is more than worthy of a "Best Game of the Year" title.

Lastly, tonight, I'll be waiting for Gears of War 2! The original Gears of War was very probably my favorite game a short while ago. Aside from Halo 3 it was the primary reason that I purchased an Xbox 360 while in college. It has won many, many awards in the past, and I expect it will win many, many more in its second iteration.

I hope, for the first time in my life, I can play through all of these games to something that could be considered completion, if not to complete all of the various achievements. If only there were more hours in the day!

PostgreSQL Part 1

Benefits for Web Application Development

Most of my days are filled developing with Ruby in frameworks (mostly Rails). I use a large array of industry standard tools in doing so and my favorite of all, and the one most often overlooked, is the database. Of the databases I've worked with, researched, or been witness to, PostgreSQL is my database of choice. In a series of posts I'd like to cover the reasons I have for this love of mine, some cool things you can do with it, and associated links that I think you might find useful. This first part will cover some potential benefits one might find in using PostgreSQL in web application development, of all places.

Benefits with (insert Ruby Framework here)

Rails with ActiveRecord or Merb with DataMapper are all (with limited exception) designed to be database agnostic. Furthermore, they are intended to abstract away much of the tedium normally associated with dealing in any database. As a result, there is very little direct performance or feature- related benefit to be found by simply using PostgreSQL over say, MySQL.

However, there exist a number of plugins and gems that enhance the features normally provided by our framework of choice. A few, in no particular order: sexy_pg_constraints, acts_as_tsearch, tsearchable, rails_sql_views, and simplified_fk.

Maybe then, the benefits are performance related. Unfortunately, neither I, nor anyone else (so far), have reliable benchmarks on this. From everything I've seen, statistics are done by fans or gurus of one side or another and rarely does someone exist who is talented with all the databases being compared. Even if some such person existed, where does one set the baseline? All of the databases that anyone would want to use have performance tweaks that can be performed at a varied level of difficulty. So, who knows? In my opinion, whether a database is fast enough or faster than a competitor is entirely dependent on the situation and the needs of the problem to be solved.

Features

• Triggers (on both statement and row changes)
• Rules
• Constraints
• Partitioning
• Extremely advanced selects, Views
• Full procedural languages including: ruby, tcl, perl, python, sql
• Security (basic, ident, kerberos, pam, ldap, and more)
• Large Copy
• Built-in Full Text Search
• Extensive datatype collection, custom types

If you don't need any of these features there are still many reasons to consider using PostgreSQL. Some examples: fantastic documentation for every production version, broad user community, stability, and in certain cases, performance. There's always the little things: bash completion, command line tools for creation/deletion of users and databases, libraries for GIS, every version is completely open source, performance tuning in PostgreSQL is unbelievably flexible for the situation and data in use.

Now that I've gotten all that off of my chest, I hope you are at least intrigued. I know I have yet to share anything of real value but, fear not, as I will be back soon with real examples of usage and some other more useful information.

New ICS Vision Site

winepos.com

After starting slowly about 6 months ago, I finally launched the new ICS website for their lead product, Vision. The last major commit before launch was on Sunday night and by the end of Monday most of the nameservers had picked up the change. So go check out the site at winepos.com

For those that don't know, ICS is a software company founded 25 years ago to serve the retail liquor industry, exclusively. Vision is the result of all of their effort. Vision provides an amazing number of features and all of the controls required for inventory management, ordering, tracking, and, of course, point-of-sale.

The new site is built with Webby (source on github) and is generated out to HTML. Javascript is handled using jQuery and a few other plugins.

Making the New ICS Website

Thanks to Webby, Haml, and Ruby

Last week I posted on the new ICS website I launched at winepos.com which is built using the same little ruby gem as this site, Webby. This week, I'd like to go into a little more detail on some of the things I did in creating their new site. Aside from what little design work I did (admittedly not my strongest ability) I will simply be covering many of the cool things you can do with Webby and a couple of tips and gotchas.

The first step is obviously to create a new project. The webby-gen command should handle things nicely. I used the 'website' template because that was what I was building. From the basic project, I converted and modified all of the files created (layout, templates) to use Haml and to fit with a very basic structure that I was going to use.

After the basic structure was in place, I created files for all of the site pages I was going to need. I also created directories for the feature pages and for the blog posts. At this point, I knew that I was going to be making lots of blog posts and so I created a new template for a blog page. A tip about templates, and pages in general: you can add any variables you would like to the header section of page, and later sort a search on it. Also, you can use Erb in a template and it will be interpreted when generating a new page from the template. For example, in order to get a solid created_at timestamp, I use Time.now.to_y inside an Erb tag.

As I started to develop the site I discovered I was reusing pieces of content more and more frequently. In Rails/Merb it's trivial to create a partial snippet of content, and guess what, it's just as easy using Webby. The only thing to make a note of is that partials are looked for in the same path as a page being rendered. In order to share across different sub- directories you must add a preceding forward slash. For example, this: render :partial => "/newsletter_form" would search for a partial named '_newsletter_form.txt' in the root of the content folder. Also note that a different partial can be rendered by a layout calling partial from the different sub-directories. The default layout could call use partial 'footer' and both the blog and the feature folders could have that footer partial with different structure or content.

The last thing I'll cover is making an atom feed from a set of pages. A similar technique can be used to make an xml sitemap for Google and other search engines. A feed is simply a page that has the extension set to xml and the markup content of which results in valid xml for the required specification. Be sure to set the layout to nil! As for the entries, I like to have all of my posts available in the feed, so I use the symbol :all to return all pages from find. For example: @pages.find(:all, :in_directory => 'blog', :sort_by => 'created_at', :reverse => true) The alternative would be to set a limit of some sort, like this: @pages.find(:limit => 20, :in_directory => 'blog', :sort_by => 'created_at', :reverse => true)

If you're looking to make a website that is going to be just HTML and you don't want to run a webserver aside from Apache or Nginx, Webby is probably the way to go. I certainly love it, and will continue to make static websites using it.

I Normally Love Debian

As An Application Developer, It Can Hurt

For whatever reason, I needed to upgrade my apt-get-installed copy of Postgresql from 8.1 to 8.3. Now, I can understand why, from a sysadmin viewpoint, or from the maintainers view, 8.3 is not as stable as previous versions. However, as a user, or as an application developer, 8.3 is a much better option. It is also certainly reasonable to want to use the new stuff available in a new version. Other system choices enable me to use the software I want or need. I've been running 8.3 for months on Mac OS X.

On Debian Etch it is generally a good idea to add the backports repository to the list of sources for apt to use. This gave me the version of Postgresql that I wished to use but, unfortunately, it fails to uninstall all of the common libraries for the client and server, as well as the dev library (libpq-dev) for the appropriate version. This failure in upgrading is due to the ability of Postgres to run multiple versioned "clusters" at the same time. I however, uninstalled (without doing --purge, my mistake) version 8.1 and installed 8.3 and was not trying to run them together.

The reason this caused problems for me was the native postgres gem for ruby was compiling itself with the 8.1 headers and so, data_objects and dm-core would refuse to connect to 8.3. Especially infuriating was that I could see the server running and could connect with the psql client using the same connection information I was providing to DataMapper.

The solution was to uninstall everything postgresql related using apt and the --purge flag. Taking special care to include libpq4 and libpq-dev in that list. Uninstall the postgres gem, as well (and possibly data_objects and dm-core).

Now add "deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib non-free" into /etc/apt/sources.list and do sudo apt-get update to pull the list of packages. Now reinstall postgresql-8.3, libpq5, and libpq-dev and be sure to pass the -t etch-backports option so that all the required libs get pulled from that repository.

Finish up by reinstalling all the required gems and all should be well. Note that my experience here is not typical, and in general, being strict about package stability is generally a good cause. However, it is a very useful to have backports available when needed and the packages there are generally more stable than other random repositories.

Do We Really Need MobileMe?

Getting By On Google and Dropbox

MobileMe is a pretty awesome service. However, having used it for at least six months, I'm pretty well decided that it is not quite worth $100 a year. In addition, Google has just released, officially, it's support for CalDAV syncing between iCal and Google Calendar. Google's support of IMAP has also grown strong over this time period. Last, the final important piece of the puzzle is Dropbox , which is now open for public beta and works very well.

Setting up IMAP with google is simple and you can find directions here.

Setting up Google's iCal support is almost as easy, especially with their set-up tool. Directions can be found here.

The benefits of these combined services speak for themselves, but in any case, I'll repeat them here. Dropbox serves to replace the need for iDisk sharing since it works by synchronizing all of the files within given directories between all of your computers. Dropbox is not only useable on Mac OS X and Windows, it now works on Linux (Ubuntu only). CalDAV is also completely cross-platform using a product from Mozilla, Sunbird. Of course, given my love of OS X, CalDAV works extremely well within iCal on Leopard. Finally, email, being the most important of all, works on any email client that supports IMAP (almost every client). Not only this but, it magically syncs between all computers and my iPhone.

There are a few remaining features that I don't consider to be critical to the service because I don't use them or because there are other services that have existed for some time to handle the feature. Photo sharing, for example, is more than capably covered by Flickr. The greatest drawback, in my opinion, of this piecemeal approach is the lack of a unified website for when you are away from your computer. All-in-all, the MobileMe website is not worth the money and neither is MobileMe now, thanks to Google and Dropbox.

Slicehost

Getting it Right, Right Away

At the recommendation of Patrick Reagan of Viget Labs I signed up for an account with Slicehost. With a simple form for signup, I was quickly filling in my credit card number. Before my credit card had been validated by Slicehost, my slice was up and running.

I was not planning at the time to set up, or modify my new server. The draw of the root password that had just been emailed to me overpowered any such plans. I quickly discovered the fantastic tools made available by Slicehost for the user. Within 2 minutes I had configured my DNS and within 5 minutes I had compiled and installed Nginx, all thanks to the excellent help site.

Upon completing the initial "release" of this website the following morning, I was completely up and running and I switched my TLD registration to the Slicehost DNS hosts. If you do sign up for a Slicehost account I would certainly appreciate a referral.

Barack Obama

Experience is Everything

I won't often speak of politics. In fact, I would like this to be my one and only post on the subject. I am a Barack Obama supporter. The man says a lot of things, just as every other candidate has. However, as I've learned, few can back it up. Yes, John McCain was a POW. That is horrible but, has no bearing on his ability to be president. His health should be of much greater concern. As for Hillary, she talks a whole lot. A significant amount of hatred spews from her mouth. On top of that, many claims that she makes are only true in the simplest sense. For example, she speaks of how she has introduced legislation to improve healthcare and the related industry and regulations. What she doesn't say is that very little of her legislation passes or is even supported by her peers. Many of these bills introduced speak very vaguely about "improving healthcare at sometime in the future", without ever mentioning how or when.

Something I have learned working in the IT/Software industry, in a very short time, is that time does NOT equal experience. I know many a developer that has worked for 20 years and has little more real experience than another particular developer, one who had only been in the corporate world for 2, maybe 3, years. It is the passion that drives us all. This passion leads a person to find the experience because it is something they want. For many, it is something that simply may or may not happen over time.

If you want to understand just how passionate Barack Obama is, look at how passionate his followers are. Barack Obama's passion drives others to be just as passionate. This could also be seen in another characteristic of Bill Clinton. As Chris Rock used to say in a show, "Bill Clinton is so famous, someone else got famous just from sucking his dick!"

Granted, passion isn't everything but, it drives a person to seek out the many other characteristics that make an exceptional person. The traits and abilities that a person must possess to be the president. Barack Obama has these traits and abilities. He may not have been a POW but, he has the necessary abilities at the most basic level to achieve anything he wants. In addition, we must face the fact that nothing will ever prepare a person truly for being one of the most powerful people in the world. So, we must look to the building blocks.

Another excellent measure of a person's character and merit is in the way they communicate to the public. Barack Obama, and his campaign, do not speak hatefully of any other person. Even when it is well deserved, honest and would sometimes be necessary. This type of level-headed behavior is precisely what the country needs, right now. Excitable behavior, lack of quality information has gotten this country in way over its head in war, death, debt, and built as a reputation that contrives an extreme level of hatred from nearly every other country in the world.

These are only a few of the multitude of "things" that are required to be the president. No one person can ever speak of every quality necessary. My only fear at this point is that something, someone, is going to screw it up for the rest of the country.

Legacy Databases with DataMapper

Something Old, Something New

In my previous post I discussed my eventual discovery that Ruby on Rails would not work for a new project I had begun. Thankfully, I was at the very beginning of my work on said project and making a transition to a new path was not the end of the world.

As I mentioned, a helpful suggestion led me to investigate Merb as a potential framework. Merb has the benefit of letting me use any of three possible database ORMs. ActiveRecord is supported, as well as, DataMapper and Sequel. Obviously, ActiveRecord did not work for me and so, I looked at both DataMapper and Sequel. I found DataMapper to be more usable out of the box and so I moved ahead using it. Sequel would have been another excellent alternative but, I had to pick one and continue with my work.

How did DataMapper solve my legacy database issues, you may ask. The answer is that DataMapper provides all the same standard solutions that ActiveRecord does but, it allows for keys to be text or any other type as long as they are unique and not null. The sql requirements for a primary key state that it must be unique and not null, there is no requirement for type. There was one little issue with DataMapper in which the text fields were being ignored because, in DataMapper, text fields are lazy. These fields will not be loaded until they are requested by an application. This led to a number of issues but, because DataMapper is so very easy to contribute to, I was able to make the necessary changes with much appreciation from the community.

In terms of conventions, DataMapper has another nifty trick up its sleeve. In DataMapper, when defining a column, you may use a different name for the property and later define the actual column name from the database. I was extremely enthused to find that I could change names from the database from wc_shlfprce to something like: warm_case_shelf_price. Though it was a longer name, in terms of legibility the latter is an infinite improvement.

And so, I work on, with Merb and DataMapper as my preferred tools, at least for this particular project. Aside from this flexibility, DataMapper would normally adhere to the same specific conventions for a database as does ActiveRecord. Any new converts from Rails will likely feel right at home.

Legacy Databases with ActiveRecord

So Close, But Yet, So Far

I loved working with Ruby on Rails, I still do. I bought books, I read blogs, and I made a fair few sites (both personal and for clients). I thought Ruby on Rails was the be-all, end-all for web development. I was very wrong.

Ruby on Rails is fantastic. Especially when you create a new application and design and create that web application with Rails, and its way, in mind. However, if, like myself, you have to work with the database from an application that originated nearly 20 years ago, you may hit some snags. Just as I did.

The design of a database to be used with Ruby on Rails (specifically ActiveRecord) must adhere to some very stringent "best" practices. These are not always the absolute, best practices in design but, they provide some fairly standard basic practices. One such example, though fairly advanced comes with polymorphic associations. In defining the type in one such association, ActiveRecord uses the class name of the type instead of a secondary table listing all possible types. This breaks any possible use of a foreign-key constraint.

Some basics in Ruby on Rails database design, which is often generated without any specification from the developer (when using model generators), include: tables are named the pluralized class name (e.g. User becomes users), every table has an "id" field that is an auto-incremented integer, and a foreign-key is tablename_id.

What must we do if we are using an existing database, and it does not comply to these standards? I'll go through each instance of non-standard database design from the existing database and show how ActiveRecord did or did not handle the problem.

What to do if a Table is not Named after a Class? Easy. ActiveRecord provides a simple method set_table_name that allows you to do just that. If the tables are named after a class but are not pluralized, you can simply set the environment to not use the pluralized versions.

What to do if a Table does not have Primary Key named 'id'? Easy, too. Simply use set_primary_key to set the primary key. This does not, however, provide for a case in which a table does not have a primary key (or otherwise usable unique key) in any way, shape, or form. The simple answer is to add an 'id' field that is not used by the legacy application. This is difficult or impossible to do if you are not the person in control of the database. It is also difficult if, like me, the database exists on hundreds of servers distributed around the country. Making any change in this case is not a simple undertaking.

What to do if the Primary Key is not an auto-incremented integer field? Here, we find the most difficult problem of all. ActiveRecord can ignore the fact that you don't have auto-incremented values but, if your key is not an integer ActiveRecord (as of this posting) hits the proverbial wall. In the case of my legacy database, the primary keys were text fields, five digits in length. This was a carry-over from an even older system in which no relational database was involved.

My only options here became extremely complicated and were only possible because I was using Postgresql (editable views). That was the end of the road for this project and Ruby on Rails. Thankfully, a helpful suggestion led me to use Merb for my framework and DataMapper for my database ORM. Watch for my next post in which I discuss the solutions to these problems, and a few nice perks, found in Merb and DataMapper.

Beta Testing the Slicehost API

A Foray into ActiveResource and DNS Records

I was fortunate enough to join slicehost this past week. It is a fantastic service, possibly the best VPS I've encountered. While perusing their forum as I am want to do from time to time, I noticed a new post by a slicehost employee requesting beta-testers (a favorite phrase of mine) for their new API. I've used ActiveResource in the past and I thought it would be worth a shot.

I threw in my hat on the forum and was summarily rewarded with an email from a slicehost employee. I was given an API key and some documentation with examples in Ruby and Python. Given my ActiveResource experience I immediately went to work with their example. It was a breeze and one that I am delighted to say any Rubyist would be able to complete.

I completed the example, messed around a bit more, and then I retired for the evening. The next day I received a short questionnaire which I dutifully filled out and returned. My tinkering was not over, however. Oh, no. The next free chance I had, I dove right in. Given the access the beta provided I could create only two things off the top of my head. The first, a dynamic-dns-type updater. The second, a monitor of system status.

So far, I have only completed the dynamic dns updater. It is crude but, it provides the basic functionality required. It allows you to provide a Zone and a Record, as well as, the IP address to use when updating the record. If you do not provide an IP address, the current external IP of your location will be used.

The point of all this is I can have a domain name pointing to my home IP. If my provider changes my IP for whatever reason, the script, run by cron on a regular basis will tell slicehost, my DNS provider, that my home IP address has changed within a reasonable amount of time.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Or, the Lack Thereof

How could I forget the voice of my high school typing teacher, constantly nagging me to keep my wrists elevated above the keyboard in an horrific and uncomfortable position. After all of these years I've never, ever been able to accomplish any typing in this fashion. So, my wrists have always rested comfortably, but precariously, upon whatever surface my keyboard is resting upon. For many years, this surface would have been a simple table or desk as I would type at a basic keyboard as I worked in Windows. Luckily, for me, I have moved away from the Windows world. As such, I am now solely reliant upon Apple's hardware creations.

Yet, I have somehow come through unscathed. While an unlucky associate of mine did not share the same luck and was required to undergo a simple, preventive, surgery. After much (well, not that much) contemplation, the only justification for this that I can arrive at is Apple's hardware. It is so thin that, in the case of the latest wired and wireless keyboards from Apple, it might as well be the desk. Therefore, the raised wrists position is not a requirement. The same affect is accomplished when using a laptop. However, this applies to all laptops. Now, looking back, I can recall a pair of keyboards, from Logitech, that would also be thin enough to allow a user to safely rest their wrists upon their computing surface.

Merb is Not Rails

And That is Okay

Merb is not Rails.

If that statement isn't simple enough for you let me, like Ezra and Yehuda , explain why Merb is not Rails, why this is good for both Merb and Rails, and where this will lead both projects in the future.

Ezra laid out the simple fact that there is no competition between Rails and Merb. This comes down to “scratching different itches”. Yehuda’s post reiterated this and added a few more important “why”s. Yehuda’s main point is in the goal of “hackability” of Merb as a framework in comparison to the “get-up-and-go” goal in Rails. Each serves a purpose. Merb’s goal is one that served as my impetus for seeking out a Rails alternative. I still use Rails because in many cases the “get-up-and-go” route is exactly what I need. Rails should stick to its guns, philosophically just as Merb should.

Yehuda’s second great point is that those that work on Merb often work on Rails and wish to see the experimental developments in Merb move into Rails. His example of note is the “provides” api (which many, many Merb people love). In the future I hope that Merb as a testbed for Rails continues with a bit more stability in Merb, perhaps.

At the moment I need to bring more stability to my own install of Merb. I have continually worked with the latest and greatest Merb because of my need to stay on the cutting edge with DataMapper.

In the Coming Days

So Much to Do

The short story is: Viget is being extremely generous and is paying for me to travel to RailsConf this year. Despite the fact that I have only been in their employ for three whole weeks. I'm extremely happy working there and I only hope that I am living up to their expectations of me.

I am excited to go to RailsConf for two reasons. First, I have never been to a conference before, any conference, and I really expect to learn a lot in the sessions I am enrolled in. Second, I may finally get to meet many of the people I talk to on the irc chat rooms for Merb and DataMapper. People like Yehuda Katz, Ezra Z., Adam French (who I think is going), and a coworker from Viget South, Ben Scofield, who will be speaking, as well. All in all I have extremely high hopes for this trip.

In other news, I've got draft copies of many, many blog posts. The problem is trying to decide where they will be appropriate. Some are about the beta for Dropbox (my favorite service, at the moment), including some nifty tricks. Another post is a followup to Getting Things Done with Mail and iCal combined with a review of the GTD application, Things. On the Viget Extend blog , I've got some ideas for posts on topics ranging from Microsoft Exchange calendar subscriptions in iCal to accessing the LDAP global address list from Address Book.

Vision Online, Now Focus

The exciting tale of a Merb Application and branding

I have spent my free time, nights and weekends, working to create a new version of Vision, online. For those that do not know, Vision is the peerless, just-in-time, inventory control and point of sale system for the retail liquor market.

The project was originally titled Vision Online. That name is simple and it works with all of the branding that ICS has already done. However, this product heads out on its own and addresses a slightly new market. As such, a new name was a must.

Thanks to a stroke of genius by my associate Chris, we've switched to the name Focus. The name is brilliant for three, important, reasons. First, the original product is named Vision and Focus is just that, a focusing of the features and benefits of using Vision. Second, the use of this product is intended to focus the users' inventory until it is as close as possible to just-in-time. Lastly, a function of a person's literal vision is the ability to focus. We are hoping that this reincarnation of Vision will enable a user to focus on getting their inventory in line and online.

Solidifying this branding was important for me, as a developer, because it provides a northern star, a guiding light, to my goal. The meaning that branding holds for a user is realized many times over, for me. It is an important aspect of development, keeping the goals, ideals, and vision of the product, in mind.

Merb and DataMapper

Initial Experience with Great Solutions

I started a new project using Ruby on Rails. Unfortunately, ActiveRecord is so stringent in its requirements for database design that the legacy database I was working with was unusable. I had to look elsewhere for my ruby framework because using the legacy database was a primary requirement. The existing application needs to continue operating for many years to come. It serves its users very well.

I turned to Merb for my solution. Database ORM agnosticism was the order of the day. Merb does work with ActiveRecord but, since ActiveRecord did not work with me, I chose to use DataMapper. Sequel was another alternative. I prefer DataMapper (and merb, of course) for many reasons.

The community surrounding Merb and DataMapper is excellent. Many of the people that work on one project, work on the other. I began perusing the Google groups for each project. I checked out their Rubyforge pages. I read their websites and documentation. Most importantly, I participated in conversations on irc chat (irc.freenode.net, #merb and #datamapper). Then, I took the dive and it has been amazingly to easy to make the switch from Rails to Merb and DataMapper.

When I did happen to find something I wanted to change, a bug I wanted to fix, or brand new feature I wanted to add, the process was cake. The codebase is clean and well spec'd. In addition, both teams have well defined guidelines and processes for contributing to the project. If you are ever unable to find the answer to some question the IRC channels are always full of the core members of the team along with many other very experienced users. The IRC resource has been invaluable to me and since, I hope I've been able to help a few new users myself.

In terms of features both Merb and DataMapper are slightly behind the features of Rails (and the many, many plugins) but, all of the core requirements are there. Not only are the features in the core, they are much better than the equivalent features in Rails. For example, you can forget about ever having to write responds_to in every action you have ever again. Merb has a method, provides, which defines the this behavior.

My favorite feature in DataMapper, especially useful when working with a legacy database, is the capability to rename a column for use in your own model. For example, if the column in your database is named 'itm_mup' and you would prefer it be called 'item_markup' in your application.

Not only does Merb allow you to use one of the three most popular ORM's, it allows you to use RSpec for testing, as well as, any javascript library you would like. Adding to this flexibility, Merb brings back a feature that was destroyed by Rails: lightweight components. Merb refers to these as "parts". Parts are called on by views to render extremely modular subsets of functionality.

All in all, any deficiencies are more than made up for by the community, the codebase and ease of contribution, and the features of both Merb and DataMapper.

Webby - Part 1

An Introduction to Webby

Webby is the best tool available on the web (especially for Ruby developers) to manage the content on a website. When I say website I mean a general class of website that has no dynamic content. Websites such as personal blogs are ideal candidates for Webby as they only change when a new post is made. Webby is essentially the lightest, most hackable CMS available.

In my case, I needed a tool to create a website that was not database- backed but, the content changed frequently enough to warrant a simple means by which I could update and makes other changes. Having been working with Ruby and the Rails/Merb frameworks, I wished I could have the rendering abilities and helper methods of these frameworks. However, both require massive resources in comparison to serving up static files. Therefore, both were overkill with all of their abilities designed for web applications.

In this ongoing series of posts I will do my best to cover Webby and some of the features of Webby that are not fully covered in the tutorials. Also, I would really love to help out anyone interested in Webby that is not sure that Webby will meet their needs (and don't have time to dig into Webby itself to find out).

Check back tomorrow for my next post in the series on some of the essential features that I found in Webby, but not in the documentation.

Stopped Using Things

Because iSlayer is Awesome

I posted awhile back about my attempts at using Things for my GTD needs. While Cultured Code has made an amazing application, even in beta, I was finding myself with features I didn't want and missing some features I did want.

As such, I've learned to make due using a fine combination of iCal and Mail for to do lists. Now, with the addition of something new from the fine developers at iSlayer I have a wonderful little widget that lets me integrate perfectly into this system I've got going. Organized is the name of the new widget and I think it fits precisely. Now, I don't have to leave Mail or iCal running for all the times that I'm on my Mac (which is a lot).

Organized is beautifully crafted, as all iSlayer widgets and products that I have encountered. As you can see from the screenshots on the web page Organized is dominated by the calendar at the top, which is just how I like it. Beneath are four tabs: clocks, notes, events, and to dos. I do not often use the notes and I have yet to have a real use for clocks. However, having events present (with which you can see events in the coming days) has been extremely useful for getting my head around an ever more populous calendar.

The last tab, to dos, is the tab I use most. Mostly because it adds such a simple, quick, and perfectly powerful list. While at the same time, those to dos work their way back into the rest of my system, for when I do have Mail or iCal open, I like to have access to those to dos. I've learned to organize my buckets as calendars that accurately represent my life. Around these calendars I create groups that mimic the major focuses, life and work. Perfect!

Webby - Part 2

Essential Features

In my first post ( Webby - Part 1 ) I gave a basic description of Webby, a ultra-lightweight content management tool. In this post, I intend to cover the most essential features of Webby, starting with the creation of a new project and an overview of the rake tasks. From there I'll cover some of the helper methods that come with Webby.

What is Webby Doing?

Webby is useful because it allows the use of Ruby code as well as helpers, layouts, partials, filters (more on that later), and templates. From this Webby will create the file structure and html (or xml, atom, rss, etc.). This, seems to be done, in a very basic sense, by "running" the Ruby through one time and saving the files created. This is similar to what a page cache would do but, it is done manually due to the infrequency of an update.

Install Webby

First, in order to use Webby you have to install it. Thankfully, there is a gem, making this step very simple. Open the Terminal application (or what you would normally use to install a gem) and install Webby (with any dependencies). sudo gem install webby

Optional Installs

Personally, I like using Haml, so I installed that already. Webby is able to use a series of "filters" to make use of Haml, Sass, Textile, Markdown, and by default, erb. On top of the filters available to transform text, Webby has support for CodeRay and UltraViolet syntax highlighting.

Create a Project

Onto creating a project. Webby comes with a command, webby. We use this and the name of our project in one command and Webby will create the structure for the project, in the current location in the filesystem. To view the full list of options for the webby command, add the -h/--help flag (Hint: there aren't many). webby your_project_name_here

Rake Tasks

Many Ruby developers are experienced using Rake. Change to the project directory in Terminal and try this. rake -T The most frequently used tasks (for me, at least) are: rake create:whatever
rake autobuild
rake deploy:however The create task is provided a type of document to create (from a template). By default these include a page, a partial, or an atom feed. I will discuss adding to these templates in my next post. The autobuild tasks starts the included heel webserver and builds the files whenever it detects a "dirty" or changed file. This is very handy in development because you can instantly check your changes in a browser. Finally, the deploy task. Using either rsync or ssh, Webby will deploy the output files to your designated webserver.

Until next time you should read the official tutorial from Webby.

Next time I'll talk about extending these essential features, making Webby an extremely powerful tool.

Getting Things Done

With More Than Mail

Getting things done apps are over-complicated to-do lists, in my mind. As I said in a previous post, I enjoy using iCal/Mail To-dos for three reasons. Speed, simplicity, and I already have one of those applications open already. However, I was evolving and growing in my workflow. I needed to find a few more features in my to-do tracking. Some original ideas included "archiving" instead of deleting completed to-dos and a better way to display the information, if only in showing which is the next to-do in different orders. Sorting to-dos in Mail is fairly simple, and iCal is even worse.

Between TUAW and MacApper I was able to select two applications to try. The first is called Things and is a full-blown application. Things has a fantastic user-interface, a great feature-set, and is under constant development. At the same time, I did not use all of the features the application already had. Things is still new software. As such, some of the polish is missing at this time but, it is still very usable and very beautiful. The largest negative point for me is that Things is an application unto itself. I already have plenty of windows open and I do not wish to find myself spending more time tracking my to-dos than actually doing them. This is a very minor issue and one that I will likely live with as my needs evolve further. Lastly, the price is a little steep at nearly $50.

The second application is called Dejumble. Unlike Things, Dejumble lives in the menubar only. Although I don’t like to clutter my menubar the ease of access is phenomenal and instantaneous. The feature set is not as complete as Things but, given my needs, that is just fine. The application and interface have a few flaws. First, the included themes are all beautiful except when the description font is impossible to see. Second, the search box would be extremely handy if it did something. When I first tried to search I typed in a word I knew was in the descriptions of a few to-dos and waited for a live search. Nothing happened so I hit enter. Unexpectedly, this created a new to-do using the form just below the search. Deleting this new to-do required I open iCal or Mail and, the delete would not remove itself in Dejumble’s list. Lastly, a to-do with none of the fields filled in should not be made a to-do without a warning message or some other notification.

Neither of these applications scratches the itch completely but, both are close enough that they may warrant use. I will probably use Dejumble for the trial period, monitor the improvements made and then make a decision. I am absolutely certain that Things has or will have all that I need but, I don’t want to spend $50 without a need. I am thankful for Leopard because without its features, none of these applications would be as useful. As always, Mail still gets the job done.

Getting Things Done

With Apple Mail and iCal

I'm new to the practice of getting things done (GTD). I am aware of most of the principles and I am aware of the plethora of GTD software for Mac OS X. A number of weeks ago I took a brief survey of the available software in this particular field and, being a newcomer to the actual practice I felt sufficiently overwhelmed by the features of each. I do realize that GTD is about more than just a todo list but, for the ultra efficient all of these applications seemed to take more time to get set up, and to use than a simple checklist. Priorities are nice, as are due-dates but, beyond that I thought I would be better off with a simpler solution.

So far, I am right. The metaphorical ticket, for me, was being constantly (or nearly constantly) aware of my list. Knowing this, and knowing that I live much of my life on my Mac I found the simplest solution I could manage: Mail and iCal. These two applications together provide the essentials that are required of a todo list. First, they make it easy to monitor your list. Second, they make it easy to access your list from two frequently accessed applications. Third, they make it exceptionally easy to add new items to my list.

I've gotten in the habit of adding every little thing I could possibly accomplish in a day. I get to as much as I can. This accomplishes a couple goals. I get a big list of things to choose from and choice is always nice. It also provides that constant reminder for even the little things, many of which I would likely forget (or ignore) during the day.

Perhaps someday I will switch to some uber-GTD software but, for now, my requirements have been satisfied. I would recommend this process to anyone who is considering tackling the daunting GTD world.

Ezra Introduces Vertebra at RailsConf 2008

Configuration Through the Clouds

Ezra Z.'s talk at RailsConf 2008 started out normally enough but, his first point of order was to introduce Vertebra. Vertebra is similar in purpose to Capistrano. Instead of using a linear interface such as SSH, Vertebra uses XMPP (the protocol used in Jabber) to deal with thousands of concurrent operations. For me, this is the most exciting announcement of RailsConf not because I do much with cloud computing but, because I want to, and this is just another piece of the puzzle. The whole process of XMPP providing presence -- like jabber instant messaging -- and running on an Erlang implementation of the jabber server that is hugely, horizontally scalable.

It appears that you can use a jabber client or a command-line client to interact with the system. All sorts of things are capable. The examples Ezra gave included everything from requesting RAM and CPU statistics to rebuilding systems. Map/Reduce type scatter/gather dispatch for discovery and deployment is easily possible with the protocol in use.

Ezra coined a new acronym today, CREST, which stands for cloud REST. Along with this Ezra displayed an example that was built on Merb to show a Ruby interaction with the cloud using RESTful processes. Resources have URLs, just as they should.

All in all, this process seems to be a platform that other cloud services could be built upon. I can't wait to dig right in considering he demoed the service running live.

Ezra Announces Engine Yard Express VM Image

A Slice of a Slice

Along with Vertebra, which isn't available for use just yet, Ezra announced Engine Yard Express. Express is a clone of the software and configuration used in an Engine Yard Slice. This is another amazing development. Engine Yard customers can now have a development or staging environment on their own machines that mirrors their production environment. Everyone else can simply see how powerful Engine Yard's stack of software really is. You can download Engine Yard Express , right now. Warning: the image is 343MB.

Imaginary Mac Dock

If You Must, You Must

Some people like to come home and "dock" their laptops to a desktop-type setup. There is no such thing for a Mac, not in the way that the Dell users of the world might imagine it. However, there are two ways to accomplish the same features. The first involves another Mac, the second does not.

The first, and conceptually more complicated method relies upon two features that Macs have had as long as I can remember using them. Upon booting, a Mac (laptop or desktop) can act as an external hard drive case for the drive inside. Simply holding down T will start this mode. Now, we can plug this Mac into another and use this hard drive as the boot drive. Simply hold down the Option key when booting the "base", desktop Mac. The desktop will boot the hard drive in the laptop. If you have an Intel Mac, the computers can be connected with a USB cable or a Firewire cable. If you are using a PowerPC Mac, a Firewire cable must be used.

The second method is far more simplistic. Apple (and many other companies) offer bluetooth keyboards and mice. Simply plug in an external monitor and use the bluetooth built into most Macs for the keyboard and mouse. With one physical cable you have essentially the same setup as all those "dock" users.

There are many reasons why a user might wish to do this but, the most obvious reasoning includes a larger screen on a monitor, a full-sized keyboard, and a more functional mouse (though I prefer the touchpad for scrolling).