rails-2.0 released summary of features

link to rails-2.0 released summary of features

How to organize Rails model

Link to How to organize Rails model

ActiveRecord-JDBC 0.5 can not insert object with pre-assigned Id into Oracle Database

If you encountered problem when try to insert object with pre-assigned Id into Oracle Database in JRuby 1.0.1 with ActiveRecord-JDBC 0.5, here is quick fix

module ::JdbcSpec
  module Oracle
     def insert(sql, name = nil, pk = nil, id_value =nil, sequence_name = nil) #:nodoc:
      if pk.nil? || id_value
        execute sql, name
      else # Assume the sql contains a bind-variable for the id
        id_value = select_one(
        "select #{sequence_name}.nextval id from dual")['id'].to_i 
        log(sql, name) {
          @connection.execute_id_insert(sql,id_value)
        }
      end
      id_value
    end
  end
end

The problem is on compatibility of Oracle JDBC driver and execute_insert method of java class JdbcAdapterInternalService. The fix simply remove the usage of execute_insert method. Verification code is below

require 'rubygems'
gem 'ActiveRecord-JDBC','0.5'
require 'jdbc_adapter'
require 'active_record'

ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
 :adapter  => 'jdbc',
 :driver   => 'oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver', 
 :url      => 'jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:DEV',
 :username => "scott",
 :password => "tiger",
)

class Emp < ActiveRecord::Base
  set_table_name 'emp'
  set_primary_key 'empno'
end

emp = Emp.new
emp.id = 9999
emp.save

Fixture path in ActiveRecord Testing

I am using fixture in ActiveRecord Testing. I have many test classes, each using fixtures located in different directories. Individual test work fine, but fails when running together in suite. The problem is fixture_path is class attribute/variable of Test::Unit::TestCase so all subclasses of it share the same value.

require 'rubygems'
require 'active_record'
require 'active_record/fixtures'

class TestFoo < Test::Unit::TestCase
   self.fixture_path='/u01/test/fixtures/foo'
end

TestFoo.fixture_path # "/u01/test/fixtures/foo"

class TestBar < Test::Unit::TestCase
   self.fixture_path='/u01/test/fixtures/bar'
end

TestBar.new().fixture_path # "/u01/test/fixtures/bar"
TestFoo.new().fixture_path # "/u01/test/fixtures/bar"

Because the Test Unit framework, load all test classes, then run them, so TestFoo.new().fixture_path get value of TestBar.new().fixture_path. The solution is simple, just define a method fixture_path in each test class (in upcoming version after ActiveRecord 1.15.3, the problem is fixed by change fixture_path to class instance variable see ticket 6672).

class TestFoo < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def fixture_path
      '/u01/test/fixtures/foo'
   end
end

class TestBar < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def fixture_path
      '/u01/test/fixtures/bar'
   end
end

TestBar.new().fixture_path # "/u01/test/fixtures/bar"
TestFoo.new().fixture_path # "/u01/test/fixtures/foo"

Standard_params to improve readability of tests

Link for standard_params to improve readability of tests

Format of Date/Time when using ActiveRecord with Oracle Database

I found no place in ActiveRecord Documentation, that describes how to enter Date/Time into Oracle Database. By looking at source code of OracleAdapter in ActiveRecord, I recognized that ActiveRecord uses Oracle alter session command to specify date format

ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute "alter session set NLS_DATE_FORMAT='YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS'"

As implication we shall use this format (e.g '2007-06-30' and '2007-06-30 23:01:45' String are accepted) when entering data (e.g in fixture file) to Date Field.

The secret behind Rails Integration Test

Find what is behind Rails Integration Test on good blog's post named HeadlessApp

$ script/console
Loading development environment.

>> app.class
=> ActionController::Integration::Session

>> app.get "/home"
=> 302

>> app.controller.params
=> {"action"=>"home", "controller"=>"accounts"}

>> app.response.redirect_url
=> "http://www.example.com/login"

Cruisecontrol.rb is too slow

I encountered a problem with Cruisecontrol.rb, the method link_to_code(log) is too slow to process a certain output log, sometime it takes 10 seconds making Cruisecontrol not workable. So for the time being, as workaround, I just comment out this code .

#file: app/helpers/builds_helper.rb
  def link_to_code(log)
    log
=begin    
    @work_path ||= File.expand_path(@project.path + '/work')

    log.gsub(/((\#\{RAILS_ROOT\}\/)?([\w\.-]*\/[ \w\/\.-]+)\:(\d+))/) do
      path, line = File.expand_path($3, @work_path), $4
      
      if path.index(@work_path) == 0
        path = path[@work_path.size..-1]
        link_to ".#{path}:#{line}", "/projects/code/#{@project.name}#{path}?line=#{line}##{line}"
      else
        $1
      end
    end
=end
  end

ActiveRecord testing ouside of Rails

There is many tips about how to use ActiveRecord outside of Rails but rarely about ActiveRecord testing ouside of Rails. I am working on project that use ActiveRecord ouside of Rails and need to create fixture for testing. It take me a little bit of time to figure out how to do. The source code below demonstrates the trick

require 'test/unit'
require "active_record"
require "active_record/fixtures"

ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
 :adapter => "mysql",
 :host => "localhost",
 :username => "nightlybatch",
 :password => "secret",
 :database => "web_orders"
)

#this is because fixture verify existence of rails database configuration
ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[:test] = ActiveRecord::Base.connection
  
class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
end

class TestFoo < Test::Unit::TestCase
 #set fixture path explicitly
 self.fixture_path="c:/temp"
 
 fixtures :products

 def test_ruby_on_rails_should_exist
  assert products(:ruby_on_rails)
 end

end

In order to pass the test, the fixture file products.yml shall be created in directory c:/temp, and products table shall be created in MySQL database

#c:/temp/products.yml
ruby_on_rails:
   id:   1
   name: ruby on rails
rails_recipes:
   id:   2
   name: rails recipes

Using Ruby and Rails with Oracle database

1. Download ruby-oci8-VERSION-mswin32.rb 2. Install oci8 adapter e.g. on MS Windows

c:\ruby ruby-oci8-VERSION-mswin32.rb

3. Using with with Rails

ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
 :adapter => "oci",
 :host => "sql_net_connect_string",
 :username => "foo",
 :password => "bar"
)

Enterprise Rails

I have found two interesting documents that describe some experiences of using ruby on rails in a real enterprise project Rails Enterprise Ready from Jay Fields Rails for Enterprise from Rick Bradley and Charles Johnson

Sample code of the book Agile Web Development with Rails Second Edition

Online code sample referenced in the book is not alway working, check with what is printed on the book

RubyOnRails print debug information

do'nt use

puts "Starting delete_user"

instead use

logger.info "Starting delete_user"

look at content of the file ./log/development.log

RubyOnRails commands used in the book Agile Web Development with Rails

All commands

rails depot
rake db:migrate
ruby script/generate model Product
ruby script/generate controller admin
ruby script/generate migration add_price
ruby script/generate scaffold product admin
rake db:sessions:create
rake db:sessions:clear, 
ruby script/console
rake db:test:prepare

To enable development/test/production mode

ruby script/server -e development
ruby script/server -e test
ruby script/server -e production