Author Archives: Rob Nichols

Overloading ActiveRecord methods

I’m currently working on a project management tool. The way the company works is with a project being either a group of jobs or a single job. So the first job could be X0001. To this you can then add … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on Overloading ActiveRecord methods

Run off my feet and then time to reflect

I had a very busy weekend two weeks ago. Nine call-outs in two days. It was too much really, and a lot of it ambulance chasing. I took a few days off after that and had a rest. Fortunately since … Continue reading

Posted in Community First Responder | Comments Off on Run off my feet and then time to reflect

Deleting Session and Cookie entries

I’ve had a problem with clearing a users session and cookie information if they failed log on. In the past I’ve simply used: def clear_session session[:user_id] = “” session[:user_hash] = “” cookies[:user_hash] = “” end But this often fails to … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on Deleting Session and Cookie entries

MS SQL server connection

I noted the couple of steps I need to connect to a Microsoft SQL server in my Rails Tiddly Wiki under “MicrosoftSQL”. I’ve need to fire up a Rails development system on another PC and have found that the gems … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on MS SQL server connection

action_name_is?

I love it when a very small bit of code makes my life easier and my code simpler. Today I’ve defined a new helper method for one of my application and its done just that. This is the code def … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on action_name_is?

Ambulance chasing

A relatively busy weekend: five call outs. However, with all of them the ambulance crew got there before me. For most of the calls it was just a case of going in and checking if the crew needed any assistance, … Continue reading

Posted in Community First Responder | Comments Off on Ambulance chasing

Monitoring 2003 server – new project

I’ve been thinking about creating a Rails app to help me monitor my main Windows 2003 server. Today, one of the logical drives on the server got close to running out of space, so I realised it was time to … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on Monitoring 2003 server – new project

Ignore files and folders via TortoiseSVN

Why ignore? Ignoring a file or folder from the Subversion system can reduce a lot of complexity from the repository. For example, if you edit your code via NetBeans, you probably don’t want to version control the .nbproject folder it … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on Ignore files and folders via TortoiseSVN

Hearts are aflutter

One call out today (so far). Another lady with irregular heart beat. It seems I’m having a run of call outs to people with suspected heart attacks. It is strange how call outs seem to come in batches. A week … Continue reading

Posted in Community First Responder | Comments Off on Hearts are aflutter

Gathering SQL data with TempObject

Another place I use TempObject is to organise the data created from a custom SQL statement. I use custom SQL statements when I need to gather data from three or more tables or do complicated JOIN or CASE statements. It … Continue reading

Posted in Ruby | Comments Off on Gathering SQL data with TempObject