AJAX file uploads in Rails using attachment_fu and responds_to_parent
In this walkthrough, I go through the available options and an example using attachment_fu to handle file uploads and image thumbnailing, and responds_to_parent to implement the iframe remoting pattern to work around javascript’s security restrictions on file system access.
You can also download the complete example.
Debugging JavaScript no longer a complete pain (now only a little).
I used to hate coding JavaScript. Not because of the language (well maybe a bit) but the many countless hours littering code with alert() messages to see where things were going wrong. Sure, Mozilla has Venkman, but what happens when the error occurs in Safari, Opera or Internet Explorer? I really don't want to go through Message Box hell again now that I'm getting my feet wet with AJAX. Enter fvloggger by David F. Miller.
What kind of developer are you?
After seeing an overhanging brace that looks at you funny in someone else's code, do you:
- Spend several hours methodically reformatting (and rewriting) their code using vi/emacs/NOTEPAD.EXE only to have it changed back on your next check-out.
- Start a "reformat code" war using your favorite IDE with the other developer, impressing your peers with the amount of commits the both of you do everyday.
- Say fugeddaboutit (one of the guys will change it anyway) and leave work early for a beer at the local.
Mac OS X Tiger and Case Sensitivity
Ever since I joined the Apple seed developer program earlier in the year, I've been going through a constant cycle of reinstalls trying out new developer seeds of Mac OS X Tiger. At one point, being an inquisitive - and some say masochistic - fellow, I decided to try out a HFS+ Case-Sensitive file system instead of plain HFS+. Case sensitivity is useful when interacting with different UNIX operating systems or when compiling and using some UNIX applications ported to the Mac.
Feed me widgets
I've been downloading and trying out several dashboard widgets for Mac OS X Tiger and one of the most useful has been Hula girl.
A Simple Web Browser in under 6 hours
With about an hour to kill on the daily commute to work, I played with Apple's WebKit Framework, which is based on the open source Konqueror. Creating a new web browser was not my real intention, but a lot of ideas have been floating around in my head that require familiarity with WebKit. I had the help of Apple's documentation and this great article on Cocoa Dev Central.
