= fields_for :record do |form|
= form.label :category_ids, “Categories”
%br
= form.select :category_ids,
Category.collect {|x| [x.name, x.id]}, {}, :multiple => true
I think the standard update action in the controller will handle this without any special action. To do the update manually, you could just say
@record.update_attributes(:category_ids=>params[:record][:category_ids])
See the Rails doc at http://bit.ly/LDDSma.
Dropbox is a great solution for online backup and, to some extent, for simple collaboration. One limitation, however, is that there is no way to know when a collaborator has opened a file for editing. If two people edit a file at the same time, Dropbox will save both edited files which will not have conflicting changes.
Notifybox is a third-party solution to this problem. It only works with Microsoft Office documents and on Windows, but it does seem workable and is free for use on a single folder.
When you open a file within a monitored folder, a dialog pops up:
If you choose “Check-out,” you can go ahead and edit the file. When you save and close it, Notifybox informs you that it is now checked-in.
If you choose “Cancel” instead, a dialog box tells you that you should close the file without saving it. This isn’t enforced, so it’s up to the user to pay attention to the prompts.
If you try to open a file that is already checked out by someone else, a different message tells you that you should close the file without saving since it is already in use. It appears that all the potential users must be using Notifybox … I don’t think that it can tell if someone has checked out a file unless that person is also using Notifybox.
It’s a simple solution that bridges a gap between Dropbox and more complex version control systems that are likely too intimidating for most casual users.
A full subscription costs $6 monthly and allows you to monitor multiple folders and subfolders, and to encrypt and compress files in your Dropbox folder. The free version lets you monitor a single folder.
Just on the off chance someone else has the same problem … My PayPal security key is several years old and last night it finally quit. It flashed these messages when turned on:
class Member < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :country
class Country < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :members
config.columns[:country].form_ui = :select
country_id indirectly just by saying this_member.country_name='France'. To do this define accessor method's to read and write the member's country name. The read method looks up the country_id and returns the name, while the write method country_name= sets the country_id based on the name.country_id with one for country_name.country_name input.class Member < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :country
end
class Country < ActiveRecord::Base
validates_uniqueness_of :name
has_many :members
end
member model:class Member < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :country
def country_name
Country.find(country_id).name
end
def country_name= (name)
country = Country.find_by_name(name)
self.country_id = country.id if country
end
end
country_id with one for country_name:class MembersController < ApplicationController
active_scaffold :member do |config|
config.columns = [:name, :country_name]
end
end
update and create methods, as Anup Narkhede had shown. If for some reason you use a variation of that technique, there is one gotcha to be aware of. You cannot simply look up the id and insert it as params[:record][:country] unless the :country column was included in the form, because it will be ignored. This is part of the security of Rails 3: the user can't pass back arbitrary fields, because only those present in the form are processed. So, when I was overriding the controller update and create methods, I had to include the original :country column as a hidden field in the form. I'm guessing that this is also the reason that Anup first saved the country id in an instance variable @country, then used it in a before_create_save method rather than just adding the new element to the parameter hash.class AutocompleteController < ApplicationController
def country
@countries = Country.where("name LIKE ?", "#{params[:term]}%").select("id, name")
@json_resp = []
@countries.each do |c|
@json_resp << c.name
end
respond_to do |format|
format.js { render :json => @json_resp }
end
end
match 'autocomplete/:action'
<%= stylesheet_link_tag 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.4/themes/ui-lightness/jquery-ui.css' %>
<%= javascript_include_tag 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.1/jquery.js' %>
<%= javascript_include_tag 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.4/jquery-ui.js' %>
public/stylesheets and public/javascript folders and link to them there. public/javascripts/application.js:$(function() {
$( ".country_name-input" ).live("click", function(){
$(this).autocomplete({
source: "autocomplete/country.js"
});
});
});
.live("click" piece is used to attach the JQuery UI autocomplete widget to country_name-input as soon as the input is clicked. We do this because, in ActiveScaffold or other Ajax-based views, the input may not exist in the DOM when the page loads, so some other event must be used to attach it. The demo and documentation for JQuery UI autocomplete are at http://jqueryui.com/demos/autocomplete/.
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
which runs at only 15 watts, costs $167, and is rated 4.5 stars by 7 users. That's the one I plan to buy. With that monitor and the fit-PC, I'll be using barely 23 watts when using the computer at maximum capacity. That means I could run it for 24 hours straight on half the capacity of a 100 amp-hour 12V storage battery. Of course, the performance is nowhere near that of a “normal” desktop or even laptop, but it should be fine for most tasks (browsing, email, word-processing). I’ll let you know!
Faxes are becoming less essential in our lives as we can usually substitute scanned documents sent by email. Now and then, however, it’s useful or even necessary to send or receive a fax. There are a couple of low-cost (or free) solutions for this.
If your phone line is connected to your computer, then you can simply use the built-in fax services of you computer. However, that can be hard to set up. In any case, many of us no longer have working phone lines.
To send faxes, the service I like is FaxItNice. You can fax a document up to 10 pages long for $5. However, the better option is to sign up for the plan where you pay $20 up front, then pay only $0.18 per page whenever you want. Credits don’t expire. I’ve been using the service for 7 years and so far it has been quite stable and reliable. You just fill in name and number of the recipient, select a document you want to send (Word, text, PDF, images, and many other formats), and press the button to upload the document. You can preview the fax, add a cover sheet, then click to send. The service then sends the fax for you, redialing as needed until it gets through. You can try the system for free (one fax) here.
To receive faxes, which I need to do even less often than sending them, I use K7. It’s completely free. You just sign up to get a phone number which will then receive your faxes. When someone sends a fax, K7 will convert it to a fairly small image file and email it to you. You can also log in to view your faxes.
There are other services for sending and receiving faxes, but I haven’t found any better deals than these. Let me know if you have more suggestions.