Ruby 1.9.1, the stable release, is just around the corner and if your like me, maybe you want to start playing around with it and perhaps test a few projects using 1.9 with edge rails 2.3. If so, and your on a Mac, then perhaps this installation method might appeal to you. I'll break this article up in two parts, the first will be on installing multiple versions of ruby and how to switch between them while the other will be some things I noticed when testing ruby 1.9 with edge rails on my favorite pet project HomeMarks.

Based on my previous article Using Autotest For Rails Plugin Development, Brennan Dunn wrote a ZSH function that helps him with his eager rails plugin work. Testing plugins is simply the most fun you will ever have. It's nice to test in isolation and easy to make a plugin test multiple rails versions, etc. Typically plugin testing is very fast to because you are not burdened with excessive tests in a big app that might use it. Just the ones needed to test the plugin. Enjoy this ZSH function.

function autotestify () {
  git clone git://github.com/metaskills/autotest_railsplugin.git
  rm -rf ./autotest_railsplugin/.git
  mv ./autotest_railsplugin ./autotest
}

I got a chance to meet Gregg Pollack at this years RubyConf, a great guy. In fact I seem to owe him alot. Not only did I get 3 mentions lately on the main rubyonrails.org site, but it appears I got one of my 2.2 additions mentioned in their new envycast that covers rails 2.2. Sweet!

So now it is my duty to help the Rails Envy guys to bank it Grossenbach-style. If you have not done so, go check out envycasts.com and put $9 down on one or two of their great vids! This stuff is a great resource for any ruby/rails'ist. Put it on your TV and imagine your in your own little Orlando user group.

So that about sums up what I've been doing for the past 4 weeks. A total rewrite of the SQL Server Adapter for Rails. On top of passing all the Rails 2.2.2 tests, which is MAJOR news, it includes tons of new features. Unicode column support, pessimistic locking, date/time column casting, DDL transactions and way more.

On top of that. It was nice being mentioned on the rubyonrails.org website not for my first, second, but a THIRD time. Thanks Gregg!

• UPDATE: I just got a nod from David's twitter. Thanks!

While reading the The Unofficial Apple Weblog today I noticed this sweet little Jack-O-Lantern screensaver for OS X. After some feedback on the 757.rb group, I decided to make some Code-O-Lanterns.

Follow the instructions for the Jack-O-Lantern screensaver on where to put the carving files. If you are not on a Mac, I have taken some screen shots that you can use for desktop pictures. If you would like to see a code o lantern that is not up... just ask for one, providing it has a logo!

I've been busy putting together some plugins form misc work. If you did not catch my latest article Jack has_many :things where I covered GroupeScope, by all means check it out. I've also just finished up a pretty solid backport of NamedScope that can be found on my Github page. It bills itself as a well tested complete back port for rails 1.2.6 and 2.0.4.

One thing that has been a real help while I've been developing these plugins is this autotest class I put together specifically for developing rails plugins. I even got mention on rubyonrails.org. Sweet! More to come.

Resources

• The NamedScope plugin.
• The GroupedScope plugin.
• The RailsPlugin class for Autotest.
• Vilcus plug dactyloadapter. Developed specially for people who enjoy closing electrical circuits with their own fingers.

I am Jack's sofa, stereo and wardrobe... I make Jack's life complete. I reside in a ActiveRecord table called "things" and Jack is the only one that has the key. This is Jack's life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

As rails developers, we have done this simple relationship over and over again. I'm sure the has_many association is by far the most common in app/db design. It gives a single resource quick and easy access to others, but as your application grows, and depression sets in...