Tabbed Interface – A new rails plugin

It’s not like we really need a new rails plugin, but this one I really saw the need for. Tabbed interfaces can really improve how your website looks and flows. Here’s a great article from smashingmagazine about how, when and why to use tabbed interfaces. Here’s a quick rundown of the plugin. Let me know what you think!

TabbedInterface

Build a tabbed interface very easily. Requires Prototype.

see a working example at http://tab-interface.heroku.com

Install

./script/plugin install git://github.com/jondruse/tabbed_interface.git

Move the ajax-loader.gif from the resources folder to your public images folder, or go make one at http://www.ajaxload.info/. Whatever you do, just make sure you call it ajax-loader.gif.

An example css file is also included in the resources folder.

Example

In this simple example we setup a TabbedInterface with two tabs.

<% tabbed_content do |box| %>

  # You don't have to include these.  They are the defaults, but this is how you would change them.
  <% box.content_wrapper = "tabbed_content" %>
  <% box.navigation_wrapper = "tabbed_navigation" %>
  <% box.tab_tag = :li %>
  <% box.tabs_tag = :ul %>

  # Let's add some tabs!
  # All you need is a title and a url. Also accepts two options hashes that get passed directly to the link_to_remote
  call.
  <% box.tab("Test One", test_one_path, {:method => :post}, {:class => "different-class"}) %>
  <% box.tab("Test Two", test_two_path) %>
 
  <% box.content = capture do %>
    # Put your default content here (probably the content for the the first tab, but doesn't have to be)
    Default text
  <% end %>

<% end %>

The tabbed_content helper yields an object that has two main methods.

#tab

This method will setup a new tab header. Just pass the title and the url to call and update the main content area.

#content

The only requirement is that you use capture (as shown above). This sets the default content for the interface. Then when you click on a different tab, the content will be updated. You can put anything in here, but it will probably be a partial, being that the links use link_to_remote to update the main content area. There are no limitations on how any tabs you can have, or how many interfaces you can have on a page.

Enjoy!

2009
08/17
CATEGORY
Rails
Ruby
plugin
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Pesky form error markup in Rails

Have you ever spent hours coding up the most awesome form you’ve ever seen only to have Rails break it with it’s error markup? I have, and it really sucks. So today I set out on a mission to solve this ever annoying problem. Here’s how I did it.

Step 1. Find the source.

If you’ve ever gone looking through Rails source, you know this wasn’t a very easy thing to do. But after some digging I found what was causing me so much grief.

# active_record_helper.rb in action_pack/action_view/helpers
@@field_error_proc = Proc.new{ |html_tag, instance| "<div class=\"fieldWithErrors\">#{html_tag}</div>" }

Step 2. Figure out what you want.

I found that the problem was that it was using a div to wrap the incorrect fields. This didn’t work for me. I needed a span so it wouldn’t break the layout. So what do you need? Maybe a div works, but you want to use a different class name? Whatever it is, figure it out. Firebug may be of some help to you.

Step 3. Patch Rails.

I love how easy this step is. Put a file in RAILS_ROOT/config/initializers called rails_ext.rb. You can really name this file whatever you want, but that’s what mine is called.

Next add these lines.

module ActionView
  class Base
    @@field_error_proc = Proc.new{ |html_tag, instance| "<span class=\"fieldWithErrors\">#{html_tag}</span>" }
    cattr_accessor :field_error_proc
  end
end

Now restart your server and enjoy.

Closing Thoughts.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Why don’t I just edit the css? Well here it is. My markup is a big deal. If I want a span I should have a span. I guess it really comes down to preference. Take it or leave it.

2009
06/25
CATEGORY
Rails
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Leveraging the power of inheritance in Rails.

Here’s a neat trick.  It’s pretty simple but really helpful.

Problem: You’re always setting up the same stuff in every controller. Layouts, helper methods and so on.

Solution: Set up your own controller to inherit from.

Throw this into a new file in the controllers folder called base_controller.rb.

class BaseController < ApplicationController
 
  layout "base"
  helper :my_cool_helper  

end

Now take any controller and change the first line like below. Now anything in BaseController you get for free. So in the example below, PostsController’s layout will be “base” and will have the MyCoolHelper included also.

class PostsController < BaseController

  def list
  end

end

Wow, that was easy. Now it’s much easier to make (and change) default behaviors in your app. Hope this helps you, it sure helped me.

2009
06/22
CATEGORY
Rails
Ruby
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Git Documentation for Apple Dictionary

A couple months ago I found Priit Haamer’s blog post about the Ruby Dictionary for Mac OS X. So now I’ve ported the Git Documentation to Dictionary.app also. Please let me know of any bugs.  Enjoy!

Download

  1. Download gitdictionary file (<1MB, works only with 10.5 Leopard) and proceed to installation instructions.
Installation

  1. Unzip downloaded file into ~/Library/Dictionaries folder if you want to keep this dictionary only for yourself. You may need to create this folder if you haven’t installed any dictionaries before.
  2. To make the searching with Spotlight work, open Dictionary.app preferences pane and drag “Git” from the dictionaries list from bottom to the top because only the first one in this list will be searched from Spotlight.
  3. To make it available for all users on your computer, drop the Git.dictionary folder into /Library/Dictionaries folder.
2009
06/01
CATEGORY
Git
3 comments

Get Camino!