I perform a search using my engine of choice. Sphinx, for example, will give me back a hash of results formatted like this:

  Array
  (
    [matches] => Array
    (
      [10546] => Array
      (
        [weight] => 3
        [attrs] => Array
        (
          [feed_id] => 624
          [published_at] => 1213713545
        )
      )
      [14154] => Array
      (
        [weight] => 3
        [attrs] => Array
        (
          [feed_id] => 583
          [published_at] => 1213801410
        )
      )
      ...
    )
    [time] => 0.000
    ...
  )

Since I do not store my full-text fields in my index, I then have to take the IDs from the matches array and query the database to get at my data. The query is simple:

SELECT * FROM items WHERE id IN (10546, 14154, …);

Unfortunately, that query will not necessarily return the rows in the order I provided. This is an easy fix if I'd like to sort my results on a column in my database, since I can just add a quick ORDER BY clause on say, the date the item was created. But if I searched the database for results sorted by relevance, the database really doesn't know anything about how to sort that way. I need a way to tell MySQL to sort the results in the order I've supplied my IDs, which leads us to at least two functions: FIND_IN_SET and FIELD.

Both functions work the same way: Given a string (or column) as the first argument, they return the 1-based index — or zero if not found — of the argument in either the list of additional arguments (FIELD) or the second argument, a comma-delimited string (FIND_IN_SET). For my purposes, then, my query looks like this:

# Using FIELD
SELECT * FROM items WHERE id IN (10546, 14154, …) ORDER BY FIELD(id, 10546, 14154, …);

# Using FIND_IN_SET
SELECT * FROM items WHERE id IN (10546, 14154, …) ORDER BY FIND_IN_SET(id, '10546,14154,…');

Both functions will return the same results, sorted the same way. I went so far as to profile both, too, just to make sure I was using the best function. Granted, when I profiled this using MySQL's built-in profiler, my query was pretty simple (as it should be, in my opinion). Your mileage may vary:

  +----------+------------+------------------------------+
  | Query_ID | Duration   | Sorting result | Query       |
  +----------+------------+------------------------------+
  |        1 | 0.01572400 | 0.001129       | FIND_IN_SET |
  |        2 | 0.00241400 | 0.00127        | FIELD       |
  |        3 | 0.00194700 | 0.00114        | FIND_IN_SET |
  |        4 | 0.00193100 | 0.001121       | FIELD       |
  |        5 | 0.00192300 | 0.001116       | FIND_IN_SET |
  |        6 | 0.00192100 | 0.001101       | FIELD       |
  +----------+------------+------------------------------+

Note that the query result is a hybrid between show profiles and show profile for query [id], and I've ripped out the actual query because all I care about is the sorting function being used (the query is the same otherwise). The duration on the whole was lower in each subsequent query because of MySQL's query cache, but since I really wasn't interested in that anyway — just the sorting duration — it doesn't really matter.

The profiling I did was ridiculously contrived, but it did go to show me, based on the miniscule differences, that it most likely will not matter which function I use (although FIND_IN_SET ultimately won out over my exhaustive six-query profile).

Hello Allan,

I am vara, recruiter form Tekforcecorp.
I saw your resume on Internet and we have a immediate requirement for PHP developer.
please see the requirement and let me know if you are interested. Please get back to me with updated rseume and salary info.This is a fulltime position.

Responsibilities:

• Develop web applications and services
• Apply industry best-practice software standards and technology to complex business problems
• Help set-up and maintain development, test and production environments

Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in CS or related field, or equivalent experience
• 2+ years experience in design and development of commercial web applications on multiple platforms
• Previous professional experience with PHP required (PHP5 preferred)
• Current experience with MySQL required
• Basic understanding of OOP principles and practices is required
• Experience with Java, Ruby on Rails, and/or object oriented C++ a plus
• Experience with AJAX a plus
• Ability to work on a small team, in a start-up environment
• Ability to handle multiple concurrent activities and have a flexible, positive attitude
• Excellent verbal, written and communication skills is a must
• Must be team-oriented, with an interest and willingness to help develop and mentor the engineering team as it grows

Vara
Tekforce Corp
2420 Camino Ramon , Suite 212
San Ramon, CA 94583
925 866 8200 ext. 234
925 866 8219 Fax
vara@tekforcecorp.com

The links in question look like this:

http://www.website.com/assets/screenshotbundle(5-20-08).zip

http://www.website.com/assets/screenshotbundle(5-20-08).zip

Delving into the auto_link method in ActionView::Helpers::TextHelper, it's working off a rather large regular expression defined as the constant, AUTO_LINK_RE. To safely change this constant, you need to do so within the initializer block in environment.rb. If you try to define it by putting a file in the config/initializers directory, you'll get a warning that the constant has already been defined. Here's my updated definition:

Rails::Initializer.run do |config|
  module ActionView
    module Helpers
      module TextHelper
        AUTO_LINK_RE = %r{
          (                          # leading text
            <\w+.*?>|                # leading HTML tag, or
            [^=!:'"/]|               # leading punctuation, or
            |                        # nothing
          )
          (
            (?:https?://)|           # protocol spec, or
            (?:www\.)                # www.*
          )
          (
            [-\w]+                   # subdomain or domain
            (?:\.[-\w]+)*            # remaining subdomains or domain
            (?::\d+)?                # port
            (?:/(?:(?:[~\w\+@%=\(\)-]|(?:[,.;:][^\s$]))+)?)* # path
            (?:\?[\w\+@%&=.;-]+)?    # query string
            (?:\#[\w\-]*)?           # trailing anchor
          )
          ([[:punct:]]|\s|<|$)       # trailing text
        }x
      end
    end
  end
end

Update: I've created a ticket to correct this behavior.

class Release < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :tags
  
  MAX_TAGS = 15
  
  def associate(tag)
    self.tags << tag unless self.tags.size == MAX_TAGS
  end
end

At 15 max tags, either I'm going to clutter up my tests with dummy data, or I'm going to drive myself insane creating needless fixtures. I use Mocha to stub out methods in my tests, so I immediately asked myself, "How can I stub a constant?" You can go ahead and alter the constant in your test case using const_set, but that requires that you set it back at the end of your test. Another option is to methodize the constant and stub it out like you would any other method:

class Release < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :tags
  
  MAX_TAGS = 15
  
  def self.max_tags
    MAX_TAGS
  end
  
  def associate(tag)
    self.tags << tag unless self.tags.size == Release.max_tags
  end
end

Now, in your test case, you can just stub out your new class method and, provided you're now accessing the constant in your original method through its new wrapper method, you're all set:

class ReleaseTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
  def test_associate
    Release.stubs(:max_tags).returns(1)
    
    assert_no_difference 'release(:first).tags.reload.size' do
      release(:first).associate(tags(:new))
    end
  end
end

One of the first pieces of AJAX I added to this project was the ability to edit a "media bar" while still browsing the page it was on. You'd click an "edit" link in a vertically floated DIV, and it would scale upwards in sort of a light box effect, while fading out its contents and fading in controls to edit those contents. Now, don't get me wrong. This control looked cool (take my word for it). I still have the code lying around in an old Subversion check-in, because I'm a bit proud of it, actually.

The problem with my editable media bar was that ultimately, it was too stylish for its own good. The novelty wore off after a few uses, and then I was stuck with a difficult-to-maintain piece of JavaScript that never seemed to fit with the rest of the site. But I had spent like three days on it! It was so cool! Which is why it had to go: I had spent so much time on it that I had tunnel vision, and when our designer actually got around to seeing it, he didn't even make a peep; it wasn't even a blip on his radar.

Something I had to realize was that if I really wanted this element on the site, I had to also be comfortable taking it away, and reevaluating it. It may come back in a similar form in the future, but for a version 1.0 release, it wasn't worth the time I spent creating it. I've reverted to a standard link to send users to the media bar edit page, and its functionality is as good, if not better, than my initial flashy solution.

So I'm going to be starting simple on my next project. JavaScript and AJAX can wait. It has its place on The Web, but for most everyday user interface patterns, it's just overkill, and the benefits do not outweigh the development time.

I started my search for the perfect bagel near Union Square at Cafe Encore. This little cafe is situated on Post Street at Mason Street, about a block away from my office. Its sign is small and is sandwiched between two other signs, so if you're coming from the East, you might miss it.

The cafe itself is small with a few places to sit, a juice fridge, ATM, and a menu with a healthy assortment of both breakfast and lunch options. The two women I've seen working there are very friendly and are willing to chat with the customers. There is a sign behind the register that advises, "No soup for you! (We're temporarily sold out, sorry)" and people seem to get a kick out of it.

Regarding the bagels, I should start by saying that I'm looking at four things with these reviews:

• Appearance
• Price
• Bagel bread
• Cream cheese

• Appearance: The bagel doesn't really look good at all. It's smooshed, and reminds me of Lender's bagels. Even when toasted, I feel like it's just going to ooze cream cheese and not have that crunch I love so much when bitten into.
• Price: The bagel costs $2.50. I'm used to a $2.06 bagel, but I've come to accept that most everything costs more in Union Square, so I'm not too concerned. I will say that $2.50 is on the high end of what I expect to pay for my bagel, though, and anything more than that will just disappoint, unless it's God's gift to bagels.
• Bagel bread: The appearance says it all: the bread is squishy and lacks character. There's nothing like biting into a fresh, toasted piece of bread, but this comes nowhere close to perfection.

• Cream cheese: The coverage on the bagel is spotty at best. I pulled off one quarter of the bagel only to realize that 95% of the cream cheese came with it, leaving the other piece beneath it with very little. I'm not looking forward to eating a piece of bagel with almost no cream cheese.

  Another problem is that the cream cheese is really warm and gooey. I like a firm, cold cream cheese to contrast the toasted bagel, but this stuff doesn't hold up to the heat and threatens to turn into a drippy mess.

While I enjoy the cafe itself, I'm going to have to avoid Cafe Encore's bagels from now on. There are too many things wrong with them to keep going back.

My gym does not accept membership during the months of November, December, January, nor February.

Moreso, my gym's card scanning system looks at your account during those four months and if it's been more than 8 months, you're politely but firmly told to come back in March. I understand how frustrated members may become, but as I said before, my gym is fabulous, it is exclusionary, and it does not accommodate resolutionists.

In a functional test (and possibly an integration test, but I don't really touch those), you can set pre-populated cookie variables like so:

def test_cookie
  @request.cookies[:persist] = 'secret'
  get :index
  assert_response :success
end

The above code will set a cookie named "persist" to the value "secret." The subsequent request (get :index in this case) will have that cookie available to it during the action's lifecycle.

One thing to note, however, is that the cookies hash in a functional test is populated after a request has been made, and is only populated with cookies that were set during the request. What does this mean for us? It means this code will not work (assuming the index page does not set any cookies for us):

def test_cookie
  @request.cookies[:persist] = 'secret'
  get :index
  assert_equal 'secret', cookies['persist'] # This will fail as the cookies hash is empty
end

The reason the cookies hash is empty is because no cookies were set during the call to the index action. Think of the cookies hash as you would the assigns hash: It's only filled if you fill it during the request.

Another issue I ran into was testing for the deletion of a cookie. It's a simple fix, but it's something none-the-less:

def test_cookie
  # This action deletes the "persist" cookie via cookies.delete(:persist)
  delete :destroy
  assert_nil cookies['persist'] # This will fail as the value is actually empty, not nil
  assert cookies['persist'].empty? # This will succeed
end

Finally, unlike the assigns hash, you cannot access the cookies hash after a request using a symbol. You must identify the cookie's key by string, even if you set the cookie's key in your action as a symbol. There's a patch for this (Ticket #5924) but nothing is really being done about it.

def test_cookie
  # This action sets the "persist" cookie to '1'
  post :create
  assert_equal '1', cookies[:persist] # This will fail
  assert_equal '1', cookies['persist'] # This will succeed
end

So there you go. A few issues you might run into when testing with cookies.

When I was growing up, my dad used to get a salt-encrusted bagel as often as he could. When his cholesterol started getting too high, my mom made him make us a deal that any bagel he bought would count $5 towards the purchase of a new Super Nintendo game. I think he realized it was a win/win situation, having happy sons and an equally happy stomach, so the plan didn't work very well–at least, not for mom–my brothers and I got at least two games out of it.

There was only one good place to get bagels in Dublin: The Bagel Bakery. I'm glad my dad did the legwork to figure out the best place to buy bagels in my hometown. I think ultimately what made him stop getting so many was the change in ownership. My dad was a people person, and outward image counted a lot towards his coming back to a store. When the new owners were described as, "a little cranky," the bagels stopped coming.

While I understand the downsides of bagels, especially a bagel every morning, I just don't want to give them up. After a lot of searching around SOMA at my old job, I found Cafe Centro in South Park. They have, hands down, the best bagels in SOMA. The bagels themselves are crisp when lightly toasted. The real winner, though, is the cream cheese. A nice, firm cheese is key to a good bagel, and these guys understand that.

My goal in the next few weeks is to document my findings regarding bagels in my new area. I can only hope to find something comparable to The Bagel Bakery and Cafe Centro.