Nice brief git log format

I'm really happy with this. There's two new features compared to what I've been using up until recently.

Firstly, I just learned about the core.pager option which solves the problems I was solving previously with this ugliness:
ll = "!git --no-pager log --pretty=nice -n30; echo"

Secondly, the %+d. I generally don't use the --graph log formats, (such as these), that show you the branch paths, but seeing where the refs are is super useful. The + makes it appear on the next line without adding a line break when there are no refs.

	[core]
	# -E means don't page if less one screen
	# -F means quit when EOF reached
	# -r fixes the %C(yellow)%+d colouring somehow
	pager = less -E -F -r
	[alias]
	ll = log --pretty=nice -n 30 # about one screen worth
	lll = log --pretty=nice # goes back forever
	[pretty]
	# %h is short commit hash
	# %cr is time ago in words
	# %cn is committer name
	# %s is the commit message title
	# %+d is a line break and a list of refs
	nice = format:%Cblue%h %Cred%cr %Cgreen%cn%Creset - %s%C(yellow)%+d

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Here's a screenshot of how it looks (with details obscured to protect the innocent).

Update: I dropped the line break before the refs list, which is fine if you have a nice wide terminal, and tweaked some colours. Now it's:

  nice = format:%Cblue%h %C(cyan)%cr %Cgreen%an%Creset %s%C(yellow)%d %Creset

Some "progress" on my Tau in Ruby patch

Its category was changed from "core" to "joke" :(... How does the quote go? "First they ignore your patch, then they classify it as a joke, then... " I forget the rest ;)

"Once τ is widely accepted in these communities, we might add it..."

But also:

"...if it were just up to me, I'd add it just to show support. It's a rather tiny and harmless addition."

See the ticket here.

Haskell?

It compiles so I guess that means I wrote some Haskell! :)

(See my Pandoc pull request and commit).

Make it easier to use partials with blocks in rails

The shorter version of render :partial is widely known and used. These are equivalent, but the second version is so much more succinct and readable.

	<%= render :partial => 'thing_one', :locals => { :foo => '123' } %>
	<%= render 'thing_one', :foo => '123' %>

view raw shortrender.html.erb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

To use a partial with a yield in it, (what I call a "block partial"), you can use render :layout which a. doesn't read very well, (it's a partial, not a layout clearly), and b. can't be shortened nicely the way that render :partial can. So here is block_render:

	#
	# A trick so you can have partials that take blocks.
	# Uses render :layout.
	#
	# Example:
	# <%= block_render 'some_partial_with_a_yield', :foo => 123 do %>
	# Any erb here...
	# <% end %>
	#
	def block_render(partial_name, locals={})
	render :layout => partial_name, :locals => locals do
	yield
	end
	end

view raw block_render_helper.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

It lets you have nice neat render calls like this:

	<%= block_render 'block_thing', :foo => '123' do %>
	stuff inside here
	<% end %>

view raw blockrender.html.erb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

This is a real-life example of a block partial I like to use. Those classes are bootstrap classes for making a nice drop down menu.

	<%#
	#
	# Locals:
	# right (optional)
	#
	# Example usage:
	# <x= block_render 'shared/more_button_menu' x>
	# <li><x= link_to 'Foo, '#' x></li>
	# <li><x= link_to 'Bar, '#' x></li>
	# <x end x>
	#
	-%>
	<a class="btn dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">More <span class="caret"></span></a>
	<ul class="dropdown-menu<%= " pull-right" if defined?(right) && right %>">
	<%= yield %>
	</ul>

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How to make pinned tabs in Firefox a bit wider

I'm using Stylish to apply this, but I guess you could do it with a userChrome.css.

	@namespace url(http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul);
	.tabbrowser-tab[pinned] {
	width: 72px;
	}

view raw styles.css hosted with ❤ by GitHub

The main reason I want this is so the hit target is larger. I want to be able to click my pinned app tabs (currently a TiddlyWiki and my Zimbra corporate calendar) without aiming too hard.

Make ActiveRecord::Base#create respect the :type attribute

I think I've needed and implemented this twice now, so let's make a post about it.

The problem occurs when you are using f.fields_for and nested forms, as per these railscasts, and the nested objects are using STI.

(Will leave a more detailed explanation for future posts).

Update 1: Even though this works as described, I don't think it solves my problem. Will post again if I figure it out...

Update 2: Found this which is I think what I was using last time I had this problem... :S

	#
	# This was causing problems when submitting the nested object form
	# in a/v/product/channels_edit because all the nested channels would
	# be created at plan Channel objects instead of the PrimaryChannel, EusChannel etc.
	#
	# In active record normally :type is ignored, eg:
	# Channel.create(:type='PrimaryChannel', :etc=>1, ...)
	# ignores the type attr and uses 'Channel'.
	#
	# This hack will make it actually use the :type value.
	#
	# Usage:
	#
	# class User < ActiveRecord::Base
	# extend ActiveRecord::CreateWithSubtype
	# ...
	# end
	#
	# class AdminUser < User
	# ...
	# end
	#
	# >> User.create(:type=>'AdminUser', :username=>'simon', ...) #=> #<AdminUser id:123 ...>
	#
	# Actually needed this for nested objects in forms using accepts_nested_attributes_for.
	# http://railscasts.com/episodes/197-nested-model-form-part-2
	#
	# When updating the type is preserved, but when creating a new subobject with the nested form
	# the type is always the base class, which in my case was a problem.
	#
	# (I put this file in lib/active_record/create_with_subtype.rb)
	#
	module ActiveRecord
	module CreateWithSubtype
	def create(attributes=nil, &block)
	# Check if :type attribute exists. Remove it from attributes
	# (Note that attributes can be an array, hence Hash test)
	specified_type = attributes.delete(:type) if attributes.is_a?(Hash)
	if specified_type
	# Find the specified class
	use_sub_class = const_get(specified_type)
	# Sanity check
	raise "'#{use_sub_class}' not a subclass of '#{self}'" unless self.descendants.include?(use_sub_class)
	# Call create on the specified subclass
	use_sub_class.create(attributes, &block)
	else
	# Otherwise, just do the normal thing
	super(attributes, &block)
	end
	end
	end
	end

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