module ActiveRecord #mixin for active record
  module ModelHelper # module name
    def self.included(base) # include this into the base of the class instance
      base.class_eval do # evaluate the below
        (class << self;self;end).class_eval do
          def self.distinct_values(column)
            find(:all, :select => "DISTINCT #{column}").map{|x| x.send(column)} if column_names.include?(column)
          end
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

I like to setup a file in the /lib directory to hold model_helper.rb. I tend to put functions that I like to mix into all of my models into this file. This keeps things dry and it prevents me from running all over wondering where a certain active record model function is located.

def self.distinct_values(column)
  find(:all, :select => "DISTINCT #{column}").map{|x| x.send(column)} if column_names.include?(column)
end

After I mix this function in to all the active records objects I’m give the ability to call it like this:

distinct_items = Model.distinct_values("column_name")
#> ["value1","value2","value3"]

This will return distinct values of a model, instead of the objects themselves. I find this useful in projects where there is sometimes an intentional lack of normalization on a table.

table: posts
+-----+----------+
| id  | category |
+-----+----------+
|  5  | ruby     |
|  35 | ruby     |
|  52 | news     |
|  53 | news     |
|  63 | news     |

so now we can just call.

  Post.distinct_values("category")
  #-> ["ruby","news"]

This is useful for filling dropdown lists, select boxes, etc.

I’ll starting work on a side project with a friend of mine travis robertson . I think its a great idea, but I’m going to keep from sharing to much detail until we have a alpha/beta release.

Obviously, I’ve been working full time on Ruby on Rails projects since 2006, and working with ruby since 2005. I’m going to be working on this project with the hope that I’ll create something that I would use myself, and I think other’s will use it as well.

Now as suggest by my good friend Charles here is some Simple Ruby Code:

I’m sure you know those really wordy for loops in C-based languages in this case javascript.

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10

var i=0;
for (i=0;<=10;i++)
 
{
 
document.write("The number is " + i);
 
document.write("");
 
}

ruby has a simple alternative.

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11.times { |i| p "The number is #{i}\n" }

No that’s obviously simple, but there can be some confusion about what count i starts on. In the case of the .times method its starts on 0. However, there are other loops that you can have more control.

In ruby there is a trick with using arrays for loops.

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[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10].each {|i| p "The number is #{1}\n" }

Now obviously that seems a little odd, but will get the same result.
But ruby like everything has a shortcut using Ranges.

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(0..10).each {|i| p "The number is #{1}\n" }

The number of ..dots matter in the above code. Two dots include the 10 in the loop, while 3 dots.

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(0...10)

will only print 0-9.

Until next time.

The Symbolizer is an extension for Adobe Flash CS3 that helps speed up the organization of symbol creation by sorting during creation of the symbols rather then after they are created.

Features include:

1. Easy Panel Access. Having a panel allows you to have quick access to your symbol creation needs.
2. Naming Memory. If your sick of having to retype symbol names over and over you will definately enjoy this feature.
3. With a click of the mouse have symbols placed inside folders and subfolders on creation.
4. Autonaming- Add your own prefix and suffixes as well as an auto incrementing ability creating names like prefix_name_suffix_1.
5. Create Folders and SubFolders with ease

Watch the Demo Video

The Symbolizer: Flash

Purchase:
Simply pay through paypal and I’ll send you a copy of the symbolizer via email. This is NOT an automated system so it may take some time before your email with the information arrives (1-3 business days).

Buy!

*Do to fraudulent behavior, there are no refunds once the product has been downloaded or emailed. I will of course re-email the software to the same given email address if for some reason it doesn’t make it.

I believe that one person can make all the difference when it comes to creative work. That creativity comes from being well rounded and open minded to new possibilities in a mixture of fields.

Goals:

My goals are to lead a small team to accomplish big changes in the modern web. I want to lead a startup to success and make a lot of friends along the way.

Experience:

I have been working in the flash design arena since 1999, back when Flash 4 was king. While mastering the software I picked up knowledge with many other Macromedia(now Adobe) products including Fireworks, Dreamweaver and Freehand, as well as Contribute and Captivate.

Other Skills:

Programming:

HTML, CSS, Actionscript,
PHP, XML, XSL, Javascript, Python
C++, JAVA, Ruby (including Rails).

Artistic.

Flash, Fireworks, and Photoshop.
Dreamweaver, Contribute, Freehand, Illustrator, and Expression.

Office.

Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Filemaker, OneNote

Databases

Access, Oracle and Mysql.

OS

Both OSX, Linux and Windows.

How I got started:

I got started when I was 17 and got a hold of my first pc, an IBM Aptiva pentium II with 2 gig harddrive. At that time I had already been drawing since infancy. When the computer came into my life I knew what I wanted to do. I started browsing such famous sites as Joecartoon and others when I discovered flash 4, and downloaded the trial edition. The rest is history. By the time Flash 5 came around I was already making cartoons, and my first cartoon was picked up by AtomFilms less than a year later.

Clients:

Since then I’ve been making several toons, for various purposes, as well as being an active member and moderator over at flashfilmmaker.com since 2002. There I helped Ibis Fernandez ( the founder) develop award winning software such as the Toon Titan , as well as assisted him with the development of his now defunct Animaton Directory. I’ve also written tutorials, and assisted several animators with their everyday animator woes.

From there I met several very talented artists such as Chris Georgenes of mudbubble.com and have done programming work for him on a few of his clients sites (more specifically GlobalprotectionCorp and mksdesign.com ).

My very own Symbolizer 1.0 has been a success selling copies to some of the most influential flash animators in the business.

Freelance history:

I kind of fell into freelancing when I realized that where I lived there was nobody who had my skills, so I decided I should self promote and offer my skills on an “as needed” bases, plus it beats selling fried fish.

Education:

I’ve got a Bachelors in Business Administration Degree from the University of North Alabama with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems.

Final Note:

What sets me apart from other flash “gurus”? I have excellent project management skills, and I can achieve great results on a budget. I’m easy going, easy to work with, and a generally nice guy, I’m not “all about business” but at the same time, I respect the business aspect. I’m professional and seek to retain clients long term, as well as short term. I’m a problem solver, and I take great pride in my ability to solve client’s problems, even if it only takes a single email.

Contact Me:

Jim Fisher

Baby steps.

Hopefully, I’m going to be bringing some interesting things back to the web again.

Take it easy everyone.
Jim

Well, I’ve been busy. I’ve moved into my own place in Murfreesboro, TN. It’s pretty cool up here. I’ve got some great neighbors and I’m located within 5 feet of a pool. Overall, everything is going well.

As for working on my own stuff, I haven’t had much time. Actually, I’m still settling in to my new place, and driving back and forth to my old house every other weekend, so its taking some time to get used to stuff. I plan on working on some projects as soon as I feel comfortable.

At work I’ve been learning some pretty cool stuff. Recently, I’ve been working with VMWare which turns out to be pretty cool. You can run multiple OS’s on a single box, which I can see as being a major money-saver.

I’ve also been working with Oracle – Oracle is not fun. It is way too complicated for what I would consider an “enterprise level” database. My idea of “enterprise level” is easy to use, easy to maintain, and as flexible as possible. Two of those things are missing. Now, that’s my humble opinion, but if I was paying thousands of dollars, I would require those three things out of a database, especially since there are free databases out there that have 75% of the above three attributes.

I’ve seen those Oracle Guru’s out there with their huge ego’s learning complicated software for the sake of learning it. Why make it any easier and put those $100,000 a year oracle admins out of work? I always see this elitism on the forums when I’m looking through old posts of people asking for help. I guess I’m not a member of the in-crowd quite yet, and I’m not entirely sure I want to be.

Well I’m getting of this machine for awhile,

Take it easy everyone,
Jim Fisher

Well I finally Graduated with Honors from the University of North Alabama. I’m glad to see it finally end, but also a little sad about saying good bye to some of the friends I made there this past year. I’ve suddenly been left with a lot of time on my hands, so I’ve been practicing RUBY.

RUBY is an awesome programming language that, in my opinion, is a real joy to use. I’ve been playing around with it for the past month or so. It took me all but a weekend to get the hang of the syntax, and now I’ve been learning to do more complex things with it. I like it better then even PYTHON, which was my previously held language champion. There is just something about RUBY that makes it fun to use.

Now that I’ve said that I love it, let me bring it back down to earth a bit about somethings I don’t much care for. For one thing, it’s not widely supported (yet). Secondly, there are still some bugs on the Windows-side of things. Finally, this one is somewhat related to the first, it’s hard to get it working on an APACHE webserver.

Once all these things are figured out – I think it will really take off. Obviously Windows is the most popular OS, so getting all the developer bugs out of it is a must. Apache is the most popular webserver, so the same goes for it.

Sometimes, I wish that a language like RUBY could be the good old compiled kind. So I’d never have to use C++ again, but alas – it is not. I’d also like to see a GUI toolkit that is simple to use or at least works just like the language that uses it. The closest thing I’ve seen is wxRUBY for RUBY, but I still don’t like somethings about it.

I’m quickly beginning to realize that it’s not the programming language that makes the language fun, its more the tools you use to develop with, that make it fun.

For example, I hate hand typing every little tag in an HTML page, so I use dreamweaver to speed up my workflow – sure you have to still know HTML to make corrections or minor modifications to generated code, but it still works really well.

The same hold true with Visual C++,C#,J#,BASIC, ETC. It just makes the language more useable instantly. Keeps me from having to type everything in.

So, now I await a Visual RUBY application. I might be smart enough to do it myself – one day. You never know.

You guys take it easy,

Jim