Script to generate an RSS feed from RenWeb's announcements

The following ruby (jruby) and sql code will get the Announcements from RenWeb and create an RSS feed file from them. The scripts needs the JDBC ActiveRecord gem. If you have any questions on how to run this script, please write a comment below. Both files are released under the MIT license.

main.rb:

require 'rss/maker'
require 'cgi'
require 'rubygems'
gem 'activerecord-jdbc-adapter'
require 'jdbc_adapter'


class AnnouncementsDistrict < ActiveRecord::Base
    
  AnnouncementsDistrict.establish_connection(
    :adapter => :jdbc,
    :username =>  "YOUR ODBC USERNAME",
    :password =>  "YOUR ODBC PASSWORD",
    :driver =>  "com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver",
    :url =>  "jdbc:sqlserver://THE URL TO CONNECT;DatabaseName=YOUR DATABASE NAME")
  
  set_table_name("AnnouncementsDistrict")

#Gets an sql query from a file
  def self.get_sql_query_from_file(filename, params_hash_for_sql_query = nil)
    fi = File.open(filename)
    sql_query = fi.read
    if params_hash_for_sql_query != nil
      params_hash_for_sql_query.each do |key, value|
        sql_query = sql_query.gsub("$P!{#{key.to_s}}", value.to_s)
      end
    end
    fi.close
    return sql_query
  end
  
  def self.get_announcements
    announcements = self.find_by_sql(get_sql_query_from_file("parents_web_announcements.sql"))
  end
  
end

version = "2.0" # ["0.9", "1.0", "2.0"]
destination = "news.xml" # local file to write

announcements = AnnouncementsDistrict.get_announcements()
content = RSS::Maker.make(version) do |m|
  m.channel.title = "School News"
  m.channel.link = "http://www.yourlink.com"
  m.channel.description = "School News RSS"
  m.items.do_sort = true # sort items by date
  
  announcements.each do |item|
    i = m.items.new_item
    i.title = item.Title
    i.link = "http://www.yourlink.com"
    #replace new lines with html's 
 and then html escape the whole message
    i.description = item.Message.to_s.gsub("\n","<br/>")
    i.date = item.BeginDate
    
  end

end

File.open(destination,"w") do |f|
  f.write(content)
end

parents_web_announcements.sql:

SELECT
    AnnouncementID,     
    Title,     
    SchoolCode,     
    Message,     
    BeginDate,    
    EndDate 
FROM
     AnnouncementsDistrict 
where  
    AnnouncementsDistrict."Public" = 1 and EndDate >= GetDate() 
order by 
BeginDate,
AnnouncementID

Put both files in the same folder and run it as "jruby main.rb". Alternatively, you can use NetBeans to run it and/or edit it.

How to create a yahoo datatable in rails

To create a Yahoo Ajax Datatable (with local datasource) from a rails view, I had to do the following. First I had to add this helper method to the Application controller:

module ApplicationHelper

  #Outputs the javascript code necesary to create a yahoo datable 
  # from a plain datasource
  # column_array: and array of 2-item arrays in the form: 
  #               ["name_wihout_spaces", "Text to show in the column header"]
  # data_rows: an array or rows. Each row is an array that has the values in the 
  #            order specified in the column_array.
  def to_yahoo_array_data_source(column_array, data_rows, custom_div_id = "myContainer", 
custom_col_var_name = "data_cols",
      custom_datasource_var_name = "data_source")
   
    column_items = []
    column_array.each do |column|
      column_items << "{key:\"#{column[0]}\", label:\"#{column[1]}\", sortable:true}"
    end
    column_code = "var #{custom_col_var_name} = [#{column_items.join(',')}];"


    data_items = []
    data_rows.each do |row|
      data_for_row = []
      for col_idx in 0...column_array.size
        row[col_idx] = "\"#{escape_javascript(row[col_idx])}\"" unless row[col_idx].is_a?(Fixnum)
        data_for_row << "#{column_array[col_idx][0]}: #{row[col_idx]}"
      end
      data_items << "{#{data_for_row.join(',')}}"
    end
    record_set_code = "var #{custom_datasource_var_name} = new YAHOO.util.LocalDataSource([#{data_items.join(',')}]);"
    #    {key:"no", label:"No.", sortable:true},
    #    {key:"lname", label:"Last Name", sortable:true},
    #    {key:"age", label:"Age", sortable:true}
    #];
    return "#{column_code}\n #{record_set_code}\nvar myDataTable = new YAHOO.widget.DataTable(\"#{custom_div_id}\", #{custom_col_var_name}, #{custom_datasource_var_name});"
  end
end

Next I added the required javascript libraries to the application layout:

<html>

<head>
 <title>Email Detentions</title>

 <%= javascript_include_tag 'prototype' %>
 <!--CSS file (default YUI Sam Skin) -->
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/datatable/assets/skins/sam/datatable.css">

<!-- Dependencies -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/yahoo-dom-event/yahoo-dom-event.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/element/element-beta-min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/datasource/datasource-min.js"></script>

<!-- OPTIONAL: JSON Utility (for DataSource) -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/json/json-min.js"></script>

<!-- OPTIONAL: Connection Manager (enables XHR for DataSource) -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/connection/connection-min.js"></script>

<!-- OPTIONAL: Get Utility (enables dynamic script nodes for DataSource) -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/get/get-min.js"></script>

<!-- OPTIONAL: Drag Drop (enables resizeable or reorderable columns) -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/dragdrop/dragdrop-min.js"></script>

<!-- OPTIONAL: Calendar (enables calendar editors) -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/calendar/calendar-min.js"></script>

<!-- Source files -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.6.0/build/datatable/datatable-min.js"></script>

</head>
<body class="yui-skin-sam">

<%= @content_for_layout %>
</body>
</html>

And then I had to call the helper method from my view. This is an example (which by the way, it also shows how to implement the "click all" check box that select all check boxes when clicked):

<h1>Email Demerit Detention letters</h1>
<% form_tag({:controller => 'deans', :action => 'send_detention_demerits_letter'}, :id => 'students_selection') do -%>
  <br/>Please enter the detention date as it will appear in the email: <%= text_field(:email, :detention_date, :value => Time.now.next_week(day = :thursday).to_date.to_formatted_s(:long_ordinal) ) %>
  <%= hidden_field(:email, :beg_date, :value => @beg_date) %>

  <br/> Mark the checkbox of the students that should receive an email:
  <br/>
  <input id="check_all" name="check_all" type="checkbox" 
onclick="Form.getInputs('students_selection', 
'checkbox').each(function(box){box.checked = $('check_all').checked})" />
  Select All Students
  <br/>
  <div id="myContainer"></div>

  <%= submit_tag "Send emails"  %> <strong>(don't click twice, it may take some time to send all emails)</strong>

<% end -%>

<!-- Create the table -->
<script type="text/javascript">

<% column_array = [['no', "No."],['Name', "Name"],['Total_Demerits', "Total Demerits"],
  ['Credits', "Credits"],
  ['Balance', "Balance"]]; data_rows = []; std_idx = 1 %>
<% for student in @students_needing_detention %>

  <% std_name = student.Students_LastName + ", " + student.Students_FirstName %>
  <% data_rows << ["#{std_idx.to_s.rjust(3)} #{check_box_tag("students[#{std_idx}]", 
student.Students_StudentID, false)}" , std_name, 
student.tot_dems.to_s.rjust(5), student.tot_creds.to_s.rjust(5), student.diff.to_s.rjust(5)] %>
  <% std_idx = std_idx + 1 %>

<% end %>
<%= to_yahoo_array_data_source(column_array, data_rows) %>

</script>

Strange behavior with the up,left,space bar key combo

I was checking if the up and left arrow and the space bar was pressed in my game code to allow the player to move and turn and shoot at the same time. Turns out that in GameMaker 7, if the user holds up+left+space bar keys at the same time, either the up or the left arrow key event will be ignored. I had to change the shoot key to the key to go around this weird behavior.