Using Transloadit for file uploading & processing on your website

Over the years I have used a variety of custom solutions to resize images, encode video, etc.  Transloadit provides a really nice cloud based solution that you can use with any technology stack.  From rails, to php, to JavaScript, you can interface with their API to upload images and videos.  They offer some easy to use plugins to help get you started https://transloadit.com/docs#jquery-plugin

Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError: SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=SSLv3 read server certificate B: certificate verify failed

If you run bundle and receive the message: 
 
Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError: SSL_connect returned=1 errno=0 state=SSLv3 read
server certificate B: certificate verify failed
 
You might need to update your gem version - issue the following: 
$ gem -v

if less than 1.8.24, update using:

$ gem update --system
 

The 'json' native gem requires installed build tools

If you are trying to run bundle install or rake version:write ib windows and receive the message The 'json' native gem requires installed build tools or 

Gem::InstallError: The 'json' native gem requires installed build tools.

Please update your PATH to include build tools 

you can resolve by doing the following:

Visit  

http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads

and download the development kit (make sure you download the link for the development kit, not ruby,etc) 

Once downloaded, follow the instructions on:

https://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/wiki/Development-Kit 

Ruby 1.9 and Rails 3 Changes

The following are some changes I recently came across when updating a rails 2.x plugin to 3.x.

 

  1. Default HTML Encoding or Escaping behavior has changed (XSS prevention).  Now, in order to not have your <>'s encoded, you can use <%= raw ... %> or "<div>".safe_html

  2. Time.parse will return 

 

Ruby on Rails Mysql::Error: Unknown system variable 'NAMES': SET NAMES 'utf8'

If you receive the following error message Mysql::Error: Unknown system variable 'NAMES': SET NAMES 'utf8' when trying to run MySQL with ruby on rails it may be due to the version of MySQL you are running.  I was receiving this error when running a basic ROR app as well as when trying to run a migration rake db:migrate.

Turns out I was using MySQL version 4.0.12-nt which is not supported with the most recent version of rails. 

 I had MySQL 5.1 running on a different port, so I also needed to update the database.yml file to specify the port.  If you need to specify a MySQL port with rails, you need to add port: to the yml file...mine ended up looking like: 

  host: localhost
  port: 3307

 With those changes in place, I was then able to run my rails app and migrations.

Software Development Podcasts

Below is a list of software development podcasts, IT Podcasts, and general computer related podcasts. Please add commnets on podcasts you enjoy...

.NET Rocks - This is a really good (quality and content) podcast that focuses on .NET development.  While the main focus is .NET there is a fair amount of content that applies to general computing and development such as design patterns, agilie practices, and more.

Software Engineerig Radio - This podcast provides an excellent variaty of topics that span technologies, languages, platforms, methodologies, etc. The shows can be rather technical and geared more toward knowledgable developers, but still offer a wealth of knowledge for beginners through experts.

Hansel Minutes - This is a weekly podcast that is primarily focused on Microsoft technologies but also includes other technologies and topics from time to time (for example digital photography).  While Scott is a Microsoft employee, the cast is rather open to non MS technologies and techniques such as TDD, ALT.NET, etc.

The Java Posse - This is an excellent podcast focused on the Java language, platform, and related technologies.  It provides both technical information as well as news and events within the Java community.

Buzz Out Loud - This is a daily podcast that is a summary of news and events relating to technology.  The personalities of the hosts really help to seperate this podcast from the usually news recap type shows...certainly worth checking out...

Polymorphic Podcast - A good podcast focusing on development and .NET.  The podcasts sometimes include screencasts and overall provides a lot of good content.

SSWUG - A database centric podcast dealing mainly with SQL Server but does include topics on other RBDMS as general database best practices.

Slashdot Review -  While at times biased, this can be a quick and informative cast.

Google Developer Podcast - Hopefully this will be a good resource to learn more about the technolgy offerings available through google.

Windows Weekly Podcast - Interesting take on the windows world.

ALT.NET Podcasts - A really good podcast that covers topics that all developrs should familiarize themselves with.

Deep Fried Bytes Podcast - Good podcast focusing on mainly Microsoft development

Thirsty Developer - Another good developer podcast focusing mainly on .NET

herdingcode.com - Good podcast relating to development

WebDevRadio - Covers web development

eCorner - Stanford entreprenure podcast 

Stackoverflow - development podcast 

ThoughtWorks - Business and technology topics

Agile Toolkit - topics relating to Agile development 

Udi Dahan - SOA podcast 

Endpoint.tv - New show hosted by Ron Jacobs on REST, SOA, web services, etc. 

http://pixel8.infragistics.com/default.aspx - UI, UX, RIA info

Finacial Physician

Railscast - webcasts on Ruby on Rails

Rails Podcast - podcasts on RoR

FLOSS - Weekly podcast on free and open source software

GiaOM - weekly show about technology and business 

Pragmatic Programmers - Interesting tech podcasts

Rails Envy - Regular podcast on Ruby on Rails

The Start Up Success Podcast - Name says it all...

This Week in Start Ups - Podcast on business and technology

Mobil Orchard - iPhone development topics

Stuff You Should Know - Variety of interesting topics from science to general knowledge....quite entertaining....