[ANN] Rails 0.8: Just shy of 100 additions, changes, tweaks, and fixes!

It's been fifty days since our last confession, so it's no wonder that  
this outpouring is by far the biggest yet in Rails history. It's  
absolutely packed with goodies ranging from a whole new framework for  
sending email to the smallest new alias for an existing method. In  
total we're just shy of 100 additions, changes, tweaks, and fixes.

This is also the release with the highest number of contributors. I've  
counted at least 23 different people with patches in Rails 0.8 -- and  
there are many, many more responsible for suggestions and bug reports.  
This is truely turning into a community movement and I'm extremely  
pleased to be the steward for it.

Get it all from http://www.rubyonrails.org, talk it up on #rubyonrails  
(FreeNet).

Or even easier, just do "gem install rails" (or "gem update" if you're  
already running on Gem Rails) -- you'll automatically install all the  
newest versions of the required dependencies. (NOTE: Wait 40 minutes  
from this mail went out, so the gem repository is in synch -- couldn't  
we check every 15 minutes instead of every hour :)?)

Commercial announcement: If you're looking for a place to host your  
Rails project or just to play around with it online, we now have an  
official hosting partner in TextDrive. I'm on board to ensure that the  
Rails experience is top notch and in return 50% of the gross profits  
are going to help further Rails. Read more on:  
http://www.rubyonrails.org/show/TextDriveHosting


Rails 0.8.0: Multi-word classes are now welcome, WEBrick binding
================================================================

* Removed custom_table_name option for new_model now that the Inflector  
is as powerful as it is

* Changed the default rake action to just do testing and separate API  
generation and coding statistics into a "doc" task.

* Fixed WEBrick dispatcher to handle missing slashes in the URLs  
gracefully [alexey]

* Added user option for all postgresql tool calls in the rakefile  
[elvstone]

* Fixed problem with running "ruby public/dispatch.servlet" instead of  
"cd public; ruby dispatch.servlet" [alexey]

* Fixed WEBrick server so that it no longer hardcodes the ruby  
interpreter used to "ruby" but will get the one used based on the Ruby  
runtime configuration. [Marcel Molina Jr.]

* Fixed Dispatcher so it'll route requests to magic_beans to  
MagicBeansController/magic_beans_controller.rb [Caio Chassot]

* "new_controller MagicBeans" and "new_model SubscriptionPayments" will  
now both behave properly as they use the new Inflector.

* Fixed problem with MySQL foreign key constraint checks in Rake  
:clone_production_structure_to_test target [Andreas Schwarz]

* Changed WEBrick server to by default be auto-reloading, which is  
slower but makes source changes instant. Class compilation cache can be  
turned on with "-c" or "--cache-classes".

* Added "-b/--binding" option to WEBrick dispatcher to bind the server  
to a specific IP address (default: 127.0.0.1) [Kevin Temp]

* dispatch.fcgi now DOESN'T set FCGI_PURE_RUBY as it was slowing things  
down for now reason [Andreas Schwarz]

* Added new_mailer generator to work with Action Mailer

* Included new framework: Action Mailer 0.3

* Upgraded to Action Pack 0.9.0

* Upgraded to Active Record 1.0.0


Action Mailer 0.3: Easy email delivery and testing
==================================================

Action Mailer is framework for designing email-service layers. These  
layers are used to consolidate code for sending out forgotten  
passwords, welcoming wishes on signup, invoices for billing, and any  
other use case that requires a written notification to either a person  
or another system.

The framework works by setting up all the email details, except the  
body, in methods on the service layer. Subject, recipients, sender, and  
timestamp are all set up this way. An example of such a method:

   def signed_up(recipient)
     @recipients   = recipient
     @subject      = "[Signed up] Welcome #{recipient}"
     @from         = "[e-mail]"
     @sent_on      = Time.local(2004, 12, 12)

     @body["recipient"] = recipient
   end

The body of the email is created by using an Action View template  
(regular ERb) that has the content of the @body hash available as  
instance variables. So the corresponding body template for the method  
above could look like this:

   Hello there,

   Mr. <%= @recipient %>

And if the recipient was given as "[e-mail]", the email  
generated would look like this:

   Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0100
   From: [e-mail]
   To: [e-mail]
   Subject: [Signed up] Welcome [e-mail]

   Hello there,

   Mr. [e-mail]

You never actually call the instance methods like signed_up directly.  
Instead, you call class methods like deliver_* and create_* that are  
automatically created for each instance method. So if the signed_up  
method sat on ApplicationMailer, it would look like this:

   ApplicationMailer.create_signed_up("[e-mail]")  # =>  
tmail object for testing
   ApplicationMailer.deliver_signed_up("[e-mail]") # sends  
the email
   ApplicationMailer.new.signed_up("[e-mail]")     # won't  
work!



Active Record 1.0.0: Easy email delivery and testing
====================================================


* Added OO-style associations methods [Florian Weber]. Examples:

   Project#milestones_count       => Project#milestones.size
   Project#build_to_milestones    => Project#milestones.build
   Project#create_for_milestones  => Project#milestones.create
   Project#find_in_milestones     => Project#milestones.find
   Project#find_all_in_milestones => Project#milestones.find_all

* Added serialize as a new class method to control when text attributes  
should be YAMLized or not. This means that automated serialization of  
hashes, arrays, and so on WILL NO LONGER HAPPEN (#10). You need to do  
something like this:

   class User < ActiveRecord::Base
     serialize :settings
   end

This will assume that settings is a text column and will now YAMLize  
any object put in that attribute. You can also specify an optional  
:class_name option that'll raise an exception if a serialized object is  
retrieved as a descendent of a class not in the hierarchy. Example:

   class User < ActiveRecord::Base
     serialize :settings, :class_name => "Hash"
   end

   user = User.create("settings" => %w( one two three ))
   User.find(user.id).settings # => raises SerializationTypeMismatch

* Added the option to connect to a different database for one model at  
a time. Just call establish_connection on the class you want to have  
connected to another database than Base. This will automatically also  
connect decendents of that class to the different database [Renald  
Buter].

* Added transactional protection for Base#save. Validations can now  
check for values knowing that it happens in a transaction and callbacks  
can raise exceptions knowing that the save will be rolled back.  
[Suggested by Alexey Verkhovsky]

* Added column name quoting so reserved words, such as "references",  
can be used as column names [Ryan Platte]

* Added the possibility to chain the return of what happened inside a  
logged block [geech]:

     This now works:
       log { ... }.map { ... }

     Instead of doing:
       result = []
       log { result = ... }
       result.map { ... }

* Added "socket" option for the MySQL adapter, so you can change it to  
something else than "/tmp/mysql.sock" [Anna Liss Cruz]

* Added respond_to? answers for all the attribute methods. So if Person  
has a name attribute retrieved from the table schema,  
person.respond_to? "name" will return true.

* Added Base.benchmark which can be used to aggregate logging and  
benchmark, so you can measure and represent multiple statements in a  
single block. Usage (hides all the SQL calls for the individual actions  
and calculates total runtime for them all):

     Project.benchmark("Creating project") do
       project = Project.create("name" => "stuff")
       project.create_manager("name" => "David")
       project.milestones << Milestone.find_all
     end

* Added logging of invalid SQL statements [Suggested by Daniel Von  
Fange]

* Added alias Errors#[] for Errors#on, so you can now say  
person.errors["name"] to retrieve the errors for name [Andreas Schwarz]

* Added RubyGems require attempt if sqlite-ruby is not available  
through regular methods.

* Added compatibility with 2.x series of sqlite-ruby drivers. [Jamis  
Buck]

* Added type safety for association assignments, so a  
ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch will be raised if you attempt to  
assign an object that's not of the associated class. This cures the  
problem with nil giving id = 4 and fixnums giving id = 1 on mistaken  
association assignments. [Reported by Andreas Schwarz]

* Added the option to keep many fixtures in one single YAML document  
[what-a-day]

* Added the class method "inheritance_column" that can be overwritten  
to return the name of an alternative column than "type" for storing the  
type for inheritance hierarchies. [Dave Steinberg]

* Added [] and []= as an alternative way to access attributes when the  
regular methods have been overwritten [Dave Steinberg]

* Added the option to observer more than one class at the time by  
specifying observed_class as an array

* Added auto-id propagation support for tables with arbitrary primary  
keys that have autogenerated sequences associated with them on  
PostgreSQL. [Dave Steinberg]

* Changed that integer and floats set to "" through attributes= remain  
as NULL. This was especially a problem for scaffolding and postgresql.  
(#49)

* Changed the MySQL Adapter to rely on MySQL for its defaults for  
socket, host, and port [Andreas Schwarz]

* Changed ActionControllerError to decent from StandardError instead of  
Exception. It can now be caught by a generic rescue.

* Changed class inheritable attributes to not use eval [Caio Chassot]

* Changed Errors#add to now use "invalid" as the default message  
instead of true, which means full_messages work with those [Marcel  
Molina Jr]

* Fixed spelling on Base#add_on_boundry_breaking to  
Base#add_on_boundary_breaking (old naming still works) [Marcel Molina  
Jr.]

* Fixed that entries in the has_and_belongs_to_many join table didn't  
get removed when an associated object was destroyed.

* Fixed unnecessary calls to SET AUTOCOMMIT=0/1 for MySQL adapter  
[Andreas Schwarz]

* Fixed PostgreSQL defaults are now handled gracefully [Dave Steinberg]

* Fixed increment/decrement_counter are now atomic updates [Andreas  
Schwarz]

* Fixed the problems the Inflector had turning Attachment into  
attuchments and Cases into Casis [radsaq/Florian Gross]

* Fixed that cloned records would point attribute references on the  
parent object [Andreas Schwarz]

* Fixed SQL for type call on inheritance hierarchies [Caio Chassot]

* Fixed bug with typed inheritance [Florian Weber]

* Fixed a bug where has_many collection_count wouldn't use the  
conditions specified for that association



Action Pack 0.9.0: Builder-based templates, functional testing,  
performance
======================================================================== 
===

* Added support for Builder-based templates for files with the .rxml  
extension. These new templates are an alternative to ERb that are  
especially useful for generating XML content, such as this RSS example  
from Basecamp:

   xml.rss("version" => "2.0", "xmlns:dc" =>  
"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/") do
     xml.channel do
       xml.title(@feed_title)
       xml.link(@url)
       xml.description "Basecamp: Recent items"
       xml.language "en-us"
       xml.ttl "40"

       for item in @recent_items
         xml.item do
           xml.title(item_title(item))
           xml.description(item_description(item)) if  
item_description(item)
           xml.pubDate(item_pubDate(item))
           xml.guid(@person.firm.account.url + @recent_items.url(item))
           xml.link(@person.firm.account.url + @recent_items.url(item))

           xml.tag!("dc:creator", item.author_name) if  
item_has_creator?(item)
         end
       end
     end
   end

   ...which will generate something like:

   <rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
     <channel>
       <title>Web Site Redesign</title>
       <link>http://www.basecamphq.com/clients/travelcenter/1/</link>
       <description>Basecamp: Recent items</description>
       <language>en-us</language>
       <ttl>40</ttl>
       <item>
         <title>Post: don't you know</title>
         <description>&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;deeper and  
down&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</description>
         <pubDate>Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:13:50 CEST</pubDate>
          
<guid>http://www.basecamphq.com/clients/travelcenter/1/msg/assets/ 
96976/comments</guid>
          
<link>http://www.basecamphq.com/clients/travelcenter/1/msg/assets/ 
96976/comments</link>
         <dc:creator>David H. Heinemeier</dc:creator>
       </item>
       <item>
         <title>Milestone completed: Design Comp 2</title>
         <pubDate>Mon,  9 Aug 2004 14:42:06 CEST</pubDate>
          
<guid>http://www.basecamphq.com/clients/travelcenter/1/milestones/#49</ 
guid>
          
<link>http://www.basecamphq.com/clients/travelcenter/1/milestones/#49</ 
link>
       </item>
     </channel>
   </rss>

The "xml" local variable is automatically available in .rxml templates.  
You construct the template by calling a method with the name of the tag  
you want. Options for the tag can be specified as a hash parameter to  
that method.

Builder-based templates can be mixed and matched with the regular ERb  
ones. The only thing that differentiates them is the extension. No new  
methods have been added to the public interface to handle them.

Action Pack ships with a version of Builder, but it will use the  
RubyGems version if you have one installed.

Read more about Builder on:  
http://onestepback.org/index.cgi/Tech/Ruby/StayingSimple.rdoc

[Builder is created by Jim Weirich]

* Added much improved support for functional testing [what-a-day].

   # Old style
   def test_failing_authenticate
     @request.request_uri = "/login/authenticate"
     @request.action = "authenticate"
     @request.request_parameters["user_name"] = "nop"
     @request.request_parameters["password"]  = ""

     response = LoginController.process_test(@request)

     assert_equal "The username and/or password you entered is  
invalid.", response.session["flash"]["alert"]
     assert_equal "http://37signals.basecamp.com/login/",  
response.headers["location"]
   end

   # New style
   def test_failing_authenticate
     process :authenticate, "user_name" => "nop", "password" => ""
     assert_flash_has 'alert'
     assert_redirected_to :action => "index"
   end

See a full example on http://codepaste.org/view/paste/334

* Increased performance by up to 100% with a revised cookie class that  
fixes the performance problems with the default one that ships with  
1.8.1 and below. It replaces the inheritance on SimpleDelegator with  
DelegateClass(Array) following the suggestion from Matz on:  
http://groups.google.com/groups? 
th=e3a4e68ba042f842&seekm=c3sioe%241qvm%241%40news.cybercity.dk#link14

* Added caching for compiled ERb templates. On Basecamp, it gave  
between 8.5% and 71% increase in performance [Andreas Schwarz].

* Added implicit counter variable to render_collection_of_partials  
[Marcel]. From the docs:

   <%= render_collection_of_partials "ad", @advertisements %>

This will render "advertiser/_ad.rhtml" and pass the local variable  
+ad+ to the template for display. An iteration counter will  
automatically be made available to the template with a name of the form  
+partial_name_counter+. In the case of the example above, the template  
would be fed +ad_counter+.

* Fixed problems with two sessions being maintained on reset_session  
that would particularly screw up ActiveRecordStore.

* Fixed reset_session to start an entirely new session instead of  
merely deleting the old. So you can now safely access @session after  
calling reset_ression and expect it to work.

* Added @request.get?, @request.post?, @request.put?, @request.delete?  
as convenience query methods for @request.method [geech]

* Added @request.method that'll return a symbol representing the HTTP  
method, such as :get, :post, :put, :delete [geech]

* Changed @request.remote_ip and @request.host to work properly even  
when a proxy is in front of the application [geech]

* Added JavaScript confirm feature to link_to. Documentation:

   The html_options have a special feature for creating javascript  
confirm alerts where if you pass
   :confirm => 'Are you sure?', the link will be guarded with a JS popup  
asking that question.
   If the user accepts, the link is processed, otherwise not.

* Added link_to_unless_current as a UrlHelper method [Sam Stephenson].  
Documentation:

   Creates a link tag of the given +name+ using an URL created by the  
set of +options+, unless the current
   controller, action, and id are the same as the link's, in which case  
only the name is returned (or the
   given block is yielded, if one exists). This is useful for creating  
link bars where you don't want to link
   to the page currently being viewed.

* Fixed that UrlRewriter (the driver for url_for, link_to, etc) would  
blow up when the anchor was an integer [alexey]

* Added that layouts defined with no directory defaults to layouts. So  
layout "weblog/standard" will use
   weblog/standard (as always), but layout "standard" will use  
layouts/standard.

* Fixed that partials (or any template starting with an underscore) was  
publically viewable [Marten]

* Added HTML escaping to text_area helper.

* Added :overwrite_params to url_for and friends to keep the parameters  
as they were passed to the current action and only overwrite a subset.  
The regular :params will clear the slate so you need to manually add in  
existing parameters if you want to reuse them. [raphinou]

* Fixed scaffolding problem with composite named objects [Moo Jester]

* Added the possibility for shared partials. Example:

   <%= render_partial "advertisement/ad", ad %>

This will render the partial "advertisement/_ad.rhtml" regardless of  
which controller this is being called from.

[Jacob Fugal]

* Fixed crash when encountering forms that have empty-named fields  
[James Prudente]

* Added check_box form helper method now accepts true/false as well as  
1/0 [what-a-day]

* Fixed the lacking creation of all directories with install.rb [Dave  
Steinberg]

* Fixed that date_select returns valid XHTML selected options [Andreas  
Schwarz]

* Fixed referencing an action with the same name as a controller in  
url_for [what-a-day]

* Fixed the destructive nature of Base#attributes= on the argument  
[Kevin Watt]

* Changed ActionControllerError to decent from StandardError instead of  
Exception. It can now be caught by a generic rescue.

* Added SessionRestoreError that is raised when a session being  
restored holds objects where there is no class available.

* Added block as option for inline filters. So what used to be written  
as:

     before_filter Proc { |controller| return false if  
controller.params["stop_action"] }

   ...can now be as:

     before_filter { |controller| return false if  
controller.params["stop_action"] }

   [Jeremy Kemper]

* Made the following methods public (was protected): url_for,  
controller_class_name, controller_name, action_name
   This makes it easier to write filters without cheating around the  
encapsulation with send.

* ActionController::Base#reset_session now sticks even if you access  
@session afterwards [Kent Sibilev]

* Improved the exception logging so the log file gets almost as much as  
in-browser debugging.

* Changed base class setup from AbstractTemplate/ERbTemplate to  
ActionView::Base. This change should be harmless unless you were  
accessing Action View directly in which case you now need to reference  
the Base class.\

* Added that render_collection_of_partials returns nil if the  
collection is empty. This makes showing a 渡o itemsmessage easier.  
For example: <%= render_collection_of_partials("message", @messages) ||  
"No messages found." %> [Sam Stephenson]

* Added :month_before_year as an option to date_select to get the month  
select before the year. Especially useful for credit card forms.

* Added :add_month_numbers to select_month to get options like "3 -  
March".

* Removed Base.has_active_layout? as it couldn't answer the question  
without the instance. Use Base#active_layout instead.

* Removed redundant call to update on  
ActionController::Base#close_session [Andreas Schwarz]

* Fixed that DRb Store accidently started its own server (instead of  
just client) [Andreas]

* Fixed strip_links so it now works across multiple lines [Chad Fowler]

* Fixed the TemplateError exception to show the proper trace on to_s  
(useful for unit test debugging)

* Implemented class inheritable attributes without eval [Caio Chassot]

* Made TextHelper#concat accept binding as it would otherwise not work

* The FormOptionsHelper will now call to_s on the keys and values used  
to generate options