From: Dana Merrick <dmerrick@...>
Date: 2008-08-01T00:05:45+09:00
Subject: Re: Cool Projects

--------------enigE6ED51D0EBF56BF1C7C91C63
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Alasdair Bell wrote:
> So, anyone working on something awesome?
>=20
> Brag here...

My pet project has been a robust MediaWiki table editing automation tool.=


=3D=3D More detail starts here =3D=3D

A little background: I have a fairly relaxed summer job, at which I get p=
aid by=20
the hour. We have an internal MediaWiki site that we use to store various=
=20
information (how to set up your email, for example) to make everyone's li=
fe=20
easier. I have a page that contains a series of tables that contain my=20
"timecard" (clock in/out times). Every pay period, I have to go to that p=
age and=20
calculate by hand how many hours I worked for each day, add them up and s=
end=20
them off.

After doing this every summer for three years, it has gotten pretty tires=
ome. I=20
decided to write a Ruby app to automate the process for me. Specifically,=
 it must:

* Read the data from the site and do hour calculations on it.
* Have the capability of adding the "total hours" back to the table and p=
osting=20
it on the wiki.
* IMPORTANT: Be flexible enough to not have to make me change the style o=
f the=20
tables, so the wiki source will remain exactly as human-readable as it is=
 now,=20
so I can live without the script if need be.

Right now it does those three things, and I'm pleased with it. When I get=
 bored=20
I add more features to it, such as:

* The ability to clock in/out via the command line.
* Run through previous weeks and check to see if I made math errors (this=
 had=20
very interesting results!).
* Changing my "hours algorithm," i.e. what do I do with in=3D>"8:00",out=3D=
>"10:00"?=20
   Are those times AM or PM? (it could be a very short day, a very long d=
ay, or=20
me coming in in the evening to fix some catastrophe.)

It's more complicated of a project than I suspected it would be (mainly b=
ecause=20
of the third requirement I listed), but it has been a blast and has saved=
 me=20
from doing some tedious math.

Okay, that's all I'll say for now. Thanks for reading!

-Dana


--=20
Dana Merrick - System Administrator
Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc.
54B Middlesex Tpke, Bedford, MA 01730
617.621.0060 x112 - http://www.ics.com


--------------enigE6ED51D0EBF56BF1C7C91C63
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"
Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (Darwin)

iD8DBQFIkdT67b+8UB5G/wMRAipeAJ0cowr6W3lif2POzC2Uqd7ZUlZmKwCdGmPF
f03tyX3B6RqnwLpZlWdU+uU=
=e/pi
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--------------enigE6ED51D0EBF56BF1C7C91C63--