In the jQuery docs there’s a jQuery UI Autocomplete Combobox Plugin. Since we use jQuery and the UI, I started with this code and did a simple update around where the autocomplete input is blanked out for “invalid” inputs:

if ( !valid && select.data("prevent_input") )

The “prevent_input” setting will prevent the user from providing their own values if set to true (works like a standard select). Or it will allow user provided values if set to false (works like a standard input).

Configuring the input with jQuery data lets us set a default value like this:

<select id="your_select_id" data-prevent_input="true"/>
...
$('#your_select_id').combobox();

Note that the default behavior is to allow user provided values, but could be easily set to work the other way around.

Using jQuery.data() lets us change the behavior if your application needs to dynamically update this functionality:

jQuery('#your_select_id').data("prevent_input", false);

Here’s the plugin:

/**
 * jQuery UI Autocomplete Combobox Plugin
 *
 * Customized to allow users to type in arbitrary values
 *
 * @author dand
 * @since 10/21/2011
 */
(function( $ ) {
	$.widget( "ui.combobox", {
		_create: function() {
			var self = this,
				select = this.element.hide(),
				selected = select.children( ":selected" ),
				value = selected.val() ? selected.text() : "";
			var input = this.input = $( '<input id="' + select.attr('id').replace(/_options/,'') + '">' )
				.insertAfter( select )
				.val( value )
				.autocomplete({
					delay: 0,
					minLength: 0,
					source: function( request, response ) {
						var matcher = new RegExp( $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(request.term), "i" );
						response( select.children( "option" ).map(function() {
							var text = $( this ).text();
							if ( this.value && ( !request.term || matcher.test(text) ) )
								return {
									label: text.replace(
										new RegExp(
											"(?![^&;]+;)(?!<[^<>]*)(" +
											$.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex(request.term) +
											")(?![^<>]*>)(?![^&;]+;)", "gi"
										), "<strong>$1</strong>" ),
									value: text,
									option: this
								};
						}) );
					},
					select: function( event, ui ) {
						ui.item.option.selected = true;
						self._trigger( "selected", event, {
							item: ui.item.option
						});

					},
					change: function( event, ui ) {
						if ( !ui.item ) {
							var matcher = new RegExp( "^" + $.ui.autocomplete.escapeRegex( $(this).val() ) + "$", "i" ),
								valid = false;
							select.children( "option" ).each(function() {
								if ( $( this ).text().match( matcher ) ) {
									this.selected = valid = true;
									return false;
								}
							});

							if ( !valid && select.data("prevent_input") ) {
								// remove invalid value, as it didn't match anything
								$( this ).val( "" );
								select.val( "" );
								input.data( "autocomplete" ).term = "";
								return false;
							}
						}
					}
				})
				.addClass( "ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-left" );

			input.data( "autocomplete" )._renderItem = function( ul, item ) {
				return $( "<li></li>" )
					.data( "item.autocomplete", item )
					.append( "<a>" + item.label + "</a>" )
					.appendTo( ul );
			};

			this.button = $( "<button type='button'>&nbsp;</button>" )
				.attr( "tabIndex", -1 )
				.attr( "title", "Show All Items" )
				.insertAfter( input )
				.button({
					icons: {
						primary: "ui-icon-triangle-1-s"
					},
					text: false
				})
				.removeClass( "ui-corner-all" )
				.addClass( "ui-corner-right ui-button-icon" )
				.click(function() {
					// close if already visible
					if ( input.autocomplete( "widget" ).is( ":visible" ) ) {
						input.autocomplete( "close" );
						return;
					}

					// work around a bug (likely same cause as #5265)
					$( this ).blur();

					// pass empty string as value to search for, displaying all results
					input.autocomplete( "search", "" );
					input.focus();
				});
		},

		destroy: function() {
			this.input.remove();
			this.button.remove();
			this.element.show();
			$.Widget.prototype.destroy.call( this );
		}
	});
})( jQuery );

Our customer loved the solution because it was both what they wanted AND cheap since it was fast to develop. Hope you enjoy!

Don’t let users have the opportunity to enter garbage data. If you do, they will. It’s just one of those laws of the universe. Thermodynamics?

Here’s the error:

UPS: 111286: {Provided State} is not a valid state for the specified shipment.

The state the user provided was:

On

Why didn’t that work? The state codes are case sensitive, and must be exact. Changing the customer’s address to use the following solved the problem:

ON

Note: I’ve seen other people with this problem on the web. They complained about values like “Ontario” not being valid. Don’t let the user provide bad inputs, give them a select list of valid state codes.

The problem was I would get the following errors when there were spaces in my merge file paths. For a path like /path/to the/file.rb I would get something like:

Incorrect parameters:
Too many files: You may enter a maximum of 4 files.
'/path/to' is (or points to) an invalid file.
'the/file.rb' is (or points to) an invalid file.
...

Here’s the easy solution that fixed this problem on my system:

[merge]
    keepBackup = false
	tool = custom
[mergetool "custom"]
	cmd = /Applications/p4merge.app/Contents/Resources/launchp4merge "\"$PWD/$BASE\"" "\"$PWD/$REMOTE\"" "\"$PWD/$LOCAL\"" "\"$PWD/$MERGED\""
	keepTemporaries = false
	trustExitCode = false
	keepBackup = false

Notice the extra (escaped) quote marks around the parameters. This could also be handled with a shell script, but I didn’t want an extra moving part to make the magic happen. Life is already complicated…

And me at my standing desk:

// Begin actual Duff's Device
// JS Implementation by Jeff Greenberg 2/2001

var n = iterations / 8;
var caseTest = iterations % 8;    

do {

    switch (caseTest){
    case 0:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 7:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 6:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 5:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 4:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 3:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 2:              [Do Something to tesVal here];
    case 1:              [Do Something to tesVal here];

    }
    caseTest=0;

}

while (--n > 0);

//Inside my view
<select id="exp_month" name="exp_month">
	<?php MonthList() ?>
</select>

<select id="exp_year" name="exp_year">
	<?php YearList() ?>
</select>

//In your model/controller or some other place you like to keep random stuff like this
/**
 * Populate the credit card expiration month drop down
 */
function MonthList(){
	for($i=0; $i<=11; $i++){
		$time = mktime(0, 0, 0, 1+$i, 1, 2000);
		$sMonthOptions .= '<option value="' . date('m', $time) . '">' . date('M', $time) . '</option>';
	}
	echo $sMonthOptions;
}

/**
 * Populate the credit card expiration year drop down (go out 12 years)
 */
function YearList(){
	for($i=0; $i<=11; $i++){
		$nextyear = date("Y", mktime(0, 0, 0, 1, 1, date("Y")+$i));
	    $sYearOptions .= '<option value="' . $nextyear . '">' . $nextyear . '</option>';
	}
	echo $sYearOptions;
}

Disclaimer: I have no idea if 12 years is “enough”, nor if this is the most “efficient” way of doing this. I also think a static html droplist of the months would be better… I don’t think we’re adding new months any time soon.

1) Ruby (and Rails)
[okay... this is coming...]

3) “Fix” Rake

$ gem uninstall rack
$ gem install rack -v 1.0.1

2) MySQL
(you need this even for a remote database, as it provides the necessary headers so we can install the drivers in step #4)

$ sudo yum remove mysql-server
$ sudo yum install mysql mysql-devel gcc

4) MySQL Gem

# 32 bit machine
$ sudo gem install mysql -- \
> --with-mysql-include=/usr/bin/mysql \
> --with-mysql-lib=/usr/lib/mysql

# or 64 bit like they are on SliceHost
$ sudo gem install mysql -- \
> --with-mysql-include=/usr/bin/mysql \
> --with-mysql-lib=/usr/lib64/mysq

5) Create databases (I like Sequel Pro)

webistrano_development
webistrano_test
webistrano_production

5) Configure Webistrano - database.yml

...
development:
  adapter: mysql
  database: webistrano_development
  username: [user here]
  password: [password here]
  host: [dbase subdomain].mysql.fathomdb.com
  port: [port number]
...

6) Install Webistrano!!!

$ cd [webistrano dir]
$ rake db:migrate

7) Open port for Webistrano (or use webmin)
Open-

/etc/sysconfig/iptables

Append rule-

-A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 3000 -j ACCEPT

Restart the service

$ service iptables restart

Make sure iptables is allowing port 3000 connections:

$ iptables -L -n

8) DEPLOY SOMETHING!

HIGH COUPLING

1. Content coupling (high): One module modifies or relies on the internal workings of another module
2. Common coupling: two modules share the same global data (e.g. a global variable). Changing the shared resource implies changing all the modules using it.
3. External coupling: two modules share an externally imposed data format, communication protocol, or device interface.
4. Control coupling: one module controlling the logic of another, by passing it information on what to do (e.g. passing a what-to-do flag).
5. Stamp coupling (Data-structured coupling): when modules share a composite data structure and use only a part of it, possibly a different part (e.g. passing a whole record to a function which only needs one field of it).
6. Data coupling: when modules share data through, for example, parameters. Each datum is an elementary piece, and these are the only data which are shared (e.g. passing an integer to a function which computes a square root).
7. Message coupling (low): Modules are not dependent on each other, instead they use a public interface to exchange parameter-less messages (or events, see Message passing).
8. No coupling: Modules do not communicate at all with one another.

LOW COUPLING

So the next time you tightly couple something you will at least know you’re doing it (and be ready for when your software explodes).

Coupling list reproduced from Wikipedia’s coupling.