Chris Gunther, cofounder and developer at Room 118 Solutions, agreed with Jacobson.

“I believe software development is not an art, but rather a craft as it is ultimately defined by its ability to solve a need for an end user,” he said. “Beautifully written code doesn’t count for much when it fails to solve the needs of the end user, and vice versa; poorly written code will have little negative effect on the end user when it successfully solves their needs.

“I think the craft side of software development becomes more of a necessity when working alongside other developers. Code that clearly reflects the domain model and is well organized becomes self-documenting and allows fellow developers to collaborate and understand the domain much easier.”

Gunther believed that science plays a role in development, but mainly due to the experiments used to find the perfect combination of code and the fact that developers are always building on top of older theories and ideas.

Read the full article.

rvm-shell: No such file or directory

Then you probably have a newer version of RVM on your new server than on your development machine.  Update RVM and go on your way.  Hope this saves someone some frustration!

Jim

module Paperclip
  class Attachment
    def save
      @queued_for_delete = []
      @queued_for_write = {}
      true
    end

  private
    def post_process_styles
      true
    end
  end
end

class File
  def to_tempfile
    Class.new do
      def size
        # We're using this because it's the size of our sample Rails image, although it doesn't matter for us.
        # If you're not validating the attachment size, any integer should work for you.
        6646
      end
      def read
        ""
      end
    end.new
  end
end

Just make sure that’s loaded somewhere before your tests run, we’re using RSpec, so we stuck it in spec/support. Our test suite went from taking a painful 90 seconds to run, down to a blazingly fast 10!

Happy (fast) testing!

Jim

The Goal

Generate an invoice with a header repeated at the top of every page and with a footer fixed to the bottom of only the last page. Here’s a quick round up of the approaches I tried.

Position: Fixed

According to the CSS 2.1 specification, “In the case of the print media type, the box is rendered on every page, and is fixed with respect to the page box…”. This would work for the header, but since the box is taken out of the normal flow, so you’ll need to account for that so it doesn’t overlay your content. If your header/footer is a variable height, this is less than ideal.

Table Based Layout

According to the HTML4 specification, “the table head and foot information may be repeated on each page that contains table data.” This works great for the header, but in my case, didn’t fit the bill as the footer needed to display on the last page only. Internet Explorer 8 supports this splendidly, unfortunately the same can’t be said for some other browsers we typically consider to be superior (see below).

Position: Absolute

The CSS 2.1 specification makes no mention of how absolutely positioned boxes should be handled in the case of the print media type. In the case of Internet Explorer 8, it seems that the box will be absolutely positioned with respect to the page upon which it would render based on it’s location in the HTML. For example, making the footer one of the last elements in the HTML document allowed the footer to be absolutely positioned to the bottom of the last page, which for my case was perfect.

One caveat to watch for is that because absolute positioning removes the box from the flow of the document, if your content takes 90% of the page and the footer takes 20% of the page, you will have 10% where the footer overlays the content. Since my footer was a variable height, I solved this by duplicating the footer element, keeping the second occurrence as absolutely positioned, however changing the first occurrence to static positioning (to stay in the flow of the document) but setting visibility: hidden; so that it will maintain it’s dimensions yet not be visible. Given the same 90%/20% example from above, this solution causes the document to break to two pages, having all the content on one page and the footer fixed to the bottom of the second page.

Browser Support

Running the same report through the array of browsers I have installed locally, here’s a quick summary of my results.

Chrome 12 - Webkit doesn’t seem to support repeating thead/tfoot elements on each page (Bug 17205 and Bug 34218). Also treats absolutely positioned elements as if they were statically positioned, so the footer just follows directly after the content.

Safari 5 – Since it’s WebKit based, like Chrome, suffers same problems above.

Firefox 4 - Firefox gets the repeating thead right, however the footer is placed at the bottom of the first page even thought it is one of the last elements in the source order.

Opera 11 - Opera doesn’t support repeating the thead element on each page, and like Firefox, renders the absolutely positioned footer at the bottom of the first page as opposed to the last.

Internet Explorer 9 – IE9 properly repeats the thead element on each page, however unlike IE8, it puts the footer at the bottom of the first page as opposed to the last.

Summary

Using a combination of table based layout and absolute positioning I was able to achieve exactly the result that was required in Internet Explorer 8. CSS3 looks like it will be giving some attention to the print media type, so it will be interesting to watch that develop. Given the wide range of how the same report renders with the print media type in different browsers, creating a very precise report that renders identically is more of a dream at this point. Focusing on one browser if you can, or possibly using a server side component to generate a PDF would be a much better approach to achieve cross-browser consistency.

Photo by bjmccray

Most of the services listed below are free, offer free trials, or offer a free “basic” package – so if you’re a small startup with little cash, this will get you up and running with a solid cloud-based infrastructure with very little upfront cost.

Note: Links marked with are affiliate links.  Depending on the program, this means we either receive a discount in services or a commission if you register.  Your rates will remain the same whether or not you use our affiliate link.  Thanks for supporting us!

Service: Dropbox
What we use it for: Keeping business documents and customer data in sync
Cost: Free for 2GB; pay plans starting at 50GB for 9.99/month
Why we love it: We receive the latest designs for a project, Chris drops them somewhere in our shared Dropbox folder, I have virtually instant access to them on my Linux desktop, Android phone, and iPad.  Enough said.  It stays out of our way, does its job well, securely (all files are encrypted), and supports just about every operating system and mobile device under the sun.
Caveat: Shared folders use space in everyone’s Dropbox account, so two 2GB accounts doesn’t equal 4GB of shared space.  If you need a lot of data storage, it could be pricey for a team, because 50GB would cost (number of team members) x $9.99/month.  If you require a lot of space and need to share it with a team, check out JungleDisk.  We’ve never used them, but have them bookmarked for when we inevitably run out of room in our Dropbox accounts.

Service: Slicehost
What we use it for:  Hosting our website, our git repos, and our customers’ development sites
Cost:  Plans start at $20/month
Why we love it: They’re a dependable and flexible VPS provider.   Their management interface is slick, and their uptime is superb.  This recommendation obviously only applies to other development teams, or the very technically inclined, but I had to mention them nonetheless.  If you’re just looking for a basic shared web host, check out A2 Hosting , we have a lot of love for them, too.
Caveat:  The storage included with each plan is small compared to their competitors.  If you expect to need a lot of storage, and don’t want to hand it off to another service, like Amazon S3, then Slicehost could become a pretty expensive solution, pretty quick.

Service: PayCycle (now Intuit Online Payroll)
What we use it for: Payroll
Cost:  Free for 30 days, then $39/month for state and federal filings and $1.50/employee (the first one is included)
Why we love it:  They’re reasonably priced and once you have your account set up, running payroll is easy.  They electronically file the necessary forms to the IRS and your state government, EFT your taxes to them, and direct deposit your employees.  Most payroll companies provide the same basic services, so it comes down to cost and the quality of their web app.  PayCycle’s is nice, and they e-mail us when we have to do something, sort of like an annoying accountant, without the expense.  If your bank offers payroll services, you might as well go with them, especially of it’s Bank of America, their payroll app is slick.
Caveat:  Your payroll service will only do what you tell it to, meaning you have to have some sense of what your responsibilities are, which vary depending on your type of business entity and where you’re located.  PayCycle has some very friendly support, which can point you in the right direction, and they also have some well written articles to get you started.  Google, the IRS, and your state government’s website are your friends.

Service: LastPass
What we use it for: Keeping our many credentials in sync and secure
Cost:  Free; $1/month for premium
Why we love it: Shortly after you start running your business in the cloud, you’re going to realize you have more passwords than you can handle.  Where do you store them?  You don’t want to use the same password for every service.  How do you securely share them with your partner(s)?  In addition to the credentials for every service pertaining to the company, if you’re in our line of work, you’ve also got a whole slew of credentials for your customers.  LastPass will manage all of these and sync them everywhere you have LastPass installed.  It’ll automatically fill out login forms for you, let you store “secure notes” (i.e. access information for services other than websites, or the answers to your security questions), and it has plugins for every popular browser and platform.
Caveat:  The only thing standing in between that Nigerian hacker and every single password related to your business is your LastPass master password, so try to come up with something better than “password”.  No, not “password123″ either.

1. Switch to a virtual console (ctrl + alt + F2)
2. Chroot into your new Ubuntu environment (the GRUB install happens towards the very end, so Ubuntu is more or less set up at this point).  For this example, let’s assume your root is /dev/md0, and it’s a RAID1 array consisting of partitions on /dev/sda and /dev/sdb.  Adjust accordingly.
   # mkdir /mnt/ubuntu
   Update: A few people have mentioned that their fs is not mounted at this point, and it appears that I did miss that step (*smacks head*), sorry about that! I’m writing this next line from memory, I need to run through this again to test, but your RAID array should be up and running at this stage, so simply mounting it to your new /mnt/ubuntu directory will work. Replace the ‘x’ in mdX with the number of the array / resides on (0 in my case).
   # mount /dev/mdX /mnt/ubuntu
   # mount -o bind /dev /mnt/ubuntu/dev
   # chroot /mnt/ubuntu /bin/bash
3. Now you'll be at a BASH prompt, chroot'd into your fresh Ubuntu install.  Let's fire up GNU parted and get the first disk going.
   root@host:/# parted /dev/sda
4. Hopefully, Ubuntu started the first partition of each drive at least 32kiB in, giving us enough room to stick a BIOS boot partition on each drive.  If not, you'll need to use parted to recreate your entire partition table, then restart the installation, and let the Ubuntu install work with your partition structure (i.e. don't let it make its own).
   (parted) mkpart grub 0 1MB
   Ignore whatever warning it gives you, and/or accept whatever rounded partition boundaries it gives you.
5. Now we need to set the grub_boot flag on that partition.  Let's find out what partition number it is
   (parted) print
   Replace <part number> with the partition number for the topmost partition.
   (parted) set <part number> bios_grub on
6. That's it.  Quit parted.
   (parted) quit
7. Repeat from step 3 for your other drive(s)
8. Now that you've created a BIOS boot partition on each drive in the array, we can clean up and continue with the install.
   root@host:/# exit
# umount /mnt/ubuntu/dev
# umount /mnt/ubuntu
# exit
9. Switch back to the first console, where the installer is running (ctrl + alt + F1) and try to re-run the grub install.  If it fails again, you can mount the new system again, chroot back into it (step 2), and run grub-install on both drives (i.e. 'grub-install /dev/sda' and 'grub-install /dev/sdb').  This should get you back on track.  Worst case scenario, you may need to restart the Ubuntu install, just have it leave your partition table alone, and the GRUB install will go smoothly.



Hopefully this saves you several late-night hours.

Most of the services listed below are free, offer free trials, or offer a free “basic” package – so if you’re a small startup with little cash, this will get you up and running with a solid cloud-based infrastructure with very little upfront cost.

Note: Links marked with  are affiliate links.  Depending on the program, this means we either receive a discount in services or a commission if you register.  Your rates will remain the same whether or not you use our affiliate link.  Thanks for supporting us!

Service: Google Apps
What we use it for: E-Mail, document storage, collaborative document editing
Cost: Free for up to 50 users; $50/user/year for unlimited users, additional services, an uptime SLA, and support
Why we love it: We get the power of a Google account, except @room118solutions.com.  This one is a no-brainer, if you have a domain and need e-mail, Google Apps is the way to go.  The Google Docs suite is, well, sweet!   It gives us basic document, spreadsheet, and drawing creation/editing abilities, in the cloud.  But where it really shines is in real-time collaborative editing.  When drafting a proposal, or a contract, for example, Chris and I can work on the same document, together, in real-time.  We can even see where each other’s cursors are, annotate specific lines, chat, and see a revision history – way cool!  As if that wasn’t enough, mail, contacts, and calendar can all be tightly integrated into every mobile OS (especially Android, of course).  That gives you enterprise level mobile integration for free! You can even collaboratively edit documents from a mobile browser.  Google Apps rocks, go get it now.  Wait, no, finish reading this post first.
Caveat:  The free account offers no support, and trying to contact Google without a support contract is impossible; luckily you’ll probably never need support.  If you do, the pay account includes 24 x 7 support.

Service: Freshbooks
What we use it for: Invoicing, expenses, and time tracking.
Cost: Free to manage three clients; pay packages start at $20/month
Why we love it: It’s a simple, no-frills web app that does what it’s supposed to do and does it well.  Our clients love being able to view their invoices and account history online.  They’ll even snail mail your invoices for your non-technical clients, for between $1 – $1.79 per invoice.  (For desktop time tracking, we use Timer Pro, it’s $25/license, works well, and runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux thanks to Adobe AIR)
Caveat: Freshbooks recently changed their pricing structure, and now only allows staff accounts to be added to their most expensive package.  Very small teams could probably share an account, and still benefit from most of Freshbook’s features.  We’re lucky enough to have a grandfathered account.

Service: Basecamp
What we use it for: Collaborating on larger projects
Cost: Free for 1 project and no file sharing; pay plans start at $24/month
Why we love it:  It’s project management from 37signals, you know, the guys who are rewriting the book on how business is done in the information age.  It’s the best no-frills project management app out there.  Collaboration tools are always important, and even more so if you’re running your business in the cloud, and not in a brick and mortar office. Basecamp lets you easily start message-board like threads to discuss your project; create, manage, and assign to-dos; schedule milestones; share files; and track time.  It’s easy to use, and shelters your inbox from the barrage of massive e-mail threads that inevitably occur if you’re working on a large project.
Caveat:  If you decide to use Basecamp on your project to collaborate with your customer, be sure they’re savvy enough to use it.  Otherwise you’ll end up with messages being posted on Basecamp, and responded to via e-mail, or worse yet, a phone call.  *shudders*

In celebration of one year in business, we thought its about time we started blogging, so welcome to the inaugural post and keep an eye out for more to come in the future.

Chris & Jim