One of the projects I am currently working on involves a booking calendar, that displays dates, availability and rates for vacation rental properties. I wanted each day in the calendar to contain quite a bit of information about its availability. Some dates are only available as a "block" for example weekly. Blocks can have a fixed arrival date, (Friday) each date would have a minimum stay etc etc.. you get the point. I started off using class to store all this information class="blockid33 minday7 arivalFriday" I really dont like this idea as class should really be used for visual information... And to get to that data in the class-names, I have to strip out the "blockid" or "minday" Since XHTML lets me define custom attributes, that seems the better way to go... I would have each day in my calendar as a div <div id="YYYY-MM-DD" blockid="33" minstay="7" arrival="friday" class="booked">DD</div> This way I can have all my data on hand quickly and easily. I found a great article talking about just this issue and suggesting some modifications to prototype with document.getEllementsByAttribute and some changes to Enumerables to have access to custom attributes.. http://unspace.ca/discover/attributes This all seems to make a lot of sense to me. Has there been any other discussion of this sort of functionality making it into prototype.js? Cheers. ______________________________________________________________________ Alex Duffield ❖ Principal ❖ InControl Solutions . http:// www.incontrolsolutions.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Spinoffs" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-spinoffs?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
I really like the idea. I'm planning on doing something similar with statistics for a variety of categories, and would like to experiment with this. I'd be interested to see any snippets of code you want to share, and likewise, I'll share mine. Can you explain your point about "class should really be used for visual information"? If you are speaking of a JS pseudo class, I'm not sure I'm convinced that's true, but would like to hear what you mean. What about storing the data in a js object that represented a date and all of your calendar properties for that date? (You could then obviously set the prototype for that object to contain the methods related to changing these properties, etc.) This way, you could retrieve sets of data from the server during Ajax calls during events, then populate these JS objects via JSON callbacks. It would also enable you to use PeriodicalUpdater to populate dates that had been updated by other users since the last time you loaded your page. As the user changed certain properties (E.g. weekly view, instead of monthly view, for instance), the Ajax request would populate those set of "day" objects accordingly. I suppose you would be doing the same thing by placing these values into the custom HTML, but it would seem that would be slower than staying in native JS. But I do not know that for a fact. Not sure if that works in the context of what you're doing, but figured I'd throw it out there for thought. On 6/7/07, Alex Duffield <Alex@incontrolsolutions.com> wrote:> > One of the projects I am currently working on involves a booking calendar, > that displays dates, availability and rates for vacation rental properties. > I wanted each day in the calendar to contain quite a bit of information > about its availability. Some dates are only available as a "block" for > example weekly. Blocks can have a fixed arrival date, (Friday) each date > would have a minimum stay etc etc.. you get the point. > > I started off using class to store all this information class="blockid33 > minday7 arivalFriday" > > I really dont like this idea as class should really be used for visual > information... > > And to get to that data in the class-names, I have to strip out the > "blockid" or "minday" > > Since XHTML lets me define custom attributes, that seems the better way to > go... > > I would have each day in my calendar as a div > > <div id="YYYY-MM-DD" blockid="33" minstay="7" arrival="friday" > class="booked">DD</div> > > This way I can have all my data on hand quickly and easily. > > I found a great article talking about just this issue and suggesting some > modifications to prototype with > > document.getEllementsByAttribute and some changes to Enumerables to have > access to custom attributes.. > > http://unspace.ca/discover/attributes > > This all seems to make a lot of sense to me. Has there been any other > discussion of this sort of functionality making it into prototype.js? > > Cheers. > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > *Alex Duffield* *❖* *Principal* *❖* *InControl Solutions* *.* * > http://www.incontrolsolutions.com* <http://www.incontrolsolutions.com/> > > > > > > > >--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Spinoffs" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-spinoffs?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
document.getElementsByAttribute = function(attribute) {
return $$(''*['' + attribute + '']'');
}
Accessing custom attributes is as simple as:
document.getElementsByAttribute(''blockid'').invoke(''readAttribute'',
''blockId'')
// -> [''33'', ...]
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
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Mark, in regards to my comments of classes for visual information, I try to keep the class names for things like "Booked", "InCart" "Selected" on the calendar. Those are all things that give the user visual feedback. I also use classes for unobtrusive javascript (I use lowpro.js) so I will use <div class="addtocart"></div> and then attach the behavior to that. but when you start having namevalue pairs in a class like in my original comments: class="blockid33 minday7 arivalFriday", then that is definitely taking class values a little far. Ya, I really like the idea of sending a data object along with the calendar and indexing it by the date id I am already using. That would add give me the ability to add some cool features like you suggested using periodic updaters to keep the data current even if the user hasn''t updated the page.. Probably the better solution for me in the long run for this particular project (on the next update) But the ability to access custom attributes in enumerable would still be a welcome addition!! Cheers, and thanks for your suggestions! ______________________________________________________________________ Alex Duffield ❖ Principal ❖ InControl Solutions . http:// www.incontrolsolutions.com On 7-Jun-07, at 10:18 AM, Mark Holton wrote:> I really like the idea. I''m planning on doing something similar > with statistics for a variety of categories, and would like to > experiment with this. I''d be interested to see any snippets of > code you want to share, and likewise, I''ll share mine. > > Can you explain your point about "class should really be used for > visual information"? If you are speaking of a JS pseudo class, I''m > not sure I''m convinced that''s true, but would like to hear what you > mean. > > What about storing the data in a js object that represented a date > and all of your calendar properties for that date? (You could then > obviously set the prototype for that object to contain the methods > related to changing these properties, etc.) This way, you could > retrieve sets of data from the server during Ajax calls during > events, then populate these JS objects via JSON callbacks. It > would also enable you to use PeriodicalUpdater to populate dates > that had been updated by other users since the last time you loaded > your page. As the user changed certain properties (E.g. weekly > view, instead of monthly view, for instance), the Ajax request > would populate those set of "day" objects accordingly. I suppose > you would be doing the same thing by placing these values into the > custom HTML, but it would seem that would be slower than staying in > native JS. But I do not know that for a fact. > > Not sure if that works in the context of what you''re doing, but > figured I''d throw it out there for thought. > > > On 6/7/07, Alex Duffield <Alex-GLL9njBnHiGqPKKiFzS5XxZCeNDtXRbv@public.gmane.org> wrote: > One of the projects I am currently working on involves a booking > calendar, that displays dates, availability and rates for vacation > rental properties. > > I wanted each day in the calendar to contain quite a bit of > information about its availability. Some dates are only available > as a "block" for example weekly. Blocks can have a fixed arrival > date, (Friday) each date would have a minimum stay etc etc.. you > get the point. > > I started off using class to store all this information > class="blockid33 minday7 arivalFriday" > > I really dont like this idea as class should really be used for > visual information... > > And to get to that data in the class-names, I have to strip out the > "blockid" or "minday" > > Since XHTML lets me define custom attributes, that seems the better > way to go... > > I would have each day in my calendar as a div > > <div id="YYYY-MM-DD" blockid="33" minstay="7" arrival="friday" > class="booked">DD</div> > > This way I can have all my data on hand quickly and easily. > > I found a great article talking about just this issue and > suggesting some modifications to prototype with > > document.getEllementsByAttribute and some changes to Enumerables to > have access to custom attributes.. > > http://unspace.ca/discover/attributes > > This all seems to make a lot of sense to me. Has there been any > other discussion of this sort of functionality making it into > prototype.js? > > Cheers. > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Alex Duffield ❖ Principal ❖ InControl Solutions . http:// > www.incontrolsolutions.com > > > > > > > > >--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Spinoffs" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs-unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-spinoffs?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Oh I gotcha, CSS classes, yes definitely, totally agree on that point regarding the visual aspect. ...my mind usually gravitates towards the data first, that's why I was thinking JS pseudo-classes / objects! :) I use lowpro.js<http://www.danwebb.net/2006/9/3/low-pro-unobtrusive-scripting-for-prototype>also, it's very cool. (I wonder if they will build that into the prototype.js core someday? Anyone know?) cheers! Mark On 6/7/07, Alex Duffield <Alex@incontrolsolutions.com> wrote:> > Mark, in regards to my comments of classes for visual information, I try > to keep the class names for things like "Booked", "InCart" "Selected" on the > calendar. Those are all things that give the user visual feedback. I also > use classes for unobtrusive javascript (I use lowpro.js) so I will use > <div class="addtocart"></div> and then attach the behavior to that. but when > you start having namevalue pairs in a class like in my original comments: > class="blockid33 minday7 arivalFriday", then that is definitely taking class > values a little far. > Ya, I really like the idea of sending a data object along with the > calendar and indexing it by the date id I am already using. That would add > give me the ability to add some cool features like you suggested using > periodic updaters to keep the data current even if the user hasn't updated > the page.. Probably the better solution for me in the long run for this > particular project (on the next update) But the ability to access custom > attributes in enumerable would still be a welcome addition!! > > Cheers, and thanks for your suggestions! > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > *Alex Duffield * * ❖* * Principal* * ❖* * InControl Solutions* * .* * > http://www.incontrolsolutions.com* <http://www.incontrolsolutions.com/> > > > > > On 7-Jun-07, at 10:18 AM, Mark Holton wrote: > > I really like the idea. I'm planning on doing something similar with > statistics for a variety of categories, and would like to experiment with > this. I'd be interested to see any snippets of code you want to share, and > likewise, I'll share mine. > > Can you explain your point about "class should really be used for visual > information"? If you are speaking of a JS pseudo class, I'm not sure I'm > convinced that's true, but would like to hear what you mean. > > What about storing the data in a js object that represented a date and all > of your calendar properties for that date? (You could then obviously set the > prototype for that object to contain the methods related to changing these > properties, etc.) This way, you could retrieve sets of data from the server > during Ajax calls during events, then populate these JS objects via JSON > callbacks. It would also enable you to use PeriodicalUpdater to populate > dates that had been updated by other users since the last time you loaded > your page. As the user changed certain properties (E.g. weekly view, > instead of monthly view, for instance), the Ajax request would populate > those set of "day" objects accordingly. I suppose you would be doing the > same thing by placing these values into the custom HTML, but it would seem > that would be slower than staying in native JS. But I do not know that for a > fact. > > Not sure if that works in the context of what you're doing, but figured > I'd throw it out there for thought. > > > On 6/7/07, Alex Duffield <Alex@incontrolsolutions.com> wrote: > > > > One of the projects I am currently working on involves a booking > > calendar, that displays dates, availability and rates for vacation rental > > properties. > > I wanted each day in the calendar to contain quite a bit of information > > about its availability. Some dates are only available as a "block" for > > example weekly. Blocks can have a fixed arrival date, (Friday) each date > > would have a minimum stay etc etc.. you get the point. > > > > I started off using class to store all this information class="blockid33 > > minday7 arivalFriday" > > > > I really dont like this idea as class should really be used for visual > > information... > > > > And to get to that data in the class-names, I have to strip out the > > "blockid" or "minday" > > > > Since XHTML lets me define custom attributes, that seems the better way > > to go... > > > > I would have each day in my calendar as a div > > > > <div id="YYYY-MM-DD" blockid="33" minstay="7" arrival="friday" > > class="booked">DD</div> > > > > This way I can have all my data on hand quickly and easily. > > > > I found a great article talking about just this issue and suggesting > > some modifications to prototype with > > > > document.getEllementsByAttribute and some changes to Enumerables to have > > access to custom attributes.. > > > > http://unspace.ca/discover/attributes > > > > This all seems to make a lot of sense to me. Has there been any other > > discussion of this sort of functionality making it into prototype.js? > > > > Cheers. > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > > > *Alex Duffield * * ❖* * Principal* * ❖* * InControl Solutions* * .* * > > http://www.incontrolsolutions.com* <http://www.incontrolsolutions.com/> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Spinoffs" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-spinoffs-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-spinoffs?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---