Rails - Jul 2006 - Popup Calendar and DateBoxEngine and Change Made ...

Community,

I have been putting off implementing a Date selector for too long. 
Tonight, I finally put it in.  I made the choice to go with the datebox 
engine.

Once I got it installed and working, I realized I didn''t like the way
it
required you to call it.  Example:

<% @dateField = model.date %>
<%= date_box %>

or...

<% @dateField1 = model.date %>
<%= date_box(@dateField1)

which then requires you to trap on these fields during the update/create 
actions of the controller.  This didn''t seem correct.  I wanted
multiple
dates on a page and I wanted an easy way to get the calendar to popup. 
Here is what I wanted:

<%= date_box( ''model_name'',
''field_name_for_date1'' ) %>
<%= date_box( ''model_name'',
''field_name_for_date2'' ) %>

etc...

which is consisent with other form helpers (minus the options hash). 
Therefore, I made a minor change to the engine code.  I made this change 
to meet my needs and hopefully others will get some use of it too.  It 
changes the definition and I didn''t touch every aspect of the engine - 
only the piece that I was interested in.  Here it is for anyone else who 
wants to work with the date_box like I wanted to.

If you have any questions or need clarification then let me know.

Thanks,

Michael


Modified file:
vendor/plugins/datebox_engine/app/helpers/application_helper.rb:

Replace existing date_box method with the following:

	def date_box(object_name, method)
		calendar_ref = object_name + ''_'' + method
		<<-EOL
<div id="dateBox">
	<ul>
		<li>#{engine_image(''icon-help.gif'', :engine =>
''datebox'', :alt =>
''Help'', :id => calendar_ref + ''Help'' )
}</li>
	    <li>#{text_field object_name, method, { :onChange => 
"magicDate(id);", :onFocus => "if (this.className !=
''error'')
this.select()"} }</li>
		<li>#{engine_image(''icon-calendar.gif'', :engine =>
''datebox'', :alt =>
''Calendar'', :id => calendar_ref +
''Button'', :style => ''cursor: pointer;''
) }</li>

	</ul>
	<div style="clear:both"></div>
	<div id="#{calendar_ref}Msg"><script 
type="text/javascript">document.write(calendarFormatString); 
</script></div>
	<script type="text/javascript">
	    Calendar.setup({
	        inputField     :    "#{calendar_ref}",     // id of the input
field
	        ifFormat       :    calendarIfFormat,  // format of the input 
field
	        button         :    "#{calendar_ref}Button",  // trigger for 
the calendar (button ID)
	        help           :    "#{calendar_ref}Help",  // trigger for
the
help menu
	        align          :    "Bl",           // alignment (defaults to
"Bl")
	        singleClick    :    true
	    });
	    document.getElementById("#{calendar_ref}").onkeydown = 
dateBoxKeyListener
	</script>
</div>
		EOL
	end

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Turns out a few people have tried to use the code above and had problems 
with the final result.  It was pretty late so perhaps I pasted a version 
that had a slight bug in it!  :-(  Anyway, here is something that has 
worked for everyone who has tried it.  I did make a few changes to the 
layout so it is slightly different than the original version but more to 
my liking.

If this gives you problems then please email me at codeslush at yahoo 
dot com.

Regards,

Michael


def date_box(object_name, method)
  calendar_ref = object_name + ''_'' + method
  <<-EOL
    <div id="dateBox">
      <ul>
        <li>#{text_field object_name, method, { :onChange => 
"magicDate(id);", :onFocus => "if (this.className !=
''error'')
this.select()"} }</li>
	<li>#{engine_image(''icon-calendar.gif'', :engine =>
''datebox'', :alt =>
''Calendar'', :id => calendar_ref +
''Button'', :style => ''cursor: pointer;''
) }</li>
	<li>#{engine_image(''icon-help.gif'', :engine =>
''datebox'', :alt =>
''Help'', :id => calendar_ref + ''Help'' )
}</li>
      </ul>
      <div style="clear:both"></div>
      <div style="display:none"
id="#{calendar_ref}Msg"><script
type="text/javascript">document.write(calendarFormatString); 
</script></div>
      <script type="text/javascript">
        Calendar.setup({
	   inputField     :    "#{calendar_ref}",        // id of the input 
field
	   ifFormat       :    calendarIfFormat,         // format of the input 
field
	   button         :    "#{calendar_ref}Button",  // trigger for the 
calendar (button ID)
	   help           :    "#{calendar_ref}Help",    // trigger for the 
help menu
	   align          :    "Bl",                     // alignment
(defaults
to "Bl")
	   singleClick    :    true
	 });
	 document.getElementById("#{calendar_ref}").onkeydown = 
dateBoxKeyListener
      </script>
    </div>
  EOL
end

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

i just wanted to thank you, i''ve been stumbling with this from a few 
days ago, almost got it to work, but it was somewhat buggy, im not too 
good at JS, your implementation works great!

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Pablo Ortiz wrote:
> i just wanted to thank you, i''ve been stumbling with this from a
few
> days ago, almost got it to work, but it was somewhat buggy, im not too 
> good at JS, your implementation works great!
Thank you.  I wrote the author an email and sent him the changes as well 
but I didn''t get any feedback - so I don''t know if he will add
it to the
code base or not.  Several people have been able to use this now and I 
hope that he will consider adding the change.  Either way, I''m glad it 
was of help to you!

Regards,

Michael

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Hey Michael,

The patch looks nice, and I do appreciate your diff.

Any chance you able to post it to http://dev.toolbocks.com so I can be sure
it gets included with the next version?

I promise, one is coming soon!

-NSHB

On 8/9/06, Pablo Ortiz <pablasso@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> i just wanted to thank you, i''ve been stumbling with this from a
few
> days ago, almost got it to work, but it was somewhat buggy, im not too
> good at JS, your implementation works great!
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>


-- 
Kind regards,

Nathaniel Brown

Inimit Innovations Inc.
http://inimit.com
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Did this message get through? The reply afterwards doesn''t appear to
make
any mention of it.

On 8/11/06, Nathaniel Brown <nshb@inimit.com>
wrote:
>
> Hey Michael,
>
> The patch looks nice, and I do appreciate your diff.
>
> Any chance you able to post it to http://dev.toolbocks.com so I can be
> sure it gets included with the next version?
>
> I promise, one is coming soon!
>
> -NSHB
>
>
> On 8/9/06, Pablo Ortiz <pablasso@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > i just wanted to thank you, i''ve been stumbling with this
from a few
> > days ago, almost got it to work, but it was somewhat buggy, im not too
> > good at JS, your implementation works great!
> >
> > --
> > Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Kind regards,
>
> Nathaniel Brown
>
> Inimit Innovations Inc.
> http://inimit.com
>


-- 
Kind regards,

Nathaniel Brown

Inimit Innovations Inc.
http://inimit.com
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Nathaniel Brown wrote:
> Did this message get through? The reply afterwards doesn''t appear
to make
> any mention of it.
It took over two days to get through to me. I''ve been watching a lot of
email threads without seeing the original message until long after the 
follow-ups have come through - one just arrived after three days!

DHH posted that the mail and Trac server has been overloaded, and a new 
server is about to be dedicated to running Trac and the repository.

http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2006/8/10/new-dedicated-trac-server-on-the-way

With luck, the mail situation will improve. We have had situations like 
this before, and they have been fixed effectively.

regards (fingers crossed)

   Justin
> 
> On 8/11/06, Nathaniel Brown <nshb@inimit.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hey Michael,
>>
>> The patch looks nice, and I do appreciate your diff.
>>
>> Any chance you able to post it to http://dev.toolbocks.com so I can be
>> sure it gets included with the next version?
>>
>> I promise, one is coming soon!
>>
>> -NSHB
>>
>>
>> On 8/9/06, Pablo Ortiz <pablasso@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > i just wanted to thank you, i''ve been stumbling with this
from a few
>> > days ago, almost got it to work, but it was somewhat buggy, im not
too
>> > good at JS, your implementation works great!