class SecondConnection < ActiveRecord::Base

SecondConnection.establish_connection(
:adapter  => "informix",
:host     => "localhost",
:username => "hansnase",
:password => "very_secret",
:database => "ccdb@localhost"
)

self.abstract_class = true
end

“self.abstract_class = true” makes the thing actually work. Otherwise Rails seems to cache the database connection and does not switch back if you access any other classes but SecondConnection.

Yeah!

Later: Not so Yeah…

I had to establish another call to

  ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection
       logger.info { "Establishing Base Connection" }
       log_connections

I assume it’s either an Informix problem or related to the old rails version I’m driving with.
Nevertheless: It works now.

Here are some snippets from:

1. ChrizDee
2. Craig Ambrose

And? What did I do:

I first enabled Postfix using 1). After this I have changed /etc/aliases:

echo 'rails_mailer: "|/usr/local/bin/mail_handler.rb"' >> /etc/aliases
chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/mail_handler.rb"' >> /etc/aliases
sudo newaliases
sudo postfix reload

#!/usr/bin/ruby
require 'net/http'
require 'uri'Net::HTTP.post_form URI.parse('http://localhost:3000/emails'), { "email" => STDIN.read }

The script above will be triggered by every mail that will be sent to rails_mailer@localhost (resp. your hostname). It will put a post-request to localhost:3000/email including the email in the parameter “email”.

• Installation von Postgresql unter Mac OS
• Wenn Rubyforge down ist:  gem install –source http://rf.gems.mocra.com NAME_OF_THE_GEM
• Robby on Rails (Mac/Leopard/Rails etc.)

I have some XML code from that I need parts being put into a simple hash (see below).

The following small ruby snippet does exactly this.

Only thing that’s not working is the “inner_xml” part. I personally don’t need it but your mileage may vary and you may want to fix the issue (and give me a note)

require 'rubygems'
require 'hpricot'
require 'pp'

text = <<eof
<payment>
		<vat>
			<pay_vat>0</pay_vat>
			<vat_id/>
		</vat>
		<creditcard>
			<type>master</type>
			<holder>Franz Fluchsfinger</holder>
			<company/>
			<no>52660xxxxxxxxxxx79</no>
			<kpn/>
			<valid_until>09/10</valid_until>
			<data>Just some data</data>
			<xml_for_demo><inner_xml>inner text</inner_xml></xml_for_demo>
			<signature>a5f4e2shortened4b1e523ca873837c8f1c9ea66ee1924d</signature>
		</creditcard>
</payment>
eof

xml =Hpricot.XML(text)
a= xml/"creditcard/*"
h={}
a.each {|b|
	h[b.name] = b.inner_text if b.is_a? Hpricot::Elem
}
pp h	

result:

[code]]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[[/code]

Btw.: I found the solution partly on http://railsforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=22055

Sometimes you don’t need the whole Rails stuff and just want to place a query.

Try the following:
[code]]czo0OTpcIkFjdGl2ZVJlY29yZDo6QmFzZS5jb25uZWN0aW9uLihzZWxlY3RfYWxsfHVwZGF0ZSlcIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]
will do the trick.
Example:

[code]]czo3NDpcImxpc3QgPSBBY3RpdmVSZWNvcmQ6OkJhc2UuY29ubmVjdGlvbi5zZWxlY3RfYWxsKFwic2VsZWN0IGEsYiBmcm9tIGNfdGFie1smKiZdfWxlXCIpXCI7e1smKiZdfQ==[[/code]

==> [ {a => Value_for_a, b => Value_for_b}, {a => Value...}...]

[code]]czoxMTc6XCIgbnVtYmVyX29mX3Jvd3MgPSBBY3RpdmVSZWNvcmQ6OkJhc2UuY29ubmVjdGlvbi51cGRhdGUoXCJ1cGRhdGUgbW9udGgge1smKiZdfXNldCBtb250aF9pZCA9IG1vbnRoX2lkICsxIHdoZXJlIG1vbnRoX2lkID0gMTFcIilcIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]

If you make use of an already created Rails Model instead of the base class, you will get the benefit of accessors (instead of hash-keys) for the  selected objects.

Example (necessary, I know )

• create the model

[code]]czozMDpcIiMgc2NyaXB0L2dlbmVyYXRlIG1vZGVsIENUYWJsZVwiO3tbJiomXX0=[[/code]

• use it in your code

[code]]czo1MzpcIiBsaXN0ID0gQ1RhYmxlLmZpbmRfYnlfc3FsKFwic2VsZWN0IGEsYiBmcm9tIGNfdGFibGVcIilcIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]

• access elements

[code]]czoxMjpcInBwIGxpc3RbMF0uYVwiO3tbJiomXX0=[[/code]

If you come from a Perl background you will be surprised that in Ruby an array is definitively not a list. So if you want to pass a list of elements to a method that you have stored in an array, you may want to use the following idiom:
[code]]czoxMTU6XCJsaXN0ID0gW10NCmxpbmVzID0gRmlsZS5yZWFkbGluZXMoXCJGSUxFTkFNRVwiKQ0KbGluZXMuZWFjaCBkbyB8bGluZXwNCntbJiomXX1saXN0LnB1c2goUmVzdWx0Lm5ldygqbGluZS5zcGxpdChcIiBcIikpKQ0KZW5kDQpcIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]
The [code]]czoxNjpcIipsaW5lLnNwbGl0KFwiIFwiKVwiO3tbJiomXX0=[[/code] creates an element list out of the array that the split command has created.

I fear a real Rubyist would have done it in a different way but OK.

P.S. Does someone know what I'm doing wrong with the code formatting in WordPress? I'm quite sure to have included whitespaces in the code above...

I found an interesting site on the Web: http://matthall.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/how-to-execute-a-rails-controller-action-via-cron/ 

Tweaking it a bit:
[code]]czoyMTQ6XCJyZXF1aXJlIFwnLi4vY29uZmlnL2Vudmlyb25tZW50XCcNCnJlcXVpcmUgXCdwcFwnDQppZCA9IEFSR1ZbMF0NCmlmIGlkLm5pe1smKiZdfWw/DQpyYWlzZSAmbHQ7PGVvZj4NClVTQUdFOiAkMCBSRVNFTExFUl9JRA0KZW9mDQplbmQNCmFwcCA9IEFjdGlvbkNvbnRyb2xsZXJ7WyYqJl19OjpJbnRlZ3JhdGlvbjo6U2Vzc2lvbi5uZXcNCmFwcC5nZXQgXCIva3VuZGVuL3N0YXR1c19tYWlsLyN7aWR9XCI8L2VvZj5cIjt7WyYqJl19[[/code]

This works fine from a Rails subdirectory and calls the same action like http://RAILSSITE/kunden/status_mail/ID