Archive for September, 2007

UserSumChallenge Module

The following module is my first ever Ruby/Rails Module.

The UserChallenge module will create a simple random sum, that can be prompted to the user for solving as part as your authentication scheme during a registration process.
Simply create an instance of UserSumChallenge or UserSumImageChallenge and store against the user session. If you use the image challenge, call render to create the image otherwise just add the question attribute to your output.

# UserChallenge provides several mechanisms to aid in establishing a real user is on the end of a submit
 
# Typically used for user registration processes or commenting, the UserChallenge module will allow you to provide
 
# a challenge question and validate the repsponse.
 
# Mixins include
 
#       * SumChallenge - provides a simple arimethetic sum to be solved
 
#       * RandomTextChallenge - supplies a random string of characters
 
# Supporting Classes include
#       * SumTextChallenger - Class that will provide a question as a text string
#       * SumImageChallenger - Class that will create a png image with the sum in it
#       * RandomTextChallenger - Class that will provide a random text string
#       * RandomTextImageChallenger - Class that will create a png image with the random text string in it
 
module UserChallenge
 
 # This module creates a challenge that is a basic sum, expecting the respose to be the sums result, e.g. 2+6
 module SumChallenge
 #Initailizes the challenge to a sum
 #optionally specify the max values for the left and right 
 def createChallenge(lMax=10, rMax=10)
 	lValue = rand(lMax)
 	rValue = rand(rMax)
 	@solution = lValue + rValue
 	@question = "#{lValue} + #{rValue}"
 end
 
 # checks the value passed in against the expected result 
 def checkResponse(value)
 	return (@solution == value.to_i)
 end
end
 
 # This module creates a challenge that is a series of random characters in a specified range, expecting the respose to be the same string module RandomTextChallenge
 # Initailizes the challenge to a sum
 # optionally specify the number of characters to generate and the range of characters to choose from 
 def createChallenge(count=6, chars = 'a'..'z')
 	@question = ""
	count.times do
		index = rand(chars.entries.length-1)
		@question += chars.entries[index]
 	end
 	@solution = @question
 end
 
 # checks the value passed in against the expected result 
 def checkResponse(value)
	 return (@solution == value.to_s)
	 end
 end
 
 # A simple class that generates a sum challenge in text form
 class SumTextChallenger
	 include SumChallenge
 
	 # the sum question as a string
	 attr_reader :question
	 # the solution as an integer
	 attr_reader :solution
 
	 def initialize()
		 createChallenge()
	 end
 end
 
 # A class that generates a sum challenge in image form
 class SumImageChallenger
 	require "RMagick"
	include SumChallenge
 
 	# the sum question as a string
	attr_reader :question
 	# the solution as an integer
 	attr_reader :solution
 
 	def initialize()
		createChallenge()
 	end
 
 # returns an image blob with the sum question layered ontop of the specified background
 def render(backgroundImageUrl)
 	background = Magick::Image.read(backgroundImageUrl).first
 
 	croppedImg = background.crop(0,0,128,28)
 
 	text = Magick::Draw.new
	text.annotate(croppedImg, 128, 28, 0, 0, @question) {
		self.gravity = Magick::SouthGravity
		self.pointsize = 24
		self.stroke = 'transparent'
		self.fill = '#0000A9'
		self.font_weight = Magick::BoldWeight
	}
 
 	croppedImg = croppedImg.blur_image
 	return croppedImg.to_blob
 	end
 end
 
 # A simple class that generates a random text challenge in text form
 class RandomTextChallenger
 include RandomTextChallenge
 
 # the sum question as a string
 attr_reader :question
 # the solution as an integer
 attr_reader :solution
 
 def initialize()
 	createChallenge()
 	end
 end
 
 # A class that generates a random text challenge in image form
 class RandomTextImageChallenger
 	require "RMagick"
 	include RandomTextChallenge
 
 	# the sum question as a string
	attr_reader :question
 	# the solution as an integer
 	attr_reader :solution
 
	def initialize()
 	createChallenge()
	end
 
 	# returns an image blob with the sum question layered ontop of the specified background
 	def render(backgroundImageUrl, width=128)
		background = Magick::Image.read(backgroundImageUrl).first
 
 		croppedImg = background.crop(0,0,width,28)
 
 		text = Magick::Draw.new
		text.annotate(croppedImg, width, 28, 0, 0, @question) {
		self.gravity = Magick::SouthGravity
		self.pointsize = 22
		self.stroke = 'transparent'
 		self.fill = '#0000A9'
 		self.font_weight = Magick::BoldWeight
 		}
 
 		croppedImg = croppedImg.blur_image
		return croppedImg.to_blob
	 	end
 	end
end

Here is a simple controller that uses a ImageChallenge. Notice the background being supplied to the render method

class MainController < ApplicationController  require "UserChallenge"
 
  def welcome
    @challenge = UserChallenge::UserSumImageChallenge.new
    session["uc"] = @challenge#
  end
 
  def image
    storePath = "/home/user/path"
    filename = storePath + "/Camouflage.png"
 
    challenge = session["uc"]
    session["uc"] = nil
    send_data challenge.render(filename), :filename => "confirm.png", :type => 'image/png', :disposition => 'inline'  
  end
 
end

Installing RMagick on Ubuntu

Taken from the rubyonrails wiki, for my reference:

If you need RMagick support for your web app, your going to need to install ImageMagick and RMagick.

sudo apt-get install imagemagick
dpkg -l | grep magick

This will install the most current imagemagick and then

list the ‘magick’ packages installed. Look for what version of
libmagick got installed and make sure you specify THAT version number when you install libmagick-dev.

sudo apt-get install libmagick9-dev
sudo gem install rmagick

After a lengthy build process, you’re ready to edit images in ruby!

Raaum's Rails Reader

Rails Documentation for the Working Developer

http://rails.raaum.org/

Installing Ruby and rails on Ubuntu Feisty

The image “http://www.rubyonrails.org/images/rails.png” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Found these instructions at http://www.aptana.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10640

Blogging to ensure I have a copy, credits go to janmartin.

Lets start with a fresh Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 installation:

  • sudo apt-get install build-essential
  • sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
  • sudo update-java-alternatives –list
  • sudo apt-get install ruby irb ri rake rdoc ruby1.8-dev rubygems
  • sudo apt-get install libmysql-ruby mysql-server
  • sudo gem update –system
  • sudo gem install rails –include-dependencies

Some tests:

  • ruby –version
  • rails –version
  • mysql –version
  • gem list

END of command line installation

Download
Aptana + Rails (Linux).
Extract it into ~/aptana

Follow these instructions:
# Open up Aptana, and Navigate to the Help > Software Updates > Find and Install menu.
# Select “Search for new features to install”, click “Finish”
# Select “Ruby on Rails Development Environment”, click “Finish”
# Select the Ruby on Rails Development Environment feature.
# Continue through the dialog boxes until complete.

Follow these instructions:
http://www.aptana.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1397

Configure:
Menu -> Window -> Preferences

Rails -> Configuration
Rails path: /usr/bin/rails
Rake path: /usr/bin/rake

Ruby
Installed interpreters:
/usr

Ri/rdoc
RDoc path:/usr/bin/rdoc
Ri path: /usr/bin/ri

Finished!

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Ruby Class Cheat sheet

The following is my ruby class cheat sheet, aimed at developers new to ruby and rails. 

class MyClass                   #class declaration, notice the capital letter as this is a Constant
    attr_reader :readOnlyProperty, …        #shortcut to save writing a property getter
    attr_writer :writeOnlyProperty, …       #shortcut to save writing a property setter
    attr_accessor :readWriteProperty, …     #shortcut to save writing a property setter and getter

    def initialize              #class initialization method
        @instanceVar=1          #instance variable, available throughout an instance of the class.
        @readOnlyProperty=2    
        @writeOnlyProperty=3
        @readWriteProperty=4
    end

    def instanceVar             #property getter
        @instanceVar            #return the value of the instance variable
    end

    def instanceVar=(value)     #property setter
        @instanceVar = value    # set the instance variable to the passed in value
    end

    def instanceMethod          #instance method, available to all instances, this is the instance
    end

    def MyClass.classMethod     #class method, only accessible via the class, this is the class
    end

    CLASSCONSTANT = ["a","b","c"] #constant defined by the class accessible by all instances note its in uppercase

end

I hope you have found this useful.  If you have anything to add please comment.