Scout for dev

Just installed Scout (scoutapp.com) on our dev server using their free-level version, and I’m pretty impressed. Definitely a great option for Rails server monitoring. I had an issue with install, but the guys in the Scout Campfire set me straight.

As we start dealing with additional apps and servers, scout might be a worthy investment. The other nice thing is the fact that it works with both mongrel_cluster and Phusion, so if we head toward Phusion down the line, things will keep on kicking.

dynamically_tags

Open-Sourcing our Portal: dynamically_tags

For several months now, our internal company portal has had the ability to scrape natural text (in the form of incoming support requests or consultant-entered data) for the names of contacts or assets owned by our client.  This functionality allows us get information about referenced people and items on-the-fly, without having to manually link these objects.

I decided to take this functionality and extract it from the Portal into an open-source Rails plugin, called dynamically_tags.

We use it this like this:

class Ticket < ActiveRecord::Base
	dynamically_tags [:body, :support_body],
		:scope => :client,
		:includes => {
				:hardwares => [:name],
				:softwares =>; [:name],
				:vendors => [:name],
				:contacts => ['firstname lastname']
		}
end

I wrote up a blog post on my personal blog about this plugin, including a git-link. More information here!