Looks like I’m tackling shipping in this chapter.

Page 116. I need to add a “shipped_at” column to the orders table. So I open up create_db.rb and modify the create orders table code:

db.create_table(:orders,
 :name, :String,
 :email, :String,
 :address, :String,
 :pay_type, :String,
 :shipped_at, :Time)

Notice that the MySQL datatype datetime maps to the KirbyBase datatype :Time. I learned this lesson in an earlier chapter.

I now rerun create_db.rb to recreate the tables. As the book mentions, I’m tired of having to re-enter product info into the products table every time I re-create it. So, I’m going to follow the book’s lead and create a file called product_data.rb that I can run to repopulate the products table. The big difference is that my file will have Ruby code in it instead of SQL statements, since KirbyBase is pure-Ruby. Here’s what the product_data.rb file looks like:

require 'kirbybase'
require 'time'

db = KirbyBase.new
products_tbl = db.get_table(:products)

products_tbl.insert('Pragmatic Project Automation',
                    'A really great read!',
                    '/images/sk_auto_small.jpg',
                    29.95,
                    Time.parse('2004-12-25 05:00:00'))

products_tbl.insert('Pragmatic Version Control',
                    'A really controlled read!',
                    '/images/sk_svn_small.jpg',
                    29.95,
                    Time.parse('2004-12-25 05:00:00'))

In line 2, I require ‘time’, so that I can use the Time.parse method to easily create Time objects. In line 4, I grab a handle to the products table so that I can easily reference it’s insert method. Notice, also, that since KirbyBase uses Ruby data types, I am passing it an actual Ruby Float object and a Ruby Time object.

I run product_data.rb and my products table is populated!

Page 117. The book creates a pending_shipping method in the Order model that will return all orders that have not been shipped yet. Here’s what the method in the book looks like:

def self.pending_shipping
  find(:all, :conditions => "shipped_at is null")
end

Instead of “null” KirbyBase uses Ruby’s nil object to signify what “null” means in other database management systems. Therefore, to rewrite the pending_shipping method so that KirbyBase can understand it, I create the method like so:

def self.pending_shipping
  find(:all) {|rec| rec.shipped_at.nil?}
end

Notice how we use Ruby’s nil? method and enclose the Ruby expression in a block.

Next, I create ship.rhtml.

Page 118. I create the partial template, _order_line.rhtml. I pretty up admin.rhtml.
Page 119. I refresh my browser and the “Orders to be Shipped” screen appears in all it’s glory.

Page 122 I implement the ship, do_shipping, and pluralize methods in admin_controller.rb.  I add #mark_as_shipped to order.rb.  I don’t need to change anything in these method.  They work exactly the way they do in the book.  I go back to my browser and mark one of the orders as shipped. The order disappears and the flash message says “One order marked as shipped”.

Just to be sure, I go open up orders.tbl. There, in the first record’s :shipped_at field, is “Wed Feb 22 15:25:44 EST 2006″. Ackbar’s still going strong!

On to the final chapter.