chrisblunt.com
Chris Blunt

Hi, I'm Chris.

I'm a software developer and consultant based in Plymouth, UK. This site is a collection of tutorials, thoughts and things I've learned in code, life and running my business.

Today, I help people and organisations who use Ruby on Rails. I enjoy learning and experimenting with tools and technologies, as well as the art of business. This means I'm often dabbling with new languages and frameworks, and posting what I learn. My now page describes what currently has my attention.

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Rails on Docker: Using Docker Compose with Your Ruby on Rails Apps

In the previous tutorial, you learned how to get a simple Ruby on Rails app up and running on Docker containers. Continue reading →

Posted 9 September 2017 in rails, ruby, docker.

Rails on Docker: Getting Started with Docker and Ruby on Rails

Docker is a fantastic tool for isolating your app and its environment, and allows easy distribution and state-replication across multiple environments (dev, test, beta, prod, etc.). Using Docker can get rid of the “it works on my machine” problem, and help you to easily scale your app as it grows. Continue reading →

Posted 7 July 2017 in rails, ruby, docker.

How to Fix Missing SD Card on Android Emulator

Whilst testing an app on the Jelly Bean emulator, I couldn’t get the emulator to mount the SD card. Calls to Environment.getExternalStorageState() would always return Environment.MEDIA_REMOVED. Continue reading →

Posted 19 May 2017 in tips, android, emulator.

How to Pass Data From Rails to Javascript / Coffeescript

If you want to pass data between Rails and Coffeescript in your apps, you’ll find that interpolation doesn’t work. For example: Continue reading →

Posted 7 May 2017 in rails, ruby, coffeescript.

3 Ways to Keep Your Ruby on Rails Apps Healthy

Ruby on Rails is a great framework for building modern web applications. But as with any technology, things move on quickly. Without proper care and attention, the web apps and sites you build using Rails can start to degrade. This means slow pages, security vulnerabilities and your users seeing error screens. Continue reading →

Posted 27 April 2017 in rails, ruby.

Rails on Docker: Quickly Create or Update Your Gemfile.lock

As I migrate all of my Rails apps to Docker, I’ve learned to avoid making changes to the Gemfile whenever possible. Continue reading →

Posted 20 July 2016 in rails, docker, bundler.

Rails: Generating Polymorphic URLs when Model name does not match Route

Given a slugged generic model for which you want to generate a URL at runtime, you can usually just call: Continue reading →

Posted 29 February 2016 in rails, howto, programming.

Android: Toggling Your App's Theme

Update 24 February 2016: The Android Support library now includes a Theme.AppCompat.DayNight theme which bundles this feature for free. See the Android Developer Blog post for details. Continue reading →

Posted 4 December 2015 in howto, programming, android.

Using TinyMCE Content CSS with Rails Asset Pipeline

Recently, whilst building a small CMS system using TinyMCE and the tinymce-rails gem, I needed to inject some custom CSS so that the editor’s styles matched those of the site. Continue reading →

Posted 8 September 2015 in rails, howto, programming.

Rails: Rendering Dynamic SVG Images in respond_to

SVG is a vector image described in XML. This post shows how to to render SVG images inline with Rails. Continue reading →

Posted 4 September 2014 in rails, howto, programming.