WDI Progress Update - Individual Project Challenges and UX Gaps

Challenges:

1. Watched short video from RailsCasts on refactoring a simple Search Form and implemented into AI app User front-end (not functional yet but feeling more confident). Advised by Alberto Forni to research 'Named Scope' (discussed in Code School)
2. Find out how to apply Google Trends API to AI app
3. Sign up for Rails 1 (and Rails 2 later) 

Progress @ General Assembly (GA):

• Sunday Session
• Valuable feedback obtained on AI app from Danial Tsui, Nick Morgan, and Alberto Forni. Split into Admin and User sections. Time to implement learnings Intro to Startup Entrepreneurship and up-skill on UX aspects.
•  -------> Update 3:20pm 3rd Feb:

  Interesting problem solved with instructors help. 

  Situation: List of ideas displayed on the screen. User requested to tick checkboxes that corresponded to their favourite ideas, and then click a submit button. After clicking the submit button a database query would refresh the same screen with only their favourite ideas shown.

  Problem: The user could submit their favourites and the page refreshed showing them a filtered list of only their favourites. However, if they went back to the original URL and performed the same process, the submit button would be unresponsive (i.e despite using the following code, with none of the checkboxes ticked, and therefore none of the ':search' params being present)

  if params[:search].present?
      @ideas = Idea.where(:id => params[:search])
  else
    @ideas = Idea.all
  end

  Outcome: With the help of GA instructors we exhausted all hack options (i.e. @ideas.to_json, ___.inspect, inspecting network elements in the browser, raise "xxx"), and found that if we deleted Turbolinks from '/javascripts/application.js', and commented out in the Gemfile, the app then fully worked! (i.e. delete //= require turbolinks, and then going to terminal and running, 'gem install' and 'bundle', and 'rails server'). It is thought that the problem was caused due to caching by the Turbolink gem.

Progress @ Intro to Startup Entrepreneurship

• Unit 2 UX - Read 100% of PDF notes. 
• Objectives - Urgently must target detailing Unit 2 audio notes by 4th Feb and implement into Individual Project. Incorporate Unit 1 by 9th Feb. Start Unit 3 reading by 5th Feb and finish by 9th Feb.

Contributions to Developer Community 

• Invited to meet the The Slippery Gypseas band in on 5th Feb to help brainstorm their website requirements!