Check, and display, AIM status on rails page

Rails
1

Thought I’d post this in case it’s of use to anyone. Maybe even a
recipe?

It’s just some simple helpers to show AIM status on a webpage.
I searched before coding it, and didn’t find anything similar.
Maybe that’s because it was so simple :slight_smile:

These methods belong in a helper (such as
app/helpers/application_helper.rb)

begin AIM helper methods

def aim_signed_on(screen_name)
require ‘net/http’
host = “big.oscar.aol.com”
path = “/#{screen_name}?on_url=online&off_url=offline”
return true if Net::HTTP.get_response(host, path).header[‘location’]
== “online”
end

def display_aim_status(screen_name)
if aim_signed_on(screen_name)
screen_name + " is currently signed on AOL Instant Messenger"
else
screen_name + " is currently signed off of AOL Instant Messenger"
end
end

end AIM helper

Then just call it from a view with
<%= display_aim_status(“YourAIMscreenName”) %>

Similar methods could be used for ICQ or Yahoo messenger.

Enjoy.

–
Chris M.
Web D.
Open Source & Web Standards Advocate

2

Hey Chris,

Thanks for sharing.

Dave, This would make for a good addition in ROR recipes.

Frank

Chris M. [email protected] wrote: Thought I’d post this in
case it’s of use to anyone. Maybe even a recipe?

It’s just some simple helpers to show AIM status on a webpage.
I searched before coding it, and didn’t find anything similar.
Maybe that’s because it was so simple :slight_smile:

These methods belong in a helper (such as
app/helpers/application_helper.rb)

begin AIM helper methods

def aim_signed_on(screen_name)
require ‘net/http’
host = “big.oscar.aol.com”
path = “/#{screen_name}?on_url=online&off_url=offline”
return true if Net::HTTP.get_response(host, path).header[‘location’]
== “online”
end

def display_aim_status(screen_name)
if aim_signed_on(screen_name)
screen_name + " is currently signed on AOL Instant Messenger"
else
screen_name + " is currently signed off of AOL Instant Messenger"
end
end

end AIM helper

Then just call it from a view with
<%= display_aim_status(“YourAIMscreenName”) %>

Similar methods could be used for ICQ or Yahoo messenger.

Enjoy.

–
Chris M.
Web D.
Open Source & Web Standards Advocate