+===============================================
+=== Log =======================================
+===============================================
+
+07/31/07
+jlsharps: I've added a user authentication system known as
+"acts_as_authenticated" to the code. The plugin is the the vendor/plugins
+directory. The two most noticeable changes are the AccountController and a
+redone User model. I've left the UserController in place for now, but the
+AccountController works in a different manner, so am switching over to that
+gradually. I saved the 5 lines or so in the old User model, overwrote
+it with the authenticated generator and then recopied the old stuff back in:
+has_many :elections and the name() method. The generator also creates its own
+migration file, but since we are using a create.sql file I adopted the
+migration file into a new users table in the create.sql file. I have yet to
+delete the old table because I haven't fully combed through the code yet and
+determined how many of the old attributes (such as first_name, last_name) may
+need to be retained.
+http://technoweenie.stikipad.com/plugins/show/Acts+as+Authenticated is the
+best site for documentation regarding acts_as_authenticaed. Also, currently
+it only stores the user_id in the session, but i just found a guide to help
+me make it store the entire user object, so I'll do that while my battery
+charges.
+
+08/03/07
+Handy trick: use the command 'gem_server' from a shell to create a server at
+http://localhost:8008 that is an easy to navigate locally-hosted website with
+all the documentation on local gems you have in a easy to read format.
+
+jlsharps: I added the Gruff plug-in today, which is viewable under the folder
+vender/plugins/gruff. I installed it directly using the Gruff plug-in and
+included controller generate utility. The version 0.1.2, which doesn't seem to
+be the latest version. I've looked into it and it see and it seems that the
+latest version is 0.2.8. However, I wasn't sure how including a gem w/o a plugin
+would function in end-game rails so I just what I used for now. If you guys
+(mako of john) know how to do it, it'd probably be better to upgrade, but it
+didn't seem like the best use of my time right now. I got the plug-in here:
+http://topfunky.net/svn/plugins/gruff. You can get the gruff gem v 0.2.8 by
+typing "sudo gem install gruff", I believe it's also hosted on RubyForge.
+
+I created the GraphsController for Gruff methods to use. In Pollarize I put them
+in the ApplicationContorller file, so they would be accessible to all. While
+that it also an option here, it would also mean there wouldn't be much room for
+playing around because everything in the Application file has to be perfect or
+it seems to throw Error Code 500 (basically everything breaks). The show()
+is a sample sample provided with Gruff.
+
+Documentation is here:http://gruff.rubyforge.org/ Alternately, if you have the
+gem installed, you can use the ri command, or the above mentioned gem_server.
+
+If you guys want more helpful stuff here, let me know.
+
+
+
+
+