13:15 <tom[]> why would compilation with guard fail when it does not with nanoc? LoadError: cannot load such file -- nanoc/toolbox

18:13 <tom[]> i am really struggling. maybe ruby ignorance or nanoc. or both

18:14 <tom[]> i need to cache some metadata for each item. metadata that i can use in erb bits and pieces

18:20 <bobthecow> tom[]: please to be giving examples and not vague statements :)

18:22 <tom[]> for each item i need a few strings (or other values) that can be figured out from the item identifier, attributes, etc

18:23 <tom[]> i want to do all the figuring only once for each item and save the strings for use in views

18:23 <tom[]> for example

18:24 <tom[]> the name of my sidebar nav partial is either in a yaml heading or can be derived from item id

18:25 <bobthecow> do it in preprocessing and set it in the item's attributes.

18:25 <tom[]> i could write once method for each such metadatum but that is not at all dry

18:25 <bobthecow> so that you always grab it out of the attributes.

18:25 <tom[]> i would love to

18:25 <bobthecow> that way nanoc can track things properly.

18:25 <tom[]> got a pointer to a howto?

18:26 <tom[]> i think i found it

18:26 <tom[]> http://nanoc.ws/docs/basics/#preprocessing-the-site-data

18:26 <bobthecow> yep, that's the one.

18:27 <bobthecow> i usually make a helper method in lib somewhere and call it in preprocess to keep things cleaner.

18:27 <bobthecow> you can just loop over items and do whatever you want to them.

18:28 <bobthecow> @items.each { |item| item[:someattr] ||= defaults[:someattr] }

18:28 <tom[]> thank you!

18:28 <tom[]> i still can't write that kind of ruby

18:29 <bobthecow> basically, you could do this lots of ways, but the dumbest way (actually pre-filling all the attributes you'll need on items) turns out to be the best way for nanoc.

18:29 <bobthecow> because it tracks dependencies.

18:29 <bobthecow> some people do crazy things with caching, or memoizing, or any number of things...

18:30 <tom[]> this is what i was trying to do but i got the Frozen error

18:30 <bobthecow> but just preprocessing everything and storing in the actual attributes is the way to go.

18:30 <bobthecow> yeah, you get frozen errors every time you do anything *after* preprocessing.

18:30 <bobthecow> if you try to change items while compiling, nanoc has no way of tracking dependencies.

18:30 <bobthecow> but during preprocessing is a free-for-all.

18:30 <bobthecow> change them however you want :)

18:32 <tom[]> the error message was remarkably comprehensive, explaining about the need for compiler optimization

20:01 <tom[]> thanks again, bobthecow. preprocess is the balls!

20:01 <bobthecow> no problem :)

20:03 <tom[]> any idea what using guard gives "LoadError: cannot load such file -- nanoc/toolbox" while running the nanoc command works normally?

20:03 <tom[]> s/what/why/

20:04 <bobthecow> nope, but ddfreyne might.