+++
date = "2010-04-13"
title = "Get ready for Firefly 0.3!"
tags = []
slug = "get-ready-for-firefly-03"
+++
Hot off the press is Firefly 0.3! Firefly is a simple URL shortener application intended for personal use. It's core features are:

  * Very light-weight - based on Sinatra
  * Shorten URLs using 62-Base encoding
  * Offers an easy to use API
  * Keeps track of URL clicks
  * Supports most popular database backends, including MySQL and Sqlite3
  * Includes a ready-to-use Bookmarklet
  * Works with any Rack capable web server

Interested? Give it a go! Here's how in ht

### 1. Install Firefly

``` shell
gem install firefly
```

### 2. Ready?

Create a new directory and place the following `config.ru` file in it:

``` ruby
require 'rubygems'
require 'firefly'

disable :run

app = Firefly::Server.new do
  set :hostname,    "localhost:3000"
  set :api_key,     "test"
  set :database,    "sqlite3://#{Dir.pwd}/firefly.sqlite3"
end

run app
```

### 3. Go!

Start your engines! In this case I use `thin`:

``` shell
thin start -R config.ru
```

Now, when you visit `http://localhost:3000/` you'll be asked for your API key to login. Then, start shortening!

### Updating

If you were already running Firefly 0.2, upgrading is easy. Simple update the Firefly gem to 0.3 and restart your server.

When you update from 0.2 you'll notice your click stats are all indicating `0`. Don't worry, no data was lost! The solution is quite simple.

  1. Remove the `clicks` field from `firefly_urls`

``` sql
ALTER TABLE `firefly_urls` DROP `clicks`;
```

  2. Rename the `visits` field to `clicks`

``` sql
ALTER TABLE `firefly_urls` CHANGE `visits` `clicks` int;
```

All done! No restart required.