Comments on: Beginning Ruby on Rails E-commerce: From Novice to Professional (Apress) http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/ Rich Dynamic Applications with Ruby on Rails Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:52:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Christina joseph http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-103 Christina joseph Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:52:34 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-103 The book dives right into the process of creating a production-level web application using agile methodologies and test-driven development combined with Rails best practices. The book dives right into the process of creating a production-level web application using agile methodologies and test-driven development combined with Rails best practices.

]]> By: Hendy Irawan http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-102 Hendy Irawan Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:22:46 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-102 Phillip: Thank you very much for your additional review. I really appreciate it. :-) Phillip:

Thank you very much for your additional review. I really appreciate it. :-)

]]> By: Phillip Novess http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-101 Phillip Novess Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:12:19 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-101 I bought this book because it was one of the only books out there, actually the only book out there that had any info on payment processing using Rails. It was also the only source at the time for real application of ecommerce development using Rails. However, its old now. The plugins have all been updated, Rails has been updated and the actual implementation that is being discussed through much of the book is not as valuable because of that. In fact I could not get the sample code to work without major removal of some of the plugins. The ActiveMerchant plugin was used for payment processing, the main reason I purchased the book, was majorly updated since this release and I actually had to change a large chunk of the processing code in order to get it to work. I actually had to use resources I found on the web to get ActiveMerchant to work correctly. Other downsides I found in the implementation was the shopping cart uses a DB, and then of course you have to keep this stuff cleaned up, so they use observers to do that. My question why? Just use a session for your cart like in the Agile book. Much simpler. If you really want that stuff in the DB, then use DB sessions. :) Also the checkout process is flawed in my opinion. When you checkout, the order gets created even if there is a problem with the the payment processing. One nice feature is it saves the error message to the order, which you inevitably will need to remove all the crap orders or at least to report on them. So a user could checkout and it processes and creates an order but its not really valid. Really really bad form!!!!! That being said I would still recommend this book for exploration and learning how others are using Rails. But don't use this book as a blueprint cause its majorly flawed. -phill I bought this book because it was one of the only books out there, actually the only book out there that had any info on payment processing using Rails. It was also the only source at the time for real application of ecommerce development using Rails. However, its old now. The plugins have all been updated, Rails has been updated and the actual implementation that is being discussed through much of the book is not as valuable because of that. In fact I could not get the sample code to work without major removal of some of the plugins. The ActiveMerchant plugin was used for payment processing, the main reason I purchased the book, was majorly updated since this release and I actually had to change a large chunk of the processing code in order to get it to work. I actually had to use resources I found on the web to get ActiveMerchant to work correctly. Other downsides I found in the implementation was the shopping cart uses a DB, and then of course you have to keep this stuff cleaned up, so they use observers to do that. My question why? Just use a session for your cart like in the Agile book. Much simpler. If you really want that stuff in the DB, then use DB sessions. :) Also the checkout process is flawed in my opinion. When you checkout, the order gets created even if there is a problem with the the payment processing. One nice feature is it saves the error message to the order, which you inevitably will need to remove all the crap orders or at least to report on them. So a user could checkout and it processes and creates an order but its not really valid. Really really bad form!!!!!

That being said I would still recommend this book for exploration and learning how others are using Rails. But don’t use this book as a blueprint cause its majorly flawed.

-phill

]]> By: Hendy Irawan http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-98 Hendy Irawan Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:47:53 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-98 Thanks Mas Daniel, Di sini kita juga pake Akismet koq. Kita dapet ribuan spam per minggu, jadi kalo ada lolos segitu, bisa dibilang "kemajuan". ;-) Biasanya spam tersebut juga akan otomatis hilang setelah beberapa waktu... :-) Kalo nggak, ya terpaksa pakai 'tangan besi'... ;-) Thanks Mas Daniel,

Di sini kita juga pake Akismet koq. Kita dapet ribuan spam per minggu, jadi kalo ada lolos segitu, bisa dibilang “kemajuan”. ;-)

Biasanya spam tersebut juga akan otomatis hilang setelah beberapa waktu… :-)

Kalo nggak, ya terpaksa pakai ‘tangan besi’… ;-)

]]> By: Daniel Sirait http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-97 Daniel Sirait Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:35:24 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-97 itu comment diatas kena spam yah ??? pake Blosxom aja bung Hendy, download di: http://www.blosxom.com/ ada plugin anti spam-nya, dijamin puas deh :-) itu comment diatas kena spam yah ???

pake Blosxom aja bung Hendy, download di: http://www.blosxom.com/

ada plugin anti spam-nya, dijamin puas deh :-)

]]> By: Hendy Irawan http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-100 Hendy Irawan Thu, 08 Feb 2007 01:27:35 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-100 Dear Ariel, The book is definitely "not small". It's quite big, the size of a dictionary, but with half the thickness. (what kind of measurement is this?!?!) I'm not sure if it's the kind of thing you "get to read before sleep" as it contains lots, and I mean lots, of code. It's far from being a theoretical book. As for comparison with Agile Web Development with Rails (AWDWR), for beginners it's not so important. They both introduce you to Rails from almost no background on Ruby, but good technical/computer background is somewhat required. AWDWR 2nd Edition describes Rails 1.2, which is the most recent version of Rails; while this book (RoR E-Commerce) still uses Rails 1.1. There is a change of some fine techniques but 90% is still the same. The biggest difference is that AWDWR is very, very detailed; while RoR E-Commerce is very, very broad. AWDWR takes a lot of the "build everything yourself" approach, while RoR E-Commerce uses plugins and reusable components to the max. RoR E-Commerce also suggests use of many complementary software such as Capistrano, Subversion, Selenium, acts_as_* plugins, etc. Conclusion is, both are great books. It won't hurt to have either of them, since none of these is lousy. You can always get more later. ;-) Dear Ariel,

The book is definitely “not small”. It’s quite big, the size of a dictionary, but with half the thickness. (what kind of measurement is this?!?!)

I’m not sure if it’s the kind of thing you “get to read before sleep” as it contains lots, and I mean lots, of code. It’s far from being a theoretical book.

As for comparison with Agile Web Development with Rails (AWDWR), for beginners it’s not so important. They both introduce you to Rails from almost no background on Ruby, but good technical/computer background is somewhat required.

AWDWR 2nd Edition describes Rails 1.2, which is the most recent version of Rails; while this book (RoR E-Commerce) still uses Rails 1.1. There is a change of some fine techniques but 90% is still the same.

The biggest difference is that AWDWR is very, very detailed; while RoR E-Commerce is very, very broad. AWDWR takes a lot of the “build everything yourself” approach, while RoR E-Commerce uses plugins and reusable components to the max. RoR E-Commerce also suggests use of many complementary software such as Capistrano, Subversion, Selenium, acts_as_* plugins, etc.

Conclusion is, both are great books. It won’t hurt to have either of them, since none of these is lousy. You can always get more later. ;-)

]]> By: Ariel Meilij http://www.adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/comment-page-1/#comment-99 Ariel Meilij Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:38:52 +0000 http://adaruby.com/2007/01/31/beginning-ruby-on-rails-e-commerce-from-novice-to-professional-apress/#comment-99 Hey, nice review! Is it me, or the chapters look really long, not the kind of thing you get to read before going to sleep? It looks like just the book to buy, but I was wondering how does it compare to Agile Web Development (just curious...) Hey, nice review! Is it me, or the chapters look really long, not the kind of thing you get to read before going to sleep? It looks like just the book to buy, but I was wondering how does it compare to Agile Web Development (just curious…)

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