On January 31, 2012
I'm happy to announce that the SaaS Rails Kit now supports
Stripe.com as a payment gateway. I love Stripe
because now you don't have to ever see a credit card number touch your
server, and you can keep the PCI police off your back. :)
Instead of posting credit card details to your server, the Stripe
integration involves javascript that runs on the credit card form which
sends the credit card details directly to Stripe's server. When your
user submits payment info, all you get in the POST is a token you can
use for future billing.
The SaaS Kit has always used this stored-value method of billing so that
you didn't have to keep the full credit card number in your database,
and now with Stripe support, you don't even have to see the full credit
card number at all!
So, if you are looking to lower your PCI compliance responsibility while
implementing recurring billing, the SaaS Kit is a great option.
On May 16, 2011
A while back I released the Facebook Rails Kit, which made it easy to connect to the (then-new) Graph API. Since then, I've done a number of projects that needed to integrate with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and during those projects I've developed some code that makes it easy to interact with those APIs. As a result, I have now released a Kit that replaces the Facebook Rails Kit: the OAuth Rails Kit.
In addition to showing you how to interact with the Graph API, it also shows you how to connect user accounts to services that support the OAuth protocol (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Github, and many more) and then get info from and push info to those service using OAuth access tokens. In short, if you want to do something like publish to a user's Facebook profile from your Rails app, the OAuth Rails Kit was made for you. It has saved me a ton of time on my projects, and I'm sure it'll do the same for you.
On February 10, 2010
If you're into e-commerce, like I am, you've probably heard of Shopify. Shopify is a fantastic hosted e-commerce solution for store owners who want to quickly put up great-looking storefronts to sell their products. In fact, I like Shopify so much, that it is the first recommendation to potential clients who come to me looking for me to build a custom storefront for them. For most people, Shopify fills the bill quite nicely, and is a much cheaper option than me. :)
Since I'm such a fan of Shopify, I was thrilled when Jesse Storimer approached me about releasing a Rails Kit that would help Rails developers build a Shopify application for the Shopify Platform, a platform for developers to offer apps that can extend the functionality of Shopify for store owners. Jesse proposed offering a ready-made application that shows you just how easy it is to hook into Shopify-hosted stores and use the Shopify-powered billing system. And Jesse has done a bang-up job!
Check out the newest addition to the Rails Kits family -- the Shopify App Rails Kit. It's an insanely easy way to build a SaaS application targeted at people who are already using Shopify to sell their products. You get authentication, billing, and access to your customers' Shopify data, all throught the Shopify API, and you get help with marketing your app via the Shopify Application Store. It has never been easier to get your web app into the hands of paying customers, so try the Shopify App Rails Kit today!
