[LRUG] Any recommendations for a modern e-commerce platform?

[Ronny Ager-Wick]

Thanks for that Riccardo.
I've used it once before, but it got messy after adding 10+ different 
extensions in order to accommodate deviations in functionality required 
by the client.
First of all, I was always confused which extension was being loaded 
first, and hence where the file being loaded resided 
(vendor/extensions/*/, app/ or spree's gem dir). I remember spending 
lots of time figuring out which file to modify, which feels to me like a 
waste of it...
Second, I had a number of cases where two or more extensions needed to 
modify the same file - Should you then have a separate extension taking 
care of all these combinations of other extensions, put these special 
cases in app/, or modify one of the extensions to include the other(s)? 
Whatever the solution, it doesn't encourage keeping the original 
extension updated (never mind tested). This could have driven me nuts 
had I not had a relatively stable mind :)
The result was that doing any changes to the beast was something to be 
avoided at all cost.

It may have been that I simply should not have let the client talk me 
into so many modifications, simply saying it is not possible - but that 
would constitute a lie. The fact is also that most clients will happily 
go ahead short term solutions that make the whole thing harder to 
maintain long term (probably because the pain is not immediately felt), 
even if warned - so that doesn't help much, other than to remove your 
responsibility - which is not a goal in itself.

Do anyone have any experience in *comfortably* maintaining a spree (or 
other) implementation with a number of custom extensions?
*That* would be interesting to hear about! :)
Ronny.


Riccardo Tacconi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Spree (http://spreecommerce.com/) is probably the best Rails 
> e-commerce and I read the project has received a lot of money for 
> future development. It uses Active Merchant as payment library (gem) 
> which is the most used gem for Ruby for payments.
>
> On 12 December 2011 12:32, Ronny Ager-Wick <ronny at ager-wick.com 
> <mailto:ronny at ager-wick.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hi everyone!
>
>     I'm considering to replace a few ageing e-commerce implementations
>     which are getting harder and harder to maintain. Do you have any
>     recommendations?
>
>     My (rather obvious) preferences are:
>     - clean uncomplicated codebase, preferably not too old (based on a
>     modern framework / kept up to date)
>     - full set of automated tests
>     - active developer community, preferably a diverse one
>     - easy to make changes/additions (UI changes, extra modules, new
>     payment gateway, etc) without making it unmaintainable
>
>     Cheers,
>     Ronny.
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>
>
> -- 
> Riccardo Tacconi
> Ruby on Rails and PHP development - System Administration
> VIRTUELOGIC LIMITED
>
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