A client recently requested to add the functionality to be able to accept credit card payments within a Rails application that we were building. Specifically, they wanted users to be able to purchase vouchers using credit card payments and pass on any processing fees. Once the payment was complete, the transaction had to be recorded within the app and an email needed to be sent out to both the purchaser and the giftee. Stripe came into the picture then.

Our developers have been to Ruby conferences overseas for years. Having this on home turf made it a good chance to catch up with fellow New Zealand Ruby developers and support the local Ruby community.

Following on from The Abletech story — part 1 we pick up the narrative at the point where Marcus and Nigel had begun hand-picking developers.

Nigel Ramsay and Tracey Norrish have been using Elixir, instead of Ruby, for an Addressfinder project. Watch a video or read the summary:

Find out what Chris did, how he did it, and what he learnt along the way.

Awesome work volunteers! Thanks for your dedication, hard work, time and energy. You’re fantastic 🌟 and we’re impressed 😊

Launched in 2006, Abletech was borne out of a keen desire to boost business systems using cloud technology. Its founders worked, played and studied computing. They understood enterprise strategy and best practice. They became discerning. Discernment is a quality that continues to serve Abletech well.

Hi, I’m Kate! I’ve been working as a web development intern at Abletech for the last two months. Recently I’ve been investigating using React together with Ruby on Rails. My task was to discover common ‘gotchas’ and figure out what it would take to use React in our next project.

class User
  def anonymise
    Users.find_each do |user|
      user.update_columns email: "#{user.id}@devnullmail.com"
    end
  end
end

Retest promise

A simple CLI to watch file changes and run their matching ruby specs. Works on any ruby projects with no setup.

The Ruby community holds conferences all over the globe, using local and international speakers, for Rubyists of all levels. The latest conference was a single day of talks held at Te Papa in Wellington which is two blocks from Abletech’s headquarters.

Over 500 people attended this year’s RubyConfAU. Fourteen of them were from Abletech.

Service objects are overused. They have become the default solution for any new features in a Rails codebase. They’re also hard to talk about as they mean different things for different people. Here is how I define them:

In July 2006, Abletech wrote the following blog post introducing and explaining Ruby on Rails. The article looks at the thinking behind adopting Ruby on Rails, and the advantages and disadvantages of using it.

This content is based on a presentation that I gave at WellRailed, a Wellington, New Zealand based Ruby on Rails meetup in December 2016.