tools episodes

This episode shows how to encrypt the variables passed to PayPal and verify the authenticity of the payment notifications (IPN).

PayPal's IPN (Instant Payment Notification) service allows your app to get confirmation when an order is processed. In this episode I use IPN to mark a cart as purchased.

This episode is the first in a series on handling the checkout process for orders. Here we show how to complete purchases through PayPal's Website Payments Standard service.

Want to create a Ruby Gem instead of a Rails plugin? In this episode I will walk you through creating a gem to extend Rails.

Do you know how to make Capistrano tasks? See how to change default deployment behavior with custom tasks in this episode.

Need to ensure your background processes stay up and running and don't use too many resources? Check out the god gem as shown in this episode.

Need to run a task frequently in the background? Starling and Workling is a killer combination for doing just that. See how in this episode.

In need of a background process? You may be able to accomplish this with a simple Rake task. See how in this episode.

Tired of juggling multiple Rails apps around with script/server? See how to set up Passenger in development so each one has its own local domain name.

Selenium is a great way to test your app automatically through a browser. See how it works in this episode.