Vision Link, We're On Our Way

Vision Link, a product I was initially a part of development for, has finally reached a stage where we can test more vigorously. Vision Link (vznlink) is an API to the industry leading point-of-sale product, Vision, created by Innovative Computer Solutions for retail liquor vendors. The API provides a secure, centralized method for interchange of data between the inventory management and ordering in Vision and a retailer's website/store.

I work for ICS and I work for retail liquor vendors, both, as a consultant. At ICS, I, along with another staff member, came up with and began implementing the idea. I was pushed out of the project, for the most part, in working on a completely new web application (that I won't speak of just yet).

Now that we're ready to test I can take on my role as developer for the vendors in creating the other half of the API, the websites that make use of it. I'm very excited to get back into this work.

Merb + DataMapper, I'm Lovin' It

No, this isn't a post about McDonalds. This is a post about Merb (and DataMapper).

As the story goes, I was working on a project involving creating a new web application to match the features of a legacy java application, while maintaining the use of the same exact database. ActiveRecord was worthless in this endeavor. Even with excessive work I could not break it from its conventions.

Since Rails is utterly dependent upon AR I was forced to find an alternative. My saving grace was found with a reference to Merb (Mongrel+erb) by my cousin. Merb is agnostic in many ways. Most importantly with regard to the ORM (object-relational mapping) used. ActiveRecord is supported, as well as, DataMapper and Sequel. In making the switch, I also switched to using jQuery instead of prototype.

All in all, I'm loving it. The only downfall I have experienced is having to dump and restore my database whenever applying a change in my models to the database as the DM migrations are destructive.

Aside from this Merb (and DataMapper) are faster, lighter, and easier to contribute to (if I find a bug, or wish to add features).

As for the project that started this all: it is coming along far better than I could have hoped with Ruby on Rails.