[Rails] Re: rails, dynamic tables and erp/crm

well i'd like to thank everyone who's given me some responses. i've
looked at all the precooked solutions that were suggested but what it
really boils down to is i enjoy the programming challenge and i'm
still not convinced i need/want to switch all the data in my app to
someone elses app. it just isnt worth it for my needs.

im going to look deeper into using serialize but what i really wanted
was the full abilities of rails for validations, callbacks, etc...

in any event.. thanks for the input guys, it was much appreciated.

- FJM

On Jan 7, 12:01 pm, Marnen Laibow-Koser <li...@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
> frankjmat...@gmail.com wrote:
> > the question that could summarize this in a nutshell is this:
>
> > does the orm structure of rails make it a poor framework to implement
> > a small erp/crm solution?
>
> No.  It should be fine.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > if you got that then please read ahead - i need some suggestions...
>
> > ive been making an app for my small business. now believe me, i know
> > there's a ton of solutions out there but coding is more like a
> > recreational activity so i enjoy doing it regardless...
>
> > my program has the basic ability to generate quotes, track my
> > inventory and all the basic functions however i'm finding it more and
> > more difficult to make it extensible.
>
> > for example - i have a customer model (to put it simply) and say i
> > want to add an TaxID column... i can use migrations and update all of
> > my forms and blah blah blah... most "good" crm programs allow you to
> > add this functionality on the fly - i would like to add that
> > functionality.
>
> If you want arbitrary user-defined columns, check out the serialize
> method.
>
> You could also have the app change the DB schema programmatically, but
> that sounds dangerous.
>
>
>
> > don't get me wrong - i dont care about the UI design and javascript
> > thats involved... that's all secondary to me. i want to know at the
> > model/controller level if this sort of thing is not only possible but
> > probable with rails. (by "this sort of thing" i mean dynamically
> > creating/altering models on the fly with a running app).
>
> Yes!
>
>
>
> > Thanks in advance - hopefully someone with deep insight will step up
> > to the plate for me. I've asked around and i've yet to receive
> > anything that looks like a helpful answer.
>
> Best,
> -- 
> Marnen Laibow-Koserhttp://www.marnen.org
> mar...@marnen.org
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.