Throughout this book, we have followed Rory in the construction of his first Ruby on Rails application. The process of building a basic application has been described using this example. From this straightforward starting point, the application has been developed and expanded allowing us to describe the techniques used to overcome problems and create working solutions that can be used in a variety of situations.

So where does a developer of a small business applications go from here? A simple answer to this is that a developer can improve their Rails and Ruby skills further and become an expert in the language and the framework. However, there is an alternative approach, which is to widen your skills. That is, to develop skills in the areas and systems that work with Rails and your applications in your environment. Therefore, in this chapter, we will cover both: how one can improve one's Rails skills further and suggest alternative skills that complement Ruby on Rails, thereby broadening your skill set. Rather than using Rory's solution to discuss the issues, we will use our own experiences to describe some paths that have led us beyond the ability to build straightforward Rails applications.

Chapter 10: Down the Track Going off the Rails SQL Gathering Data from a Daughter Object's Daughter Using a model’s ActiveRecord connection Using GROUP BY to Summarize Data A Deeper Look at Aggregate Functions Business Processes To Be Successful, Build Successful Business Applications Automate Simple Repetitive Jobs Rapid and Detailed Reporting Ensure Customers Pay for the Goods and Services that the Business Provides Review of Business Activity Examples Dealing with Success Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should Bought in solutions Provide their Own Opportunities Ensure There is Time to Complete Each Task The Final Destination

Paperback 528 pages Released: October 2007 ISBN: 1847190855 ISBN 13: 978-1-847190-85-7

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