Use Ruby and Ruby on Rails to create seven practical mashup projects following step-by-step instructions.


In Detail

A web mashup is a new type of web application that uses data and services from one or more external sources to build entirely new and different web applications. Web mashups usually mash up data and services that are available on the Internet— freely, commercially, or through other partnership agreements. The external sources that a mashup uses are known as mashup APIs.

This book shows you how to write web mashups using Ruby on Rails— the new web application development framework. The book has seven real-world projects and each project is described in a methodical step-by-step way, showing how you can write a web mashup from the ground up.

APIs covered in the book

This book covers: Google Maps API, Yahoo geocoding services, Geocoder.us geocoding services, Geocoder.ca geocoding services, Hostip.info, Google Spreadsheet, EditGrid, Clickatell, Interfax, Amazon ECS, Sparklines, Facebook, Indeed, DayLife, Technorati, Futef, WebserviceX Currency Convertor, Weatherbug, Google Bases, Geonames, Flickr, Paypal, Google Calendar, Google Account Authentication, Google Data, and Google Spreadsheet Data.


What you will learn from this book

You will learn what a mashup application and a mashup plug-in are and how you can effectively use mashup technology to do more than just Web 2.0 startups. You will also learn how to use Ruby and Ruby on Rails to combine, mix, and match up nearly 30 mashup APIs from small to really large scale, and from completely free to commercial to:

* Map a fleet of kiosks in an online map
* Send marketing messages through e-mail, SMS, and fax
* Sell and track the sales of books
* Search for jobs through a Facebook application
* Show all sorts of information on a geographic location
* Buy and pay for movie tickets then post the screening information in an online calendar
* Apply, approve, and pay for employee expense claims

Approach

This book is project-based. The format of each project is similar, with a statement of the project, discussion of the main protocols involved, an overview of the API, and then complete code for building the project. You will be led methodically through concrete steps to build the mashup, with asides to explain the theory behind the code.

Who this book is written for

This book is for Ruby on Rails developers who want to expand the features of their site by consuming remote external data and services. Basic knowledge of Ruby on Rails programming is required but you need not have any experience of any of the APIs used.