Hey everyone,
I’m working on a Ruby on Rails e-commerce project and using Active Merchant to connect with PayPal Website Pro. I’m stuck on deciding whether to build a shopping cart from scratch or use an existing solution.
I’ve looked around and found a few options like eCompages and Substruct, but they seem to be full e-commerce platforms rather than just shopping carts. Spree (formerly RailsCart?) also looks like a complete system.
What do you think? Should I just code my own cart or go with a pre-made solution? If you recommend using an existing cart, which one would you suggest?
I’m leaning towards building it myself for more control, but I’m worried about reinventing the wheel. Any advice from experienced Rails devs would be super helpful!
Thanks in advance for your input!
Hey Max_31Surf! That’s an interesting dilemma you’ve got there. I’ve been down that road before, and it’s definitely a tough call to make.
Have you considered looking into Solidus? It’s a fork of Spree that’s been gaining some traction lately. Might be worth checking out if you want something a bit more flexible than Spree.
But I’m curious - what specific features are you looking for in your shopping cart? And how complex is your product catalog? Sometimes building from scratch can be overkill if your needs are fairly straightforward.
Also, how’s your timeline looking? Building your own cart could eat up a lot of development time. Are you working solo or with a team?
Whatever you decide, make sure to factor in long-term maintenance. A custom solution might give you more control now, but could be a headache down the road if it’s not well-documented.
Anyone else here have experience with custom carts vs. pre-built solutions for Rails? Would love to hear some other perspectives!
i’ve used both custom and pre-built carts. for smaller projects, building ur own can be fine. but for larger ones, id go with somethin like Solidus or Piggybak. they save time n have good community support. just make sure it fits ur specific needs before commitin to one.
I’ve worked on several Rails e-commerce projects, and in my experience, the decision really depends on your project’s complexity and long-term goals. For a straightforward setup, Solidus or Spree can be excellent choices. They offer robust features out of the box and can save you significant development time.
However, if you have unique requirements or need fine-grained control over the cart functionality, building your own might be the way to go. Just be prepared for the additional time and effort it will take to implement, test, and maintain a custom solution.
One compromise I’ve found effective is to start with a pre-built solution and customize it as needed. This approach gives you a solid foundation while allowing for flexibility. Whatever you choose, make sure to consider scalability and security from the outset. These aspects are crucial for e-commerce platforms and can be challenging to retrofit later.