What kinds of applications are easy to be constructed by ROR

[Alan Lai]

We can easily build up a web-based database management application via ROR. What other kinds of web applications are easy to be built via ROR? For example, server site management, Portal, and etc.

[Pradeep bhatt]

I am not sure if Rails support portals//portlets ?

[Lasse Koskela]

Originally posted by Pradip Bhat:
I am not sure if Rails support portals//portlets ?

The Java Portlet API is, like its name suggests, a Java API so Rails doesn't support that.

It is possible, however, to create something similar yourself. It's just that you'll have to do it all from scratch unless you can find an existing portal framework that's built on top of Rails. Also note that "a portal" doesn't imply that any specific "portal technology" is being used to implement it. In general, a portal site is "a site that the owner positions as an entrance to other sites on the internet."

[Justin Gehtland]

We've built everything from simple e-commerce apps to applications to manage complex phyical workflows in a manufacturing environment to apps monitoring real-time testing of hardware. The sweet-spot is still Ajax-ified database babysitters, but portals aren't too hard to deal with. I was able to recreate Google's dynamic desktop in about an hour using standard Prototype and Script.aculo.us, and coupled with Rails' support for Ajax, a full portal is only a little farther away.

Plus, see my post about using CAS with Rails for single-sign-on for a fuller picture.