ASIN-WEB

Install:

Installing ASIN for Rails 4.0.0.beta is easy. Just put it into your Gemfile:

source :rubygems
ruby "1.9.3"

gem "rails",                            github: "rails/rails"
gem "activerecord-deprecated_finders",  github: "rails/activerecord-deprecated_finders"
gem "journey",                          github: "rails/journey"
gem "sprockets-rails",                  github: "rails/sprockets-rails"

gem "asin",         "~> 1.0"
gem "httpclient",   "~> 2.2"

gem "haml",         "~> 3.1"
gem "coderay",      "~> 1.0"

gem "thin",         "~> 1.4"
gem "foreman",      "~> 0.51"

group :assets do
  gem "sass-rails",     github: "rails/sass-rails"
  gem "uglifier",       "~> 1.2"
end

ASIN has a modular setup and is built on top of the HTTP adapter library HTTPI. Since HTTPClient is my favourite HTTP library, i put this into the Gemfile too.

Config:

The most common way of configuring ASIN is via a Rails initializer like this asin.rb file:

ASIN::Configuration.configure do |config|
  config.secret         = ENV['ASIN_SECRET']
  config.key            = ENV['ASIN_KEY']
  config.associate_tag  = ENV['ASIN_TAG']
end

require 'httpi'
HTTPI.adapter = :httpclient
HTTPI.logger  = Rails.logger

I am used to read the config-vars from the ENV because it's the best way to configure stuff on Heroku.

Beeing a lazy programmer, I tend to put the configuration of HTTPI into the same file.

Lookup:

The ASIN::Client#lookup method is the simplest form of accessing the Amazon API:

class LookupExample
  def initialize
    @client = ASIN::Client.instance
  end
  
  def lookup_item_title
    asin = '1430218150'
    @client.lookup(asin).first.title
  end
end

The result of this query executed in LookupExample#lookup_item_title is: "Learn Objective-C on the Mac (Learn Series)"

Search:

The ASIN::Client#search_keywords methods excepts one or more keywords to search against the Amazon book index:

class SearchExample
  def initialize
    @client = ASIN::Client.instance
  end

  def search_ruby_titles
    @client.search_keywords('ruby', 'rails').map(&:title)
  end
end

Calling SearchExample#search_ruby_titles results in a list of Ruby and Ruby on Rails titles: "Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Web Development with Rails (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)", "Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)", "Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)", "Agile Web Development with Rails (Pragmatic Programmers)", "Ruby on Rails 3.2 - Step by Step", "Ruby on Rails For Dummies", "The Rails 3 Way (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)", "Ruby for Rails: Ruby Techniques for Rails Developers", "The Ruby Programming Language", "Ruby on Rails Tutorial and LiveLesson Video Bundle: Learn Web Development with Rails (2nd Edition) (LiveLessons)"

Cart:

With the ASIN::Client#*_cart methods, you get a convenient layer to access your virtual shopping cart:

class CartExample
  def initialize
    @client = ASIN::Client.instance
  end

  def checkout_url
    @client.create_cart(asin: '1430218150', quantity: 1).url
  end
end

This query of the method CartExample#checkout_url results in a checkout deeplink to the Amazon page: Learn Objective-C on the Mac (Learn Series)

Node:

If you are interested in accessing Amazon browse nodes, you should have a look at the ASIN::Client#browse_node method:

class NodeExample
  def initialize
    @client = ASIN::Client.instance
  end

  def node_name
    node_id = '599826'
    @client.browse_node(node_id, :ResponseGroup => :TopSellers).first.name
  end
end

In this case, the name of the node from the NodeExample#node_name method is: "Comedy"