---
title: The Garden Blog | Development
description: Development | Thoughts on crafting quality software and design from the team at Lotus
---

![Lotus Apps](https://blog.madebylotus.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Backgrounds_Lotus%20BLog_Jan2017/logo-color.png?width=170&name=logo-color.png "Lotus Apps")

- [Work](https://www.madebylotus.com/software-solutions/)
- [Why Lotus](https://www.madebylotus.com/custom-software-development/)
- [About](https://www.madebylotus.com/about/)
- [Blog](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog)
- [Start a Project](https://info.madebylotus.com/start-your-custom-software-solution)

# Our Thoughts and Stories

It's hard to write when we're always so busy creating for our amazing clients! However, we do find time sometimes to share our thoughts on crafting Rails, iOS and Mac apps out of Knoxville, TN.

[Start Your Project](https://info.madebylotus.com/start-your-custom-software-solution)

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<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/linking-your-rails-app-to-salesforce-with-oauth-2.0>

## [Linking your Rails App to Salesforce with OAuth 2.0](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/linking-your-rails-app-to-salesforce-with-oauth-2.0)

Apr 17, 2019 | [By Reed Van Anrooy](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/reed-van-anrooy) |

[Ruby on Rails](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/ruby-on-rails), [Programming](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/programming), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Salesforce is one of the most widely used Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools on the web ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/linking-your-rails-app-to-salesforce-with-oauth-2.0)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/linking-your-rails-app-to-salesforce-with-oauth-2.0#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-we-learned-integrating-heartland-payments-into-the-ontrac-point-of-sale-3-months-later>

## [What we learned integrating Heartland Payments into the OnTrac Point of Sale: 3 months later](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-we-learned-integrating-heartland-payments-into-the-ontrac-point-of-sale-3-months-later)

Apr 15, 2019 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development), [Business](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/business)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 There are few things more integral to running a successful business when creating software than ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-we-learned-integrating-heartland-payments-into-the-ontrac-point-of-sale-3-months-later)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-we-learned-integrating-heartland-payments-into-the-ontrac-point-of-sale-3-months-later#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/creating-static-distance-circles-in-map-box-how-many-miles-are-in-a-pixel>

## [Creating Static Circles in Map Box: How many miles are in a pixel?](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/creating-static-distance-circles-in-map-box-how-many-miles-are-in-a-pixel)

Mar 21, 2019 | [By Reed Van Anrooy](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/reed-van-anrooy) |

[Programming](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/programming), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Setting Up the Problem Map Box is a live location platform that enables developers to create new ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/creating-static-distance-circles-in-map-box-how-many-miles-are-in-a-pixel)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/creating-static-distance-circles-in-map-box-how-many-miles-are-in-a-pixel#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/utilizing-the-power-of-elasticsearch-and-postgresql-with-zombodb>

## [Utilizing the Power of ElasticSearch and PostgreSQL with ZomboDB](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/utilizing-the-power-of-elasticsearch-and-postgresql-with-zombodb)

Oct 10, 2018 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Programming](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/programming), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Looking to add enhanced search capabilities to your Postgres backed project and unsure of where to ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/utilizing-the-power-of-elasticsearch-and-postgresql-with-zombodb)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/utilizing-the-power-of-elasticsearch-and-postgresql-with-zombodb#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-youre-not-asking-your-development-partner>

## [What You're not Asking your Development Partner](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-youre-not-asking-your-development-partner)

Sep 04, 2018 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Entrepreneurship](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/entrepreneurship), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Choosing a partner to help build your startup or small business product can be a daunting task and ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-youre-not-asking-your-development-partner)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/what-youre-not-asking-your-development-partner#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/using-before-destroy-and-has-many-in-rails>

## [Using Before Destroy and Has Many in Rails](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/using-before-destroy-and-has-many-in-rails)

Aug 03, 2017 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Ruby on Rails](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/ruby-on-rails), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 A quick tip for utilizing a before\_destroy callback in Rails alongside associations.... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/using-before-destroy-and-has-many-in-rails)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/using-before-destroy-and-has-many-in-rails#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/expanding-objects-in-stripe-api>

## [Expanding Objects in Stripe API](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/expanding-objects-in-stripe-api)

Aug 01, 2017 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Ruby on Rails](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/ruby-on-rails), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Learn this quick tip to reduce the number of API requests and speed up your payments integration.... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/expanding-objects-in-stripe-api)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/expanding-objects-in-stripe-api#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/why-market-validation-is-important-to-launching-software-solutions>

## [Why Market Validation is Important to Launching Software Solutions](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/why-market-validation-is-important-to-launching-software-solutions)

Apr 06, 2017 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Entrepreneurship](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/entrepreneurship), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Most people don't like homework, but that's exactly what we tell all our clients thinking of ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/why-market-validation-is-important-to-launching-software-solutions)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/why-market-validation-is-important-to-launching-software-solutions#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-integrate-activeadmin-state-machine>

## [How to Integrate ActiveAdmin State Machine](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-integrate-activeadmin-state-machine)

Mar 23, 2017 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Ruby](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/ruby), [Ruby on Rails](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/ruby-on-rails), [Programming](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/programming), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 INTRODUCTION: In this post we will examine metaprogramming ruby to integrate both ActiveAdmin State ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-integrate-activeadmin-state-machine)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-integrate-activeadmin-state-machine#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-use-slack-voting-in-messaging>

## [How to Use Slack Voting](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-use-slack-voting-in-messaging)

Mar 21, 2017 | [By Chris](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/chris) |

[Marketing](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/marketing), [Entrepreneurship](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/entrepreneurship), [Design](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/design), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 Slack Slack is a messaging tool used for businesses and organizations for better communication. You ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-use-slack-voting-in-messaging)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/how-to-use-slack-voting-in-messaging#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/use-sidekiq-without-rails>

## [How to Use Sidekiq without Rails](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/use-sidekiq-without-rails)

Feb 28, 2017 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Ruby](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/ruby), [Raspberry Pi](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/raspberry-pi), [Programming](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/programming), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development), [IoT](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/iot)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 In a recent project, we found ourselves in a situation where it made sense to introduce a ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/use-sidekiq-without-rails)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/use-sidekiq-without-rails#comments-listing)

<https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/working-remote-4-years-later>

## [Working Remote — 4 Years Later](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/working-remote-4-years-later)

Jun 16, 2016 | [By Matt](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/author/matt) |

[Programming](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/programming), [Development](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/topic/development)

- [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)

 It has been a whirlwind adventure, but I’m rapidly approaching 4years as a remote engineer and ... 

[Read More](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/working-remote-4-years-later)

 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://blog.madebylotus.com/blog/working-remote-4-years-later#comments-listing)

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