How to handle Shopify API connection with Shopify gem?

Question

Hi I'm using the Shopify gem in my Shopify app and I'm looking for suggestions on how to handle the API connection to Shopify.

I'm using webhooks and delayed_jobs so I need a way to open the connection outside of the controller.

At the moment I added this method to my Shop model:

def connect_to_store
  session = ShopifyAPI::Session.new(self.url, self.access_token)
  session.valid?
  ShopifyAPI::Base.activate_session(session)
end

So I can open the connection very easily, for example:

Shop.find(1).connect_to_store
ShopifyAPI::Shop.current.name

The problem is that, inside my Product module, I need the connection open inside several methods but I end up calling the connect_to_store method several times and I'm worried about opening several connections to the same store, without a real need.

Is there a way to check if a connection is already opened and open a new one only if another one is not found?

Thanks, Augusto

------------------- UPDATE -------------------

I explain better my issue.

Let's say that in my Product model I want to see if a given product has a compare_at_price greater than its price and, in this case, I want to add a "sale" tag to the Shopify product.

In my Product model I have:

class Product < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :shop

def get_from_shopify
    self.shop.connect_to_store
    @shopify_p = ShopifyAPI::Product.find(self.shopify_id)
end

def add_tag(tag)
  @shopify_p = self.get_from_shopify

  shopify_p_tags = shopify_p.tags.split(",")
  shopify_p_tags.collect{|x| x.strip!}

  unless shopify_p_tags.include?(tag) 
    shopify_p_tags << tag
    shopify_p_tags.join(",")

    shopify_p.tags = shopify_p_tags
    shopify_p.save
  end
end


def on_sale?
  @shopify_p = self.get_from_shopify
  sale = false

  shopify_p.variants.each do |v|
    unless v.compare_at_price.nil?
      if v.compare_at_price > v.price
        sale = true
      end
    end
  end

  return sale
end

def update_sale_tag
  if self.on_sale?
    self.add_tag("sale")
  end
end

end

My problem is that if I call:

p.update_sale_tag

the Shop.connect_to_store is called several times and I authenticate several times while I'm already authenticated.

How would you refactor this code?

Answer 1

I approach this by storing the OAuth token that is returned by Shopify with the store (you should be doing this anyway). All you need to access the API is the token, so in your shop model you would have a method like:

def shopify_api_path
  "https://#{Rails.configuration.shopify_api_key}:#{self.shopify_token}@#{self.shopify_domain}/admin"
end

Then if you want to access the API for a particular store in a Delayed Job worker, you would simply:

begin
  ShopifyAPI::Base.site = shop.shopify_api_path
  # Make whatever calls to the API that you want here.
  products = ShopifyAPI::Product.all
ensure
  ShopifyAPI::Base.site = nil
end

Hopefully that helps a little. I find working with Sessions outside of controllers to be a bit messy, particularly since this is nice and easy.

Answer 2

I think there is some misunderstanding here. You do know that you are really just using Active Resource for all your API work? And therefore when you authenticate, you are probably authenticating a session? And that once authenticated, no matter how many times you actually use the API, you're not actually opening "new" connections.

You are doing it wrong if you are constantly authenticating in a single session to do more than one API call.

If you happen to be in a block of code that has no authentication (for example your App may process a WebHook from N shops) or a Delayed Job, simply pass the myshopify_domain string to those code blocks, look up the Shop in your DB, find the auth token, authenticate (once)... and away you go... it really quite simple.

Answer 3

Once your application has authenticated once, you can hold on to that computed password – it’s good until the app is uninstalled for that particular store.

In other words, authenticate just the once when the merchant first installs the app, save the password to a db, and load it up whenever you need it. Your self.shop.connect_to_store call should then just set the ShopifyAPI::Session instance.