Question about interaction of external processes and a Rails

Hi,

I am planing and developing a larger rails app, where all the
administration, configuration is done through the rails app. And the
rails apps primary purpose is to display and search through data stored
in a database.

Now, I have to kinds of tasks which are located outside of the rails
app.

  • parsing and importing data delivered externaly from locations
    configured in the administration part of the rails app
  • exporting data from the database to a workflow starting behind the
    rails app

So, it is obvious to me, that my importer and exporter needs access to
the model I configure for my rails app. Is there a point inside rails
where I can integrate such external apps into my rails app? I mean, can
I easily make the model and so on visible to some script outside of the
actual web application? Any best practice guides or suggestions on this?

Best regards,
Oliver

script/runner


– Tom M.