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Amazon scripts -- templates needed

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Amazon scripts -- templates needed
While this is called a DVD script, it should work as well with Books and Music channels.

I have gotten the script to import the returned amazon data into my existing site, at http://betterbeads.com in the reference/books area, (but I'm not displaying anything but the thumbnails).

If anyone has templates they are using for amazon data they can share, it will speed up the development of the real-time fetch of pricing and availability data, and local caching of thumbnails.

I still need a field mapper, to allow you to import the data into your exisiting fields, rather than duplicating it, and a lot of other work, but templates would help :) If you have templates to use Amazon data, it would save a lot of development time to be able to use them, rather than make them up, and concentrate on the back-end fetch code.

This is a real, ugly, hack at this point, but it takes an ASIN from a list, the database, or such, and fetches the amazon data, massages it into a Links SQL insertable format, and "adds" it to the database. Handling default fields and such is an issue, as that has to be hard-coded, and a field/mapping editor is needed to allow the returned fields to map into your exisiting ones, without duplicating the data. Right now I'm storing both AWS_url which is copied to URL, for example.

Templates would be a *big* help, if you have done any.

It would let me immediately concetrate on the real-time fetch of pricing and availability data, and caching of searches and thumbnails.

This is built upon Net::Amazon, which I might end up having to <gag> rewrite parts of (override, more accurately) but for some reason, I suddenly understand OOP Perl, modules, classes, constructors, $self-> and all the stuff I was doing, but not understanding. Maybe it's because Net::Amazon is a simple OOP interface system, and Links was always a complex one. Not an epiphony, I was handling it before, but certainly much clearer insight and understanding.

I'm using this as an oppotunity to rewrite a bunch of code, especially image handling/upload code we have, and put it into modular, and even object form. This may be the program that does it, more so than the Image::Gallery or Auction system.

Amazon is the largest on-line retailer, they have always WANTED people to sell their stuff, so developing for them makes sense. They developed the affiliate program, and have no reservations supporting it. It's not an add on for them, it *IS* them.

But, if the insight I got holds up, it should be possible to support ANY merchant with an RSS/XML type feed, by changing the Net::[seller] layer.


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