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Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback

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Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback
What has been people's experiences with it? I've noticed that people have been trying it out but I haven't had any feedback yet.

I'd especially like to hear about cases where things broke or inconsistancies so I can clear any problems before the final version is released.

Ideas for features are welcome as well, but they may not be implemented in this version as I would like to spend the next couple of weeks ensuring that the plugin works well across a number of different systems.
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Where is this available?



CCUnet
my Christian web
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Re: [ccunet] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Whoops, I forgot to post the link to the original announcement:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...orum.cgi?post=228624

Will get you to the announcement as well as login information.
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hi Aki!

I tried to see your recent creation.

I have categories listed as geographical categories. The recent plug-in gets all the products listed from the geographical categories in between.

In the recent months I have not had support from Gossamer Threads which was much required. In particular, I have not had the chance to cut the categories which produces a long listing. GT is not even willing to offer a smal routine to have main_categories in the first stept and then produce a pop-up in the second step, thereby reducing the length of pop-up. I need to expand atleast from 300 to 600 categories.

You cameup with insertion of products and services by loading the categories more and more. The needs are there have not been addressed to and been negleted or unseen. It would be very very easy to make a small sub_routine. I have suffered by Links SQL tremendously due to this since years. I have seen other users having such support. Here, I requested to my and in the interest in general for everyone.

Both the points were and are important to myself as much as to many others. Hence, I now have started to search for some other shopping cart plug-in.
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Re: [dearnet] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
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In particular, I have not had the chance to cut the categories which produces a long listing.

Could you explain further to see if anyone can help you?

Quote:
GT is not even willing to offer a smal routine to have main_categories in the first stept and then produce a pop-up in the second step, thereby reducing the length of pop-up. I need to expand atleast from 300 to 600 categories.

GT are in the process or completing, testing and releasing quite a few products at the moment. If you've found you've had no reponse then this is likely to be the reason. They never intentionally don't respond.

Perhaps again you could provide some details as to what you are looking for so we can help, unless of course you wish for Gossamer staff to help you specifically.

Quote:
You cameup with insertion of products and services by loading the categories more and more. The needs are there have not been addressed to and been negleted or unseen.

I'm not too sure what you mean here, why are the categories loaded more and more?
Are you referring to the shopping cart plugin?

Last edited by:

Paul: Jan 18, 2003, 6:48 AM
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Re: [dearnet] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Paul is right, if we haven't been reponsive, it's mostly because we've been stretched to the limit. Myself, I've been trying to get this cart stable non-stop for weeks. Development on top of support and custom projects. I'm not complaining, just trying to explain why things have been that way (as well as why I haven't been in the forum for a long time)

However, this is a thread about the GOCart plugin, I have qualms about you looking for another shopping cart. I encourage you to do it to get a feel for what else is out there. However, please realize I am asking for comments and feedback on the cart, not on the state of affairs of Gossamer Threads (better suited for the GT Discussion Forums)

Regarding your subroutine request, I'm not clear exactly on how it works, however, start a new thread and perhaps can help you. It sounds complicated as well as specific. We can help you of course, but a something like this would be treated like a custom project at the standard rate.
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hello Aki!

Thanks. I do understand the ammount of work you guys are doing.

The biggest problem in Links is the Category tag. Since there is no SubCategory tag (after passing the main category tag in there), it shall always generate long lists. This drawback is not yet solved.

I tried to work a bit on it in the following thread:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...=%24fatherid;#225959

I have worked out a basic solution with help of Javascripts, which works for me. However it would help everyone who has category more than a hundred. I saw in some other thread some one was talking about 700 cats! I wonder how he would be managing all that, BlyMe!!

My Problem with GoCart was Category, since I need a different table and would not want Products mixed with the current cats. So this was an Honest feedback to say why I could not go for Gocart and I gave the feedback only because I saw your post. Just neglect it if it did not fit to the kind of feedback you were looking for. Excuse me and Thanks for the attention.
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Re: [dearnet] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
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My Problem with GoCart was Category, since I need a different table and would not want Products mixed with the current cats.

Ahhh.. In this case, the shopping cart module can work with a custom table but setting it up can be a little bit more complicated and may require a custom project. Under the hood, it was designed to work with multiple tables but I felt (just an opinion though) that the interface would be clearest if the Links SQL table was the only focus (Links SQL provides many good tools to manage the Links Table and only records from the Links table can be categorized easily) as well as if I had gone down the route of maximum flexibility, aside from the custom table configuration interface, I would of had to create a custom table display/search/modification interface which would probably be better customized on a per user basis: The control panel would of emerged with too many options.
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hi Aki!

Yes. I think you understood what I was looking for. Not only after your explaination but even before I understood the complexicity involved in having different tables that would require much more coding.

However, I saw GoCart with ALSO a view: What if I forget of having Products in a different table?

There I came up with the following conclusion:

- I have about 300 Categories.

- I require to adde anathor 300 categories.

- If GoCart keeps Products and Services then there would be an addition of about anathor 300 Categories.

The total would be something like 900 - 1000 Categories.

Therefore I wrote earlier, probably did not explain exactly what I meant, that even if I would compromise on a new Product table, then the Pop-up will produce 1000 categories everywhere, in the Add.cgi, modify.cgi and the Admin.cgi. Also they would appear in the searches, right?

This lead to the idea which I had earlier and I tried to work with was to have a SubCategory tag. I gaveup because I found a solution with Javascript, which works in the add.cgi and modify.cgi.

The idea was to enhance the existing Category to one more Tag - SubCategory. If in the first step somehow the main CategoryID is passed on to load ONLY that SubCategory with the help of a tag after querying the database like

<%SubCategory('CategoryID')%>, then it would load only the SubCategory.

This lead to the logic that by adding more Category of Products BECAUSE of GoCart Plugin, the pop-up will not load extra category everywhere. Hence only those categories will be loaded on that dynamic page as and where necessary.

For instance, I would want a user to add only in the Categories and not in the Products. Categories additions could be free and addition to Products could be a paid inclusion.

This logic is presented to NOT to present a custom work but to make it clear about the advantage of having a SubCategory TAG, especially when a concept of addition of more categories is developed by the authors or a requirement by a user due to necssecity of having more categories. By this it gives a greater control over handling of categories everywhere by querying the database.

Since you developed the GoCart around the concept of inclusion of more categories into the table Category, I thought of giving you a feedback as to this Tag SubCategory, as all the users using Links SQL and not only that but thereafter GoCart plugin will benefit from it. Hence I felt like writing this in my first post earlier, which did not come through all that what I meant, but hope that it is clear now!!!
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hi Aki,

I have the Beta installed and what I can say is ....

Gocart will be a very good plugin in the future. Once you have programmed all the details it wil be a MUST for everybody who wants to charge for services around GT-Scripts.

Due to my work with another shopping-cart I know what I'm talking about.

--
Michael Skaide

http://www.cycle24.de

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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
I have the plugin installed, and it is really sweet. I have not seen this discussion until now. Even though there is a huge list, I really like the cart. Alot.

I am setting it up on a secure server.

A few small issues:

- there are underscores in the stylesheet. I can't remember where I saw this, but I had trouble in the past with this, and it is popping up again. I think it is a mac related thing. Would be cool if there were no underscores in stylesheet.

- Admin: under Control Panel->Basic There is a setting for "Cart URL" which works fine if your cart is in your cgi-bin, but if you need to move your cart into a secure area, then it doesn't seem to do anything. I ended up creating a global called <%secure_cart_url%> and did a find and replace in the templates. Then I put the url in the Global. Same with <%secure_images_url%>. Would be cool if the cart (and the templates) did this automatically based on this setting.

- If an item is set up as a service, then the system is not supposed to require a shipping address. But it does still require it. Is there a way to pre-check that box (the one that says "Use Billing - Check off this box if the shipping address will be the same as the billing address." I can't find it in the templates.

- End User: would be great if you could retrieve your password from the cart.If you already have an account with us, please login. Or create an account. Could there be a third option? Lost Username or password?

- Admin/General Reports/Buyers/
cartadmin.cgi?action=reports_top_buyers&mi=10
Admin/General Reports/Buyers/Actions: See All Invoices
Then click Modify
System hangs and hangs.

- Admin: Account Handling: Integrated Sessioning
You can click it off and save, but the system does not seem to retain the choice.

- When going through the order process, is there anyway to clear cookies? logout? Especially if we do not use integrated sessioning. Integrated sessioning means that being logged into LSQL means you will be logged in as a shopper as well?

more later... Great job Aki. This is gonna change everything! Excellent!
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Re: [dearnet] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
>> My Problem with GoCart was Category, since I need a different table and would not want
>> Products mixed with the current cats.

I've been working on this, via my arbitrary tables plugin. I'm trying to create an engine that will allow an arbitrary table to be attached to the Links table, via a mediating system.

It's fairly simple in concept, and should be fairly simple in implementation, which is why I feel I'm missing something in my current line of development. <G>

I wanted a separate product database, that had images, etc, for each item, but which could be attached to a link. This would allow a link to both be a product, and be a product group. It would also let a product be attached to more than one link.


PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.

The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
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Re: [pugdog] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
In Reply To:
This would allow a link to both be a product, and be a product group. It would also let a product be attached to more than one link.


Exactly, thats what I was looking for, conceptually. For me it is hard to beleive how you gonna make it with temp tables. Products, Groupings, Categories would really be a good work. I found out some scripts in that direction and am working on making it to work with links.

But however, this is going out of the topic. Thanks.
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Re: [dearnet] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Not "temp" tables, but ARBITRARY tables.

What that means, is that you create a table with a format to hold a specific product. When the Link is queried, in site_html_display_link the plugin does a check of the mediation system, and adds to the "link" the data found in the extra tables.

It's a bit more complicated than that, and I've gone through a few means of keeping tabs on the extra tables. Because of the use I want to put this to, I have to have a way of building and rebuilding any "associations" between tables at any time.

The point of the system is to allow "Links" to be "Links" and yet be able to add all sorts of associated data to it at any given point (link, tree, etc) without making substantive changes to the "Links" table or database system (at least from Links' point of view).

Each table could/would have it's own "manager" or admin system, or could be pulled through a basic table-editor system. Links doesn't have to know anything about that. All it needs to know is that when LinkID=nnn it has to make some extra calls to tables.

The "mediation" system is designed to limit those extra calls to only what is really necessary.

For example, a "Link" may have data sitting in an image table, a product table, a user_extra table, etc. If you are going to display the link in a summary or category list, you don't need to make those extra calls (possibly) and only need the basic link data with the information that those extra features exist. In that case, the "mediation" system will bypass those extra calls. But, if the listing came from the "catalog" page, or system, the mediation system will make the extra call to pull up the product table data, and any associated data.

This is not so much a "dispatch" like the plugin system, but really more a "mediation" in that the least common amount of data is asked for, rather than everything that possibly exists for that link -- which could be quite massive, yet the fact that the extra data exists is passed along as well.


PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.

The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
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Re: Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hi All,

I sent this email to Aki and thought these points may be of interest to all

>>> I understand that this is very new, I haven't used it yet but I do have a few questions. Basically we would provide this as a third party service for our linkowners. This brings up a few points. 1.) Could each linkowner have the ability to maintain their own links & now products separately from other linkowners 2.) Will you be able to allow a user to add, edit, delete their own product data? 3.) Can they choose their shipping methods (price, etc.) separately from the surcharge that we would add through the admin? Trust me, you don't want to get involved with different vendors shipping requirements - it's a nightmare...Tongue 4.) Is there a way to email and/or fax the orders directly to an email provided by the linkowner? <<< These are a few of the items that if initiated, would offer a substantial income generator for those already providing services and in a good position to upsell additional services.
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Re: [Evoir] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
I thought I'd update this post since we've been mailing privately for a little while. I hope you don't mind Evoir...

- stylesheets, I have to go through and fix them. I'll probably just replace the underscores with hyphens. It appears on some older versions of netscape using strict css compliance won't allow for underscores in css tags.

- cart url. My bad mistake, I've fixed that up, included both a http and an https url that are actually used this time. Also included the option to set the bit level that must be met before users are allowed to continue with a transaction.

- Regarding making shipping information optional I haven't done that yet, but I plan on making that an option. Shipping information can also be considered "Mailing Address".

- The system hangup. It was due to a mysterious error on my part by not setting a certain value of a variable

- integrated sessions config opt - fixed

- We ended up putting together a plugin for this, which we discovered was not quite required (it will probably be required when community is integrated) The cart does add users to Links SQL. However, if you don't want users to be able to login, make sure you set the default value of the column of "isValidated" to "No"
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Re: [SSmeredith] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
That's odd, I don't remember getting this message. My mail client has been giving a couple of problems so maybe that's why. Could you send the exact email to me again, just to test? I don't like losing emails. Unsure

I'll reply to your email here, however:

The cart wasn't intended to be used by multiple individuals. It was intended to be a small plugin that supports one links SQL owner and one shop owner as well. I've actually received this request before and I think it would make things very complicated for everyone. From the admin perspective, since each link on a system is a potential product that can be purchased on a single invoice, how are users going to pay once and then have the money distributed properly to the invidual sellers. The entire workflow changes from the different payment vendors. Paypal might be easy, since they've recently introduced a batch payment system to make things such as paying affiliates easy but others such as Authorise.net or Worldpay, I'm not aware of anything to make things so simple.

Just from the programming/security/accounting perspective, things are incredibly complex.

Unfortunately, I don't think this plugin is quite what you need, and I have a feeling it won't be able to do what you require in the future either. I'll admit that I've tossed the idea around (it'd be a very nice feature to have) but just can't come up with a good and secure solution that will work in all conditions that the current cart does. It would probably have to be a separate shopping mall product running on a dedicated server and we currently don't have the resources to develop something like that properly.

Sorry about that.
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Aki,

Well, the plugin is doing it's thing! I am wondering how to change the information sent out to the administrator in the gocart_email_invoice_admin.txt template. My client wants to have a couple more things sent out in the email:

Shoppers phone number
Shoppers email address (in the body of the email, as well as the "from" email address)

How can these be added to the email? Currently, the email spits out <%block_autogenerate%> which, for customization purposes makes things more difficult. What files do I edit to add these things to the email?

Thanks again, it is working great!

Last edited by:

Evoir: Feb 9, 2003, 6:42 PM
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Wait wait wait. The system does no ask for a phone number at all. That's the issue. How can I add a phone number field? If I do add a field, will it automatically be put in the email sent to the admin?

Also, how can I make the email address they use be in the BODY of the email that gets sent to the admin.

Thanks Aki!
Evie
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
HI Aki,

I have a couple questions about the plugin.

1. Can you run specific categories and/or sub categories using the GoCart while the other areas are dedicated to links?

2. If yes to #1 then how do you prevent people from trying to add products into those categories outside the admin?

3. I noticed the IPN and PayPal links on the GoCart information page were dead hyperlinks. Can you let me know what IPN is needed for automated processing using PayPal?

That is all for now. I am sure that I will have a few more soon.

Thanks. Looks good!



Brian
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Re: [Teambldr] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hi Brian,

#1. You can mix and match the links. There's no rule saying that one directory must be products, another directory must be links.

#2. Easiest thing would be to put a if tag that checks the submitter. Also you can catch any attempted add in the calidation phase.

#3. Can you tell me where the dead links are? IPN stands for Instant Payment Notification, it's not required but very useful. Take a look at the following URL: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...lp.htm#paymentsystem

Aki
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Re: [Aki] Shopping Cart Plugin Beta -Feedback In reply to
Hi Aki,

Thanks for the info

Here is where the dead links are:

http://gossamer-threads.com/..._Available!_P234365/

Brian