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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

newid

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    Beau Spivey

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  1. Well, it's been a while since using osc with paypal. I had trouble getting the loaded snapshot to work with it about a year or so ago, and started using 2checkout. Things have changed over at paypal since then. First, they no longer require you to "register" to place an order with a vendor. And secondly, I recall getting something from them announcing that they had gotten around the whole "not clicking the continue button" thing. Apparently, they now have some sort of autofowarder that will take the user on through that page. Has anyone found that using this negates the need for the paypal IPN? Beau
  2. Ok, first let me start by saying "FINE JOB!". I've been saying for the last couple of years that osc needed a template system like this. I knew that it would be a no-brainer for someone, as I had seen this done on other sites as well (at auctionworks, they do their "templates" the same way with the $variables). Anyway, I'm so happy someone finally contributed this little gem. Now to get my osc sites back to normal so that I can implement it! Anyway, I've got a new shop setup and sts plugged in. It's working great so far! I had a question about the index.php.html thing. In the instructions, in the section that talks about using multiple category templates, you mention that you can have: 1. A default site template (sts_template.html) 2. A default category template (sts_templates/index.php.html) 3. A Main catalog page template (index.php_0.html) 4. Templates for individual cat pages (index.php_xx-yy.html) Here's where I get confused. Ok, let's say I uploaded sts_template.html into the main catalog/includes directory. It works great! The only problem is, my main page greeting and html now shows on EVERY page on the site. Ok, so I'll move the main page to the includes/sts_templates directory and change the name to "index.php.html". It works great! The only problem is, now main page greeting shows on every page that has a url that ends with "index.php?cpath=whatever", UNLESS of course, there is a specific template that has been created for whatever category the visitor is clicking on. So, am I to assume that IF you want to put your index.php.html file in the sts_templates directory, that you HAVE to define a template to every category if you do not want the visitor to see your main page on all the cat pages? Can I define the index page so that it ONLY shows up when the user is viewing simply "index.php" instead of also showing when the user visits "index.php?cpath=37? Thanks again for the contribution. I personally know of at least a dozen or so people who had looked at oscommerce but ended up going another route because it was just a little too in-depth on the php for them. I will be letting them know that this contrib is available. Beau
  3. I'm looking to get the easy populate contrib. But I noticed that, like all the other contribs, the place where you actually GET the file has so many files there, there's no telling which one I need. Files from the original contributor, then a few dozen other files from others as well. How do you know WHICH file you need to get? Some of them say something like "you need an earlier install, this is only file A", and others don't. How do you figure out which file you need to download to install the the latest working contrib? Beau
  4. How about an ebay api reseller? Suppose ebay would allow something like that? Create some code that pulls ebay api information from the ebay site and then forwards it to the seller in the form of their choosing. If ebay would allow it, it would likely be a breeze for someone else to come along and create a contribution for osc to work with such a service. Instead of charging your customers "per transaction", simply charge "per api call". You won't get any ugly surprises (except maybe a sudden need to get yourself a bigger server) since your api call rate is set in stone even at the entry level commercial tier. I seriously doubt ebay would go for that though. Probably wishful thinking.... Beau
  5. Equilla and Smitty, BOTH of you guys have excellent ideas, and NEITHER of you guys are wrong in your logic. I wish I had the knowhow to implement my own AM (auction management) solution into osc RIGHT NOW. But I don't, so I pay. I'm no huge auction giant like hdoutlet or some of those other guys, but I STILL pay 100 bucks a month regularly for auction management services. Add that to the money I have to pay to ebay and paypal and, well, it starts to add up very quickly. Enter the individual API license, and the clouds start to disappear. The great thing about Smitty's efforts is that it would provide auction management solutions to us NOW, at no cost. The bad thing about smitty's solution is that it IS something we will have to chase on a regular basis. And to the regular auction seller (ie, the person who has no clue when it comes to modifying osc), trying to keep up with something like this would become old very quickly. Imagine, having everything up and running smoothly, going on a two week vacation, and coming back to find that ebay had changed something and your auctions are now gonna have to be handled manually. A nightmare to say the least. So for the user who is not osc or php saavy, Smitty's work will not work. The great thing about Equilla's efforts is that they play by ebay's rules. Equilla will therefore have MUCH more support from both ebay AND osc on this. If ebay's going to be changing something in the near future, equilla will know about it in advance and will be given everything he needs to make sure his code is updated as it needs to be for the change. There will be no ugly surprises. This means that someone who is not familiar with the workings of OSC will not be left out in the cold if ebay changes something overnight. This change may SEEM like it was overnight, but equilla will have known about it for months. The bad thing about equilla's solution is that it will cost money. While both solutions are admirable and seem to be in the spirit of osc, when I weight the positives and negatives from each, I'd have to say to go the route of equilla's solution for safety's sake. Granted, I'm not saying to ditch your efforts smitty. If those who are using your contrib are comfortable with using it, then more power to ya. I salute you guys saving that AM money, and wish I could do it do. I'm just saying that in the long-term, maybe an intermediary service like what equilla is suggesting would be the way to go for us ebay sellers who don't want to spend too much time trying to keep up with our "renegade" auction management services. In short, while the renegade solution certainly fits more within the scope of the osc project and lives up to it's spirit, the "by the ebay book" solution looks to me like it would be the safer of the two options. I had wrestled with this for awhile. Ever since hearing about the new individual api license, I've been wondering how this will affect auction management as we know it today. I can honestly say that instead of paying "per transaction" fees to someone like auctionworks, I'd much rather pay 199 a year to license out software that would allow me to use the individual api to hook up to ebay and run my own auction management. You know it will happen eventually, whether it's compatible with osc or not. After hearing equilla's take on the subject, it occured to me that THAT'S the way to go, if you want your solution to work with both osc and ebay. So equilla, perhaps instead of trying to create a service that "works with osc", you should concentrate first on creating a service that is a full-fledged auction management service with tools that are available at other auction mangement services, but that runs on the sellers server instead of a third party's. This could be done using the methods you described (playing the intermediary api developer's role) OR by creating software that could be used by anyone with an individual api license. THEN concentrate on creating a contribution that will allow osc to work with the auction management software. THAT is not against the osc license. While the contribution itself would be free, the software that the user will be hooking up to is not. Like you said, this happens all the time. The paypal IPN contribution is free, but it's not free to use the paypal IPN (you have to pay fees on the money that comes through using the IPN). The "your own auction management software" contribution would be free, but that doesn't mean it's free to use the "your own auction management software" itself. Another way around this would be for someone like equilla to pay the big license fee (allowing them to distribute their app) and develop a package that holders of the free api license can use on their own server. They'd have to pay a licensing fee to equilla of course, so that he can get back those developer fees he has to pay to ebay, but equilla would then not have to worry about any api calls going through his account. AND he would not have to charge the end user for them (they would use the software according to their own individual api license). THEN, the osc community could create a contrib that would allow osc to work along with this software. So long as the contrib didn't require any changes to the auction management software (meaning you'd have to get the software recertified), then we'd be golden. Everything that is open source is still freely distributable, while the auction management software remains it's own entity and can be used by the individual license owner freely. Anyway, I'm just throwing my ideas about this out there. They may not be completely correct, and I may not be on the right track here. But I just wanted to say that both of you guys are valued in my book. We need renegades, and we need legit apps. It goes without saying that open source is a must, but there's also alot to be said for apps that you have to pay for. At any rate, you can bet that I WILL be one of the first in line when the day comes around where I can get my own auction management software and be done with these expensive 3rd party solutions! Beau
  6. Lee, Doh! That's the one thing I didn't try! I tried using the line beginning with $textstring and replacing with the mainpage link code but that didn't work. If you can't tell, I'm a php loser. Anyway, thanks for the tip, I'll go try it now. I just realized that I should have put this post in another thread. Sorry about that. I was just so hyped about having both of these contribs running together that I got carried away! Thanks again, Beau
  7. Lee, you are da man! These two contribs are both fantastic and they really do belong together. I'm lovin it! Thanks for the cool contrib! Now, for a question for anyone who wants to tackle it. I've got both of these contribs up and running and they are working great. However, instead of an "information" box at the bottom of my column, I'm opting to use this as a "navigation" box at the top of the column. Only problem is, I can't figure out how to get a link to the homepage (default.php) at the top of the list in the information unlimited box. I know it goes somewhere in this code from the information.php file in catalog/includes/boxes: <?php // Retrieve information from Info table $informationString = ""; // joles //$sql=mysql_query('SELECT information_id, info_title FROM ' . TABLE_INFORMATION .' WHERE visible='1' ORDER BY v_order') $sql=mysql_query('SELECT information_id, languages_id, info_title FROM ' . TABLE_INFORMATION .' WHERE visible='1' and languages_id ='.$languages_id.' ORDER BY v_order') or die(mysql_error()); while($row=mysql_fetch_array($sql)): $filename_information = tep_href_link(FILENAME_INFORMATION) . (stristr(tep_href_link(FILENAME_INFORMATION), '?')?'&':'?') . 'info_id=' . $row['information_id']; $informationString .= '<a href="' . $filename_information . '">' . $row['info_title'] . '</a><br>'; endwhile; $info_box_contents[] = array('text' => $informationString . '<a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_CONTACT_US) . '">' . BOX_INFORMATION_CONTACT . '</a>'); $info_box_contents = array(); $info_box_contents[] = array('text' => $informationString . '<a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_CONTACT_US) . '">' . BOX_INFORMATION_CONTACT . '</a>'); new infoBox($info_box_contents); ?> But I'm not quite sure how to get it to show up. I want it to be a constant thing like the way the "contact us" link is always at the bottom of the list. Thanks Beau
  8. I've used paypal for awhile now (almost four years, since the x.com days), and enjoy getting my money "right away" so to speak. But after putting all of the work into getting oscommerce setup and looking the way I want it to look, I can't abandon it. I really like osc. But this ipn thing certainly doesn't seem to be as far along as some would say. I've never had a problem installing a mod, but this thing is a monster! I've done everything that everyone has said to do and I'm getting good test ipn results and the orders are in admin (w/updated status), but I simply get no email confirmation of the order other than the payment received email from paypal (which, of course, includes no info about the order). I've seen at least a half dozen or so people who are asking the same question "why won't it send order emails?", but that seems to be the one question that never gets an answer. So I can only assume that it's due to either the system that all of us having problems are running, or simply that no-one knows the answer! And if that's the case, then, well, I guess I should start figuring out how to back out of the ipn install (yeah, I know, turn it off, that's the easy way) and simply sign on with 2checkout. Ya know, you'd think that paypal themselves would be working on a mod for this. God knows they've got enough money. They could probably crank it out in a day or two, fully functional. Why they don't is beyond me. If it means more money to them in the long run, it should be a no-brainer! Well, back to the grindstone. Beau
  9. I gave up on it. Too many other things in the bucket and with Christmas just around the corner, I have to get myself ready to make some money from the rush. I figured that since they were going to be creating a template system for osc, this contrib would only be valid until they released the template system. I did have it working, but the one thing that kept me from contributing it was the fact that when you changed the stylesheet, the change only took place on THAT page. As soon as you went to another page on the site, it went back to the default stylesheet. This other contribution looks like it would be much better. Now if I could only learn to read it! Beau
  10. I found it! I changed the line to the following: "<?php echo sprintf(TEXT_MORE_INFORMATION, ($product_info_values['products_url']), 'NONSSL', true, false); ?>" and now it works just like I want it to. I love when something works! I swear, if I had the time, I'd go back to school and start learning programming! I know you guys gotta love what you do. Thanks Beau
  11. Hi, In looking over product_info.php, I find the following line. <?php echo sprintf(TEXT_MORE_INFORMATION, tep_href_link(FILENAME_REDIRECT, 'action=url&goto=' . urlencode($product_info_values['products_url']), 'NONSSL', true, false)); ?> Looks like this is where the link to the products webpage is being created. I can remove the 'action=url&goto=' bit and I can remove the 'urlencode' and the nonssl stuff from the link, but the "http://path/tocatalog" still remains in place. Just so you know, I AM wanting to change this link across the board. In other words, I know that once this is changed, it will be changed for every product added from here on out and that would make it impossible to actually link to an external page using this feature. What I'm doing is, creating a site using osc that will allow folks to come and submit stylesheets for osc. I'll add the stylesheets as downloadable products via the admin section (with a screenshot as the product image) and when the visitor views a particular product, the link to the products webpage will say "to see this stylesheet in action, click here". I've already changed the actual text in the languages product_info file. Anyway, when they click on the link, the stylesheet will dynamically be activated on the page they are currently looking at. Only problem is, the link that is created currently is a link that begins with "http://pathto/catalog". The link that needs to be there will not have that stuff in place. The link will simply be the product link. For example, let's say that I add a product (a stylesheet) and for the product link I enter "java script:changeSheets(1)". When the visitor is looking at the product info page for that product, the link to the products webpage would be created using ONLY the javascript link above, without the "http://path" in place. Can anyone rewrite that line above to show me what it needs to look like? I think this would be a great site to have in so far as a stylesheet resource site goes for osc. If I could just figure this part out, I'd be all set to launch it. Thanks Beau
  12. Hi, I'm working on a contrib that will allow dynamic changing of the stylesheet. I've got it working for the most part. It's a very simple thing, but I wonder if someone can help me on one issue. On the product information page for any given product, you have the "products webpage" link. What I would like to do is make it so that this link is a direct link with no "http://" in front of it, and I'd also like to take the popup out. I can see how the popup is taken out in product_info by simply taking away the target tag, but how to I make it so that I can enter a javascript link for the product webpage link in the admin section and have it NOT place the http:// in front of it? Thanks Beau
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