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Shop owners - what do you want in the core of future osC releases?


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Easy Address Change should be part of the core and fixes a flow flaw in the vanilla osc.

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/9075

 

If a customer is checking out, and wishes to edit an existing address entry, stock osC will require the customer to leave the checkout flow, go to My Account, make edits, then begin checkout all over again.... bad bad.

This add-on adds ability to edit the existing address, and immediately returns the customer to the checkout flow... All Good!

-Dave

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@@vampirehunter The only problem though with this is that all addons will need to be changed and just that some will never be coded. With that reason I can see not everyone will go with this way or be happy.

 

If an addon does not get updated then you should contact the developer that wrote it. If they are not prepared to support their module, then may be that module may nor be  as good as people think. There are many old addons that never worked but they are still here lurking waiting to annoy the next person that thinks its great to have and tries to install it. Any addon that is not supported should not really be used any way, but that is probably just me.

 

There is always the option that a shop owner pays to get the module converted and then they can release it back to the community for others to use and give something back to what is effectively a free eCommerce platform. There are many people apparently running new bootstrap stores yet there are very few addons being updated and released as updated for BS.

REMEMBER BACKUP, BACKUP AND BACKUP

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Can we now get back on topic please ?

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

I do not use the responsive bootstrap version since i coded my responsive version earlier, but i have bought every 28d of code package to support burts effort and keep this forum alive (albeit more like on life support).

So if you are still here ? What are you waiting for ?!

 

Find the most frequent unique errors to fix:

grep "PHP" php_error_log.txt | sed "s/^.* PHP/PHP/g" |grep "line" |sort | uniq -c | sort -r > counterrors.txt

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- eanfield (seems about 90% of our products now have ean numbers and it does make for easy matching for pricelists)

- longer products_model field (mine is 25 chars)

I have a lot of problem with eans if manufacturers change the production place year by year. I can handle it in subproduct models only. How do you connect to product?

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

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6) SMTPauth

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/901

 

Most people won't need this for their live site, but when I develop my site(s) in-house on a Windows box, this makes it easy to configure the outgoing email for testing. Again, this is trivial, but there's no reason why this isn't in the core.

 

This could be more simple with a PHPMailer transfer class change

 

 

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

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7) Information Pages Unlimited

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/1026

 

This is quickly being replaced by the upgrades being made to modulerize osC, but in the mean time ...

 

 

I agree with it but we need more simple codebase as a blog or a page builder motor.

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

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About account/order editor..

Yes its important, but we should change the core data/codebase for it and this change will knock out many modules and process. The addons now avoid the conflicts to solve the problem which pull back the code revolution and we are walking on a bad way with addons.

We started to build a new codebase based on BS but many protest voice found here and pressing us to push out as official version which not help for revolution. We need more changing and fixing to build better codebase. This is the truth.

I dont want to destroy your starting point and I will be pation to listen every requests but we should do a compromise in buildings finaly.

 

Harald started many years before v3 project by this reason but we didnt help him enough. These are our fails. We should work better together in the future and understand each other. I left addons area because addons follow a bad codebase philosophy. I wont pull down in this trap again.

If we can we should prevent addon's trap and built in many feature in the codebase that you should use in core and wont depend on bad addon. Free addons has no responsibility opposite to commercial/official addons which should be better. I would like to say that some feature must be built in to ensure the revolution.

This was only my opinion.

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

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I agree with that like others mentioned we need to build in necessary features for the core. Other features should be commercial based as modules and not built into the core. Necessary features I think would be the following:

 

Guest Checkout, Order Editor, Coupon/Gift Voucher, SEO Functionality, Wish List to name a few.

 

Other features maybe to be considered:

 

Shipping quote, MVS, Edit Pages, Favicon, IP trap for security probably be better as a module though instead of core

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A small thing, but I am working on implementing a popular (by views) products module and the products_viewed count is grossly inflated by spider visits, so a simple fix is changing

tep_db_query("update " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " set products_viewed = products_viewed+1 where products_id = '" . (int)$_GET['products_id'] . "' and language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "'");

to

if ($spider_flag == false) {
   tep_db_query("update " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " set products_viewed = products_viewed+1 where products_id = '" . (int)$_GET['products_id'] . "' and language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "'");
}

I'd like to see that included in the core.

osCommerce user since 2003! :thumbsup:

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a guest checkout is absolutely mandatory for any ecommerce site.

Not having it as core code is ridiculous.

 

People take privacy very seriously and don't like having to create multiple usernames and passwords.

 

They want to order quick and finish.

 

They also don't want to type in their name and address every time, especially on a mobile. That's why paypal login is great. 

 

However, guest checkout is good too... so's social login but probably not for the core

 

The store I spend most time with is still on 2.2 and we're mapping a path to 2.3.x - be kind if I talk about anything already there!

 

- a skip flag on top level categories so you can set them up, turn them on and off for the catalog front end when you want ... we use this for promotions and also have a hidden category tree that matches the structure of our off-line inventory system

- products sort order within category

- cross selling with a sensible user interface when you've thousands of products (we use both family products and cross-sell on 2.2)

 

Most importantly, usability improvements for admin categories/products

- configurable columns with sort for the list of products, plus a link straight in to edit a product without having to click first to focus on it (like the preview but edit)

- a module hooking in user-defined data reports that populate the product list in the same way the search does

- a quick update module that allows you to change a (configurable) subset of product fields directly from the focus panel without going in to the edit & have to scroll down then preview two-page sequence of a full edit

- maybe a fancy drag-and-drop ajax explorer interface? not sure about this... I'd want at least two explorers to drag and drop between

Contact me for work on updating existing stores - whether to Phoenix or the new osC when it's released.

Looking for a payment or shipping module? Maybe I've already done it.

Working on generalising bespoke solutions for Quickbooks integration, Easify integration and pay4later (DEKO) integration at 2.3.x

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I won't list all addons I have installed. I will list some features I feel that should be there by default. Here is my list:


  • Language SEO urls: need a way for spiders to know that a page is in english or another language, (i.e. www.myshop.com/product_1/en/ or www.myshop.com/en/product_1/) to avoid duplicate content, along with an hreflang tag: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077
  • Better language handling specially on admin (config, modules...)
  • In stock / out of stock products
  • Advanced attribute handling: Better front end for defining and editing them and stock check on checkout. QTPro addon is a good example.
  • State/country pulldown menu on account creation / editing
  • Oder editor
  • HTML emails
  • More classes (like customers or products class)
  • Hooks for adding their own configuration pages for addons in the admin menu without editing files
  • Admin section redesign/restyling
  • For EU shop owners: Customer VAT number

Attribute stock handling and in stock/out of stock being at least defined by core seems important for me so 3rd party addons can make use of them avoiding each one having their own system and being incompatible with each other.


 


I'm in the process of making an order editor or adapting an existing one. I've seen there is a hook in the new paypal module that allows adding it to the edit orders page. I'll take a look on how to integrate it there as soon as I get some free time.


 


 


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As for whether a feature should be built into the core, or made a separate add-on, my criteria would be (for core):

  1. At least 90 to 95% of all storeowners install this feature, or would if they knew about it and felt confident enough in their skills to install an add-on. Would you make the steering wheel on your car an option?
  2. At least 50% of all storeowners want this feature, and it touches so many places in the code and causes so many incompatibilities with other add-ons that it would be far cleaner to build it into the core.

Anything else should be left as a separate add-on. Of course, there is still the issue of how to find out how many storeowners want a given feature. Wishlists and posts saying "I think it would be nice to have..." do not necessarily translate into actual installations when the code becomes available. Counts of package downloads do not reveal how many were actually installed and kept and are in daily use.

 

This supposes that any new feature is initially an optional add-on, rather than built into the core from the start. That alone would depress the number of installations, and even the number of potential new features that make it to the completed add-on stage. However, you don't want to put in a tremendous amount of time and effort (plus that of reviewers and testers) to put something into the core that few might end up using.

 

Like so many other things in life, there are no simple one-size-fits-all answers.

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Anything else should be left as a separate add-on. Of course, there is still the issue of how to find out how many storeowners want a given feature. Wishlists and posts saying "I think it would be nice to have..." do not necessarily translate into actual installations when the code becomes available. Counts of package downloads do not reveal how many were actually installed and kept and are in daily use.

 

 

Perhaps a tie-in with version checking here... could have a central database on osc.com gathering (anonymous) stats on which versions of core and add-ons are in use. It would need permission from the store admin and their selection of whether it's a live store or a dev/test one

 

It still wouldn't be accurate but it would be a start. 

 

Just a thought, perhaps a daft one

Contact me for work on updating existing stores - whether to Phoenix or the new osC when it's released.

Looking for a payment or shipping module? Maybe I've already done it.

Working on generalising bespoke solutions for Quickbooks integration, Easify integration and pay4later (DEKO) integration at 2.3.x

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For future options we would like to see in the core Osc I would say make it Multi-Shop ready. Preferably an index.php starting the application - not being the app itself. In this way you can use one source of code to support multiple shops (this is how Magento works).

 

But more important - keep the code clean and tight as it is in 2.3.4.BS. Better to focus on and upgrade the add ons section. The add ons section should have a kind of approval system for well-coded add ons. The features required by many shopowners could off course be coded by development team and served as certified add-ons. I would be more then willing to pay for well-coded add-ons!

 

So keep the core small and simple - Just like Burt is doing right now with 2.3.4.BS.

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Perhaps a tie-in with version checking here... could have a central database on osc.com gathering (anonymous) stats on which versions of core and add-ons are in use. It would need permission from the store admin and their selection of whether it's a live store or a dev/test one

 

Not daft at all. If osC has some sort of version checking, to alert storeowners to updates being available, statistics gathering could be piggybacked on that. That would need some sort of local database (store server) to track what versions of what add-ons are installed. It need not be done continuously -- perhaps weekly or so (cron job or check the last version check date when sign on to admin). 

 

Not only could it provide feedback to developers on what the popularity is of add-ons, and what could be considered for inclusion in the core, but it could also tell add-on developers/owners what's popular, what is installed alongside what other add-ons, and what versions are in use. This could tell a developer that they don't need to support an old version that no one is still using.

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Is anybody there that can check the stats about the more donwloaded addoms to track, for example, the 25 more downloaded in the last year? Can share with us this list?

 

This will help us to know the desires/thougs. At least the same that the thoughts of everyone of us writting here.

 

My grain (focused in the admin area):

 

1.- As soon as possible, create a core code that can be reusable in every next version. Try to avoid to create a 'wall' between osc and the shopers every time a new verssion arrives ( plus no compatibility of old addoms).

 

2.- A database import from 2.2 to 2.X. I kow, I know, that this is easy, you can do it in 2 minutes, etc. But I think that the more important for a busisness is the info that it ownes (their customers, their product info...). A trusted addom that import easy your/their sensitive data will be welcome and, may be, a few more people should be seduced to 'go forward', instead to be in the 'Groundhog Day of php 5.2 / osC 2.2'...

 

3.- Edit all sort of things: orders, cotomers detaills, invoices, products (when ckeditor or something like that will be in by default?) a decent attributes editor, etc.

 

4.- Sort all kind of pages: customers, categories -> no need to show the tree of categories but ALL the products in a table that would be filtered - if necesary by a dropdown menu-; orders, reviews...

 

5.- Stock control (including attributes), margin control.

 

And, of course (sorry, I don't think that the following is 'out of topic'):

 

1.- A decent addoms area in oscommerce where to find your favorite addom, where you can RATE or share with others that 'this addom don't work with 2.3.99' or 'It's is great with a clean interface' and also inform (from developer or users) if this addom are compatible with that osc version, etc. No original (WP users are familiar with that), I know...

 

2.- The work that Burt and others did in the past year is laudable, but it seems that the BS version is almost a cryptic femonema that only the initianes can find. When will see that GOOD NEWS in <H1> in the very first page of oscommerce.com with a link to invite to download (download me / see all the compatible addons 25 and adding every day).

Instead create a entry in this forum to list the BS compatible addoms, why no put in the addoms page at last a 'caterogy of 2.3.4BS' to filter the addoms?

 

Spare time to coding. Perfect!

 

But, at least, all of us (ejem, Your) will like to spread your code to all, right?

 

Open the hive and show the honey!

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  • 1 year later...

Order Editor is the thing I want the most. Otherwise the backend is not really useful for reporting purposes. 

 

Outside of that I have so many custom additions to my store that updating is a nightmare.  I have the concept of family accounts, with members inside that account, and items are purchased for the members in the account.  Think "sports club".  This has to touch so many files you literally have to search and replace dozens if not hundreds of files.

 

Anyway I doubt this is very important to anyone, BUT if there was some system more like the WordPress "child" system where you could write your own functions and templates that hooked into the core, then of course this enables the core to be continually updated without damaging your theme.

 

To me that is the only way to win. Non-update-ability is the road to getting hacked, and a platform that is easily hacked is not going to be extremely popular.

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Anyway I doubt this is very important to anyone, BUT if there was some system more like the WordPress "child" system where you could write your own functions and templates that hooked into the core, then of course this enables the core to be continually updated without damaging your theme.

 

@@jimlongo  Jim that is exactly what you can do with the newer versions of osC, with it's modular approach and the introduction of hooks.  It is truly impressive.  There is still lots of work to do it get it fully implemented but the team has done an awesome job moving the core forward in recent years. :thumbsup:   If you haven't, you should install a copy of EDGE and start playing around with it.

 

Dan

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Maybe this exists somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it. It would be nice to log all search requests, including the keywords and whether it's a signed-in customer or a visitor (even better, separate out bots). That way you could see if there's a product you should consider adding, or if keywords need to be added to an existing product description or title so people can find it more easily. You might be able to tell if people are misusing the search facility (bad syntax) and search capabilities need to be improved. Log the raw requests, not after processing to remove noise words, etc. -- you might find that you need to allow shorter words, or at least warn people how to properly use search!

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@@MrPhil Tracking the search is available in Header Tags SEO but it doesn't list IP's or search bots. Though the latter shouldn't be possible since they would have to submit the form.

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