Running Actinic Catalog from 2 computers

[Simonlee]

Can Anyone tell me, I have a Pc that i currently use to design and run my Actinic Catalog Web site from, Im currently setting up my web site, but at my work its taking me too long and i want to be able to also be able to work on it from Home using my Laptop in the evenings and upload my changes from there too.
Is this possable to do this from home and the office or will it create a problem on the Pc version when uploading etc?
Any feed back on this would be most greatful.
Simon

[pinbrook]

snapshot from one machine to the other....

a quick search of the forum will give you more detail

BTW welcome to the forum you might also find this thread useful
http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=25620

[Duncan Rounding]

You can create a snapshot on one pc and import it onto the other - it is common to do this. The drawback is that each will then upload all the website following the import as it will see all the files as changed.

[los_design]

As above will work but IMHO it would be best to have 1 pc for design and one for the receipt of orders, but this may not be possible in this scenario.

Stick to a firm diary of events regarding snapshots and uploads, log your changes step by step and keep a list of uploads.

Ensure your snapshots are saved as a name that means something to you (no Lee I do not mean Vodka ) so that should you need to rollback, the filenames will be easy to ID.

Regards
Daren

[TraceyHand]

it is tricky and there's no ideal solution
For BB, I use my laptop at the office and at home..so all my info is portable with me.

for Jesters, however, it's more split. Only Nik (at the shop on his laptop) deals with orders although I was doing design and he was adding stock. It wasn't ideal doing continual snapshots (selecting not to overwrite orders) each time and I couldn't do anything on his site on days when he was adding stock.

We've had to change it so now we effectively have one machine for design/stock input (so I'm the one inputting stock now..lucky me ) and one fo order processing, as Daren suggests

The downside of this is that you can't use this set up really if you use stock monitoring on your site.

[los_design]

Exactly Tracey.

We do it for a couple of clients (we manage the design etc and they download orders). In these instances it is nice and easy as they NEVER upload.

We send a snapshot over weekly/monthly depending on the diary of work.

But that may not be the case elsewhere.....

[Simonlee]

Thank you

Thanks so much to all that answered my question. I will give that ago. Will let you know how i get on. Tanks to everyone.....Simon

[Simon TL]

Another approach

Hi

Another approach would be to use a remote control tool from one PC to the other - perhaps get to your home PC from work. Then you can drive the site from one place.

I have used TeamViewer successfully (not for Actinic) and it is very easy to set up.

[LesleyN]

Hi Simon,

Like Tracey i used to use a laptp at the office and at home but we needed another PC to stay at the warehouse when i wasn't there so we now have actinic on the main office/warehouse PC and use a remote control tool to log into the main PC from anywhere when needed. We use 'log me in' (www.logmein.com) and it's free for the basic version we use. The downside is the main PC needs to be switched on to use but you can switch it off remotely - this is ideal when leaving the office as i leave it on and then i can catch up with tasks from home later in the evening and then just close it down for the night.

Hope this helps,
Lesley

[Waggers]

We had a similar problem and used Windows Remote Desktop.

This also allows two of us to maintain and download orders without the danger of two of us using Actinic at the same time.

Richard

[ArielUK]

Does anyone have a practical solution?

...we effectively have one machine for design/stock input... and one for order processing...

The downside of this is that you can't use this set up really if you use stock monitoring on your site.

I'm wrestling with this same issue at the moment and would really appreciate any practical advice that anyone might have:

I'm in Manchester, running Actinic Design and updating a product catalogue from my PC (PC#1).

My client is in Hornsea (not exactly a short hop away), running Actinic Business and processing orders on their PC (PC#2). I should add that my client isn't massively IT-literate, and so isn't used to coming up with solutions to systems-related problems and issues, so the onus is on me to understand the issue, come up with a solution and then communicate it across...

The issue we have is that the client is an independent publisher and so deals with finite stock levels - once a book is sold out it's considered Out of Print and therefore should no longer be available to order via the website.

So, bearing the following in mind:

1) All catalogue adjustments have to be made on PC#1, which therefore should be the only PC that uploads to the live website.

2) All orders are processed on PC#2 and therefore stock level adjustments are made on PC#2.

My question is this: what's the best way of ensuring stock level continuity between PC#1 and PC#2?

I know I can provide a snapshot of the website from PC#1 to update the catalogue information on PC#2, but what's the best way of transferring stock adjustment information from PC#2 to PC#1 so that when I update the website from PC#1 the stock figures remain accurate? And likewise so that when I send a snapshot from PC#1 it doesn't cause inaccuracies in the stock levels on PC#2?

I'm sure it's a conundrum that smarter minds than mine will have solved quite satisfactorily, but my head's spinning at the moment...

[TraceyHand]

in all honestly, you can't expect to be snapshotting (LOL) for the purposes of maintaining stock levels only.
If your client wants to maintain stock levels, then he/she needs to upload.

IF you're the only one uploading (and your client is only downloading) then I would think that the only alternative is for you to be notified of ALL sales and make the necessary stock adjustments on your version each time.

No easy solution, I don't think.
The only reason splitting it works for us (with Jesters) is because we don't use any stock control.

I couldn't even consider it with Budget Bumps as 90% of stock is one-off and it just wouldn't be possible

[fergusw]

How frequently do you m,ake changes to the client's website?

If it is "not too often" then perhaps setting the clients computer as the one that uploads AND downloads would be best.
This way you can simply send across a snapshot to PC#2 with any design changes and get the client to upload from there?

Another option may be to use some form of external data source link (e.g. an Excel file) to hold stock levels. This "data source" might then be able to be quickly transferred from client to you for updating of the site? It would be worth reading Actinic's help documentation for external data source linking in this case.

[ArielUK]

Thank you very much, folks -

That clarifies things in my mind (for which: kudos!) and I think I may have to surrender control of the update process to the client... a bit daunting, but he'll get over it, I'm sure...

Either that I'll just have to get the client to monitor the stock levels on a daily basis an then shout if something starts getting dangerously low so I can move it from the current catalogue to the archive and stop the website from taking orders.

Or maybe use the LogMeIn utility mentioned earlier to remotely access the client's PC and see if I can then run the update myself from here...

Although, what if I got the client to send me a backup of the PC#2 database and I imported the orders from there onto PC#1 a regular basis? Would that then update the stock figures in PC#1's catalogue? Or am I going to be hampered by running Designer, which doesn't allow order processing per se, and only shows orders for 'demonstration' purposes?

[ArielUK]

Problem with the 'occasional snapshot' method - I've just experimented on my PC and the only way to update the site on PC#2 to include any additions or changes to the catalogue made on PC#1 is to activate the 'update all contents' option - which then over-writes stock figures as well.

So it looks like I'll still need a way of keeping the stock figures accurate on PC#1 if I want to continue to keep catalogue maintenance separate from the ordering system... which I have to, given my client's existing workload and the arrangement that exists between us.

Damn. What a time to find out that Actinic doesn't actually do what I bought it to do... three days after the site launch...