LIVE DATA - The Future of Acinic???

[axpoint]

I would like to start this thread to deal with this subject in detail. I have found after spending about 5 hours reading threads that this subject continually comes up and is (in my opinion never properly addressed).

I have been investigating the possibilities of using PHP / MySQL to manage products, customer data and orders.

Why?

1, I am a developer not a shop owner. My time is better spent creating new site features, and improving search engine rankings. Due to the static nature of Actinic I am required to manually update the product range and upload daily, as you can imagine this is driving me nuts!

2, Meanwhile my clients who own the shops that sell the product rely on my availability to make these crucial day to day changes. I would like them to be able to login to the beautifull easy to use / navigate extranet front end that I have created to update prices and product details.

At this point I notice on previous threads you boys at Actinic provide a list of suggestions and work arounds to assist in reducing this work load.

Problem is that none of you have given a solution (with examples) on how to modify the cart and order systems to derive their information from a live in your living room MySQL data source...

My problem is that I can (using PHP) populate the page with product as per section, with the correct price as stored in my MySQL product table, and in an ideal world that data can be posted from the form to be used by ca00001.pl, and this process of retaining the product information within either cookies session variables or similar, could be followed through to completion.


an important point I know is that once implemented updating the site from Actinic will destroy changes... NO PROBLEM I have created a perfectly suitable product detail / price management interace.

I still want my client to be able to use Actinics order manager, and keep actinic in the loop for all of the good features it has, but comon serious developers are doing seriously mundane choirs, with using your package... A solution to this problem is required...

I notice from extensive time in the Forums I am not alone...

I have code and templates available for generating a PHP driven page that I am happy to share with people who are interested in assisting, or getting on board so to speak...

LETS GET OUT OF THE DARK AGES

ZERO MAINTENANCE WEBSITES = MORE TIME ON BEACH IN THAILAND..

Dean

[pinbrook]

As a developer too:

I have never yet deployed order manager
I have not yet bought Developer.

Why:

I have no interest or time to maintain clients products. My job is to create a site which will sell products, it is the shop owners job to choose and maintain those products. It makes no economic sense for me to be adding products to clients sites or changing prices etc. This is a simple task that most clients can master.

Thus, I always purchase catalog or business so my clients can maintain their product, Developer has no place on my desktop.

[axpoint]

Thanks Jo

Thanks for your input Jo, I know there are many developers floating around these threads looking for answers to obvious questions regarding Actinic's working behaviour, lets see if we cant get some progress and collaboration out of this to make everyones life easier...

Meanwhile do you boys at Actinic have any details as to wether any of this functionality will be included in Version 8?

[completerookie]

I'm a database developer, have been for 20+ years working on massive systems with 2 to 3000+ concurrent interactive users, all updating real-time databases in seconds.

All of the information is held in Actinic and for us, we jsut need a subset - I'm not using discount structures etc so, basic database driven web pages is all I need.

It has frustrated the hell out of me that I have to muck about with static pages, - I'm currently with you on this one.

(I have to point out that I am NOT an expert on php, but I'm willing to learn quickly)

I'd also like to see much better searching facilities (on a live database) whereby I can page down 10 products at a time, and yup, I've already read the postings about creating new sections 1-10 11-20 etc and paging between them but in this modern day and age, its archaic.

kev

[Max]

As a developer too:

I have never yet deployed order manager
I have not yet bought Developer.

Why:

I have no interest or time to maintain clients products.

Clients ask/expect their site to be looked after, updating, amending etc, for this you charge them through a service contract.

Max

[Max]

I notice from extensive time in the Forums I am not alone...
Dean

A work around is to use gotomypc with the client sitting on the customers server, but I full y agree with you, you are not alone!

Max

[completerookie]

this is a case of "horses for courses"

everyone has their own requirements, I have certainly been asked in the past to do a one-off job for "clients" and then pass everything over to them

my requirement is to sell single (or multiple items) as fast as I can, nothing special, sell, get the order passed to dispatch and get the goods out of the door. virtually 95% of my customers know what they want, can almost specify the part number so I just want to use the basics of Actinic but, having said that, there is a definate requirement for the stock control to be totally integrated behind the scenes,
We've used the actinic to produce simple web pages, that we can upload quickly and easily and then build a bigger (more encompassing) stock control behind the scenes
we could have used traditional stock control programmes, but we need to build larger items consisting of 2-300 smaller parts and must be able to take things in and out of stock very rapidly (including hand held PDA's etc)

[pinbrook]

Clients ask/expect their site to be looked after, updating, amending etc, for this you charge them through a service contract.

Max

Not necessarily!

I take alot of calls from potential clients for whom one of their initial questions is will we do the design and set the site up and allow them to do the product input and day to day maintentance.

As CompleteRookie says it is horses for courses, everyone has a different requirement.

Your service is a complete managed package, my service centres around clients who want technical and design expertise to get started, followed by periodic upgades, additional functionality, redesign etc when the need arises.

[chris ashdown]

Isn't this the case of paying for a Ford Focus and expecting a Rolls Royce

Actinic is a low cost solution to allow sellers to have a e-commerce shop that is expandable for most companies to meet their requirements

Each year or so it is updated to have new features, and i can see great improvements over the years

The clever use it as a basic structure for greater things whilst most of us accept it as it is with sometimes addons from this forum

Shipping is a problem for some users and i am sure will be sorted in the future

Whilst not using Jans software, I thought that solved many of the questions about updateing stock levels by regular downloading of the orders

[jont]

Actinic is far from being low cost but is much cheaper than a bespokely developed program for sure.

As with any software Actinic is pefect for some and useless or over-kill for others. Paintshop Pro is great for doodlers but for serious artists Photoshop is a must. If you are then wanting to create the next Holywood Blockbuster you have to go and buy bespoke industrial strength software and host on super-computers.

I love Actinic and for my requirements can achieve just about everything I require it to do - there are a couple of hacked parts but on the whole it is brilliant. I do recognise its limitations and over-kill naure for some clients and use alternative cart systems when I cannot use Actinic. If the new Actinic Express allows developer/designer intervention then that will entice some of my clients away from other carts (fingers crossed)

[Robert Johnston]

Hello,

Speaking as somebody who has just returned to Actinic, I would be delighted to have a remotely hosted software Actinic site that I could update from any pc world wide.

However I have just written off a £45,000 .net website and found that I have more success using Actinic software. I'm just happy to still be here and can live with the limitations of only being able to update from within our network. I have copies of orders sent to my hotmail account, so at least I know the money is rolling in while I sit on a beach in Miami!

Regards, Robert

[chris ashdown]

Jont

Low cost to me in my way of looking at things, is for the following reasons

If you aim to set up in retail business say take on a small shop in a secondary street

Rent £5-£10,000 per year with minimum period 3 years = £15-£30,000
Rates say £2-£5000 per year
Insurance and other expences £3000

This is the commitment to start with, without stock or shop fittings

Actinic £445
Site say £10 per month

A window cleaner would probably spend that on ladders and buckets

[jont]

I don't argue with the reasoning - the cost of the software is a tiny per-centage to pay considering what it does, the expertise needed to make it work and above all the amount of revenue it can generate. To me it is a no brainer and is worth every single penny - I have the developver version which was £1200.00 plus VAT. and made that back within a couple of months.

If I had a pound every time I tell someone that a copy of Actinic Business will set them back £800.00 plus VAT and you can hear them gulp. People just do not know what software costs - especially quality software of the likes of Actinic - and if they are starting out from a back bedroom as a hobby it is a big investment.

Ladders and buckets are tangiable products which people know more or less what they cost - you can see them down the local DIY store. Ecommerce software is an unknown and most clients are just not expecting such a hefty whack. I know what software can do and the prices expected of it and have no problems justifying the expense when needed.

I have one client who sells about 10 items a year - average spend about £40.00 - to her it does not stack up and is simply a side line hobby and everytime an order is received she is over the moon. Actinic is not viable for her as it would take about 10 years to repay the cost of the software. An open source cart done in HTML suits her needs perfectly and only costs design time to set up.

People read tales in the paper about how Joe X set up an online site and now earns £10m a year - everyone thinks it is easy but are seldome aware of the implications involved. I have a new client coming online in the new year and have convinced them to buy Actinic (mainly as I know my way around so the learning curve is not there) as they will appreciate the benefits once up and running and the cost will repay itself very quickly.

[RuralWeb]

I am horrified to hear people talking about turning Actinic into a live data base driven application. For me one of the greatest features of Actinic is the static HTML pages which provide fantastic search engine food. I constanly talk to people who have a php site with web interface and have to explain why they do not rank on the search engines. Only yesterday I spoke to a business who have spent 30K on such a site only to see thier sales drop to zero because they have vanished from the search engines. Yes Actinic may not be the solution for all but it dose give the small to medium business a fighting chance against the big boys. If people what a database site then go and build it, BUT do not try to drag us all with you - I am perfectly happy with static pages and the patches etc that can be added to improve functionality. I for one hope that Actinic does not follow the crowd, is Express the first step in this direction? I hope not.

[prosite]

Axpoint, trying yo get back to your original thread. You are outside the remit of actinic, if you want to integrate the database use XML and create a management website and xml that into actiniccatalog.mdb and then a function to upload actinic to the server at specified times. Actinic is A solution and not always THE solution, it is simply a fantastic product but it is out of the box, there is nothing dark ages about it, it is what it is and if it aint right, change. You state that your time is better spent designing and building sites, well hand the maintenance over to your client then. Or employ someone to do the data entry for you and charge that back to the client. Sometimes it is not about how much code you can plug into something it is about how smart you work. Want more time in Thailand, get some staff or take a laptop and use pc anywhere, works for me. Don't stress about what it cant do find a way around it. Sure you will figure it out have fun

J