Stock control - is there an easy way?

[orcahouse]

All, Just gone live with first attempt at a website - www.silvermoonbeads.com - and although generally happy with the actinic product I'm finding it difficult to get to grips with stock control. I am aware that I have to re-upload the updated stock figure once a purchase has been made but that doesn't seem to have any meaningful purpose until that stock figure reaches the suspend level. As my beads come in limited quantities, what I really want is for the stock-in-hand figure to always be the max anyone can purchase. Apart from manually resetting the max quantity after every purchase is there another way of preventing a customer from buying too many - why can't the 2 be linked? Also can I edit the fairly uninformative message that pops up when someone does try to exceed the max quantity? Thanks for all your help.

Tom Riddell

[pinbrook]

you may find the stock control module available from Mole end helpful

[Jan]

Our stock control mole program can resolve this issue to some extent for you. It will download orders and upload your catalog at specified intervals, there is an option to copy the maximum number of items in stock to the max that can be ordered before uploaded, which prevents any single person from orders say 50 sets when you only have 10. It is still possible for out of stock items to be ordered, for example if you have 10 and two people order 10 between runs, you will oversell but you can adjust the time between scheduled runs to reduce this.

You can download a trial version of the software and try it out from the URL below :

http://www.actinicplugins.co.uk/acat...utomation.html

Regards,

[orcahouse]

Jan/Jo,

Thank you. Jan, I have e-mailed you through the Mole End website following Jo's reply so this saves you replying to that. I will download your trial - sounds just the job. I had hoped for a solution within Actinic - maybe that'll come in a future update. Any ideas on editing the pop-up text that is generated when you order more than the max - want to make it more explanatory?

Tom Riddell

[Jan]

Hi Tom,

Yes, I got your email and answered there and here at the same time, I like to post in here as well for future readers.

Do let me know how you get on with the Mole.

Regards,

[orcahouse]

Anyone got ideas on editing that pop-up message when someone orders more then max available?


Tom Riddell

[TraceyHand]

I had hoped for a solution within Actinic - maybe that'll come in a future update.

Tom Riddell

Here's hoping! It's ap retty basic thing that has come up on here before which Actinic should do but doesn't (and I mean *should* as common sense means it should not that it's supposed to... LOL.. does that make sense!)
Lucky for us, the Mole end program *does* do it, eh? Perhaps that's why Actinic haven't rushed to add it in? (or am I just being cynical?!)

[wjcampbe]

orcahouse,

I think the message you are talking about is available for edit in the Design | Text - Web Site - Misc tab as ID 59 - the default message is <B>Quantity:</B> You have already selected the maximum number of this item allowed. Please return to the catalog and amend your order.

All,
Actinic do offer an ability to frequently upload/download in an automated way using the command line options - which unfortunately do not work in my version of Catalog (7.0.5).

[pinbrook]

Here's hoping! It's ap retty basic thing that has come up on here before which Actinic should do but doesn't (and I mean *should* as common sense means it should not that it's supposed to... LOL.. does that make sense!)
Lucky for us, the Mole end program *does* do it, eh? Perhaps that's why Actinic haven't rushed to add it in? (or am I just being cynical?!)

Real time stock control requires an online database, which as we all know is not how actinic is built.

Currently stock control can only be done with regular uploads/downloads

[orcahouse]

Bill.

Thank you - yes, I have found that one OK. The other associated msg pops up in a box above the product and reads:

"The following product(s) can not be added to the cart. You can find the error description(s) by following the link(s)."

I'd like to delete that one entirely and just have the one warning or if that's not possible then amend the text to something intelligible.

Tom

[george]

We could not manage without the Mole-End add-on.

Yes, its something Actinic should address themselves but meanwhile it allows us to make (much) better use of the software.

[MDS]

We could not manage without the Mole-End add-on.

Yes, its something Actinic should address themselves but meanwhile it allows us to make (much) better use of the software.

How true is that!!

i'm sorry, but the stock control is a shambles.

Real time stock control requires an online database, which as we all know is not how actinic is built.

Currently stock control can only be done with regular uploads/downloads

That really isn't the problem

Actinic totally lacks the basics IMO.

My biggest problem with the software

Mick

[PAULCOOKSON]

i have solved this issue by linking actinic to an external ms access file. the external file is linked to the product file in the acitnic database - fields included are description, product reference and stock on hand.

first create the ms access file linked to the product file in the actinic database. this auto updates without any need to data refresh, etc. then (file|external links) map the actinic stock on hand and max order fields to the stock on hand output in your external file. when actinic updates for a sale it automatically updates the max order field at the same time. you can try this before uploading simply by manually changing the stock on hand figure in actinic - it auto updates the max order field. happy days.

doesnt stop people over ordering between download/upload on the site but it does mean you can forget about adjusting the max order fields.

[Froogle]

How true is that!!

i'm sorry, but the stock control is a shambles.



That really isn't the problem

Actinic totally lacks the basics IMO.

My biggest problem with the software

Mick

For software about to release its 8th revision you'd expect a little better wouldn't you ?

I am sure they'll never fix the problem but a 'work around' will be released which will half fix the problem for now.

[newshopbloke]

I solved my stock control problems with Jans excellent mole end software and used my mobile phone number in actinic email options and as a result I get 24/7 stock monitoring and a free text message to my mobile telling me I have a new order

I originally moaned about actinic having no real time stock control but the answer is simple - its not a server side database and there are quite a few positives to outweigh the negatives.