Google Checkout

[Darren B]

Well someone had to mention it so it might aswell be me

OK been having some issue with getting this working and details are on the get satisfaction site but i wanted to know if anyone else has set it up or played with it yet and is it working properly.

My GC account is a live account but im having an issue with the script so trying to find out if its a problem with the script or my GC account, i do have another GC Account which i intend to try later. I did wonder if this could be a problem with running actininc in test mode so trying to narrow things down.

I'd be interested to know how others get on

[bentleybloke]

I've got GC working live, however it's not using the Actinic shipping tables. It just shows "Default Shipping £10.00" is this correct behaviour? It's pretty pointless if it doesn't calculate shipping properly.

[Darren B]

I have had limited success with GC, both betas have given problems that are with the dev guys and girls so im hoping that the release will have this fixed.

I am supprised that its going to release as i have not managed to get it working with a beta properly. The only thing that did work was the default site both live and test modes. Never managed with an imported V9 site

Im sure somewere when i did manage to get something working it did use the actinic shipping not the default but i can be sure and now the beta is finished i cant test anymore

Darren

[animal dreams]

Darren, Sorry I can't give you any google checkout experience.

I think this points to a weakness in the beta testing. After months of waiting, IMHO there is now too much haste to get V10 released. Just because a feature functions on the default site does not mean it going to work in the majority of real world configurations.

I decided not to take part in the beta this time round because, unless it is a total show stopper, the feedback is generally met with a we'll get round to fixing that "mañana". So why ask for feedback if not to sweep up a many glitches as possible before is hits business critical sites.

I appreciate that there has to be a cut off point, but looking at the recent feedback there are still a lot of uncertainties how many "gotchas" you are going to find when you upgrade.

Let's hope the known bug list is small in full release version.

[Darren B]

I half agree with what your saying but i think the biggest problem here is time scales.

I have alwasy thought the beta testing phase is to short, always has been but i honestly feel this is because the timescales for developing the next version are far to long. So what happens? exactly what you said its a rushed release. I dont know if i honestly feel its rushed but that maybe because i think V10 should have been release 6 months ago. It certainly seems rushed when i have not managed to succesfully test a site with a particular function, but not when i feel this version is well over due.

The time period between versions is getting forever longer, what i wont be doing anymore is trumping up the cover fee as the cost of upgrading is cheaper than 2/3 years worth of fees. Yes i know i get support but the only time i have used it Actinic have not solved the problem - which i believe this was all down to not willing to actualy test in a live enviroment and make a payment to see what happens, but thats another story.

I have always tested beta versions as this gives me an insight as to what i am likely to come across when i do upgrade and if no one beta tested then half the bugs would never get spotted. Its an area were a balance needs to be struck although i feel Actinic have not found that balance yet.

Although CB has said the next version will be next year, i am sceptical as this means releasing a version around 18 months after this one so needs to be ready around 12 months time for serious alpha and beta testing before production release. But if they think they can do it then go for it

[leehack]

I've been critical of Actinic on every release so far, but on this one, i will not be. Extensive 2 phase alpha testing and also 2 stage beta testing has occurred along with online bug reports and transparency in that area. I am personally happy that they've done all they can to minimise problems and what's found now once released is just the way things are when software hits the mass market and it gets the real first test.

The final phase of launching is yet to happen and that for me is them having a team on standby as the software is launched to jump onto any showstoppers and get these solved before enough people even have chance to report them - this is all they have to get right now from my perspective, i really think they have tested well this time, pretty much exactly as i'd have asked them to.

As for features that work in a standard setup, but not in a custom setup, that is simply impossible for them to cater for. Their responsibility is to get things working perfectly within their own framework. If we want to change things and do things differently, the buck likes with us in that area.

[Darren B]

The final phase of launching is yet to happen and that for me is them having a team on standby as the software is launched to jump onto any showstoppers and get these solved before enough people even have chance to report them - this is all they have to get right now from my perspective, i really think they have tested well this time, pretty much exactly as i'd have asked them to.

This is the most important part of any release with any company, making sure the support is there when the release happens i am guessing the days of the friday afternoon releases are gone well i hope they have.

As for features that work in a standard setup, but not in a custom setup, that is simply impossible for them to cater for. Their responsibility is to get things working perfectly within their own framework. If we want to change things and do things differently, the buck likes with us in that area

This is true, modified layouts could always throw up problems. The new checkout is a classic example, if you use a custom css then your going to have to copy parts of the new checkout from the actinic css to yours or re style it.

my concern is that functions that should work with any site but dont are what i would call a problem, there will always be issues with customised sites and upgrades, i dont doubt theres going to be alot of posts on the v10 thread when its released. Hopefully the ones that have been beta testing and found a work around for the problems posted will be happy to help.

As i said is it rushed, for me the beta was not around for long IMHO but if you look at the getsatisfaction site then not much activity was reported with the second beta so the alphas and betas done the job for most of the problems, well thats the only conclusion i could draw. I dont know how else it could be measured.

Time will tell

[guccij]

Well I won't be upgrading to v10 as my beta testing issue hasn't been resolved.

[Darren B]

Well I won't be upgrading to v10 as my beta testing issue hasn't been resolved.

What was your beta issue Jules?

[guccij]

It's this one - select state or province for UK

They can't pinpoint what's causing it, so I guess they're going to go ahead with the production release.

And that means I can't upgrade I guess.

[guccij]

Do you know what? I've just worked out what it is. It's to do with taxes.

Because we use HSBC EPayments as one of our PSPs, we have to have "Tax by Invoice Address" selected, otherwise the country code for the delivery address isn't carried across to HSBC and customers just get blank spaces where the delivery address should be on the HSBC pages.

Selecting with v10 "Always apply taxes" appears to resolve "Please select a state/province for United Kingdom" problem.

So I need a workaround, and so do other HSBC users, if it's confirmed this is where the problem lies.

Will cross post to the Getsatisafaction site.

[Darren B]

Ah a bit lilke this one then http://www.getsatisfaction.com/actin...e_checkout_v10

my site comes from as far back as V7 so dont know if this is also something carried over. But the main thing is, it does not work and this is a feature i have been waiting for. Hopefully it will be ok in the production but i dont think so, fingers crossed

[TraceyHand]

The final phase of launching is yet to happen and that for me is them having a team on standby as the software is launched to jump onto any showstoppers and get these solved before enough people even have chance to report them - this is all they have to get right now from my perspective,

This, IMO, means that a release HAS to be on a Monday...Tuesday, at the VERY latest.
None of this release-on-a-Friday/Thursday malarky when, by the time most people have downloaded/installed/upgraded..it's Friday PM and no one gives a **** because it's the weekend, KWIM?

Nothing less than a Monday release is acceptable, IMHO.

[leehack]

I don't agree personally, if there are any problems, it will be how many days to fix, instant fixes on the same or next day are just not going to happen. If they launch on a Monday and someone has a problem on a Friday, it's the same situation surely. Maybe i look at it from the wrong angle, i just don't see that it is launched Friday afternoon, people install it and are live by 6pm with the new version. I picture a more considered approach, where a few weeks go by. I personally am OK with the Friday launch, even though it will mean my forecasted date is wrong as i didn't check for Friday dates. Launching on a Monday the busiest day for most would be least likely to be used i'd have thought.

[pinbrook]

Indeed i couldnt give a monkeys what day of the week v10 is released. If you upgrade in a considered manner and test prior to going live, then you wouldnt expect to see any show stoppers within a few hours regardless of it being a monday or a friday.

Good testing means any bugs should take days/weeks to emerge as your own inhouse testing should find anything really obvious prior to going live.

In reality, my view on new versions has always been to spend some time beta testing, and only wade in at 03 or 04. If you want to run a stable release you dont upgrade on day1, you should wait a few weeks/months to let things bed down. After all it is your livelihood!