Order History for Actinic

[Goz]

I probably don't mind where it would be hosted. I don't know enough about it yet but I may have a concern over URL's and a customer being taken to a different domain. It would put me off as a buyer... in the same way that a shared SSL cert puts me off buying.

[RuralWeb]

concern over URL's and a customer being taken to a different domain

Run it as a popup? - most people can only get thier heads round a search bar they dont have a clue about urls IMO

[Andy@codepath]

Run it as a popup? - most people can only get thier heads round a search bar they dont have a clue about urls IMO

The order tracking plugin (which will form the basis for the order history plugin) has the option to launch in a new window (popup style), or in the same window so that's definitely an option. Going further, we could also register a specific domain for each implementation where there were concerns about the domain name; so for www.abc.co.uk we could register www.abc-customer-portal.co.uk or whatever and do a redirect from there.

[Darren B]

or simply use sub domains, customer-portal.abc.co.uk

but its a good idea

D

[Ginnys Attic]

My main concern regarding our customers having to access a different domain name is that I personally as a shopper would not like it and would feel very uneasy about it and it would most likely put me off using the site as I would be unsure about who has my details and who has access to what data. You don’t buy goods on play.com then check your order status, order history etc on billyjoejimbob.com do you? 

My personal concern as a shop owner is not only that I’m not comfortable with anyone having access to our sales data and also customer details but also that we already pay for hosting and a further unnecessary monthly charge for further hosting is not really acceptable especially as we have plenty of available resources for a mysql database etc for a customer area.

As for the idea of an additional domain again I’m not keen on what really I feel is not only an unnecessary further expense but also unnecessarily confusing to customers and again I would still have concerns over the data so this is not really an option for us.

I guess one solution could be that the what ever is necessary is processed on the code path servers and passed over to each site using php or something therefore resolving the need for further domain names and hosting, again this doesn’t fully resolve my issue with who has access to our sales and customers details or the additional monthly costs involved for the processing of the data but it is a potential solution.

Is there no way which this could be made using php/mysql or something that would run on each sites individual server and accessed using something like domainname.com/orderhistory/…… as this does strike me as being overly complex for something which is relatively simple but I don’t understand what is necessary to access the required data but would think if the data is in a mysql database it would be very easy to create a php based customer area for everything.

[jxm28788]

Is there no way which this could be made using php/mysql or something that would run on each sites individual server and accessed using something like domainname.com/orderhistory/…… as this does strike me as being overly complex for something which is relatively simple but I don’t understand what is necessary to access the required data but would think if the data is in a mysql database it would be very easy to create a php based customer area for everything.

of course it could be done locally, but then they couldn't charge you £30/month for the service...

[RuralWeb]

codepaths are a business the same as evryone else on here. They are offering a solution to a problem and of course they want to make money if people dont want to pay then they are free to develop thier own solution to the problem and then give it free to the community.

There is a perception on this forum that everything should be done for free just because its posted here. I'm sure if you contacted codepaths direct they would do whatever you wanted but that will not happen because it will cost money.

[jxm28788]

I was not suggesting they should give it away for free at all, and for such a useful utility I wouldn't expect them to. It's just that most developers sell the product for an up front one off fee, where-as in this case they are selling it for a monthly fee.

Again there is nothing necessarily wrong with that - I was just pointing out, perhaps somewhat cynically, that the only reason for hosting the information elsewhere would be because it was an excuse to charge monthly. If it hosted the info on the customers own server then how many people would be willing to pay a monthly fee to use the application?

[RuralWeb]

they may produce two versions one hosted and one stand alone with appropriate costs.

[jxm28788]

That would certainly seem like a good comprimise

[Andy@codepath]

I was just pointing out, perhaps somewhat cynically, that the only reason for hosting the information elsewhere would be because it was an excuse to charge monthly.

As mentioned earlier, to host this on an existing Actinic Server would require access to a MySQL server as well as it being a Windows server configured to run ISAPI applications. Many people have such a capability and in such cases, as I already mentioned to Ginny's Attic earlier in the thread, we are more than willing to accept a one-off payment because as you rightly point out, we would not be justified in charging a monthly fee in such a case. However, we chose the route to offer hosting as the 'default' for several reasons.

1) The vast majority of Actinic users either have unsuitable hosting to accommodate this, or either don't know (and frankly don't care) how to install and maintain it if they do.

2) With a rental model, as a customer, you can try it for a 3 months and if you don't like it, you stop using. The initial commitment is less of a risk.

3) If we bring out a new version that has data structure changes (as we have done many times), having it hosted in one place makes updates considerably easier for us, which makes us much more likely to give out the update for free (again as we have done many times).

4) Finally, more of an observation than a motivation but software as a whole is heading that way anyway. One day, not too far away, your email applications, CRM's and much more besides will use this model. Microsoft are investing heavily in managed web services and, for better or worse, we all know what happens when Microsoft goes down any given route.

[RuralWeb]

sounds good to me

[displaylogistic]

Any news on this yet?

[Andy@codepath]

Any news on this yet?

Still planned Craig but other developments have had to take priority I'm afraid. Hope to have something ready for trial in the next few weeks and will post here as soon as there is progress.

[displaylogistic]

Ok mate thanks for the update. Contacted Actinic support the other day to be told I can't do that with this software! :O U know of an ecommerce software that does allow you to do this?