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[Carsten]

Also is there any kind of install & use instructions for ShopX for a newby?
I believe I've got all the Snippets & TV's in place but not sure how they get used!

hehe, yeah, how do you install this?
I should really say ... how do you add data?  I probably can get around the installation but ... the data bit is throwing me for a loop!

Thanks!

[sottwell]

Data? If you mean a catalog, that is merely documents and the NewsListing (or Ditto) snippets. Nothing fancy at all; just use the Document Tree structure for your catalog structure.

At this point, everything else, the shopping cart and user options are just getting loaded into the SESSION by the plugin.

Hopefully in time there will be contributed shipping option and payment processing snippets to round out this admittedly skeletal framework. I'm afraid my experience in this area is severly limited, although I am working on some fairly basic options and processing for shipping and tax calculations. The more I do, the more complicated the whole business turns out to be, so the more I have to study and research, and the more complex the underlying code becomes.

As I've mentioned before, this probably will never be suitable for Amazon, but should do fine for small shops with relatively few and simple shipping and payment options, and a simple catalog. Otherwise, there are some nice complete packages that can be themed to match your MODx template, such as CPCommerce, or ZenCart.

[Carsten]

Thanks!

I'm debating between trying to get your shop to run or just go with a simple "contact us" type of thingy.  There's only a few items at the moment so it's not a major issue to have a full blown mini-shop in use.

I'm finally getting into this "modx" frame of mind and wanted to build up some more experience before I try to port oscommerce into modx.

competitors just joking

But it definitely would be nice to have 2 options or even 3 so that modx users will have a nice selection to choose from.

[sottwell]

It definitely needs a 'bridge" to a more heavy-duty system, although I suppose a complex catalog could be created using TVs and filters and tags with Ditto. For more serious user management, the registration snippet could be upgraded with an "edit profile" addition.

But really, if a plug-in and module to connect to CPCommerce or ZenCart or even <shudder> OSCommerce were available, it would save a lot of complex work; ecommerce is not a simple feature.

Again, I'll emphasize that even with a more robust checkout and payment module, ShopX will never be suitable for more than a very simple small eshop, at least not without a lot of hacking, in which case it really wouldn't be ShopX any more

[ChuckTrukk]

Carsten,

Have you considered creating a chunk with a paypal button? Then maybe TV's for the product name and product price? This was something near horrible in Joomla that should be pretty easy here (right?).

Susan,

I have ben using CubeCart (it was recommended here). Maybe a plugin for that system would be a nice way to go (though its not free).

Chuck

[nissai]

I dont know if it would be useful but i saw this php class on PHP Developer's Network
http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/3188.html

Class: Shopping Cart
This class can be used to manipulate the items of a shopping cart using AJAX to avoid making the user leave the current page.
The class can generate HTML and Javascript to show the list of items in the shopping cart.
The list has form submit buttons to trigger the execution of AJAX requests that can add or remove items from the shopping cart.
The list of shopping cart items is stored in a session variable.
The actions of adding and removing items are also tracked by storing the action details in a MySQL database table.

[sottwell]

I have no problem with the shopping cart snippet, and making it use Ajax with the new db API will be a pleasure. The problems come in the checkout part, only because there are so many possible shipping, tax and payment methods. I am trying to make it so that it is as easy as possible to plug in custom units for these. Even worse, I have no experience in this area, and keep finding things that I didn't know about... do you tax the shipping as well as the items? In some places no, in some places yes.

I'm going to go ahead and post what I've done so far, it's an improvement on the original checkout system. But it still has a ways to go before I start playing with the Ajax front-end.

[ChuckTrukk]

Susan,

Drupal has just released an eCommerce module. They say it has a really nice API for shipping and payment options. You could also see how www.virtuemart.com (from phpshop) does it.

Tho virtuemart is a real headache, they do have a good plugin system for payment and can accomodate different shipping options.

I used to use virtuemart on all of my Joomla eCommerce sites, but it is just too buggy and needs too many maintenance updates for good use on a production site.

Chuck

[ZAP]

It definitely needs a 'bridge" to a more heavy-duty system, although I suppose a complex catalog could be created using TVs and filters and tags with Ditto. For more serious user management, the registration snippet could be upgraded with an "edit profile" addition.

But really, if a plug-in and module to connect to CPCommerce or ZenCart or even <shudder> OSCommerce were available, it would save a lot of complex work; ecommerce is not a simple feature.

Again, I'll emphasize that even with a more robust checkout and payment module, ShopX will never be suitable for more than a very simple small eshop, at least not without a lot of hacking, in which case it really wouldn't be ShopX any more

Don't sell yourself short. ShopX is a very good start towards a superior eCommerce system. It takes advantage of MODx's organizational, templating, and database structure to create the catalog and checkout pages, which is most of what an eCommerce program does.

I just completed a CubeCart site, and I'm about to do two more eCommerce sites. I'm going to try to make ShopX work instead of using a "real" eCommerce program. I've used several of those in the past (including ZenCart and <shudder> osCommerce), and frankly they all seem to be necessary evils at best.

My opinion is that 99% of the code of most eCommerce programs is templating and language files and allowing them to work with various gateways/currencies/regions/etc. If you don't need all that bloat it just makes your life more difficult. ShopX with different snippets for gateway options seems to me to be a perfect solution (small is beautiful, after all).

[Carsten]

Ok, looks like we're on version 2.5 here.

I'm finally getting a hang to this but I'm stumbling big time on the checkout page.
How in the world do you checkout?
@@ I'd be happy at the moment with just a simple email @@

Am I missing something here?

[ZAP]

Susan has been working on a "real" gateway module (in fact she's essentially completed it). By "real" I mean one that connects to a payment gateway service and charges the card there (via SSL) and then returns the results to your store (i.e., the customer never leaves your site). So if you're going to use a service like this then you're in luck.

Other gateway models will be dealt with soon. The two that we've talked about are the "PayPal" type (where you just forward the customer to the processor and they forward them back later) and the offline type (where you process the card yourself manually, or pledges that need follow-up, print or fax order forms, etc.). I will need an offline card solution soon also so I hope to begin work on that within the next week or two

What kind of gateway do you plan to use?

[Carsten]

Right now I'm just looking at a simple email to both the customer and shop owner.  I realize that having credit card ability would be nice but I don't expect the shop to sell much in the begining and figure that things can be done by email at first.

Basically a proof of concept type of thing.

@ Form on the checkout page
What is this form supposed to do?  I thought their would be a send action but ... I don't seem to see it.

@ Does anybody have this running as a demo or live yet?

Thanks!

[sottwell]

I'm redesigning my site on its new host (PHP 5 and phpsuexec) and am fitting the redesign into my "spare" time, but I hope to have at least a simple ShopX demo up with a simple email processor sometime today, and then start writing a comprehensive, step-by-step tutorial.

[LFK]

I'm so sorry, but mb someone tell me where can I find (download) ShopX for ModX? Thx a lot.

[ZAP]

Right here: http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,1575.msg10613.html#msg10613

Unless there's been yet another update that I don't know about. Susan has been working furiously on this for the last few weeks. It's now being tested on a live store, and it looks more solid than most of the eCommerce programs I've used before.

More modules and updates to come over the next few weeks...

[sottwell]

I'm afraid it's a bit complex, and still rather disorganized. But I've got the catalog/cart up on my site with a demo and a step-by-step tutorial, as well as guest access to my Manager so you can see the whole process. I need to get busy with the second tutorial, setting up the checkout page.

[LFK]

I have tested ShopX, but a little... I didn't find options for goods, fotos and other, just pure content... Of course it's much better than nothing (I mean shop module for MODx), but when can we test real e-commerce module like a cubecart, for example? is it possible in near future? Thx a lot.

[sottwell]

ShopX uses the document structure for a catalog. It handles displaying a catalog exactly as you would display news items or blog posts, using Ditto. The summary (introtext) of a document can contain image tags; or you can set Ditto to use the first part of the document content itself for its summaries. You can even use TVs, as it does now for the item's price.

[Vitalized]

It would be great to see some AJAX added to a MODx Shop

http://demo.script.aculo.us/shop

[sottwell]

Yes, that's in the plans, but I need to learn how to do Ajax stuff first!