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Oscommerce has some very useful facilities but the catalog section is very limited when it comes to 'block' actions. Mario Valdez-Ramirez has written a separate Management program, available free under an Open Source license.

The program installs on an office PC which then links to an osCommerce remote mySQL database and allows 'Explorer'-like management of the catalogue section.

Here is a list of features from mario's website -


• Add, delete, modify products records.

• Add, delete, modify product categories.

• Optional product-images management functions.

• Product-image automatic resizing, padding and optimization on the fly (while uploading).

• Drag and drop, move products between categories with your mouse.

• Group and relative operations: modify several products at once, and change prices and quantities using relative operators (add/substract, units or percentage).

• Multilanguage, you can manage all languages in your virtual store.

• Localizable, user interface translated to Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish (but you can easily do your own translation).

• Broad limits (up to 35000 products, up to 20 languages, up to 5000 categories, up to 5000 manufacturers).

• Optional encrypted link to the database server (with SSH) for increased security.

• Native Windows application.

• Simple to install.

• Experimental remote-module interface to synchronize prices, quantities, weights or status with external network application.

• Image management is done thru HTTP connections. There is no need for FTP.

• It connects directly to the MySQL database.

• It works with web hostings servers (if a SSH account is provided).


As you can see, its an impressive list of features and can make Product management somewhat easier than it would be using osCommerce's 'one-product-at-a-time' interface.

Take a look at Mario's program - http://www.mariovaldez.net/software/oscpmwin/

If somebody asks you to set up a 'quick' Ecommerce store, as a favour?? Installing and modifying osCommerce from scratch can take too long to justify a 'favour'.

An already upgraded version with 30 of the most common mods is available as oscMax, available on the oscdox website - http://www.oscdox.com

You have to sign up for an account, which is simple enough, before you're allowed to download the latest version - now at V2.0.

It can be a little quirky compared to the stock version of osCommerce but it does have some very useful additions like full HTML WYSIWIG Editors, Define the Main page, Easy Populate for stock updates via Spreadsheet etc. Well worth a look.

I used it to set up a quick shop for a mate - http://www.electronix-direct.co.uk/catalog/ - which he soon updated himself after minimal instruction. He's very much a 'rookie' when it comes to Ecommerce, so its a good example of the versatility of the upgraded oscMax.

You don't get any example data during the Install, so its not much use as a demo shop unless you add your own examples.

The look of the site is controlled by a Template system and various free and pay for templates are available to give the shop a quick and better look.

Give it a try if you need to save time when setting up a new Ecommerce store.

Just a quicky today as our hosting company have given me several bad headaches this week and kept me trés busy.

Everyone needs to put out a press release from time to time. You've got to Trumpet your new technology to keep up the company profile, so we decided to put out a press release to help publicise our new 360 degree view feature on our main Ecommerce site -

http://www.bwcuk.com

If you've never put a Press Release together before, where do find a good resource? As there is a right way and a wrong way to write a release.

Try - http://www.prweb.com/ - where you will find useful tips and a Template to get you started in the world of the Press Release - http://www.prweb.com/pressreleasetips.php

In osCommerce, you get the facility to display a pop-up window with a larger image of your product. This is not very well implemented in the standard install of osCommerce as you either get a jagged squashed 'small picture' and a pop-up large or a good small and the same size image in the enlarged window.

This was particularly needed for our Citizen watches site -

http://www.citizen-watches-uk.co.uk

- as Citizen watches Uk provide very high quality pictures of their range and we didn't want to ruin these in any way.

There are a number of contributions for this problem. Many of them are complex and often involve manipulation of the SQL database - just for a large picture?

Keep it simple I thought, so I examined the PHP code in the page that produces the larger image -

yoursite.com/catalog/popup_image.php

I found the code that selects the required image

<?php echo tep_image(DIR_WS_IMAGES . $products['products_image'], $products['products_name']); ?>

and replaced it with a modified version -

<?php $prefix="large/"; echo tep_image(DIR_WS_IMAGES . $prefix . $products['products_image'], $products['products_name']); ?>

Not the cleanest PHP code, but it does work. Small images should be in the usual folder - yoursite.com/catalog/images/

All corresponding large images (matching file names) must be uploaded by Ftp to a new folder -

yoursites.com/catalog/images/large/

That's it, could it be simpler?



Creating a new specialist Ecommerce site can be a lengthy task, not to be undertaken lightly. Especially if you've invested so much time and energy building your original complex and customised Ecommerce site.

As I use osCommerce, the open source customisable Ecommerce solution, I decide to short-cut the installation and build-time of our new site -

http://www.seiko-watches-uk.co.uk -

by fooling the osCommerce install system.

As our main site features the whole range of Watches that we sell - http://www.bwcuk.com - I simply backed up the SQL database via the osCommerce Admin/Tools panel, and downloaded the SQL backup as well as the whole site to my development PC's hard drive.

I then uploaded the site to a new server along with the Install folder from the original osCommerce files, renamed the SQL backup file to oscommerc.sql and uploaded to the Install folder, over-writing the demo SQL file that osCommerce provide.

I browsed to the Install folder and up came the standard osCommerce Install page, entered the required SQL database details and addresses, and when asked if osCommerce should Import the Demo Database ticked Yes.

Up came a clone of the site in working order. I had to add an .htaccess file to the Admin folder as my FTP software ignores .htaccess files, we don't want strangers nosing around our Admin area.

Obviously the Owners details needed changing and products deleted which are not featured on the new site. Unfortunately, osCommerce doea not have a Block delete facility which is a pain if you want to delete all the old accounts etc.

I've even resurrected a friend's osCommerce store using this method. Luckily, he had backed up his Database and then 'somebody' altered the site and killed it. I got a case of Beer for that one!

My first post on this new Blog concerns my most recent development, a 360 degree view of watches on our site - http://www.bwcuk.com As the technique involves multiple images and we only have so much time for imaging, we are concentrating on the most expensive watches first.

The first model we have featured is from the Seiko watches range, SNL017 (as worn by Jensen Button) -

http://www.bwcuk.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2087

At the foot of the details area, a link to a 360 degree view, launches a new window which, after loading starts an animated view of the SNL017 through 360 degrees. To limit file sizes we have used only 12 separate images as not everyone is on Broadband. The sript we used was provided free for experimental purposes by John Strait of the Panorama Factory.

The view is as near to providing the actual Seiko watch as we can get on-line. Distance selling can be very difficult as Customers cannot physically examine watches as they could in a Retail shop. The option to view a watch from all angles helps a Customer to decide whether they wish to part with a large sum of money for what may or may not be, what they want.

I've been pleased with the response to this new addition to our site and sales have certainly increased for the SNL017 as well as boosting the entire Seiko watches range since introducing a 360 degree view.

Alan Fortune (Ecommerce Manager - British Watch Company)

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