external database

[mustangfanatic]

Hey All,

I was wondering if shopsite aloud external databases? What I mean is that I am building a database will all my products and it will create P.O's, Packing Slips, etc... I was wondering if shopsite allows integration with this sort of database?

If so, what are its limits? Also what can it do? Thanks!

[Jim]

Pages and products can be uploaded / downloaded from the ShopSite databae in either tab delimited or xml format. That would allow you to import/export the data from your database to a format that you could then move to ShopSite.

Orders can be downloaded from the ShopSite database in either tab delimited or xml format so you could then import them into your database and manipulate them as you need.

If you have a Pro level store there is also the OrderAPI feature which passes all information for an order to an application you create and you can then put that into your own database and use it as needed.

Other than those methods no direct access or interface to the ShopSite database is supported.

[mustangfanatic]

Yea I do have the pro. Thanks. I think that order API is what I am looking for. Once again thanks for your help Jim.

James

[Barney Stone]

Unless you have a lot of spare time or you really want to be a computer programmer, you might make out better by purchasing the Stone Edge Order Manager (www.StoneEdge.com/OrderManager.htm). It interfaces directly with ShopSite and does all of the things you mentioned and much more, and somebody else has done all of the hard work for you already. Give us a call for more info if you are interested.

[mustangfanatic]

Thats a little pricey for me. I am also doing it to learn. I like to do things myself which is a great way to learn but I already have very limited time

[Barney Stone]

Thats a little pricey for me. I am also doing it to learn. I like to do things myself which is a great way to learn but I already have very limited time

We hear this kind of thing a lot. You have an important decision to make: do you want to be a merchant or a programmer/developer? They are both full-time jobs, and very few people can manage to do a good job of both at the same time. If you want to be a merchant, there are already more than enough tasks to keep you busy, and you are better off concentrating on site design, product selection, studying your competition, SEO, PR, finding more efficient ways to run your operations, etc. Those are the things that will determine your success or failure, not screwing around with programming.

[Ron]

Hi Barney, Mustangfanatic.

Hey, I do all my own programming, AND I'm a merchant. I also design my products, do all the photography and almost everything else. I have only one employee. So, mustangfanatic, if you're industrious enough, yes, you can do both. I did. http://www.RLT.com is my main web site (and only one of many).

Barney is merely promoting his product. Which is fine. But don't take his advice at face value - he's got a profit motive behind his words.

Now, I had built my own shopping cart, and it was a good one. But I'm in the process of switching to Shopsite because I wanted to add some new features and change how some others worked, and frankly I'm just burned out on programming - fifteen years in a field can do that to you. I did a lot of research, and chose Shopsite because it has all the features I wanted, AND I got a great chance to try it out before I put the money down.

So, Barney, I'm in the market for an order fulfilment system too. I want to switch from Fedex to UPS, and integrate Shopsite, but re-programming my home-grown system is not my idea of fun anymore.

$1500 *might* be a fair price, but I'd never by any software, even a $79 package, without trying it first. All I find on your web site is marketing blather about how great it is and what it can supposedly do for you, but no screen shots, no demo version, no technical details on usability, integration or customization. How can I know if it will fit into my specific business practices?

A demo version seems to be a normal part of software marketing these days. You're probably losing customers by not offering one.

[Barney Stone]

Ron -

We don't have a demo version because it is not practical to have a limited version of an open source code program like the Stone Edge Order Manager. Instead we have a 30-day money-back return policy.

As for technical details, screen shots, etc., you can check out our Knowledge Base at:

http://www.stoneedge.com/help/

You can download our complete Users Guide here:

http://www.stoneedge.com/dl_manual.asp

There is an FAQ section here:

http://www.stoneedge.com/help/OM_DOC/FAQ/FAQS.htm

And our User's Forum, which is quite active, is available to the public here:

http://www.stoneedge.net/forum/

You are also welcome to give us a call if you need additional information.

As a programmer, you will probably appreciate the openness of the Order Manager, which is written in Access and VBA. It has "hooks" for incorporating custom functions, hidden buttons that can be activated for custom purposes, etc.

Hope that helps you make your decision.

[Ron]

Barney,

Thanks for the info. "Open source"??? - Whatever.

I was hopeful. Your promotional material sounds good. But we're strictly a non-microsoft shop. If it's not on BSD, Linux or OSX, then I don't know how to manage it.

Thanks anyway.

[Barney Stone]

Yes, the Stone Edge Order Manager is Microsoft based. It requires Windows and Microsoft Access. It is not Web-based; it runs on your local computers.

And just to clarify, it is not Open Source like osCommerce or MySQL, but it is shipped with 95% open source code. That means that the code, which is written in Access and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) can be read and customized by any experienced VBA programmer.