accessing product database records from external cgi script

[Andrew G]

Is it possible at all to access individual product records from another
script? What I wanted to do is not really
update the inventory but create my own reports such as a graph of what we
have in stock and what we don't.
simple really but shopsite store manager does not allow me to create such
things so I gotta do it myself.

please help. thanks.

[loren_d_c]

No, you cannot access the products database directly, but you can export
the products database in tab-delimited text format (import into Excel,
etc).

-Loren



Andrew G wrote:

Is it possible at all to access individual product records from another
script? What I wanted to do is not really
update the inventory but create my own reports such as a graph of what we
have in stock and what we don't.
simple really but shopsite store manager does not allow me to create such
things so I gotta do it myself.

please help. thanks.

[loren_d_c]

Oh yeah, you can reach the upload/download screens to do this export
either through the Products menu by clicking the Upload/Download link or
by going to Utilities -> Database -> Upload/Download.

-Loren



Loren wrote:

No, you cannot access the products database directly, but you can export
the products database in tab-delimited text format (import into Excel,
etc).

-Loren



Andrew G wrote:

Is it possible at all to access individual product records from another
script? What I wanted to do is not really
update the inventory but create my own reports such as a graph of what we
have in stock and what we don't.
simple really but shopsite store manager does not allow me to create such
things so I gotta do it myself.

please help. thanks.

[Barney Stone]

You might also want to check out the Stone Edge Order Manager
(www.StoneEdge.com/OrderManager.htm). Among many other features, the Order
Manager will track your inventory as you make sales in ShopSite as well as
off-line sales and it includes numerous reports about inventory levels, best
sellers and slow movers, and much more.

Feel free to give us a call if you would like more information.

- Barney Stone, President
Stone Edge Technologies, Inc.
215-641-1837
www.ECommerceUtilities.com

"Andrew G" <andy@electroline4u.com> wrote in message
news:bukid8$cbk$1@support.shopsite.com...

Is it possible at all to access individual product records from another
script? What I wanted to do is not really
update the inventory but create my own reports such as a graph of what we
have in stock and what we don't.
simple really but shopsite store manager does not allow me to create such
things so I gotta do it myself.

please help. thanks.

[Andrew G]

so I guess my only solution now is to download a copy of the shopsite
product database in CSV format then upload that into an sql database that I
can generate reports from. my problem now though, is that downloading the
database is not intuitive either. since our product descriptions have full
html descriptions in them, it's messing up the csv file. What can I do now?
It will be nice if we can select which fields to download from the database
as supposed to the whole thing. and as it turns out, we can't even do
anything like that. I'm beginning to think that this shopsite thing is not
for people who want to do major customization or have a lot of requirements.
can anybody help me with this?

We have a lot of products in our store, and the only way for me to get a
handle on the big picture is to generate custom reports like these on the
db. whatever happened to the "Standard" in SQL? is this good design?


"Loren" <loren_d_c@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bukked$cnv$2@support.shopsite.com...

Oh yeah, you can reach the upload/download screens to do this export
either through the Products menu by clicking the Upload/Download link or
by going to Utilities -> Database -> Upload/Download.

-Loren



Loren wrote:

No, you cannot access the products database directly, but you can export
the products database in tab-delimited text format (import into Excel,
etc).

-Loren



Andrew G wrote:

Is it possible at all to access individual product records from another
script? What I wanted to do is not really
update the inventory but create my own reports such as a graph of what
we
have in stock and what we don't.
simple really but shopsite store manager does not allow me to create
such
things so I gotta do it myself.

please help. thanks.

[Barney Stone]

The Stone Edge Product Manager (http://www.stoneedge.com/productmanager.htm)
can get that data into the form you want: usable Microsoft Access tables
that can be accessed from any ODBC compatible software. I realize you might
not want to pay for extra software, but at $395, how many hours of your time
could it save? Also, if you use the Product Manager together with the Order
Manager (http://www.stoneedge.com/ordermanager.htm), you will have a
complete solution for managing your ShopSite store, including many of the
reports that you might be looking for: Sales and Cost of Goods, Best
Sellers, Slow Movers, Sales by SKU, etc.

- Barney Stone, President
Stone Edge Technologies, Inc.
215-641-1837
www.ECommerceUtilities.com

"Andrew G" <andy@electroline4u.com> wrote in message
news:busaas$fh5$1@support.shopsite.com...

so I guess my only solution now is to download a copy of the shopsite
product database in CSV format then upload that into an sql database that
I
can generate reports from. my problem now though, is that downloading the
database is not intuitive either. since our product descriptions have
full
html descriptions in them, it's messing up the csv file. What can I do
now?
It will be nice if we can select which fields to download from the
database
as supposed to the whole thing. and as it turns out, we can't even do
anything like that. I'm beginning to think that this shopsite thing is
not
for people who want to do major customization or have a lot of
requirements.
can anybody help me with this?

We have a lot of products in our store, and the only way for me to get a
handle on the big picture is to generate custom reports like these on the
db. whatever happened to the "Standard" in SQL? is this good design?


"Loren" <loren_d_c@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bukked$cnv$2@support.shopsite.com...
Oh yeah, you can reach the upload/download screens to do this export
either through the Products menu by clicking the Upload/Download link or
by going to Utilities -> Database -> Upload/Download.

-Loren



Loren wrote:

No, you cannot access the products database directly, but you can
export
the products database in tab-delimited text format (import into Excel,
etc).

-Loren



Andrew G wrote:

Is it possible at all to access individual product records from
another
script? What I wanted to do is not really
update the inventory but create my own reports such as a graph of
what
we
have in stock and what we don't.
simple really but shopsite store manager does not allow me to create
such
things so I gotta do it myself.

please help. thanks.