Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



If only we all had your programming skills, Jeff :-)


Jen


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeff Huber
- Listmail
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 7:17 AM
To: Jen Ferraz; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Yes certainly. With "regular" and "end-user" being the key words
there.

- Jeff Huber
President, 4TheBest eCommerce Solutions
http://4TheBest.com
[email protected]
Office: 760-742-1469
Cell: 760-445-8454

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jen
Ferraz
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 5:41 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Hi Jeff:

I wasn't referring to the indexes, but
to the use of the internal Product ID (e.g.)
in the other databases, like attributes,
categories, relprods, etc. Deleting a product
requires figuring out the internal ID, then
checking for attributes, categories, etc, etc,
based on that ID. I think that's more then
a regular Merchant end-user is going to want to
do with just tools like Access and phpMyAdmin.


Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Huber - Listmail [mailto:[email protected]]=20
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 8:16 PM
To: Jen Ferraz; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Ahh, but the indexes are no longer an issue if you are using
MySQL.

An application can be written in C, or whatever language is
favored, that has a super slick user interface, super fast screen
redraws, does local caching, does, all sorts of batch insert
stuff, and then has a publish button to update the MySQL
databases.

Actually you could even have such an application publish to
multiple MySQL databases so that you could first publish to your
test store and make sure you liked the changes, then publish to
the real store.

It was the proprietary indexes that stopped really super slick
3rd party tools from being created to manage MIVA Merchant data,
not the cross references to other tables.

Or at least that is my opinion.

- Jeff Huber
President, 4TheBest eCommerce Solutions
http://4TheBest.com
[email protected]
Office: 760-742-1469
Cell: 760-445-8454
=20




-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jen
Ferraz
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Hi Jelani:

Merchant has a product import from flat file
that you can use with a spreadsheet.=20

Merchant's databases still have the same
dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
(e.g., updating a product through the admin=20
effects multiple databases, especially if your
products have attributes) so loading directly
into a database would not work unless you
manually address all those other updates that
need to be done.



Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most
important
features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5,
besides
SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL
database,
and
whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard
it
called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or
Access to
connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to
type
product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can
someone speak
to the possibilities of database management in MM5??

Thanks in Advance

Jelani

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



Yes certainly. With "regular" and "end-user" being the key words
there.

- Jeff Huber
President, 4TheBest eCommerce Solutions
http://4TheBest.com
[email protected]
Office: 760-742-1469
Cell: 760-445-8454

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jen
Ferraz
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 5:41 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Hi Jeff:

I wasn't referring to the indexes, but
to the use of the internal Product ID (e.g.)
in the other databases, like attributes,
categories, relprods, etc. Deleting a product
requires figuring out the internal ID, then
checking for attributes, categories, etc, etc,
based on that ID. I think that's more then
a regular Merchant end-user is going to want to
do with just tools like Access and phpMyAdmin.


Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Huber - Listmail [mailto:[email protected]]=20
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 8:16 PM
To: Jen Ferraz; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Ahh, but the indexes are no longer an issue if you are using
MySQL.

An application can be written in C, or whatever language is
favored, that has a super slick user interface, super fast screen
redraws, does local caching, does, all sorts of batch insert
stuff, and then has a publish button to update the MySQL
databases.

Actually you could even have such an application publish to
multiple MySQL databases so that you could first publish to your
test store and make sure you liked the changes, then publish to
the real store.

It was the proprietary indexes that stopped really super slick
3rd party tools from being created to manage MIVA Merchant data,
not the cross references to other tables.

Or at least that is my opinion.

- Jeff Huber
President, 4TheBest eCommerce Solutions
http://4TheBest.com
[email protected]
Office: 760-742-1469
Cell: 760-445-8454
=20




-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jen
Ferraz
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Hi Jelani:

Merchant has a product import from flat file
that you can use with a spreadsheet.=20

Merchant's databases still have the same
dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
(e.g., updating a product through the admin=20
effects multiple databases, especially if your
products have attributes) so loading directly
into a database would not work unless you
manually address all those other updates that
need to be done.



Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most
important
features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5,
besides
SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL
database,
and
whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard
it
called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or
Access to
connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to
type
product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can
someone speak
to the possibilities of database management in MM5??

Thanks in Advance

Jelani

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



Hi Jeff:

I wasn't referring to the indexes, but
to the use of the internal Product ID (e.g.)
in the other databases, like attributes,
categories, relprods, etc. Deleting a product
requires figuring out the internal ID, then
checking for attributes, categories, etc, etc,
based on that ID. I think that's more then
a regular Merchant end-user is going to want to
do with just tools like Access and phpMyAdmin.


Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Huber - Listmail [mailto:[email protected]]=20
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 8:16 PM
To: Jen Ferraz; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Ahh, but the indexes are no longer an issue if you are using
MySQL.

An application can be written in C, or whatever language is
favored, that has a super slick user interface, super fast screen
redraws, does local caching, does, all sorts of batch insert
stuff, and then has a publish button to update the MySQL
databases.

Actually you could even have such an application publish to
multiple MySQL databases so that you could first publish to your
test store and make sure you liked the changes, then publish to
the real store.

It was the proprietary indexes that stopped really super slick
3rd party tools from being created to manage MIVA Merchant data,
not the cross references to other tables.

Or at least that is my opinion.

- Jeff Huber
President, 4TheBest eCommerce Solutions
http://4TheBest.com
[email protected]
Office: 760-742-1469
Cell: 760-445-8454
=20




-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jen
Ferraz
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Hi Jelani:

Merchant has a product import from flat file
that you can use with a spreadsheet.=20

Merchant's databases still have the same
dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
(e.g., updating a product through the admin=20
effects multiple databases, especially if your
products have attributes) so loading directly
into a database would not work unless you
manually address all those other updates that
need to be done.



Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most
important
features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5,
besides
SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL
database,
and
whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard
it
called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or
Access to
connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to
type
product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can
someone speak
to the possibilities of database management in MM5??

Thanks in Advance

Jelani

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



Ahh, but the indexes are no longer an issue if you are using
MySQL.

An application can be written in C, or whatever language is
favored, that has a super slick user interface, super fast screen
redraws, does local caching, does, all sorts of batch insert
stuff, and then has a publish button to update the MySQL
databases.

Actually you could even have such an application publish to
multiple MySQL databases so that you could first publish to your
test store and make sure you liked the changes, then publish to
the real store.

It was the proprietary indexes that stopped really super slick
3rd party tools from being created to manage MIVA Merchant data,
not the cross references to other tables.

Or at least that is my opinion.

- Jeff Huber
President, 4TheBest eCommerce Solutions
http://4TheBest.com
[email protected]
Office: 760-742-1469
Cell: 760-445-8454
=20




-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jen
Ferraz
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 11:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in
MM5


Hi Jelani:

Merchant has a product import from flat file
that you can use with a spreadsheet.=20

Merchant's databases still have the same
dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
(e.g., updating a product through the admin=20
effects multiple databases, especially if your
products have attributes) so loading directly
into a database would not work unless you
manually address all those other updates that
need to be done.



Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most
important
features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5,
besides
SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL
database,
and
whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard
it
called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or
Access to
connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to
type
product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can
someone speak
to the possibilities of database management in MM5??

Thanks in Advance

Jelani

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



Storeman from phosphormedia.com has
some better product management features then
using the admin and the flat file import for
Merchant4. I don't what their schedule is for=20
Merchant 5.



Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]=20
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 5:57 PM
To: Jen Ferraz
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Thanks for the reply. I currently use Excel to create Flat files for
product uploads. The only drawback is that I use HTML for the
descriptions, so I have to enter it via the admin, which is too time
consuming. The reason I have to use HTML is that my product
descriptions
have four sections: A section which has three highlights or bullet
points,
the description itself, features, and then technical specs. It would be
alot easier if I could just enter each item in it's own cell in a
spreadsheet, and then be done.

I just started reading books on PHP and MySQL prior to the release of
MM5
in the hopes of creating my own SQL driven site. MM5 fulfills the need.

However, I really would like to see a solution with product updates. If
a
third party developer is reading this message, and could come up with a
solution, such as a spreadsheet type maintenance system, it may be of
value to alot of users. It certainly would be to me. Also, another nice
feature would be to have the capability to place multiple tabs in the
product page which reveal differnt information within the product page
once selected. For example, with my pages, I could have a tab for
Descriptions, a tab for Specs, and a tab for features, all within the
product page.



> Hi Jelani:
>
> Merchant has a product import from flat file
> that you can use with a spreadsheet.
>
> Merchant's databases still have the same
> dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
> (e.g., updating a product through the admin
> effects multiple databases, especially if your
> products have attributes) so loading directly
> into a database would not work unless you
> manually address all those other updates that
> need to be done.
>
>
>
> Jen
> Hostasaurus.Com
> Miva Premier Hosting Partner
> 813.971.8772
> [email protected]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
> [email protected]
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5
>
>
> Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most important
> features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5,
besides
> SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL database,
> and
> whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard it
> called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or Access
to
> connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to type
> product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can someone
speak
> to the possibilities of database management in MM5??
>
> Thanks in Advance
>
> Jelani
>
>
>
>

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



Thanks for the reply. I currently use Excel to create Flat files for
product uploads. The only drawback is that I use HTML for the
descriptions, so I have to enter it via the admin, which is too time
consuming. The reason I have to use HTML is that my product descriptions
have four sections: A section which has three highlights or bullet points,
the description itself, features, and then technical specs. It would be
alot easier if I could just enter each item in it's own cell in a
spreadsheet, and then be done.

I just started reading books on PHP and MySQL prior to the release of MM5
in the hopes of creating my own SQL driven site. MM5 fulfills the need.
However, I really would like to see a solution with product updates. If a
third party developer is reading this message, and could come up with a
solution, such as a spreadsheet type maintenance system, it may be of
value to alot of users. It certainly would be to me. Also, another nice
feature would be to have the capability to place multiple tabs in the
product page which reveal differnt information within the product page
once selected. For example, with my pages, I could have a tab for
Descriptions, a tab for Specs, and a tab for features, all within the
product page.



> Hi Jelani:
>
> Merchant has a product import from flat file
> that you can use with a spreadsheet.
>
> Merchant's databases still have the same
> dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
> (e.g., updating a product through the admin
> effects multiple databases, especially if your
> products have attributes) so loading directly
> into a database would not work unless you
> manually address all those other updates that
> need to be done.
>
>
>
> Jen
> Hostasaurus.Com
> Miva Premier Hosting Partner
> 813.971.8772
> [email protected]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
> [email protected]
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5
>
>
> Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most important
> features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5, besides
> SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL database,
> and
> whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard it
> called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or Access to
> connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to type
> product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can someone speak
> to the possibilities of database management in MM5??
>
> Thanks in Advance
>
> Jelani
>
>
>
>

Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5



Hi Jelani:

Merchant has a product import from flat file
that you can use with a spreadsheet.=20

Merchant's databases still have the same
dependencies that they did in Merchant4,
(e.g., updating a product through the admin=20
effects multiple databases, especially if your
products have attributes) so loading directly
into a database would not work unless you
manually address all those other updates that
need to be done.



Jen
Hostasaurus.Com
Miva Premier Hosting Partner
813.971.8772
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:10 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [m5u] Alternative methods of Managing Products in MM5


Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most important
features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5, besides
SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL database,
and
whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard it
called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or Access to
connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to type
product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can someone speak
to the possibilities of database management in MM5??

Thanks in Advance

Jelani

Ease of updating/adding/deleting products is one of the most important
features to me as a merchant when considering upgrading to MM5, besides
SQL capabilities. Since MM5 has the option of using a MySQL database, and
whatever other SQL type database (Miva-SQL, i believe I've heard it
called), is it possible to use other programs such as Excel or Access to
connect to tables and manage products?? Ideally, I would like to type
product data into a spreadsheet, and be done with it. Can someone speak
to the possibilities of database management in MM5??

Thanks in Advance

Jelani