Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

[RayYates]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

I have two requests for the basket. I do a lot of customizing of the Basket for clients and the same type of problems comes up over and over.

I'd like the basketitems database to have two more fields.

1. category_code.

If g.Category_code was passed in the form when add to basket is clicked, just store it. Then the link back to the product page can be coded with the category code. Also Continue Shopping buttons would be easier to code.

2. user_data -- 255 characters or more.

This fields only purpose it to allow additional data to be stored with each line item by scripts and by third party modules. It happens often that I need to track additional basket data for incomming links, third parties, special products, special handling, calculation results etc. Sometimes I can hide the data using <!-- --> in the name field. If the data is too long, I have had to resort other more convoluted methods like stuffing the data into an attribute, then hidding the attibute from display and keeping it out of the emails.

It seems to me other modules and processes would ignore these fields so they should have no impact on the way Merchant works.

[kayakbabe]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

I vote for Ray's suggestion of storing the category code from which a product was purchased too! I want it for each product put into the basket. This data is invaluable! Google analytics and other analytics trackers can track this if you can provide the information. When we upgraded from miva 4 to 5.5 we lost it. I don't remember if we coded it ourselves in Merchant4 or not. But I sure would like to have that info now. It's a must for SEO.

We have it on our non miva merchant store's and it really helps us optimize our category names and category screens. I really would like to have this info for each product in the basket and checkout for our Miva Merchant store too!.

Having a customer user field that can be passed through the checkout would be wonderful too. Being able to use it to track something specific about the user would help with optimization. I'm sure not everyone would use this. But, I know I would!

[RayYates]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

While I could maintain a database table and store both fields using a system extension module (like an extra product field) I would argue that the category code really should be part of the basketitems table.

If you look at the tracking code required by google analytics it asks for the category. Since products can be assigned to many categories and Merchant does not provide a way field to assign a "primary" category, looking it up yields inconsistant results. This has been a problem for as long as I've been using Merchant and beyond. I've given two examples of why the category code should be stored by Merchant, shall I go on?

If you make the decision to add the category code, then please take the extra step and provide a user data field. I know the argument will be that multiple modules might compete for this field and over-write the data stored in it. I for one would be happy to accept that problem in exchange for the problem we have now of not being able to easily track additional basket/product information through checkout.

PS. Please, don't impliment this as a utility (i.e. extra basket fields).

[RayYates]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

Custom Fields:

First, thank you for the Custom Category fields. I'm already putting it to good use and appreciate your hard work.

Here it comes… but,

Please consider implementing Custom Product, Custom Category and Custom Customer Fields as assignable items in the pages interface and divorce them from the pages they have been tacked onto. Each of these should have their own tabs and be assigned, by default, to the template where they are logically needed.

Assigning the Custom Category to the category tree assumes everyone is using the category tree and I can tell you they absolutely are not, yet we still need access to this additional information. (enter 3rd party modules)

By assigning each its own tab, customer (and developer) confusion will be reduced and the fields can be assigned and easily loaded on “other” screens as needed.

Thanks for considering this and oh by the way, when you get that done you can start on Custom Order Fields. <grin>

[ginot]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

What if Miva Merchant (the store software) sent administrators an email notification with all the particulars, each time a fatal exception or error occurred, to notify that store administrator that a problem existed. So the administrator was not reliant on customers who don't respond or who don't answer questions about the error or glitch? Perhaps these are already logged somewhere?

[ginot]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

What would it take to fix the error-reporting so that errors are logged to a file, and/or emailed to the site administrator? Especially when a customer gets a fatal error, there should be some way to inform the administrator. This should be a default, out-of-the-box feature that does not involve decoding arcane log formats. What's wrong with plain text?

[kayakbabe]

assign import and export utilities via admin groups

There is a thread discussing this. Rick Wilson asked me to cross post here.

Currently it is not possible for a non superadministrator to export data from the store. I want employees to be able to export particular data sets without having to make them store administrators. that way they can't break anything. I can see how some stores may also want employees to be able to import price updates in bulk too. Please open up the miva merchant utilities sections to being controlled by the admin groups.

http://extranet.mivamerchant.com/for...051#post102051

[morditech.com]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

I would like to see a 'Duplicate Product Feature'
Many times I end up putting in the same information from product to product with slight variations. I would like to see a feature that would allow us to go to a product and click a 'duplicate' button and asks for the new product code and name.

[RayYates]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

In attributes, when selecting an attribute type (e.i. select, radio, text, textbox, template etc) I'd like to see "hidden" as one of the options.

I often have to create and populate hidden attributes on Product Pages with JavaScript for custom applications. This requires a lot of extra scripting of the attribute section of the product page.

Having the ability for a client to simply add a hidden attribute when needed would make life much simpler.

As far as hidding or displaying the attribute on the basket and checkout pages, that would be up to the developer. MivaMerchant would not change any of those page templates. The attribute code and value would display on those pages just like the others.

[hughvia]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

Provide a way to select a country to appear at the top of the country select list. Many of us operate stores in which the vast majority of our sales are to addresses in the United States. The U.S. customers must scroll all of the way to the last 10% of the list.

I have tried making the U.S. a Javascript default but have not had any success.

It the store owner could select the country to appear at the top of the list I think it might make checkout a little less tedious for their customers.

[netblazon]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

OH, and sort states by state name, not by the 2-letter code. Did we say that already? I'm not going back through 35 pages to make sure. LOL ;)

[kayakbabe]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

how about a choice to sort by code or name for everything.. product, categories, states, etc.

[outboxin]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

Here is something that is making my life a nightmare right now ...

I appreciate that there is now a category tab on the product screens to quickly add products to multiple categories, BUT the category order on this screen does not match the category order on the main category screen or on the category tree in the left nav. If you look at yours and they do match, try changing the order of your categories on your category screen, then go to your products, click to edit the product and go to the category tab. You will see that this list did not update to match your main list and that there is no way to sort this list.

While this may not seem like a big deal, in my instance I have cars, makes and models ... 100's of them ... which I want to organize in that order BECAUSE when I add a car part, it applies to many car models whose names may be a 1990-1992 for NISSAN and a 1990-1994 for TOYOTA. IF these two year models are showing up together in the category list on the product screens, it is taking forever to check back against another list what manufacturer and make the 1990-1992 is associated with. If the categories were listed in line order: TOYOTA, LANDCRUISER, 1990-1992 I would know that these years were for the car listed right above it.


In addition it SUCKS that subcategories are not indented under parent categories in these lists. I cannot believe this is something that has not been fixed.

[outboxin]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

Thanks Rick.
One thing I did notice since I posted was that if you were on the Categories tab in the product screen and click on UNASSIGNED, the categories do then come up in the correct order ... so at least for the initial assignment you can see the whole list correctly ... after that though you cannot see all categories (assigned and not) at one time in the correct order.

[crozon]

Re: Miva Merchant 5.5 Dream Features

I would also LOVE the option to have sub-categories appear under main categories as well. It would make it so much easier when you are adding products to categories. I often find your eyes can go cross-eyed trying to go through the long list of categories.