Android and/or IOS App to Miva backend?

[macrobber]

I know that Miva has the JSON API available - just wondering if anyone had built and Android or IOS app that could actually tie into their store - IE: Via the app, place an order? It's very, very early stages yet, but I was curious if anyone had done this? It's not pulling up the miva admin in an app - it's more - I want allow you to purchase an item from my app - which get's pushed to my store.

[Kent Multer]

Interesting idea! I haven't written any smartphone apps myself. But offhand, I think it would make more sense to create an app that just uses the standard shopping API, calling merchant.mvc with the various Action codes, Product_Code, etc. to move through a shopping session.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Unless you really need to tie it into the phones 'infrastructure' i don't see the cost/benefit of doing an app versus doing a browser-based web site. Even, for example, miva had basic app that could be rebranded, the cost to actually compile the new app and distribute it wouldn't come close to a specific case designed web site. Besides, a lot of (ok, older folks) hate having to download a app just to do something...certainly not to just shop.

[Kent Multer]

Well, that's a good point. Why write an app when you can just design a store with responsive pages? But smartphone browsers can be slow, and they have extra buttons and features that can clobber your session if you accidentally touch the wrong part of the screen. I can see the value of an app that's tied to a specific store, logs you in as soon as it connects, and maybe does other things to make the shopping process super-easy and convenient. For instance, it can access your Contacts, so you can buy gifts for friends and family without entering their shipping address.

[ids]

Unless you really need to tie it into the phones 'infrastructure' i don't see the cost/benefit of doing an app versus doing a browser-based web site. Even, for example, miva had basic app that could be rebranded, the cost to actually compile the new app and distribute it wouldn't come close to a specific case designed web site. Besides, a lot of (ok, older folks) hate having to download a app just to do something...certainly not to just shop.

Sounds to me as you want something that is headless (the newer emerging term to describe this) or partially headless. If the JSON API can do much of the shopping experience functions, then I think this is a doable app. That would be an initial prerequisite and then the language itself for the app has to support the functions to interact with the backend. I have looked into this sort of thing more superficially but there weren't any roadblocks except for time and money.

Scott

This quoted the wrong post, shoulda been the original.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

AFAIK, you can do all "shopping" interactions via the json API...but the cost of developing the phone app and the friction it creates would, IMO, make it a non-starter for almost any project. There might be some limited cases where this would have a decent RIO (and I agree, you could create a MUCH better environment for the most part by using a phone app). I suppose Miva could make an app, that had options for "branding" and folks would download or re-use the Miva Phone app...that'd be the only cost effective method IMO.

[Rick Wilson]

We also have the Swift SDK, and have done some proof of concept stuff in house, it should be relatively easy to use the Swift SDK to build any iOS-Miva app you want.