Quote System

[habreu]

I have mentioned this to technical support at different times but figured I'd post it here as well.

We are using a quote system we purchased from Miva. The quote system has several issues - for our uses- that we've worked around. Inititially we didn't get any shipping because we weren't using native Miva shipping methods (Miva wrote some upcharges for us). We weren't able to pull the third party tax module and we have had issues reflecting various fees and charges that are added later - so it wasn't a true quote. Right now we added a tiered shipping discount to the basket process and again - those discounts aren't reflected in the quote as it is a separate system. In part this is because it isn't part of the normal checkout process I think. What would make a lot more sense, if Miva ever does an overhaul, is to put the quote request at the very end of a normal checkout process so that you fill the basket and everything is calculated and then 'Save' or 'Send As Quote' or 'Buy Now'. This would allow all modules, calculations etc to work exactly the same way as the normal checkout process.

[AHerb]

And...... the requested button can be done with pure javascript. Button will prepare the email template and you can send it from your favorite mailing app :-)

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

I'm not sure why this couldn't be done by simply adding a "Quote" payment method. Based on that payment method, just change the wording on the invc and email templates.

In addition, a fairly simple custom module could be created that (we have some of that code in a integration module we use) would let the customer click a special link to repopulate the basket they created to make the quote.

[habreu]

We may eventually end up going that route but personally I'm tired of putting in stuff and later ripping it out. I know this is off-topic but the site never seems to be settled. We are pretty far down the rabbit hole with the quote system so if it keeps updating and slowly addressing any issues I'd rather stay with it . Our shipping system has changed 4 times since we got the Miva site, and each change involved more code, the seemingly inevitable stream of new errors and frequently inadvertent breaking of other systems. That doesn't even include all the modules we used that later stopped working and had to be replaced. For the record this isn't a complaint against Miva -I assume this is somewhat 'normal' because it is a complex system (and I have to get better at saying 'WHHOAA!' every time someone here asks for some new 'simple' feature) but it really does eat up a lot of time, resources and $$.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Understand...but, there's an old axiom i first heard back in 1980 when I first managed a software development team "The only code that doesn't need updating and bug fixing is code that is obsolete".

That being said, there is a difference in the way one approaches something like site development. Knowing from the onset that things will change and building for that helps. For example, you point out a classic example with Shipping. Shipping methods change, or should be easy to change so you are not locked into say, FedEx or just UPS. So, I do see a lot of people (and software) developed with hard coded values based on shipping method module codes...that's a big flag. (Note: understand this is done a lot of times at because its cheaper...until you have to update.) Instead, the shipping methods should be 'neutralized' by assigning them to functional descriptions like basic-ground, ground-express, 2-day, 2-day-economy, etc. That way, when you change shippers, you just change the mapping of those functional descriptions.