On 25 Jul 2006, at 18:42, Douglas von Roeder wrote:
Please pass along any links that you can. We need to do the
standard "query
to display a selection to open a detail view" as well as ecommerce.
The more
good sites I can come up with, the better the chances are for a 4D
solution.
Hi Doug
Here is my list for you to look at:
http://www.venusbikes.com
http://www.justprotective.com
http://www.s-bikes.com
(In each case, the 'Shop' link at the top takes you into the dynamic
part).
These 3 sites are running on 3 4D Client workstations respectively
(i.e. 1 machine per site under 'Windows'). They are all connected to
the same data set (4D Server) and the business logic in the app' code
takes care of filtering the right product range for each site.
The 'site structure' (i.e. the links between products, 'drill down'
hierarchy, content etc) is all done in this organisation's main
retail database which is a separate system running in their stores
and head office. It handles all their POS terminals in different
cities as well as their back office functions. They build the site
structure by 'linking' products in this system, then doing periodic
(every few days) batch transfers to the web. (They 'under no
circumstances' wanted their main system to be accessible from the
web :).)
Every day they download orders from the web in a similar batch
process (a heterogeneous batch file containing orders across all
sites) and upload them into the 'retail' system where they get
processed. The next 'retail to web' batch transfer then updates the
'order status' so the customer can see progress (I think that bit is
not online yet).
Static pages are uploaded by a promotions department to a special
folder, the web application then 'strips' the body tag content out of
these pages and replaces it with the site style sheet which is
generated by 4D code according to 'style' configuration parameters
set by the users in the 4D Client administration section. (They
access this using 'Radmin' because the servers are all in a server
farm at their local service provider). There is also a web based
admin section for the sales managers to download the orders.
Ironically, I actually sold this solution to the customer on the
basis of being a straight down the middle, 'industry standard'
approach to e-commerce. I mentioned 'PHP approach' I think, fully
embedded scripting engines, an integrated CGI/Web Server and CSS-2
based content management" (bit of a mouthfull but sounded good at the
time)
As you can imagine, the whole thing contains a great deal of complex
business logic. What Active4D did for us was:
- allowed us to translate the same type of productivity advantages
of using 4D over other environments to web development
- allow us to do a lot of prototyping, 'undo' and 'redo' in places
without getting tied in knots because we were programming at
reasonably high level
- it let us re-use much of our existing 4D business logic code
- (by no means least) the support is good
This company is a growing retailer having 4 stores in different
cities around Scotland and the North of England, UK.
Over the last couple of years I've come across a few sites developed
in Active4D which I found very impressive. Hopefully their developers
will pipe up with the links for you.
Hope this helps you in your quest. You can let me know if you have
any questions.
Regards
Peter
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