Travis, I might recommend Sams "Teach Yourself E-Commerce Programming with ASP in 21 Days" as a reference point. It gives a decent basic structure to a shopping cart system. I found the book used on Amazon for around $12 a while back. I found that I needed to modify many of the scripts, but it was a good starting point for me. And it also has a section on dealing with credit cards and merchant accounts, although it is a little dated on who they talk about using, but the basic info is still relevant.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Falls, Travis D (CASD, IT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ActiveServerPages" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 3:09 PM Subject: RE: ECommerce Web site - Getting started advice > Diane, that was a great description on the basics of an ecommerce site. I > especially like the way you broke out the tables. I have a quick question > on this matter, how is a merch. account different from verisign? Is it that > verisign validates the credit card, and merch does the bank transaction? > > > Regards, > > Travis D. Falls > Software Engineer > The Hartford (CASD) > 860.547.4070 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > http://www.thehartford.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Diane Schips [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 3:54 PM > To: ActiveServerPages > Subject: RE: ECommerce Web site - Getting started advice > > > OK. My advice? Write a clear, functional spec. Put together some page to > show what the site will look like. Then run it by the customer. NOW is > when you want to find out that your ideas and hers (his?) don't match. > > With your clear spec, design a data base, then code around it. > > The hardest thing you'll have to deal with is moving from a state machine > (VB) to a stateless machine (the web). All the server knows is that its > sending a page to a browser. It has no idea of what page was last sent to > the browser, if any. So you need to write into your code a way to keep > track of who is doing what. A person selects a product, then clicks some > kind of select button and goes to another page. OK, now you have whatever > product info was sent from the last page's form, and whatever you can look > up from the database based on info you have from the last form. Does that > info include a customer number? That could be in a cookie (people can and > do disable cookies), a session variable (can also be disabled, and not > supported in all browsers), a hidden variable (subject to hacking) or > something else? I won't go into this discussion here, its a discussion all > unto itself, and something we all struggle with. > > Some other things to keep in mind: > I recommend the following tables: customer, product, payment info, header, > detail, login. The customer table holds customer info, the product table > holds product info, the payment table includes the customer ID, and holds > payment info (someone might want to keep on record more than one credit > card), The header table includes order information, the detail table include > information regarding item order, and the login table includes passwords, > usernames, and customer IDs. > > The header table might include order number, customer number, order date, > shipping info (if different form billing info), payment info, if credit card > was accepted or declined, if order was shipped, etc. The detail table might > include info on the order number this record belongs to, the item ordered, > the quantity, the price (always get your price from a lookup, never pass it > along on forms. It's too easy for someone to hack when passing through > forms) and other info related to the item. > > Customers need to edit their own info (address, phone, etc), and their > payment info (if you choose to store it). You need to link ordered product > with order info, and to a customer. You need to be able to get rid of > records created by orders that were initiated, but not complete. You need > to give your customer a way to update product info, and to check on order, > customers, declined credit cards, orders that need to be shipped, etc. > > Your customer needs an internet merchant account, which you will have to > integrate with (easy). > > it sounds like a lot, but then most programs are. Break it down into it's > pieces, then work on each piece. But it is imperative that you have an > overall picture in your mind! > > Good luck > Diane > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim MacDiarmid [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 5:02 PM > To: ActiveServerPages > Subject: RE: ECommerce Web site - Getting started advice > > > No real clear spec.. > > As for the other questions.. I've been doing VB programming for the last 5 > years developing custom security applications, COM Objects, ActiveX > Controls, applications that interact with a database, advanced WIN32 API > programming, as well as some web applications in both Cold Fusion using > Fusebox and some ASP, but no ecommerce stuff, just intranet. > > |-----Original Message----- > |From: Diane Schips [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > |Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 4:22 PM > |To: ActiveServerPages > |Subject: RE: ECommerce Web site - Getting started advice > | > | > |Ecommerce probably isn't a good starter program. And it's a bit difficult > |to know where to tell you to start. So I'll begin by asking you some > |questions. How experienced are you as a programmer? How much > |experience do > |you have with database programming? Programming for the web? Do > |you have a > |clear spec in what is wanted? > | > |Diane > | > |-----Original Message----- > |From: Jim MacDiarmid [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > |Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 3:55 PM > |To: ActiveServerPages > |Subject: ECommerce Web site - Getting started advice > | > | > |I'm in the process of gathering information on doing a web site for the > |owner of a arts and crafts store in my area. My mom sells her crafts in the > |owners store on consignment so I wanted to cut her a special deal > |since this > |is my first "customer" and first project. > |I was wondering if anyone here would be able to give me tips on how to get > |started on this. Also if there are any good books I should look at that > |would give me ideas and/or step by step advice on putting together a > |shopping cart,etc. > | > |Thanks in advance!, > | > |Jim MacDiarmid > |Manassas, Virginia > |Yahoo & AIM: Jim6763NVA > | > | > | > |--- > |You are currently subscribed to activeserverpages as: > |[EMAIL PROTECTED] > |To unsubscribe send a blank email to > |%%email.unsub%% > | > | > |--- > |You are currently subscribed to activeserverpages as: > |[EMAIL PROTECTED] > |To unsubscribe send a blank email to > |%%email.unsub%% > | > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to activeserverpages as: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > %%email.unsub%% > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to activeserverpages as: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > %%email.unsub%% > > > This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of > addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged > information. 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