I've used CFMX Able commerce... Here are a couple of notes..keep in mind this knowledge is about 20 months old :)
1) I'ts pointedly NOT a coldfusion application. By that I mean it takes no advantage of anything specifically coldfusion'ish. The ap functions as a Java servlet with calls to and from the CF page. All the database interaction is controlled by the servlet and you have access to none of it. In fact, if you want to do something simple like add a field to a table you will find yourself working around this issue. Each request is passed to the servlet with the results returned from the servlet. 2) Get used to array holder syntax - ACB for CFMX doesn't use query objects very much. Instead, the servlet loads Java Object 1 (a query pulled from a database) Into Java object 2 (an array holder build for this query). Then it loops through it with traditional Java counter syntax. 3) Because you are not involved in the database code you can't fine tune it. a store of ours had about 12 top categories and one of those had 40 or more subcategories with a total of 11000 items for sale. The system called the entire data set (all 11000 items) when accessing every page from the top down. Then it looped through filtering out items that weren't in the category - no caching, no "smarter" queries pulling limited subsets of data.... just a big honkin query pulling the entire category with each query. Needless to say we did not find this scalable. 4) Making changes to the display is problematic. Since all the "data stuff" is wrapped up in the servelt you would think there was a logical separation - but the ACB engine uses custom templates that are controlled by the database and written to file. That means if you create a custom template you better figure out how to store it in the database or admin users who do something simple - like add a new link - will overwrite all your hard work. 5) It's also overpriced for the feature set and the usuablility. In my view ACB hired a Java programmer to "pretend" to create a CFMX ap. There are no CFCs, no caching, no cf queries, no query driven outputs, no custom tags.... nothing really "CF" about it. It could just as easily be JSP and it would suffer from no further usability issues. CF is just a "wrapper class" around the servlet. If you are going to use it "out of the box" as is - go for it. If you plan to make any customizations (if I can borrow a line from Monty Python here...) run away. You would spend less to just pay Mary Jo to add the feature you want. -Mark -----Original Message----- From: Mary Jo Sminkey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 1:23 PM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: Anyone use AbleCommerce, CFMX version? >I would rather use CFWebstore, but my boss saw that AbleCommerce syncs up >with a module (StoneEdge Order Manager) that he likes on our current >shopping cart. Well, I can't speak much about AbleCommerce (being a competitor, it wouldn't have much value anyway). You are certainly welcome to ask on my CFWebstore email list as I do have a number of users that have previously used AC and would probably be willing to give an opinion and compare the 2 products as well. But one thing you might also want to consider is if it would be possible to integrate this product with CFWebstore as well. Generally it's just a matter of writing an XML export of the order details, not a real difficult thing to do, and something I could probably assist with if need be. The difference in cost for the two products alone might cover it. I usually tell people not to get too hung up on a single feature when evaluating shopping carts. So often you are going to have tweak and change any number of things, that unless something is a really major feature that will take a long time to code, you're better off looking for something that's going to have the best set of basic features that you need, and is easy to understand and modify so it won't be much hassle to get it to exactly what you want. ------------------------ Mary Jo Sminkey Author of CFWebstore, ColdFusion E-commerce software http://www.cfwebstore.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:229695 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
