+1 and +1 to the other posts as well. Albecom was complete spaghetti code prior to the mx version. It was the result of 4 versional upgrades by a team and no rewrites. Modifying it is a mess and its a complete pain to rip out chunks and replace them, simple projects got extended do to these things. Then like I said the MX version is pretty much the classic Coldfusion for UI java for the rest. I you know Java and are comfortable with OOP its not a horrid mess to upgrade/modify, its a lot better than it used to be. If you want a REAL cf shoppingcart though AbleCom MX is not the right product. I believe AbleCom offers a developer license or something to evaluate it and what not, evaluate it and have a look see, its not much CF...
Adam On 1/16/06, Mark A Kruger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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:4:229758 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
