FDMS Product Linkage.

[David M. Graham]

Information on Eos can be found here: http://strikehawk.com/eos-online-merchant-shopping-cart.html

and in the forums here :

http://oscommerceuniversity.com/lounge/index.php/board,34.0.html  is the General Discussion area for Eos,

http://oscommerceuniversity.com/lounge/index.php/board,37.0.html

is the EOS development forum and:

http://oscommerceuniversity.com/lounge/index.php/topic,271.msg409.html#msg409

points to the downloads area at Source Forge.

[OKCRandy]

The current EOS Online Merchant release 0.51 Alpha contains code which will parse files in sub directories.

You might find this of interest.

David

David,

Where do I find more information on this?

Cheers
Randy

[David M. Graham]

The current EOS Online Merchant release 0.51 Alpha contains code which will parse files in sub directories.

You might find this of interest.

David

[David M. Graham]

Randy,

I'm working for myself now - with a partner in StrikeHawk eCommerce.  Our first site operation is located at http://www.hosting-4-creloaded.com and others will follow.  Our plan is to cluster like software packages together as much as possible to allow for maximal optimization for each user.

Price wise, I have no final decision made yet, but it is looking to be in the $50 range.  Not so much because the code will be complicated (though it may well be) but because we will have to support multiple versions of MySQL which have rather obscure variations in SQL parsing and execution.  The price will have to cover programming labor there.

Regards,

David

[OKCRandy]

My own firm may be developing a standalone download attribute to FDMS converter soon.  I am no longer associated with Salvatore or his company.

David

What is the cost going to be for the converter?

What firm are you with now?

Thank you
Randy

[David M. Graham]

Randy,

There should be no need for an attribute on any product to which you attach a file from FDMS.  My intent in laying out the specifications was to end entirely any usage of the product attribute system to manage file downloads.  Having attributes should not prevent attachment of an FDMS file record, nor will having one or more file attachments affect attributes.

My own firm may be developing a standalone download attribute to FDMS converter soon.  I am no longer associated with Salvatore or his company.

Best regards,

David

[OKCRandy]

I would not mind if they used my database to test. I would have to send them the new cPanel and ftp password. All of the other necessary information they have, or should have.

Also the data can be zipped online for backup using shell access.

David,

When setting up a file for attaching is there any need for an attribute to be assign to the product the file(s) are to be attached to?

All the best
Randy

[David M. Graham]

I understand.   I have reason to believe there will be a need to test code which does this update soon (next 1 to 3 months).  Sounds like your database would make a very good test base.

David

[OKCRandy]

I know enough about php and sql, to leave most of the code alone. I would not have the ability to write any code.

I have only ever been on the beta testing end of things were php and sql were concerned. Any edits to the code were given to me in writing. I did get to a point that I was understanding sql code, but that has been over seven years now.

Randy

[David M. Graham]

I don't know that you will be alone there either.  I don't think you are nearly the only one in that situation.  Are you saying you are interesting in building code to migrate the old download linkages?

David

[OKCRandy]

David,

Thank you for your comments.

I am glad I did get a little of my point of view across to Sal and maybe others. Sabrina and some of the others seemed to think I was be littling the module. That was not my purpose.

I simply was asking if certain things were possible and getting no real information or answers. But finally was told that the next release will support subfolders.

Scott was great when I found bugs, he would fix them. But that was only because I was under paid support. Hopefully I will be able to afford paid support again so that unfinished issues can be addressed.

Anyway I was not trying to be totally negative toward the product but there are over 250 products in my store. 240 of them there before upgrading and adding FDMS. I cannot be the only one with a totally digital store with no easy path to change or convert to the FDMS system.

Anyway I am looking forward to seeing what changes in the next version. I will probably be on my own to update the module.

Randy

[David M. Graham]

First, to be able to attach a file to a product you have to add it to the file library, which takes about four or five steps adding each file. This in the long run serves no other purpose for me other than being able to attach the digital files to the product.

FDMS is actually over kill for the simple way I want to attach files.

I think the key phrase there is "for me" - which is not a bad thing.  It is possible that you are overlooking some opportunities brought by the FDMS approach.  In the end, that is for you to decide.  In either case, you are quite right that adding each file does require additional steps.

I asked why not have subfolder support and enable FDMS to scan the directories and create the entries for the categories and digital files. Then if the user wants to add descriptions and other information the entries could be edited, otherwise the files would be ready to attach. I know it should be able to be done.

Good question.  One I asked myself during the design phase.  Sal's response was that it was a complex operation which was best deferred to a future release.  To his credit, he did express a willingness to do so.

I do think that configuring the system to auto-add is a great idea. 

For myself - the addition of descriptions is definitely a plus.  This expands the content on the site, and offers more opportunities to lead a client to a sale.  The ability to require purchase or not on a per product per file basis is good for relating informational downloads to physical products.  This offers some benefits that SEO URL's just can't give you.

Also, I have asked them if FDMS entries could be entered using Easy Populate. I never heard anything.

I also have files showing as if they were changed and could not get information to get them to stop showing up in the "Files that have Changed" they were never changed yet they show there.

Cheers
Randy

The answer to that is no.  Is there any reason they couldn't be?  Not really.
EP is not really constructed in such a way as to add other content objects easily - but that can be fixed.  I actually planned to do this in the course of building an object oriented import / export tool which would support both (configurably) delimited and XML file types.   One advantage to be gained is the ability to export files which describe the download for submission to other sites - thus allowing easy creation of back links related to the file content.

Note that this becomes somewhat less straightforward when done from the  product end.

David

[David M. Graham]

Randy,

I don't think you are bull headed.  You just have a need that is not really met in a straightforward manner by either approach.

FDMS was developed to meet the needs of a store which offered virtual products which involved one or more file downloads per product.  For that, it works much better than anything on the market.  It beats the attribute method hands down.

We used the attribute method,  I should say I used it , for quite some time on creloaded.com.   It sucked from a number of perspectives. One big one was that any slight mistake in creating the option - value chain required the entire chain to be deleted and rebuilt.  You could not change the filename unless you built new option-attribute sets.

That method also is involved in some "cart classification" shenanigans during checkout.  As osCommerce and CRE Loaded lack product typing , the checkout process uses the product weight and other factors to "GUESS" which products are "REAL" or not, then does certain actions based on those guesstimates.  The results are surprisingly good - but still flawed.

My next question would be, are the files you are working with for sale or informational purposes??

I'm going to stop this post here, and respond to some of your design related comments in the next post.

David

[OKCRandy]

Hi David,

I understand all the steps that you kindly provided. But I guess I am just bull headed.

First, to be able to attach a file to a product you have to add it to the file library, which takes about four or five steps adding each file. This in the long run serves no other purpose for me other than being able to attach the digital files to the product.

FDMS is actually over kill for the simple way I want to attach files.

I asked why not have subfolder support and enable FDMS to scan the directories and create the entries for the categories and digital files. Then if the user wants to add descriptions and other information the entries could be edited, otherwise the files would be ready to attach. I know it should be able to be done.

Also, I have asked them if FDMS entries could be entered using Easy Populate. I never heard anything.

I also have files showing as if they were changed and could not get information to get them to stop showing up in the "Files that have Changed" they were never changed yet they show there.

Cheers
Randy

[David M. Graham]

In the forums at CRE Loaded, OKCRandy states:

"I have told the support team what I would like to see but they do not get my points either. But at this point FDMS requires steps the could and should be more automated in the adding of digital files so that they can be attached to a product.

Compared to the attributes method there are two many steps to attaching files for downloading. And that is all I want to use FDMS for, I do not want the library info boxes, or the files showing any where except in the clients downloads after the product is purchaced."

Randy,

I would think the request for step by step instructions is pretty clear myself.

My question to you would be, for which method?

FDMS allows for addition of file to product links from both the file manager AND product manager ends of the relationship.

From the product end:

1. Select a product.
2. Click the Attach Files button on the product control panel.
3. Select a file (See notes on this below).
4. Check the box(es) for the file or files you want to attach to the product
5. Click the update button at the bottom of the file selection page.

NOTES:

1. Only FDMS file storage is flat.  This has to do with the variability of file and directory creation permissions across multiple hosts. (ie - some server setups just don't allow the creation of new directories.)

However, the FDMS library DOES have a hierarchal arrangement in the database which makes file management more feasible.

2. On the file selection page, you will usually see any "virtual directories" which you created when storing files.  One click opens them and makes the files stored within available to you.

3. Infoboxes and pages do not need to be shown - those are of course subject to template control.

4. Compared to the File Attribute system you can attach multiple files in fewer steps.  Misspelling a filename or changing a filename under the attribute system was prone to encounter issues which forced the entire option change to have to be deleted and the reports provide significantly more clarity for file maintenance.  I use FDMS myself  and prefer it strongly.

David