feature question - sorry if it's been answered !

[Guest]

I would normally do a search to find an answer, but I don't know where to start.

 

I have a client who is a pro photographer and he wants to team up with other pro photographers to form a stock photography site.

The budget is very tight, so I was thinking osCommerce would be the perfect solution.

 

However, I'm not sure if the following features (or similar) are present :-

 

1. Referencing of products (images) by subject/photographer

 

2. Feedback to request a product (or in this case, a photoshoot or specific photo subject)

 

3. Client login that would take a user to a specific set of products - in this case, a set of photos that have been taken for a client - an archive.

 

4. How easy is it to hack/comment/configure out ordering details and credit card payments - for now, I've advised the client (due to budget constraints) to process the orders manually from received emails, rather than through a payment gateway.

[chfields]

I would normally do a search to find an answer, but I don't know where to start.

 

I have a client who is a pro photographer and he wants to team up with other pro photographers to form a stock photography site.

The budget is very tight, so I was thinking osCommerce would be the perfect solution.

 

However, I'm not sure if the following features (or similar) are present :-

 

1. Referencing of products (images) by subject/photographer

 

2. Feedback to request a product (or in this case, a photoshoot or specific photo subject)

 

3. Client login that would take a user to a specific set of products - in this case, a set of photos that have been taken for a client - an archive.

 

4. How easy is it to hack/comment/configure out ordering details and credit card payments - for now, I've advised the client (due to budget constraints) to process the orders manually from received emails, rather than through a payment gateway.

 

1. You can use the catagories as subjects and/or also use manufacturer for photographers.

2. You can use the contact us for this

3. I don't know about that

4. It is pretty simple to set up for manual payments

 

These are just a few quick things...I'm sure there are other options/features that will work also.

Hope this helps

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply !

 

I think point 3 is the most important one - I could probably convince the client that functionality for 3 could be added at a later point, but it would be useful to have a feature like this.

 

Possibly the 'view previous orders' functionality could be hacked to enable a site admin to load up some 'fake' orders for a particular user and then change the wording to suit ?

[Guest]

3. Client login that would take a user to a specific set of products - in this case, a set of photos that have been taken for a client - an archive.

You can do something like this with the download link now. Also, if all you need is to have a page with limited access, that is not that hard to do. Unfortunately, the requirements have not been uniform enough that anyone has put forth a contribution. However, if you have some PHP skills, I'm sure someone could show you some code for similar purpose that you could adapt.

 

If you are not interested in PHP coding, I suspect that there would be a number of volunteers at reasonable prices if you posted a request in the Seeking Commercial Help section.

 

Good luck,

Matt

[Guest]

Thanks for the info.

 

Actually, I do want to get into php programming.

 

I've hacked an earlier version of oscommerce and found it's easy enough to modify php functions, but programming it from scratch is not something I am able to do right now.

 

I have a feeling I can hack new functionality by copying the 'view previous orders' functionality - this, in effect, is close enough to what my client needs.

 

The hack would involve the admin being able to 'load up' a specific users 'past orders' area with products, or in this case, photos.

[Guest]

You could create a page called gallery or whatever - now at login one goes to account history page, you could set it to go to gallry or album or whatever

[loxly]

There are a lot of ways to do this, you can email me ( [email protected] ) for specific ideas that may include using other open source software. I am not sure if it is ok to post that info here.

 

Also, there are membership mods and login mods that can control customer access. There is also a Hidden Categories contrib that might able to be adapted, I haven't tried it.

 

My own suggestion is similar to bluephoenix, if you have a specific set of photos for a specific client, then you may need to set up a page or gallery that is apart from osc, then link back to it for product purchase.

 

This is another project I am working on "in my spare time" LOL (I am a professional photographer trying to get my own 10,000+ images up in a managable way)

[Guest]

I would look at Exhibition Engine -- It's very inexpensive -- and dynamite for displaying photo galleries. Version 1.3 has an e-commerce feature to sell prints. http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/ -- You can look at the changes link. You can see his demo of the program at http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/list...hp?exhibition=7 -- This is one of the slickest gallery programs I have seen, was freeware with a donation suggested and now sells for $35.00 -- I think it will work better for you than OSCommerce -- for a photography application.

[loxly]

I remember looking at that when I was researching photo galleries and it doesn't come close to what osc can do. It is a gallery and not a shopping cart. I think it also uses GD which is quirky on lots of servers.

 

It isn't a substitute for oscommerce for a commercial photography application, but it is an ok gallery software.

 

One of the best gallery softwares that is open source is available at:

 

http://gallery.menalto.com

 

I am working on trying to tie the photo pages to the osc cart, they have a mod that will call paypal, I am hoping it can be modified to call oscommerce instead. It is a fairly simple call, but I am not a programmer so haven't worked it out yet.

 

Example of the gallery with the paypal cart:

 

http://www.cool-networks.net/modules.php?s...=view_photo.php

 

It is a link directly to a photo with the cart. Don't try and create an ecard, that part is being worked on right now :)

[freecool]

Hi, loxly,

read some of your posts..

well, I am trying to maybe use gallery to setup a photo printing storefront..and I would love to tie it with oscommerce

I've been dreaming this for a while. but I dont know much about coding..So, I wonder if you have had any luck working out some solution that'll enable seamless marriage of the two. basically. i think that paypal mod for gallery is too simple and inconvenient to use. and i'd love to use the powerful backend and database funtion of oscommerce.

Can you give me some suggestions? Thank you very much!!!

btw,I've looked at vvgallery and found it full of bugs and hard to mod to achieve what i need...so that really isnt an option for me now..:P

Best. wishes,

p.s..ur mailbox is FULL, and i can't pm u...