[thelist] what is needed to make this quickStore app. work

[Kevin]

> Message: 9
> Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 23:48:07 -0500
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> From: Susan Wallace <susanhw at webcastle.com>
> Subject: Re: [thelist] what is needed to make this quickStore  app. work
> Reply-To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
>
> Hi Kevin,
>
> When I was using that tutorial to learn what you are getting into right
> now, I felt a bit lost as well. That particular tag is a "quick and dirty"
> means to an end - a very basic application that performs the function of
> your local Sears. You have departments (categories) to look in, you choose
> an item to purchase, you carry it around with you until you are done
> browsing (shopping cart), you bring it to the cashier, pay for it, and
> leave. All of this is in this application. The beauty of it is that it's
> done with just a few files and the function of the page that you are
seeing
> in the browser is based on the last thing that you clicked on.  The
> confusing part about it (when you are just starting) is that it's done
with
> just a few files and the function of the page you... well, you get my
point.
>
> I'm not sure that the QuickStore application is one that I would
personally
> find a lot of practical use for in terms of a live web site, because every
> single 'store' that you would ever encounter will have very different
> requirements. It is my opinion that you would learn more by starting with
> the basics of understanding the components that go into an e-commerce
site,
> learn how they all work together, and then learn the advantage of creating
> a self contained application like that.
>
> To specifically address your questions:
>
> I downloaded your templates, set up the datasource, and ran the store. The
> first page that comes up asks me to search or go to the Administrator.
> (like you mentioned) The first thing you need to do is create a category,
> and then create in item within that category. Once you do that, you can
> search for it and you should get the point of how that fits together,
> however, this is not a truly realistic overview of what you need to
> consider when designing an online store. (Primarily because of the lack of
> consideration for product options, inventory control and etc.)
>
> The templates that you are referring to that have grayed out information
at
> the top are comments to show you the usage of each custom tag - or each
cfm
> template. This is so that you can implement each page separately if you
> want to and apply the required attributes to get them to work. The error
> message that you get is because the datasource name is not set in each of
> those pages, or in the application.cfm file, so it does not know where to
> get your store information from. (Make sense?)
>
> I see what you mean about the Add product not being an option in this
case,
> but I'm not sure if that was by design, or if there is some errata from
the
> book that I am not able to find. I suspect that it was by design so that
> folks didn't take that application and implement it on a live web site -
at
> least not without a ton of editing. ;-)
>
> You mention that you don't seem to have a good feel for the overall big
> picture here, and acknowledge that there are things you aren't aware of
> yet, so I think that I would be helping you out more if I started with
some
> basics and help you work into an e-commerce application. There are a lot
of
> great online resources for this, and I have some information collected
that
> might be of use as well. If you are interested in a "tutorial" of sorts,
> let me know and I will condense it into an article that is easy to read.
:)
>
> I apologize for the length of this post - I am new here and realize it's
> longer than most, but hopefully it will help others in the future that are
> starting out with Cold Fusion.
>
> <tip type="Leisure Reading">
> It never hurts to learn something new other than a coding example or one
> more geek tip. ;-) Here is a site that will teach you all those things
that
> you didn't learn in school - how to mix classic drinks, meet people in
your
> neighborhood (you know, out in "The Big Room"), or keep your desk clean:
> http://www.soyouwanna.com/
> </tip>
>
> Susan Wallace
>

I appreciate the time and energy involved here.
I spent several hundred hours helping others debunk there
HTML code when I first started out as a means of both
helping myself and others at the same time.

When you get some time I would appreciate anything that you can provide
that breaks the store down into smaller pieces so that I could get a better
understanding of how to actually work with it.

Thank You
Kevin