Build a simple Online Store

Dear Jason, I wish to build a simple online store after seeing your tutorial 'Build a store + admin backend this year'. For a quick start I guess I will need Product Administration and Product Catalog presets (already downloaded).

My question is how do I merge the code that is created using the presets into a template that I would design in Design Extender. Is there a tutorial on this?

there are a couple of different approaches that you can use to apply your template to pages created by Data Assist


1) Use a Dreamweaver Template and apply it to the pages that Data Assist creates. On each page, go to Modify -> Templates -> Apply template to page.

2) Convert the template to a Framework Builder theme (open the template and go to WebAssist -> Framework builder Themes -> Create Theme), then open each page created by Data Assist and apply the theme (Go to WebAssist -> Framework Builder -> Themes -> Apply Theme)

3) Create a new page from your template (or theme if you go that that way), then add the pages created by Data Assist to it as a Plugin (Framework Builder -> Plugins -> Insert Plugin)

4) Similar to option 3, But use a Dynamic Plugin. this allows you to have one page in your site that pulls different content based on a variable like a Query string variable for example:

index.php?action=search <- pulls the results page
index.php?action=results <- pulls the search page

You may wish to use a combination of the methods above, dynamic plugins for the front end pages, but not for the admin pages for example.


On the Design Extender support page there is a tutorial for "Using themes in Data Bridge and Design Extender":
design-extender/


on the Data Bridge support page, the "Displaying Relational Tables with Plug-ins" gives some details on the basics of using plugins:
data-bridge/

Jason. I've converted my Dreamweaver Template to a Framework Builder theme.

Question 1
When I open my Data Assist page in order tpo apply a theme I get the attached result. What have I done wrong?

Question 2
I notice in the Product Administration presets that is downloadable with the 'Build an Admin-Driven PayPal Store' there are fields called 'Product Options' and Product Option Values' where the presenter enters various colours. Is there any reason why there is not a field or two to allow the buyer to select sizes. In the presenters description, she enters ' 100% cotton, comes in 3 sizes'. But then you cannot select sizes if you are buying.

Question 1

First you need to apply the DW Template to your page

Modify > Templates > Apply Template to Page...

Then add the framework to it

WebAssist > Framework > Themes > Apply Theme

The page will then be white rather than styled, this is normal!!

Hope this helps

Question 2) See the Product Options tutorial on the eCart support page for details on adding options to your products.

Daryl,

So, am I correct in saying, that I have to apply a Dreamweaver Template to all the Data Assist pages, before \i apply Frameworl Builder Themes to every data assist page? Or is there a short-cut?

There isnt really a shortcut Im afraid.

Personally I would put the data assist pages in a plugins folder.

Open a new php document, save it where you want it to appear, add the DW Template, apply the theme, then insert the data assist page using framework builder into the relevant place on the new page.

Im ready to be corrected by Jason or someone else though....

Jason, I'm confused. First I watch the video 'Building an Admin-Driven PayPal Store' and this video advises to use Product Administration and Product Catalog presets when building a store with Data Assist.
The I'm shown a different database 'Free eCommerce MySQL database' - so now I'm confused.
Is there a workflow that I can follow to help me build an online shop - do I start with Design Extender and build a template, then Data Assist - but what database should I use. Is there a good tutorial that I can follow, that shows the whole process.

there is not a tutorial that shows the whole process.

you are getting to caught up in using the presets and not really thinking through what the presets are doing.

the admin:
The admin preset is creating the following pages:
admin/search.php
admin/results.php
admin/details.php
admin/insert.php
admin/update.php
admin/delete.php


the public preset is creating only the basic pages at the site root:
search.php
results.php
details.php

The database you use really doesn't matter, the eCommerce database is a good starting place, but you may need to modify it to suit your needs.


after you have created the admin and public pages you can create your template and apply it to the pages. there options on how you do that, which to use depends on which works best for you.

you will want to use security assist to restrict access to the admin pages.

then you can add eCart to the public pages.

Okay Jason,
I'm going to follow this process.
1. I will use the free WA eCommerce MySql database and build my Product admin pages and product catalogue pages using the Products table in this database.
2. I will create a DW template using Design Extender.
3. I will then convert the template to a Framework Builder theme and open the Data Assist pages and apply my theme to those pages
4. I will purchase the latest edition of eCart and add this to my Product catalogue.

1. Would you agree with that workflow?
2. Is there a quick way to build the Data Assist pages using a preset - I tried using Product Administration preset, but, it missed out creating a 'Categories Id' field on the insert form, amongst others. Do I have to build the search, results, details, insert, update and delete pages from scratch using 'New from Blank'?