Software Development

Developing software is an important aspect of the work we do. Many software packages contain what is sometimes known as ‘bloatware’. Bloatware simply means to take a software package and fill it to overflowing with every possible option available. The problem is the package then becomes unusable or to use it takes a very steep learning curve. So to get around this we develop software.

WP Shop

Shortly to be released wpshop is a plugin to the Wordpress CMS. This shop contains many attractive features and a demo will be available to view. There are a wide variety of options to be set including a variety of currencies and taxes. The shop also has a marketing manager.

WP CRM

Now released
WP crm is a plugin to the Wordpress CMS. CRM stands for Customer Resource Manager and in its simplest form is an application that allows you to manage your customers through letters, emails and dating times of contact. It will have a very handy contact form, which when completed by a customer will store the details directly in your database for immediate management use.

Serving the needs of Lostwithiel

Cregy is a web design company serving the needs of Lostwithiel. We are also keen to give back to the community. Hence the reason behind the WP Shop. We will also be developing the concept on further with the creation of crm software for Wordpress. This will give web designers and small businesses a real chance to develop an online business.

Slow Down

And if you get the chance, slow down and watch some paint dry, some snails race and just chill. If you’ve got a wife, daughter or son, go and tell them you love them.

A quick preview of the features that will be included in the first rewrite of the plugin:

*shop front highlighting newly added products (sounds familiar?)
*ajax shopping cart
*sidebar category(product) and product menus
*unlimited products
*unlimited categories
*customizable pagination for product listing
*multiple images using “greybox” technology
*template system
*paypal payment gateway utilizing Instant Payment Notification(IPN)
*customizable shipping options
*customizable tax options
*viewable orders in the admin
*integration into the existing WordPress user registration system
*single page checkout (keep your fingers crossed for this one!)

Hi

Just to let you all know. I am still trying to employ a developer that will finish the development of the shop and then start on the next stage. It seems that the coding needs a lot of sorting out and maybe some trimming.

The current issues with the coding:

1. Works with 2.1.2
2. Safe urls
3. Pages not being displayed on the front end
4. Remove links and all items pertaining to shipping tokens, vouchers, reviews and ratings, tools, help.
5. Make Paypal work as a payment gateway
6. In the product list, remove sort date, apply special rules, fields.
7. Get the description fields to work correctly. Short description should be a simple teaser. Long description should provide more space.
8. Shipping should have two fields applied to it. Inland for all local delivers, overseas shipping for all long deliveries. How these apply can be varied from country to country. i.e. In England, inland would apply, whilst overseas might be the eu only!
9. Customer details need to be recorded along with items they have bought.
10. Orders need to be split into outstanding, paid not sent, sent, etc.

Suffice to say much work needs to be done. I need a developer who can do it. Is there anyone you can recommend. I am speaking to one or two at the moment but it would be an idea to see who else might like to be involved.

Many thanks for your patience.

Rich

This is the first part of creating a software for small businesses.

The WP Shop originally created at the start of this year has seen a full rewrite and should be available for a re-release on 18th October. The shop plugin will be a full ecommerce product with a link to Paypal. However, development will take place to include other payment providers.

The shop features:
Runs in Wordpress 2.0.x (possibly working on it running in 1.5)
Paypal payment Gateway (with development for others planned)
Three ways to present stock
Add options (e.g. Black cap, white cap, green cap)
Link relevant products together
Create as many images as required

Future work:
Prepare plug-in for other payment gateways.
Namespace and incompatibility tests with other than the default plugins of Wordpress 2.0.4 (akismet, dbbackup and hello dolly)
Include shop urls in url-rewrite procedure.
Preparing a wordpress release of the shop as a package.
Extend the plugin to store customer details.
Extend the plugin to include the facility to send mailouts.
Extend the plugin to encompass stock control.
Extend the plugin to encompass customer/supplier billing and contact details etc.

Ok the developer has also written some instructions!

Activate plugin
configure payment
click gateway, activate paypal payment modul
click “configure”
email: shop owner email, probably the same as the blog owner
operating mode: If you haven’t set up paypal yet, test first in the internal sandbox. To use a paypal sandbox, you’ll have to set up a paypal sandbox account (which has nothing to do with your real account). Once you’re ready, use the “normal” mode
in order to get a PDT(payment data transfer) token you have to
register at paypal.com
upgrade your account to premier or business account (note the differences in charges; decide on the turnover you expect)
click on “profile”
click on “website payment preferences”
your first option is auto return. Turn it on, and add the link to your return page (find it on the paypal configuration page, or in your blog frontend, it’s titled “thank you for your purchase”)
your second option is pdt. Switch to “on”
submit the page
your pdt token will be displayed as a long string of letters and numbers.
Copy this token, and paste it into the configuration
To set up the IPN link
Copy the IPN link from the configuration page
On the paypal “profile” page, click on “Instant Payment Notification Preferences”
Click edit
Tick the checkbox
Paste the link
Submit
Logout paypal, if you want
Submit paypal configuration page on your site
Add categories
Click on categories
Click on “create new category”
The form field on the left will now be editable
For categories in the first level, just enter the name and a brief description, leave the parent select box as it is. You’ll have to do this for your first category
Click save
Add more categories, if you like. If they are subcategories, select the parent (the main category) from the dropdown list
Add products
Click on products
Select “create new”
Add all the information (this needs some more explaining…)
If you want to add a picture
Take your ftp client to the folder where you installed wordpress. You should see folders such as wp-content or wp-includes
Create a folder called wp-images (all lowercase)
Go in there, and create a folder called wpshop (no hyphen, all lowercase)
Make this folder writeable for everyone (chmod 777)
Configure your shop
Go to settings
The minimum you have to do is to open your shop
Select “options”
Change “shop open” to yes
Enter a shop title
Enter a shop email address
Select your country and currency of trade
Select a currency format
Select a date format
Alter more options, if you like
Press “save”
Set general Settings
Set “show prices” to yes
Set “show buy button” to yes
Alter more options, if you like
There are more options which you can alter by selecing them from the dropdown box
You’re ready to go!

After building WP Shop I realised that this whole venture could grow and hence the title “Small Business Software”.

Take a look at the roadmap but suffice to say that I run a small business and also build websites for small businesses so I am hoping that this plugin will help my small business and benefit others. I am also hoping that the plugin will enable developers to offer more than just websites!

Over to you. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for further implemetations? Comment and suggest please.

The Roadmap
Must haves:
- get WPShop running stable in Wordpress 2.0.x (I’m currently running 2.0.4, and have problems with the installation)
- enable Paypal payment Gateway

Nice to haves:
- WPShop running stable in Wordpress 1.5.x (not tested yet)
- debugging of existing, non-critial bugs
- Reduce number of generated pages

Demarcation criteria (do you know a better word? This is “stuff not to be done right now”)
- prepare plug-in for other payment gateways.
- namespace and incompatibility tests with other than the default plugins of

Wordpress 2.0.4 (akismet, dbbackup and hello dolly)
- include shop urls in url-rewrite procedure (we haven’t talked about this yet, but I’d be very interested to do this. Helps search rankings and makes
urls more readable)
- preparing a wordpress release of the shop as a package.
- Extend the plugin to store customer details.
- Extend the plugin to include the facility to send mailouts.
- Extend the plugin to encompass stock control.
- Extend the plugin to encompass customer/supplier billing and contact details etc.