Does AbleCommerce 7.0 include full source source?

[FrankWang]

We're about to purchase AbleCommerce 7.0 for customization.

Can anybody tell me if the following order includes full source code?

Asp.Net Shopping Cart 7.0 by AbleCommerce
Base Price: $995.00
1 Yr Software Upgrades $195.00
Free Development License"

Thanks a million,

Frank

[Odettes]

No, they charge extra for the sourcecode.

[Shopping Cart Admin]

Hello,

AbleCommerce has been designed in such a way that very few people actually need the source to the CommerceBuilder API. All of the source you need for virtually any type of customization is included. Here's a faq on the subject:

http://www.ablecommerce.com/Do-I-need-t ... 29C20.aspx

[FrankWang]

Thanks for quick reply, guys.

The features we're going to add include customer upload, buy a get b and c free, one time fee (related to a product but only charged once no matter how many products are ordered.), etc. We really need full source code so we can get them done as soon as possible.

Can you tell me how much source code costs? Can we purchase it together with install package?

Thanks again,

[Shopping Cart Admin]

Hello,

There have been less than a dozen stores over the last 5 years that have needed the source code to the CommerceBuilder API. So it's almost 100% certain that you don't 'really need the full source code'. The source code was priced at $495.00 for 5.5 and it should be about the same with 7.0. It is currently not available for purchase but we are getting close now that we've released RC3.

Our official position is that we don't EVER recommend that you modify our CommerceBuilder.dll or recompile it with customizations as it makes upgrades more complicated. It's better to run the same dll as hundreds of other stores for obvious reasons.

[FrankWang]

Ok, can I ask when AbleCommerce 7.0 will be released officially? How hard is it to do customization I mentioned above?

[AbleMods]

Ok, can I ask when AbleCommerce 7.0 will be released officially? How hard is it to do customization I mentioned above?

The customizations you mentioned are all readily possible without the full source code. You will need to be well versed in ASP.Net 2.0 programming as well as understand the fundamentals of Microsoft DAL implementations. A good working knowledge of SQL will prove helpful as well.

Without this knowledge, you will have a steep learning curve when it comes to modifications such as the ones you mentioned. There's no accurate way to assess the true difficulty in the changes you want without doing a complete project definition.

I've made dozens of modifications to my site over the past 6 months, all without the CommerceBuilder source code. CommerceBuilder is the underlying collection of DLLs that provide the base data classes and methods functionality to the store. While it would have probably been convenient at certain times to modify the base data classes, it would have created significant upgrade issues down-the-road as AC7 continued to matured. I am glad to be where I am now without having modified the base classes. AC7 still includes all the source code to the user controls, store-side and admin-side .Net pages etc.