A few questions for the developers

[IA_SolutionArchitect]

Hello, I'm researching AC7 as a possible ecommerce solution for a client of ours and have a few questions that I hope a developer could answer.

1. I think based on our client's needs we would have to do a lot of code customization. How does that impact upgrade path? In the past when we've had to customize purchased codebase, it kind of kills the upgrade path because we have to account for our customization with each upgrade. Will that hold true with AC7 as well?

2. Is it possible to use just the checkout pieces of AC7? Suppose we build the product management and cart functionality on our own and just want to use AC7 for the actual checkout process. Is that possible?

3. How easy (or difficult) is it to create custom shipping modules? Our client can either ship DHL, ship common carrier or deliver on company-owned trucks. I know it would be easy if it were, say, an item by item decision but in this case it's combination of item and shipping zip code. If the ship zip code is within "delivery" range that will be the option; otherwise, it would go DHL or common carrier. Is this scenario something that's easy to implement?

Thank you.

Matt

[AbleMods]

1. I think based on our client's needs we would have to do a lot of code customization. How does that impact upgrade path? In the past when we've had to customize purchased codebase, it kind of kills the upgrade path because we have to account for our customization with each upgrade. Will that hold true with AC7 as well?

This would hold true with any storefront that can be code-modified. In the case of AC7, there are several design techniques possible that make a future upgrade far less painful. It all depends on what you want to modify. AC7 includes an extensive library of .Net user controls. So by creating your own .Net user controls (or copying existing ones for later modification), you can easily build a fully customized site without a significant impact on future upgrades.

2. Is it possible to use just the checkout pieces of AC7? Suppose we build the product management and cart functionality on our own and just want to use AC7 for the actual checkout process. Is that possible?

Yes. The CommerceBuilder libraries are tightly integrated but they are very flexible. You can build your own management and cart functionality. It just has to be done within the AC7 app and codebase. That's alot of work as the underlying data structures are extensive and the API expects data in a specific way.

3. How easy (or difficult) is it to create custom shipping modules? Our client can either ship DHL, ship common carrier or deliver on company-owned trucks. I know it would be easy if it were, say, an item by item decision but in this case it's combination of item and shipping zip code. If the ship zip code is within "delivery" range that will be the option; otherwise, it would go DHL or common carrier. Is this scenario something that's easy to implement?

Easy is a relative term AC7 fully supports custom shipping modules. In fact, Able has posted the complete source code to one of the included shipping modules as a guide for developers to write their own. I haven't personally written one yet but I have seen the code. It is documented well and would give you an excellent starting point to develop your own.

[Logan Rhodehamel]

2. Is it possible to use just the checkout pieces of AC7? Suppose we build the product management and cart functionality on our own and just want to use AC7 for the actual checkout process. Is that possible?

The CommerceBuilder API is a .NET library that you can interface to from your own custom scripts. You don't have to use the ones we have provided. But you would have to use our database and so forth.

3. How easy (or difficult) is it to create custom shipping modules? Our client can either ship DHL, ship common carrier or deliver on company-owned trucks. I know it would be easy if it were, say, an item by item decision but in this case it's combination of item and shipping zip code. If the ship zip code is within "delivery" range that will be the option; otherwise, it would go DHL or common carrier. Is this scenario something that's easy to implement?

If I am interpreting this right, you should not find this very difficult. If you need to have custom shipping quotes returned (for example for the company owned trucks) you will have to create a custom shipping gateway. As Joe mentions there is a sample gateway and reference documentation. That's advanced customization, but we have not made it difficult to plug in a new shipping gateway.

The other part of your question touches on item and zip code. We have something called "zones" (this is where we factor zip code) and these can be linked to specific shipping methods.