KonaKart / OpenCms Integration Module

[Steveinjava]

Hi John, I am a neebie to OpenCms and KonaKart but am keen to implement both on a test site with the intention of selling such developments to local clients once I have the knack.
Can I check the presumption of the module that the OpenCms site will be developed first and KonKart linked afterwards is the best way of doing it from scratch.
I cannot see any need to connect a given OpenCms site to more than one KonaKart database. If there is a way of referencing the set of (KonaKart) products in a OpenCms template it would be a lot less processing than using SOAP. Or am I missing something? (I usually do!)
Steve

[john]

Hi Steve,

Good luck with your idea to sell the Combined OpenCms/KonaKart idea.  I think it makes a good combination.

There isn't any reason for building one part before the other as they are so loosely-coupled.  I guess it really depends what your customer wants most.

As for the final point:

I cannot see any need to connect a given OpenCms site to more than one KonaKart database.

It's possible if you really needed to, but I would expect that to be an unusual configuration.

If there is a way of referencing the set of (KonaKart) products in a OpenCms template it would be a lot less processing than using SOAP.

On this point I'm not entirely sure I understand your objectives here.  How would you source the data for your products?  Would you enter these manually? Is that how you hope to avoid the SOAP call?  The SOAP call does make it a flexible interface even allowing you to run the KonaKart store on a completely different server if you need to.

Regards,
John

[Steveinjava]

John, I was wondering (hoping?) there was some way of getting OpenCms to read the KonaKart database itself. I guess that is what you are doing by using the KonaKart code via SOAP so I will just ignore my natural fear of anything more complex than HTTP and use the model you have built.
This way I could potentially have the website on a clients (preferred) server and keep the KonaKart on mine (eApps, like yourself).
I am looking a fair way ahead here but one 'holy grail' for me is multi-currency. I will be looking to generate 3 (Or more) versions of an eCommerce site with 3 different currencies shown & used in the shopping cart- updated via a daily check of xe.com or somewhere I can get such info for free. I see it all fitting together eventually with a little JSP custom tag work from me.
I will try to get a site running using OpenCms and KonaKart first though
Many thanks

[john]

Hi Steve,

Whilst you could read the KonaKart database directly from OpenCms I would try to avoid that and use the KonaKart APIs instead - there are a number of reasons but one is that these APIs will work in the future, whereas reading the database directly may not.  Despite your fears, you should find it really easy to use the SOAP APIs by following the examples.

BTW, if you weren't already aware, KonaKart holds currencies and exchange rates.

Regards,
John

[Steveinjava]

John, I have got as far as attempting to modify the JSP in the NewProductBody.jsp just to feel my way round. But now when I browse to
http://www.quasarsoft.co.uk/opencms/opencms/konakart-integration/index.jsp

I get an error dialog stating
Error Error reading resource from path "/konakart-integration/index.jsp".
Reason: Unable to read resource "/konakart-integration/index.jsp".

(Feel free to try it yourself).
Whilst the permalink

http://www.quasarsoft.co.uk/opencms/opencms/permalink/9e26363b-8b93-11dc-b308-298909d3a566.jsp

works...
I just wonder if you can see my mistake just from this? Sorry to use you as my debugger!

[ming]

Hi Steve,

I'm afraid both look the same to me and I don't see any errors 

Ming

[Steveinjava]

Hi Ming, yes I just read the old forum posts and 'Asaf' suggested login off and then back in...It worked...Not sure why as I didn't even republish the page but a result is a result
Thanks for checking

[Steveinjava]

Sorry to carry on using this thread but my status seems to not allow me to start new ones...
I had the intgeration working with the shopping cart being provided by KonaKarts' own server. I have been trying to convert this over to my own KonaKart implementation as per the KonaKart_OpenCms.pdf document.
Having done as described, I get an internal server error 500.
Try http://www.quasarsoft.co.uk/opencms/opencms/konakart-integration/

When I moved the newly created konakart-opencms.jar file I put it in my OpenCms installation filespace. I did wonder (slightly) if that was supposed to be the KonaKart/OpenCms_module/ directory but that hasn't got a WEB-INF sub-dir anyway.

The separate OpenCms and KonaKart implementations still work though..
Try http://www.quasarsoft.co.uk/opencms/opencms/
and http://www.quasarsoft.co.uk/konakart/Welcome.do

Any ideas anyone? 

[ming]

Hi Steve,

Please start new threads - you should be able to - I checked your access rights... every registered user should be able to start new posts.

I'm not sure I understand the problem you're having.

Did you change the URL in the WSDL before you generated the new jar?

Have you got more information in the tomcat log?

Ming

[Steveinjava]

Ming, yes I changed the URL reference to suit.
In my case quasarsoft.co.uk:3306 replaced localhost:8070
I just did it all again (It sometimes works!) but no change.


I cannot see any icon for starting a new thread but I will have another look tomorrow.

[jbarb]

John,

This is the message I get when I try to connect with the KonaKart Server.

The database connection failed for the KonaKart Administration Application. The connection was attempted with the details below. Please check the parameters and make necessary modifications to the konakartadmin.properties file which should be in the WEB-INF/classes directory of your servlet engine. The servlet engine may need to be restarted for changes to take affect

I had some trouble configuring the database parameters when installing KonaKart and the next window told me the connection failed and to go back and correct the parameters. I finally gave up trying to correct these parameters and continued with the install which said was successful.

Everything else went smoothly with the MYSQL server 5.0.45 install and java db. Both seem to be working properly and I can log on to both.
However I cannot figure out how to get the data from KonaKart to the MYSQL datatbase.

I have an existing web business, http://www.envirosales.com with a javascript shopping cart. The shopping cart has very limited capabilities and not always reliable.
How does KonaKart interface with an existing web business? is KonaKart a separate URL that links to the business? I am not a java programmer and I hope I have not gotten in over my head with this.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

James Barber

[ming]

Hi James,

MYSQL server 5.0.45 install and java db

I'm not sure what you mean by "java db" here.  You only need one database - and MySQL 5 will be fine.

I had some trouble configuring the database parameters when installing KonaKart and the next window told me the connection failed

I cannot stress to you how much easier life will be for you if you go back and ensure you set the correct parameters during the installation.  When you do this, and the database is loaded successfully, all the configuration files will also be set correctly and KonaKart will work first time.
If you don't, you have to load the database manually and set the database parameters in the two properties files...  check the installation faq for details http://www.konakart.com/installationfaq.php   
Hint: Make sure you match the syntax of the MySQL database connection parameter examples.

How does KonaKart interface with an existing web business? is KonaKart a separate URL that links to the business?

You can decide yourself how much you wish to integrate KonaKart into your existing web site.  For example, the simplest integration would be one link in your existing website to your KonaKart store.  More work would be to merge your existing pages to your KonaKart website.   It's really up to you.

Regards,

Ming

[jbarb]

Dear Ming,

Thank you for your timely response.

What I meant by the Java DB should have been I installed the Java Runtime Environment 5.0 (JRE), the MYSQL data base server 5.0.45.

Should I uninstall/reinstall KonaKart in the hope that it will pick up the correct parameters? I may have installed KonaKart before MYSQL was configured correctly.

Is there a way to find the correct databaseand/or connection parameters and then apply them?

Thank you,

J Barber

[ming]

Hi James,

Should I uninstall/reinstall KonaKart in the hope that it will pick up the correct parameters? I may have installed KonaKart before MYSQL was configured correctly.

I would definitely run the installer again and do not proceed until it accepts your database connection parameters.

Is there a way to find the correct databaseand/or connection parameters and then apply them?

The easiest way is by using the installer because it checks them for you, and you can keep trying different ones until you get paramters it can use.

If you get stuck, perhaps you could let us know the database connection parameters that you're using...  we might be able to spot the problem?

Regards - Ming

[jbarb]

Ming,

Thanks for your help.

I reinstalled KonaKart using the installer but I'm still stuck at the database parameters page.

Here's what I have for DB URL:

jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dbname?zeroDate TimeBehavior=convertToNull

User Name is: root

db driver is: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

This is the instruction given on the installation faq:

"Note that you must append "?zeroDateTimeBehavior=convertToNull" to your Database URL if you're using MySQL"

What does this mean? I'm stuck again, help!

Thanks

James Barber