Photo Printing business usage

[sjordan]

Hey guys,

I have been searching high and low for a php eCommerce solution that will work for me. I running a small photo printing business. Basically this allows my customers to upload pictures, select the size they want printed of each picture and place the order.

Is there a way to setup Zen to do this. The process would be this

Customer Side:
1) Register online
2) Select a print size (example: 20x30) and upload a picture for that print size
3) Checkout


Thats basically it. I want the customer to have the ability to upload multiple images and also pick multiple sizes per image (example: 3 4x6, 2 5x7 and 1 20x30). The customer should also have the option to upload multiple images as well.

Is this possible with zen cart?

[schoolboy]

Yes, it is possible.

Zencart allows a "file upload" to acompany a selected "product" that is added to the cart, and then checked out.

as your customers will be sending image files (probably jpg), the "file upload" facility will aloow them to send their images along with their order, for any given "product"... and "product" in your case is the purchase of a print size. This can be assigned using attributes in zencart.

[sjordan]

Schoolboy,

Is there a limitation of the size of the photo they can upload. Most of the times the jpeg's they send me are between 1meg and 6megs (My guess is that the limitation is on the php.ini settings).

Also, when they upload I am assuming I can download the original file (no downsizing will be done).

Thanks so much. I am going to download zen cart to day and see what I can come up with.

[schoolboy]

The file upload size can be changed in the zencart shop admin area, but some hosts may also limit the file size.

The two relevant settings in the store admin area are (by default)

Maximum File Upload Size 2048000
Allowed Filename Extensions for uploading jpg,jpeg,gif,png,eps,cdr,ai,pdf,tif,tiff,bmp,zip

So, on the face of it, changing the file upload size to 6000000 seems plausible... but you'd need to factor in any limits your host may apply.

You would need to "educate" your customers a bit here... Encourage them to ZIP up several images into one zip file, if possible, or to use one of the popular image editors to decrease the file size. (I have heard of "online" zip services, so even if your client does not hav a zipping program, it may be possible to "embed" such a feature in your product descriptions).

Remember too, that this sort of activity (file transfer over http protocol) is a resource-hungry activity. Many hosts don't like it (particularly on shared servers) as it can slow down performance for everyone on that server.

So while zencart has the capability to do what you want, you may find that the restraints (if any), may come from your hosting environment. There may be bans on trying to increase this via php.ini .

The files they upload are not reduced in any way... If they upload 6mb, you get 6mb.

[sjordan]

Schoolboy, I run my own server so the resource thing is fine by me :)

I poked around and setup a test store and set a upload attribute for a product. I then placed a test order and uploaded the file. It worked...but right now I am trying to find the file in the admin section. Any ideas of where I can download it (besides ftp'ing in and grabbing it)?

[schoolboy]

The images (or indeed any uploaded "file") are in the images/uploads folder... and sadly, the only way to get them is to go in via FTP (or c-panel).

NB: This folder must be CHMOD 0777
(There is a htaccess file in there to protect it).

One day someone might construct a module that allows you to grab them via the admin console.