Integrate Zen into Joomla

Good luck with VirtueMart.. The product import utility has worked funky if at all for a VERY long time.. There are TONS of threads on their "support" forum on the many issues folks have with this utility, and most posts get no response to a defiant response by the project leader that the tool does in fact work.. Now that said.. perhaps the new version of VM has addressed this (and the many other) issue(s).. I personally will NOT be doing another VM cart until the product and/or the support improves to the level it SHOULD be at.. I don't see either happening anytime soon.. I did one VM cart, and it was a NIGHTMARE to setup and get configured right.. and even then I had a year long issue with PayPal that I finally resolved on my own with NO HELP from the project team.. I posted my solution on the forum since I wasn't the only one having the SAME problem.. (most of our posts on the issue went unanswered by the project team)

Kim,
Did everyone give you the answer you needed on why we want a bridge to/from Zen Cart to Joomla? or a Joomla/Zen-Cart component?

I LOVE Zen Cart (yes, templating it is a pain, but that is a small price to pay for its functionality), but Joomla is far more advanced when it comes to Content Management. It has more extensions, more user management, and user content management features. For example, I have set clients up so they can edit their content without ever going in through the Administration panel.

It would be nice to see the Zen Cart developers, not get all huffy about this and understand why the two open source solutions CAN and SHOULD coexist. The Joomla shopping carts are very poor solutions. Not at all at the level of Zen Cart. That is why we all want to use Zen with Joomla! That is high praise to the Zen development team!

Oh, and I looked at OpenCart and Magento and neither is a current threat to Zen Cart.

Zen Cart rocks, but so does Joomla. Wouldn't it be nice if they worked together?

Linda

Hi Linda!

Long time no see.

We have no objection to anyone doing whatever they want to with Zen Cart, but if someone is going to make it a "module" of Joomla, they need to create a new project that is independent of this project. We have no plans to do it ourselves and in more than 5 years have not seen anyone do anything except wish that we would do it.

The one problem with bridges is most other programs do not use the same password encryption and session management we do and if you were to change ZC's it would be less secure.

Hi Kim,
Yes it's been awhile. Been working on my zen-cart clients and my own site. ;-)

Yes, I totally agree this would be a separate project.
I just wanted to know if you saw why we all want this? Zen is great, but it is hard to add external features. The extension system in Joomla makes it so easy to add/remove some of these things without messing up the core.

With Zen we have overrides, but this seems somewhat messy sometimes when trying to implement new features or when it comes time to upgrade the cart.

Joomla is sadly lacking a good e-commerce solution like zen. The two closest, don't even come close.

Best to you and the other zen developers! Keep up the good work.
Linda

We already created a component for a major client of ours using zencart, it was completely integrated into the joomla CMS but it was no easy task in terms of dealing with sessions, logins, but it worked beautifully.

It wasn't a complete installable component and had to be manually added at the time of inception but it works perfectly, we are in the process of creating the component ourselves but cannot provide a release date since it takes a good bit of time to get things moving; more so when you work your bottom off as it is.

Obviously there allot of things that are made redundant such as the define pages editor and side modules ect, but of course the modules can be developed as independent Joomla modules, which again work a treat.

So in essence it can be done, has been done and works great when it is done ;-)

Dehaw:

...we are in the process of creating the component ourselves but cannot provide a release date since it takes a good bit of time to get things moving...

So, this means that you are going to be offering (free or not) an integration solution for Zen Cart/Joomla but you just don't know when?

I would encourage you to pursue this. There's a lot of people that would be interested. Me, for one. :)

Yes that's right, to be honest we have been wanting to do this for ages its just getting the time to get it finished, also another major issue is the support for the product, can you imagine the support requests.

Sounds good. I can hardly wait to see what you come up with. Please keep us all informed!

Thanks in advance! ;)

Dehaw:

We already created a component for a major client of ours using zencart, it was completely integrated into the joomla CMS but it was no easy task in terms of dealing with sessions, logins, but it worked beautifully.

Can you provide a working link just to see the website working please

Thanks

I would like to express my interest in this. Basically we are at the stage where we are ready to pay someone to do create a ZC component for Joomla. However it is likley to take a long time to develope and of course cost a fair bit.

So I thought I should express my willingness to contribute to this mod. I just need to know what sort of time frame before this will be availlable. Please let me know asap before we take the decision to invest in a parallel project.

Regards

Redmonds

Dehaw:

Yes that's right, to be honest we have been wanting to do this for ages its just getting the time to get it finished, also another major issue is the support for the product, can you imagine the support requests.

I am also interested in this.

I'm sure there would be people that would volunteer to help with the support.

Meshach

Put me down as interested, too. I'm just now getting into Joomla work, and I've already had someone who likes our ZC sites ask about adding something like them to their Joomla site.

Rob

I am also interested and am willing to contribute/donate

heh I just spent an hour reading every post and checking every link. Fun times :P

anyhow, so I'm going to assume Cartage was let go and that Linda's "team" is picking up their own integration?

Let me know how it goes. More than glad to help (If I can) and to beta test. I personally don't see a mandatory integration except for the convenience of Joomla! for design. Then again, zen-cart isn't too hard for me, checkout Endless Sonata. Did this pretty quickly with FireFox and FireBug. I never knew a smidge of PHP before making this site, nor do I know, I just can play with it through trial and error, heh.

Please chalk me down to be involved!

• Jason

Is there a project already established to do this, or is someone leading this? I ask because I'd like to help but I am unclear of what the reality of this actually happening is.
RtX

I am gonna stick my neck on the line here and announce that I have commissioned a reputable coding company to complete this task for me.

We are investing a considerable amount of money in this as, no offense to anyone, we don't have faith that it is going to be delivered by anyone else soon.

My basic project guide was:
"A for a fully installable, distributable Zencart component. This should be fully Joomla compliant but should also have mechanisms to install additional Zencart modules and functions and provide for installing updates and patches.

Installation files should be distributable and easy to incorporate. "

The project is currently scheduled to be complete approximately 15/10/08. We have not decided yet whether this will be a commercial product or not. However if anyone is interested in making donations then we are certainly happy to accept. Also if anyone has any additional ideas that should be incorporate please feel free to let us know.

I will certainly be keeping the ZC community informed through this thread and may be looking for people to test run. In the future.

Only other thing left to say is wish us luck.

redmonds

:clap::clap: Will you PLEASE keep us posted when this project is completed. I'd just like to know either way whether or not you will be offering this as a commercial offering or keeping it all to yourself:P

It is definitely our intention to make this package available. We are just not sure if it will be Free or Commercial. It is costing us a considerable amount of money to have the project completed with the primary goal of make a replicatable, dsitributable package.

We would obviously like to recoup some of the investment whether this is purely by donation or by a licence fee is yet to be decided.

Anyway we will certainly keep you all informed.

Redmonds

redmonds:

It is definitely our intention to make this package available. We are just not sure if it will be Free or Commercial. It is costing us a considerable amount of money to have the project completed with the primary goal of make a replicatable, dsitributable package.

We would obviously like to recoup some of the investment whether this is purely by donation or by a licence fee is yet to be decided.

Anyway we will certainly keep you all informed.

Redmonds

I love the idea. I can't wait!

Meshach

P.S. Remember, Open-Source matters! :yes:

I assumed that with the financial investment you are making into this component that it would be a commercial offering.. That is good news..:clap:

I am more than willing to pay for this particular component.. I would be immensely jealous if you built it and kept it all to yourself! :yes: