Forum Moderators: coopster
I'm looking for books or tutorials on how to create online shops / ecommerce using PHP.
I'd like something really in depth that covers everything from scratch if possible.
I've looked online and on amazon, but there seems to be little out there specifically on the subject. There only seems to be a handful out there which seem to cover the basics of PHP (which I don't really need) and then they tend to gloss over the idea of a cart in a very basic way.
Particularly important is the sending of info securely to the payment gateway in the correct format. I can setup SSL and https, but I want to make sure that it's all correct and follows are the legal stuff about storing peoples information as well.
Thanks,
James
It is also a good idea to review the gateways requirements
If you are serious about it you might consider running (it does not come free!) a security audit; if you plan to market it.
Most recent books are OOP oriented so you need to be pretty much OOP fluent
I recently was reading
PHP5 advanced by Larry Ullman
It has quite a good section on cart very readable and understandable
Good luck
you cannot find both things in one book and I dont think there is any such book in the market too.
I am not sure about the author but look for the title "php-mysql commercial application programming" it is a 1000 plus pages book which teaches php from scratch to master level including examples of creating shopping carts, forums and mailing lists etc.
Google is your friend! type "php shopping cart tutorial" in google and you will find a non-ending list of such articles and tutorials.
for online payment integration: it differs processor to processor. there is no hard and fast rules that you can use for every payment processor and almost all processors , excluding proxypay :-s, give very active support and integration guides on their websites that you can use to learn and do it step by step.
However, remember to learn both is just start of the story you need to learn a lots of SECURITY issues before you can call yourself an e-commerce site expert. So do research and learn the security issues, and CMS issues with shopping carts. try to study osCommerce, x-cart and virtuemart with joomla backend to understand how to make a good shopping cart with rich features admin panel.
henry0: that's a good point about the security audit, I think I'll look into that. Hope it's not too pricey :)
I have a general idea about the security i.e. sql injections, session hijacking, secure http etc. but I was hoping that there must be some book out there that covers it all.
phparion: yes I guess your right about the payment integration processors, there are probably gonna be so many and so different that they won't cover them in books, but as you say each one may document their own system. Maybe my question should have been, who's the best payment gateway for the UK? (and who has their's well documented?).
phparion: I couldn't find the book you mentioned - maybe it has slightly different title?
I found one the other day, but it seemed to be based off using Smarty, which I don't really want to use at the moment.
I've looked at osCommerce already, but it seemed to me that it had a huge amount of code that I didn't need - and also you have to bend the design around their template system (with whatever limitations it imposes). I think in the time I might spend learning how to use such scripts, I could possibly write my own and understand it better, if you see what I mean.
Also I've been given the task before to recode someone else's system, but I'd rather start with my own than rehash one from another company. (The other one was designed for a different set of products and layout). I think it would take longer to work out someone else's programming.
Just another quick question though, is there any particular scripts or cart software anyone knows that is really good and fexible (for UK products if that helps)?
Thanks,
James
You may d-load it for free
Basically like a few other carts it is a three steps concept, the “engine” script, html templates and CSS, yes that one is a CSS cart
As such you may heavily mod it to fit your own needs
And include it in your own “skin” they have docs about it.
Your main advantage lies in getting a product that works, is supported, was audited and that you can really make yours
The X cart is also a very good one with good support
I do not sale or am in the biz of supporting any ot the mentioned carts.
I just pass on you my passed experience.
get one of those for free first (not removing their own ad) and pay attention to the way it works.
