Ubercart

Any comments on the goals for 4.x? Which way will Ubercart go? More or less simple shop or wide e-commerce platform?
Just checked the issue queue on d.o. Many idea's, many patches, many reports... but almost none implemented, almost no reactions from core developers. Does not really feel like the best place to contribute at the moment.

With time to spare at the moment (Drupal 7 is still a long way), would any extra features and patches for 3.x be considered?

The goals for 4.x include everything we don't get done in 3.x before the release (the release is based on having a working version ready when Drupal 7 is ready, not necessarily a fixed feature set.). Specifically things which break api's and or Ubercart contributed modules. We have a goal of not breaking the functionality of contributed modules between major releases. The major change that comes to mind is decoupling products from nodes which is to say making a product a field (set) on a node.

I don't exactly know how to address your "More or less simple shop or wide e-commerce platform?" question. I guess the answer is that we want to make Ubercart more modular in order to have more features and be more of a "wide e-commerce platform" while using install profiles and features ( the module) to create an easier install and default setup for those simpler shops. Does that address your question? I would be interested in hearing an expanded explanation of what you mean.

Agreed, we could do better with the issue queue, but we are pretty focused right now on getting the 3.x release ready. We would love some help creating and testing the patches that are out there.

I don't know that I agree Drupal 7 is a long way off. I expect the next release or so to be a beta and for there to be a production release in the next few months. Our plan is to go beta and release on the same schedule as Drupal. That being said, Any patches for 3.x will be considered (read welcomed) before beta. After beta it may be postponed if it breaks dependent modules or seems too big to test and work out in the beta process. If it is postponed, it would still be welcome, but just pushed to the next release.

Hi Guys
My client asked me to create a site that is a true market.
and his definitions to true market where;
1. support for multiple seller ( exists in marketplace project)
2. support for multiple seller accounts ( payments should go directly to the the individual seller will the option to auto charge commision from seller)
3. support for shipment and packaging management by each seller.
4. if buyer is adding to cart products from more then one seller, orders will be created per seller ( this is not the case with marketplace right now)
5. own order (status and more ) management will be available to seller not just store admin.

Generally speaking the marketplace solution create a very centric marketplace model in which the store dose almost every thing.
I think we need a decentralized model in which the store only supply the "place" and tools for the seller to make his own business

I went over the code of marketplace and some core ubercart module very briefly and understood the reason for such a centric modeling
Ubercart in the firstplace is written to a single store solution - so centric model is much more quicker to develop then decentralized model

however I think it is about time that ubercart will make that step forward and supply a real support for marketplace decentralized model

Please let me know what you guys are thinking

Best Regards

Arin Ben Aharon
Algoma Systems LTD

Hi Andy,

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer.
Looking very much forward to the split between nodes and products. This will probably make a multi-language site (like I try to build) much easier and better manageable. Didn't know that was a immediate goal, as those are not really addressed anywhere on ubercart.org (as far as I know). Would also love to know what way attributes will be going. Read some idea's a while back of making those entities as well. For me an interesting idea, because some of the attributes I have (or want) will affect packing size or minimum order quantity. Like now I have 5 different sizes of playing cards on my website, because packing information will change with size. Sadly, I fail to write a good SEO description for 5 different sizes of playing cards, so extended attributes would be very welcome from my side.

That said, one could devise a system that would allow attributes to change anything on a product, but which might make the shop too complicated for first time users. That's where the choice between a somewhat simple and user friendly shop and a high end comprehensive system (multi-language, multi-product type, mult-currency and multi-tax system) will be made imho.

Still busy working on the Ubercart 1.x to 2.x conversion of my site. Hope to get it running in a few weeks time and then will move on to Drupal7 (which seems to be adding more critical issues at the moment instead of solving those?).

Anyway, hope to hear a lot more on the goals the dev-team is setting themselves on.

Thanks
Mark

Hi Arin,

You took the words from my keyboard - this is exactly what I need.

How are you going to approach the issue? Are there any other solutions available out there for this challenge? I feel that marketplace is almost there, but it does not quite there.

About the definitions:
1 - check
2 - I don't mind doing it manually.
3 - That's the problem with MP right now
4 - That too
5 - That's a lesser issue for now, IMO.

I think that if issues 3 and 4 will be resolved, UC and MP will be so much more solid than it is now... For one seller, UC is very good, but for multiple sellers it just doesn't work.

Hello,

to the aims of Baskinelli,

isn't it possible to crate webservices for doing this?

I also think that marketplace support will be very useful feature

This website may not be updated but the 3.x branch is quite active. A look at the issue cue shows 3.x has lots of activity. http://drupal.org/project/issues/ubercart?text=&status=All&priorities=Al...
Test ubercart 3.x for yourself, it works great.