Maybe we should get a list of documentation that either needs writing or updating so people with some time on their hands (like myself) could help out with it. Just an idea.
Tue, 10/09/2007 - 06:17
Re: What's missing or needs updating?
I noticed that the Features page is still missing. The information exists on the What is Ubercart page but I think there should be a very readable list of key features on the Features page. This would help to give a quick overview of Ubercart to any prospective users who may happen to be passing by (and even for users already somewhat familiar with Ubercart).
Re: Re: What's missing or needs updating?
A lot of documentation that needs to happen is for developers... I have reworked the order status API and the checkout pane API and don't know that I've documented it. Also, I'm about to dive headfirst into the line item API.
That said, our installation instructions and configuration instructions could use some review. I'm confident there's plenty to be updated. 
A lot has been added over the past several releases, and I don't know that all the new menus are fully described. Even some screenshots would be nice to put in there for new users.
I'm definitely up on a comprehensive feature list and would love to help with that. Shawn has been doing work on something like this, but it's more a comparison of key features w/ other carts. I'd love to go through each part of the cart and itemize the features without being too annoying about every little thing. (ex: Awesome feature! You can view an order!!!)
A lot of documentation that
A lot of documentation that needs to happen is for developers...
As you know I'm not advanced enough to offer help with developer documentation. I think some of the contributions such as using views to create a grid view of your products could be made into tutorials since they are more configuration than code.
That said, our installation instructions and configuration instructions could use some review. I'm confident there's plenty to be updated. A lot has been added over the past several releases, and I don't know that all the new menus are fully described. Even some screenshots would be nice to put in there for new users.
This is something I can do. I would be happy to go over these sections and review them, updating them where needed. Devlopment goes quickly here and there are always new features to document which is all the more reason to stay on top of things.
I'm definitely up on a comprehensive feature list and would love to help with that. Shawn has been doing work on something like this, but it's more a comparison of key features w/ other carts. I'd love to go through each part of the cart and itemize the features without being too annoying about every little thing. (ex: Awesome feature! You can view an order!!!)
Both a comprehensive features list and comparison to the major open source ecommerce applications would be best in my opinion. I feel the documentation should be written in as unbiased a way as possible and obvious things should be left out where possible. The comparison and the features list are, in a way, related since most key features people will be looking for are those found in other systems.
I'll have a look through the documentation properly later on and see what I can come up with. At least, I will be able to make a start.
Re: A lot of documentation that
That would be excellent. I don't have any roles set up now for documentation monitors, but I can make it happen soon enough. Until then, just note changes in a file or something. Anyone can add pages to the docs if something just needs to be added.
Some syntax notes have been listed here:
http://www.ubercart.org/docs/developer/239/documentation_synatx
Re: Re: A lot of documentation that
Sounds like a plan. Thanks for pointing me to that. Didn't realise there we any guidelines. Will make sure my posts and any documentation I review is up to scratch 
Site recipes!
Firstly, a big thanks for Rich for volunteering to contribute documentation!
As a user (not developer) I think the documentation could do with lots of love. I think 'site recipes' or 'recommended configurations/approaches for a given use case' would be really helpful. For examples I was wondering about this earlier on (still am actually): http://www.ubercart.org/forum/support/1358/ubercart_paypal_help, and specific/detailed documentation would really help.
Re: Site recipes!
Hi peela, I promise to get to it soon. I've been pretty bogged down with work lately so haven't been able to spare the time.
+1 for Rich
I agree, +1 to Rich for helping with the documentation!
Andy
Re: +1 for Rich
So, I've finished the quotes on my desk and all the backlog work I needed to catch up with. What are the priorities for documentation. I think installation and configuration should be pretty high up. peela would like some PayPal docs.. where to start?
Re: Re: +1 for Rich
'How To' or 'Recipe' wishlist:
- How to configure a store that sells T-shirts using Paypal. This will demonstrate:
-- Using categories to create a catalog
-- Using attributes (for T-shirt sizes/colors)
-- How to configure shipping calculations
-- How to configure tax calculations
-- How to configure Paypal, the quickest/easiest way to accept credit card payments
- How to configure multiple shipping levels (e.g. standard, expedited, etc.)
- How to use a payment gateway
- How to enable multiple sellers
(most of the questions on the support forum are regarding shipping, so the more on that the better)
TIA!
Hi,
Hi,
About the features page, I visited a prospect this morning, telling me Ubercart was not worth to check out because even the features page is'nt working, so why should Ubercart itself work fine?
I don't agree of course, but he has a point there. Please remove the link, or provide a page for it.
Thanks,
Kees
Re: Hi,
My apologies... didn't even know that link was broken. Obviously leftovers from the crash and will be taken care of immediately!
Re: Re: Hi,
I'm really sorry I haven't been able to get to this documentation yet. I've read through it all and was about to make a start when I got hit by a load of new client work. I'll be done in a few days and will be able to make a start. It would really help if we had a list of docs that are needed, the these can be chipped away at one-by-one. I think this would help focus efforts and avoid too much overlapping of info.
Re: Re: Re: Hi,
Hey man, no sweat on the work schedule... we're hit with the same limitation. 
I did spend a few hours double checking all my configuration docs and bringing them up to speed with 7e. I've asked Lyle to do the same but don't know how far he's been able to get. So don't worry about doublechecking the config stuff... I'll try to give the install instructions a test before we release Alpha 8, too.
Some guides on advanced store configuration might be helpful... folks seem to get stuck trying to conceptualize how to use Ubercart for their product types. Maybe more guides on using other modules like was posted for Magma Webs.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Hi,
Hey Ryan, I figured out how to do watermarking for product images and know that others have requested this feature in the past. I am about 50% through writing a tutorial for the tutorial section but since the watermarking patch I used has not been integrated with the imagecache module I'm unsure if I should post it. I guess I could post it and then when things change I could update it.
I'll wait for your instruction before I post.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hi,
Yeah man, I'd say post it and attach the patch by itself and maybe even your patched version of the module (with the original version number) for folks to use. (If it's not too much trouble of course. )
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hi,
Sounds like a plan. Will set about finishing it off.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hi,
Well I didn't actually patch the module; it was Dimm who did the work that makes this possible. I figured out a few things along the way and to be honest it was pretty hard for me to get my head around at first.
I know people have been asking for this here and on drupal.org so hopefully it will save others the same confusion 
(or maybe cause more depending on how easy my tutorial is to understand).
hook_add_to_cart_data()
hook_add_to_cart_data()
This might just a result of me being extremely tired and what-not, but is this hook documented in the API?
I just ran into a crazy bug which was the result of me using hook_cart_item() to add a few values to the data-array of every product added to the cart/order. Problem is that cart and the functions displaying the cart uses hook_add_to_cart_data() to build the data-array with the neat result that you suddenly can't remove or change quantity for any item in your cart. Everything else works just fine and dandy.
Trouble starts when functions like uc_product_update_cart_item() starts looking for match in the table uc_cart_products with a serialized data array as one of the criteria.
Had I just known of hook_add_to_cart_data() in the first place this 5 hour debug session could be avoided =P
But love to UberCart and hugs all around!
PS.
If someone missed the conclusion:
hook_add_to_cart_data() > hook_cart_item()
Re: What's missing or needs updating?
I feel like I've let the side down somewhat here. I kinda promised to write some docs but didn't ever really get round to contributing anything meaningful. I've been learning so much and doing quite a few projects over the last few months that I haven't had any spare time. Shame on me.