Ecommerce Insider Secrets: Web Developer to Software Developer

Despite the complexity of shopping cart software, a goal of Miva Merchant is to make store building easier for designers, developers and store owners without compromising the flexibility necessary for ebusiness.

Ten months ago, Preston, a member of our web design & development team, moved over to the software development team responsible for building the core Miva Merchant platform. Today I share with you some new discoveries and great advancements that resulted from the crossover, hopefully to make your store creation, testing and maintenance easier.

Import Files

Did you know you can speed up the process to create stores, upload test data, create new pages, and install modules preconfigured? Using import files, sometimes referred to as provisioning files, you are able to do all of this at store creation or anytime you need to make changes quickly. Discover the power of changing settings very quickly by uploading flat files under Utilities > Import in your store admin. One specific example of these import files is the Category Spreadsheet posted recently; expect to see more blog posts on the other provisioning files. Here are a few other examples when you might use import files for provisioning:

• Product data
• Module configuration
• Bulk page creation
• Payment methods

Simplicity of Module API

Modules are at the core of creating custom ecommerce solutions with Miva Merchant software. The best part is modules are simple to create when you know where to look for guidance. If you plan on building a module make sure to check out all the API documentation. In addition, there’s a third party resource you may want to check out- 4thebest.com which includes an API overview and some samples. Of course, don’t forget to download the free compiler.

Changes For Web Developers

Creating an environment catering to web developers while still remaining intuitive for business owners is always a challenge. Both groups need to use the software efficiently yet have different needs. Now that someone with a web development background is in the trenches of our shopping cart development team, several areas of the software have been impacted for the better:

• Tab indent
• Color picker
• Improved data import/export
• CSS UI

Moving forward, you can expect to see more enhancements to our ecommerce software making it more flexible for developers, designers and store owners. Plus we will continue to create helpful guides to help you get started quickly and become an expert over time.

Is there a particular topic you want to see covered? Leave a comment below with your ideas or questions so we can keep the topics relevant to you.