Thread

Hello,

We’ve already integrated ExpressionEngine with one of our client’s web sites and are very happy with it. We have another client who I feel could benefit from ExpressionEngine on their new site as well. I have a few questions, however:

1. Does the Simple Commerce module provide functionality for downloadable products? My client will be selling downloadable books and forms along with physical products. Is there a way for customers to be given access to the downloadable products once they complete their purchase or is this a manual process?

2. This particular client would also like to list properties for sale on their site. My plan is create a Property Listing Weblog with all of the necessary fields (price, sq. ft., bedrooms, bathrooms, location, etc.). I know this is certainly possible. The big question, however, is if I can create a user-friendly search form for this Weblog. The search form would need to contain fields for Min/Max Price, Min/Max Bedrooms, Min/Max Bathrooms, and possibly location search by zip code. Can you please explain if any of these features are available? If not, how would you suggest we achieve these goals?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks!

Hi Shawn,

1. Does the Simple Commerce module provide functionality for downloadable products? My client will be selling downloadable books and forms along with physical products. Is there a way for customers to be given access to the downloadable products once they complete their purchase or is this a manual process?

There is nothing built-in to the system but I do have a plugin - SCM Access which may well help you out on this one. I’ve done this myself a few times on sites and either use that plugin or another that I wrote.

2. This particular client would also like to list properties for sale on their site. My plan is create a Property Listing Weblog with all of the necessary fields (price, sq. ft., bedrooms, bathrooms, location, etc.). I know this is certainly possible. The big question, however, is if I can create a user-friendly search form for this Weblog. The search form would need to contain fields for Min/Max Price, Min/Max Bedrooms, Min/Max Bathrooms, and possibly location search by zip code. Can you please explain if any of these features are available? If not, how would you suggest we achieve these goals?

Out of the box the ExpressionEngine search (sorry for saying this EllisLab) is great but fairly simplistic in the types of searches that it can perform. Things such as minimum and maximum prices etc I don’t think are going to be possible out of the box however there is a great new module from Solspace called Super Search which is currently in Beta which you might like to contact them about getting hold of a copy. I’m currently using it on a site I’m creating and it’s great for these types of searches as you can do most of what you are after. The only part that it doesn’t do is zip code search although everything else should be possible. Also the search results pages are totally bookmark-able which is great.

Hope some of that helps a bit.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks so much for the prompt reply! The information you’ve provided is certainly very helpful. I’m a bit disappointed to see we’ll have to use some third-party modules/plugins, but if they’re stable and reliable I guess we could make them work. The SCM access plugin seems like it just allows you to secure certain pages to visitors who’ve purchased a particular item. I guess we could simply use the plugin on our order thank you page to display links to downloads only if the visitor purchased them. The only issue I see with this is that the template will have to be updated everytime our client adds a downloadable product to the system. I’m not sure this is ideal.

I will certainly contact Solspace about the Super Search plugin. That certainly looks promising. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t find a good solution for the zip code distance search, but I’m pretty sure this won’t be a deal-breaker for our client.

Thanks again!

Hi Mark,

Thanks so much for the prompt reply! The information you’ve provided is certainly very helpful.

No problem at all.

I’m a bit disappointed to see we’ll have to use some third-party modules/plugins, but if they’re stable and reliable I guess we could make them work.

Hopefully should be stable as I wrote it 😉 and use it on a fair few sites. It’s a fairly simple plugin and just does the one thing but does it well I think although I would say that wouldn’t I? 😉

The SCM access plugin seems like it just allows you to secure certain pages to visitors who’ve purchased a particular item.

Actually that’s not what it does. It’s not so much about securing certain pages although it certainly could be set up to do that if you wanted. What it’s meant to do is to only show certain information to people who have actually purchased an item / entry so say for example after purchasing they went to the single entry page again then they would see the download link for that item and be able to download it.

I do have a more advanced plugin that I wrote that would enable you to have a downloads page which would then list all items / entries that the person has purchased and then show download links or whatever else you wish to display.

I guess we could simply use the plugin on our order thank you page to display links to downloads only if the visitor purchased them. The only issue I see with this is that the template will have to be updated everytime our client adds a downloadable product to the system. I’m not sure this is ideal.

If using my second plugin (currently a commercial [yet cheap] plugin) then you wouldn’t need to update anything, ever. You would just have one central downloads page which people could go to after purchasing and any / all items they have purchased would show here ready for them to download. If they purchased another item then this would also automatically show here once they have finished paying for it.

I will certainly contact Solspace about the Super Search plugin. That certainly looks promising. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t find a good solution for the zip code distance search, but I’m pretty sure this won’t be a deal-breaker for our client.

There are a few solutions I’ve seen that work with this sort of search and perhaps you could have a word with Solspace (Mitchell) about integrating this sort of thing into the module, you never know they might just add it in 😊

Best wishes,

Mark

I contacted Solspace this morning about their Super Search module. I’m just curious if there are any other modules which could help me implement the required search (zip code radius is optional, not required) so we can complete our client’s web site. Just trying to have a “Plan B” in case Solspace doesn’t provide me with a beta copy of the Super Search module or if we run into some problems with it. Any ideas?

http://www.hotscripts.com/category/php/scripts-programs/zip-code-locators/

Here’s a list of potential zip code locater php scripts. You might be able to use something from this list to build an addon.