Implement look / feel and some module functionality in Miva 5

[samirk]

We have a Miva store built and have recently installed Joomla -- now we need to do some look / feel work in each area to bring them together. The Joomla work should be trivial, but the work in Miva is a bit more involved and is described in detail here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d9nfmwp_43ck2kg7ch

Please let me know if you are interested in providing a quote for this project.

[Biffy]

We're currently discussing advanced Joomla integration in this thread:
Joomla Integration (http://extranet.miva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15559)

We do have some cruder methods that are not very sophisticated that have been used by myself and others to integrate WordPress. Frankly, we'd like something better that's more interactive.

If you'd like to discuss it in detail please contact me by email at
steve@ecommerce-retail.com

[samirk]

[quote=Biffy]We're currently discussing advanced Joomla integration in this thread:
Joomla Integration (http://extranet.miva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15559)

Thanks for the pointer to this thread ... I am not that tech savvy, but from what I can tell, it seems to be more of an approach of embedding a CMS content area from within a site that is a Miva driving site. Our approach was the opposite -- have the Miva shopping site be a "frame" within a Joomla site. I haven't done this myself, but the Joomla documentation seems to suggest that just about anything (including I hope Miva pages) can be put in an "iFrame" within Joomla. Would this not work?

[chucklasker]

The problem with having an ecommerce store within a frame is SSL certificates break inside frames. This means your customers would not see the little lock and would be sending their info across a non-secure link. So, it's normally not recommended to do so. This is probably one of the main reasons for doing it the opposite way described in the Joomla integration thread.

[leslienord]

Thanks for the pointer to this thread ... I am not that tech savvy, but from what I can tell, it seems to be more of an approach of embedding a CMS content area from within a site that is a Miva driving site. Our approach was the opposite -- have the Miva shopping site be a "frame" within a Joomla site. I haven't done this myself, but the Joomla documentation seems to suggest that just about anything (including I hope Miva pages) can be put in an "iFrame" within Joomla. Would this not work?

Like Chuck has mentioned - when it comes to pulling content in either via a frame or an iframe the problem is still the same - the "frame" hides the page URL and blocks the display of any SSL - the lock that everyone has been taught to look for. Sure, Joomla can do iframes all day long - but even Joomla's iframes won't display the lock.

Question if I may, why the need for Joomla? It's a pretty "heavy duty" CMS. Not that I'm against it, I've used it for www.websyourway.com and linked my store from it. Are there specific features you need from Joomla? At the moment, no one has come up with a way to share user logins. Depending on what you are expecting from Joomla, you might be able to do a lot of this from within Miva Merchant. If you're wanting the blogging abilities, we have an Articles modification that might help you with that.

[Biffy]

That's exactly the reasons why I do not want frames, I do not want iFrames, I do not want to use the OBJECT tag and I do not want the older, deprecated EMBED tag. I must avoid all of these methods. None of them work well enough and they all come with difficult problems.

I want to import TEXT and have it parsed server-side before it is sent to the web browser. Weiland's Toolkit does this perfectly for an entire document. I'd like to do it for only part of a document.

If there's a solution to this, then integration with external CMS systems becomes possible with some additional code. No guarantees, but at least we could try it.

The original poster is looking at it reverse from my ideas. I'd import parts of Joomla into Miva, parse the page server-side and send the final code to the client.

[samirk]

Thanks for pointing out the flaw in the design approach -- not having a lock may be a bit of a show stopper for any store.

Leslie -- good question on what we are trying to accomplish. On this site, we sell books and movie DVDs about India to libraries. The librarians don't know a lot about these products and need tos of background info. We wanted to add some content (links to background materials on India, its languages, reviews of movies from 3rd party sites etc. etc.). Frankly, I think a blog, though less fancy, could also get the job done for our site.

I searched the forum and found a great post on this thread about integrating Wordpress:
http://extranet.miva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13608&highlight=wordpress

A couple of questions along this path:
- As we will 'embed' the blog in a Miva 5 page, I would guess that it is best to go for a theme without any top / side nav. Would something like this be appropriate? http://themes.wordpress.net/testrun/?wptheme=4391
- Can we make a Wordpress blog page "private" -- can we check for login (to the miva system) and then show the page, otherwise display the login prompt

[leslienord]

As to your question about making the blog private - remember that the WordPress/Joomla/Drupal/whatever database is not going to "know" who the Miva Merchant users are and vice versa. So at this moment in time - the answer is no.

I think you have been chatting with Ben about our services. Feel free to continue that conversation - I think our "articles" modification will do what you need - requiring users to be logged in before they can view information. The beauty of the modification is it's part of Miva Merchant and uses it's databases.

[Ben @ eMediaSales]

Hello Samirk,

I have sent you a private message. My email address is ben@emediasales.com. Please let us know, if the message helps you to accomplish your assignments.

Best Regards,
Ben
eMediaSales.com