adding orders from an external source

[coder1]

greetings,

we'd like to write a php script to import orders directly into our miva database.

as i understand it, miva has its own particular way of handling order and order item creation, relying on a table of index values [s01_StoreKeys] to keep track of index maxima which it then increments manually, rather than having the dbm handle this automatically via auto-increment keys. if we want to add orders via a batch import program, to ensure against index number collisions and data conflicts, would incrementing the appropriate maxima in s01_StoreKeys be enough, or would the solution be more complicated than that? the idea is-

lock the s01_StoreKeys table
read the appropriate maxima
update the maxima incremented accorded to the data imported for the batch
unlock the table

- would this approach work, or is it too naïve?
- does anyone know where i can find an annotated data dictionary of some sort to the keys in the s01_StoreKeys table?

thanks

[coder1]

no ideas?

[phansen]

greetings,

we'd like to write a php script to import orders directly into our miva database.

as i understand it, miva has its own particular way of handling order and order item creation, relying on a table of index values [s01_StoreKeys] to keep track of index maxima which it then increments manually, rather than having the dbm handle this automatically via auto-increment keys. if we want to add orders via a batch import program, to ensure against index number collisions and data conflicts, would incrementing the appropriate maxima in s01_StoreKeys be enough, or would the solution be more complicated than that? the idea is-

lock the s01_StoreKeys table
read the appropriate maxima
update the maxima incremented accorded to the data imported for the batch
unlock the table

- would this approach work, or is it too naïve?
- does anyone know where i can find an annotated data dictionary of some sort to the keys in the s01_StoreKeys table?

thanks

Hi there,

First off, this approach is incredibly prone to issues and there are much better ways to solve this. I guess the first important question to ask is: "where are the outside orders being created, and why not use the 'manage orders' region to create the orders?"

Also, please provide a little background on the order management / ERP you are using. I'll do my best to point you in the right direction!


Thank you much,

-Philip

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

..not to mention possibly hosing the PCI Compliance of the Merchant system.<g>

[coder1]

First off, this approach is incredibly prone to issues and there are much better ways to solve this. I guess the first important question to ask is: "where are the outside orders being created, and why not use the 'manage orders' region to create the orders?"

Also, please provide a little background on the order management / ERP you are using. I'll do my best to point you in the right direction!

hi philip,

thanks much for your reply, i am definitely open to hearing about better ways to approach this problem.

ok, to answer your questions, the orders are being taken by about a dozen different organizations. many of them have their own proproprietary systems. they send us the orders in a number of formats, which we're in the process of standardizing. we can't use the 'manage orders' region because it's just too slow. we'll be receiving hundreds of orders in a batch format, and putting them in one at a time is unacceptable. is it possible to batch-input from the order mgt region? i know you can export in batch, but it doesn't seem like importing batches is an available option.

as to our order tracking system, we're using a custom-tailored proprietary system developed specifically for our line of business. it'll be extended to provide the batch import functionality.

thanks once again for the help, looking fwd to hearing your thoughts on this.

[coder1]

..not to mention possibly hosing the PCI Compliance of the Merchant system.<g>

well, actually miva isn't strictly pci-compliant, because it stores customer information such as credit card numbers and authorization transaction information in the database in cleartext.

...but your point is well-taken!

[Rick Wilson]

actually miva isn't strictly pci-compliant, because it stores customer information such as credit card numbers and authorization transaction information in the database in cleartext.

You can store cards and be PCI compliant and if you follow our PA-DSS Product Implementation Guide you would never have that data stored in clear text.

So Miva Merchant's PCI Compliance depends on how you configure your installation and is fully capable of being PCI Compliant.

[coder1]

any ideas, phansen?

[phansen]

hi philip,

thanks much for your reply, i am definitely open to hearing about better ways to approach this problem.

ok, to answer your questions, the orders are being taken by about a dozen different organizations. many of them have their own proproprietary systems. they send us the orders in a number of formats, which we're in the process of standardizing. we can't use the 'manage orders' region because it's just too slow. we'll be receiving hundreds of orders in a batch format, and putting them in one at a time is unacceptable. is it possible to batch-input from the order mgt region? i know you can export in batch, but it doesn't seem like importing batches is an available option.

as to our order tracking system, we're using a custom-tailored proprietary system developed specifically for our line of business. it'll be extended to provide the batch import functionality.

thanks once again for the help, looking fwd to hearing your thoughts on this.

Hey there, sorry for the delay - forums had some issues this morning and I forgot to come back to my draft! I understand that manually re-keying into Miva Merchant is a pain. The most important question I should have asked is 'Why do you want/need the orders present in the Miva Merchant database?' Assuming that Miva is not the central 'hub' of your operations, it may be redundant to push into Miva Merchant..

If you can, I'd like to continue our discussion offline for quicker back/forth. Please email me direct with your reply: phansen@mivamerchant.com

Thank you much,

-Philip

[coder1]

hi philip,

just wanted to let you know i sent you an email yesterday and outlined the problem.

cheers!