Hi all
I'm a bit of a novice with dreamweaver (and webdesign...obviously-hence the dreamweaver) and was just wondering if anyone could tell me the bestway to add a database of products to a site. I will be selling things from the site and just need the best way of listing all the products really for google checkout (or a like) to do it's stuff with. Or if anyone has any good links to useful info that'd be appreciated too.
Thanks in advance guys

You need a technology other than html which is what dreamweaver creates for you.

Something like php, Ruby, Java, .net, etc..., which you then program to produce the html based on the database contents (simplifying quite a lot, but that's the concept).

You need a technology other than html which is what dreamweaver creates for you.

Something like php, Ruby, Java, .net, etc..., which you then program to produce the html based on the database contents (simplifying quite a lot, but that's the concept).

Fudge. Any ideas on how I can apply this to my website?

Dreamweaver has data connection tools that will produce data driven pages for you in PHP.

It writes in a thick wodge of PHP code in the top of the file when you choos the dataset that you want retrieved to populate the page.

You'll need a working database server to connect to, although IIRC there is a pseudo-database option of some kind.

Macromedia worked quite hard to get drag and drop database functionality into dreamweaver, and to some extent it worked. Check Dreamweaver help for more details.

Fair enough, so php is probably the way to go if dreamweaver can assist.

You're still going to need a webserver that understands php and a database hosted somewhere.

This might be a bit cynical, but I bet that dreamweaver produces horrible code and it's probably as secure from attack as IIS (Which is not very secure in case that wasn't clear).

Fair enough, so php is probably the way to go if dreamweaver can assist.

You're still going to need a webserver that understands php and a database hosted somewhere.

This might be a bit cynical, but I bet that dreamweaver produces horrible code and it's probably as secure from attack as IIS (Which is not very secure in case that wasn't clear).

So what do you reckon my options are? Time to learn a new language? PHP?

it's probably the easiest option, and if dreamweaver will generate some of it you can at least see the syntax.

Fair enough, so php is probably the way to go if dreamweaver can assist.

You're still going to need a webserver that understands php and a database hosted somewhere.

This might be a bit cynical, but I bet that dreamweaver produces horrible code and it's probably as secure from attack as IIS (Which is not very secure in case that wasn't clear).

Dreamweaver actually produces half decent code, it's got a nice editor as well. It's streets ahead of most other web development applications.

Dave, get a copy of XAMPP (or Abyss). These are easy to set up personal webservers with PHP & MySQL that run on your desktop PC.

Once you have that running, follow the Dreamweaver instructions for setting up a testing server.

Like Fnkysknky says, Dreamweaver writes in pretty bulletproof PHP code to get your data onto the page, and as long as you don't edit the code chunks that dreamweaver writes in, everything should just work.

I was going to suggest XAMPP/XAMPPlite too. Easy to setup and have a test-server up an running in no time.

I'm wondering if there's any CMS the OP could use, depending on the number of items they have for sale, and how often they change. Could that work? CMS + Google Checkout (or maybe PayPals' equivalent).

You want to put XAMPP (or XAMPPlite) on your PC (it's not something you upload to your hosts' server). It then turns your PC in to a test-server, so you don't have to keep uploading PHP files to your hosts' server to process them (in to HTML).

With XAMPP running on your local PC, you'll also have functionality to create and use MySQL data-bases, that PHP can link with.

If it's all new to you, you may find there's a steep learning curve (lot to learn), and may be worth looking at existing CMS solutions; I don't know what the other posters here think to that? (really, depends on your requirements).

Best of luck!

Would Zencart free shopping cart software help?
http://www.zencart.com/

I was going to ask if you actually wanted to go through all the programming rigmarole or if your real aim was to get the shop up and running, as there is shopping software already out there - but DT beat me to it :thumbsup:

I was going to ask if you actually wanted to go through all the programming rigmarole or if your real aim was to get the shop up and running, as there is shopping software already out there - but DT beat me to it :thumbsup:

I think up and running's the main aim :)

Would Zencart free shopping cart software help?
http://www.zencart.com/

Cheers draggletail :thumbsup:

Nicework on the free software guru thing....

I'd also agree that it sounds like you want to go down the road of an existing shopping cart type deal.

Zencart and OSCommerce are two that I've used in the past, both very good - I prefer OSCommerce as there seemed to be endless amounts of support on the forums etc when I was just starting to use it, and I think its a bit easier to manage (just my opinion, probably just because I've used it more).

The hosting I sell comes with 'fantastico' which does all the 'techy' bits for you to get it all installed and you up and running - So check with your hosting company as they may do the same.

I'd also agree that it sounds like you want to go down the road of an existing shopping cart type deal.

Zencart and OSCommerce are two that I've used in the past, both very good - I prefer OSCommerce as there seemed to be endless amounts of support on the forums etc when I was just starting to use it, and I think its a bit easier to manage (just my opinion, probably just because I've used it more).

The hosting I sell comes with 'fantastico' which does all the 'techy' bits for you to get it all installed and you up and running - So check with your hosting company as they may do the same.

Cheers for that floyd. Does oscommerce provide a way of indexing you items?


Dave

Short answer - yes

Long answer - depends what you mean by indexing!