If you install the free version of CRELoaded, you will see that they have sneaked some Google adverts onto the bottom of your site.

Above the adverts will be the text

This site is a member of the CRE Loaded Open Source Ecommerce Software community

Bit of an underhand tactic but I suppose you have to try to make cash where you can these days…

I could go onto a big rant about how they are trying to make cash by simply repackaging software which was always meant to be given away freely and without hitches, including both osCommerce and the multitude of contributions they have added on there. I’m not going to though. CRELoaded is a good product and these guys are keeping the osCommerce platform as a viable modern open source ecommerce platform.

Anyway – cut to the chase – to get rid of these annoying adverts all you have to do is open up

includes/javascript/cart_links.js.php

It should look like this:

<?php if ($cart_links == 'close'){$cart_link1= 'dothis';} else if ($cart_links == 'close') {$paymentclose = 'true';} if ( strstr(basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']),'popup_') != basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ) ) {@include('http://www.creloaded.com/cre_google.js');}
 ?>

and replace the entire contents with

<?php if ($cart_links == 'close'){$cart_link1= 'dothis';} else if ($cart_links == 'close') {$paymentclose = 'true';}
/*
 if ( strstr(basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']),'popup_') != basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] ) ) {@include('http://www.creloaded.com/cre_google.js');}
 */
 ?>

That’s it.

The ICECat database is an invaluable resource for webmasters who have to deal with very large catalogues. They offer a single source with a normalised structure for getting high quality images, descriptions and even PDF files about the products you sell.

They have developed relationships with a large number of manufacturers and brands which allow them to offer these details free of charge. If however you want better coverage they also offer a very reasonably priced service which is comparable to the CNET system but at a much reduced price.

Edmonds Commerce have the resources to implement a proper XML integration with the ICECat system for your ecommerce store. We especially specialse in the highly popular open source ecommerce platforms osCommerce and Magento.

If you would like to discuss the benefits of an ICECat integration please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Edmonds Commerce specialise in Magento Ecommerce and are available for Freelance Magento projects and installations. If you are looking to set up a new ecommerce venture and are considering using Magento – get in touch today.

Magento is certainly making waves. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Magento is looking likely to become the successor to osCommerce as the most popular open source ecommerce platform.

There are many things which make Magento a much better option than osCommerce. However for some people the tried and tested, ‘better the devil you know’, huge knowledge, customisation and support base of osCommerce  makes it the platform they would still prefer to put their development investment into.

These justifications are valid to a point, however I now believe that the time is right to move into Magento and whilst I am not certain that it is worth worrying about upgrading if you already have a perfectly functional osCommerce site, I would recommend anyone looking to set up a new ecommerce site takes a close look at Magento.

If you are coding a PHP script to deal with big files, it makes sense to build in some kind of caching logic so that your script won’t download the same file every single time it is run, but will check to see how long ago it last downloaded that file and only download it again if it is more than a certain timeframe old.

This function allows you to do exactly that – check it out:

$cache_days = 1;

$cache_days = $cache_days * (24*60*60);

function cached_download($remote, $local){
$cache_days = $GLOBALS['cache_days'];
if(file_exists($local) && (filemtime($local) > (time() - $cache_days))){
// we have a local copy that is less than $cache_days old
echo '
<h3>Using Cached - Last Downloaded ' . date('H:m:s d/m/Y', filemtime($local) . '</h3>
';
}else{
echo '
<h3>Downloading Now...</h3>
';
flush();
copy($remote, $local);
}
}