Hello all, I have been a non active member off and on of this site for years and was big into php and related back 2000-2003 but got carried away into other work.
Last couple of years I have been slowly (painfully) developing a website for my company and have set it up with nothing but my own code which is for the most part probably poorly done. Which my next revamp will fix all html/css and related issues but as of right now I am currently stuck with making a decision based off being confused on which decision to make.
We are expanding our online presence and am going to have an online store which I currently have setup PinnacleCart for this but it is a pain in the rear as for making the backend code work. It is currently setup on it’s own database while my other database still has all of the other entries and related company related things. I am currently trying to figure out the best way to join/combine the user databases, and that is where PinnacleCart has failed me. Their support staff (nothing against them) are not equipped enough to help me or that has been told to me several times with my inquiries which to me are basic but I have yet wanted to spend countless hours playing with the code (I may end up doing so… decisions decisions).
I have tried to trace down how it manages the user sessions and cookies but am missing a step or some code somewhere in the mess to completely understand and do what I want. I have no problem of doing a join or quering two databases of different information and I have already made the user names and passwords the same. But if I login to the main site, when going to the store portion it does not acknowledge the user in any way and kills the session to start it’s own. I have tried different session/cookie variables and the exact same that is being established. IF someone knows PinnacleCart or a way to do this I will gladly pay them for their assistance on this!
So back to topic, what I am looking at is having the main site, pinnacleCart store, going to be buying or installing a forums script (vbulletin, or whatever I decide) and I think those are two main functions I don’t personally want to develop myself because they are very heavy in time and effort and why try to re-create something others have nearly perfected (to my needs).
So my question or need for comments from others is what is the best way to make this all work together. I am fine with installing all of the scripts all in one database and I know I can easily make my database of users (Fields and related) work with either one without a problem because my code is well my code and I know it very well to make those adjustments. But how has anyone or everyone else managed to do this if they have a well diverse site of features for their customers or members in general.
Pinnacle Cart is the hard one to code to me and maybe that is because I have not actually concentrated enough to understand it fully. I remember the days with vbulletin back when 1.0 and 2.0 were out and then they lost me at 3.0 as for that is when I got a job that had me not doing any programming so getting back into that will be tough as well but over all PHP is with time easy to understand.
If someone can help me or give me their good/bad stories of what they have done to make this work I would greatly appreciate any feedback.
thanks,
Bradley