OFBiz / BigFish eCommerce Latest Updates

[Nick Rosser <nr...@solveda.com>]

All,

The latest version 1.11 has been available for a couple of weeks.

Check out our dedicated site at http://bigfish.solveda.com.

A quick refresher on what BigFish is:

  * it does not compete with OFBiz in anyway, it's an add-on, focused on
    the business of eCommerce
  * in a nutshell I would describe BigFish as
      o a business extension, focused on providing business users (in
        our case that is our clients) with tools to build a scalable,
        feature-rich eCommerce online presence
      o as well as back-end tooling to allow business users to maintain
        all aspects of the eCommerce site such as content, products and
        configuration options
  * we have carefully tried to completely use the OFBiz data model and
    service layer
      o and have extended the data model only very slightly to
        accommodate specific eCommerce functionality
      o and re-used the service layer almost exclusively
      o so, for example, an Order placed via a BigFish eCommerce "front
        end" can be viewed, modified, fulfilled using all the great
        features of out-of-the-box OFBiz (always the ultimate test for
        us as we expose more back-end features into the BigFish Admin
        Module)

What's new:

  * now available for download via SVN
    (http://bigfish.solveda.com/bfDownload.html)
  * TXT messaging integration using clickatell.com
  * custom attributes for Customer Registration
      o many retailers need specific prompts during registration
      o for attributes such as "shoe size", "birth date", "wedding date"
        or "whatever" so they can personalize subsequent email campaigns
      o we built a "custom party attribute" solution to handle such
        requirements
  * search auto-complete and spell-check
      o go to our demo http://bigfish.solveda.com:8082/online/control/main
      o type "blouse" in the search box, see drop-down of suggestions
      o type "blose" in the search box, click search, spell-check will
        return for "blouse"
  * and for anyone interested in Indian implementations:
      o BlueDart shipping integration
      o EBS payment gateway integration
      o check out www.fashionmyday.com, one of our first Indian clients
        (beta release)
  * and many smaller fixes and enhancements for both eCommerce and the
    Admin Module

Questions and comments always welcome.

Nick