E-commerce site

[brendanmcdonagh]

Hi all,

I'm usually on the java forum so please bear with me!

I have agreed to do a website for a friend which entails many complex scripts (I guess!) but don't know whatwhere to start.

Here's what i need to do:

Have a function to search through items to match keywords entered

Have a database of some kind to make sure item is not sold twice

Have a log in page for owner to enable upload of new items


I am going to integrate paypal into the site to enable payment and use of their checkout system.

What would I need to learn to enable these functions on the site? Any chance one code fits all? Any software similar to dreamweaver to acuire and work with?

I really want to add this kind of thing to my tool box so any help would be greatly appreciated

Regards

Brendan

[drhowarddrfine]

There are shopping carts available to do all those things, I believe, but, if you want to do it from scratch, it just boils down to a lot of coding to do. There isn't just one or two or 10 things to flip to get it to work.

This is not a html/css question.

[brendanmcdonagh]

Didn't think it was a html question, my question really comes down to .... What kind of question is it??

[Markus]

Depends what language you would like to develop to application in. As an active user of PHP, I'd say that it's probably going to be the way for your project to go. There are other options, however. Still, for a beginner, this is not the kind of thing you want to start you learning curve with. As Doc said, there are already many ecommerce systems out there. I'd suggest you take your pick.

[brendanmcdonagh]

thanks for your answers.

I think you are both right and have decided to use oscommerce, a decent first step, i think.

Regards

Brendan

[Markus]

@brendanmcdonagh
No problamo. A motto: Why do something that's already been done?

All the best,
Markus.