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View Full Version : Inventory listing - Best Option?



fatedesign
02 Jan 2011, 05:48 PM
Hello all, before I'm told to use the search feature - I used it and couldn't come up with anything useful. Perhaps because I'm fairly new to PHP, ASP etc. I've been doing design work for ages, but I've never really learned how to properly code a website. I'm sure that this site will be a tremendous help in the matter. Enough of my rambling though - here's my current problem.

I'm creating a website for a client who sells new and used bakery equipment. The website itself is pretty simple, it contains all the necessary information you'd need to make a purchase from the company, and it even looks okay at the wire-frame stage.

My problem lies within the development of the inventory listings. When the site launches the user will be able to navigate to an equipment category. IE: Used Equipment > Ovens Upon landing on that page the user will be able to browse all the equipment that is currently for sale at the warehouse. The user will be able to view photos, download spec sheets, see the price or request a quote. Now obviously I'm not going to go in and add listings one by one. And when the site is live and out of my hands the client would like some kind of very simple way to add new equipment to the appropriate section on the site.

Again, I'm new to this so I'm looking for the easiest way to implement this kind of functionality into the site. Is there some way I can specify fields for each part of each listing and then have something generate a listing based on say - an excel spreadsheet or something? It also makes sense to note that there will be NO online purchasing of equipment, the client makes his deals on the phone so an online store isn't needed at this point.

If anyone could help - any suggestion at all of what to use, or where I could find it/how I could implement it would be very helpful. Even knowing what type of code I'll need to be looking at would be great.

In summary:

Problem:
I need to find a way to automatically create inventory listings with a title, description, photo, download link, price information/quote information. Just like any site that lists products. I'm also wondering if there's a way to draw this information from something like an excel spreadsheet.

Thanks in advance, your help is much appreciated.

SvenBieder
05 Jan 2011, 02:36 AM
the easiest way is to build a database for that and then search it for the equipment you want to show.