Building Flexible Business Applications with Open Source
By Phil Stevens
Everything's for sale these days. Well, maybe not everything, but there's no escaping the sheer number of Web sites peddling goods. And naturally, as more businesses offer online shopping, a bewildering array of e-commerce options becomes available.
VShop 2.1 is a server application from intraDAT GmbH (known as intraDAT International in the U.S.) that could easily be classified as YAECS: yet another e-commerce solution. VShop 2 is available in Basic, Professional, and Provider trim, plus as an open-source package under the intraDAT Public License. It offers everything from shrink-wrap style instant functionality to ultra-tweakable customization features. VShop's architecture is based on standard components, including a SQL database, a preprocessing compiler, and UI. It's open, flexible, and extensible in every layer. Any online business that needs to grow and adapt to a changing marketplace will appreciate the advantage of this approach. VShop runs on a Linux (2.x kernel), HP-UX, or Solaris system with the Apache1.3.x HTTP server. The distribution includes a complete version of Adabas D, a relational database for Unix and NT, with concurrent database user licensing depending on the package supplied.
I put the English-language demo distribution on a Red Hat 6.2 server, then looked at the documentation in preparation for the install. The vendor won my instant gratitude by including an extensive, and well-written PDF manual with the VShop package. After installation, the book also provides a comprehensive set of online instructions.
