Macola Order Entry

[jlindbo]

Hi,

I am working on a project to automate order entry for our Macola ERP enviroment. We have an online store that can submit order specifics in cXML and I would like to create a listener page that can insert/update the appropriate fields in the Macola Pervasive database. At this point I have a general idea of what tables/fields I need to update. Does anybody have any advice on things to keep in mind or common gotchas?

Thanks in advance

 

[abaldwin]

Where are you planning on doing this from? Inside Flex, macola screens, an outside application ?

Andy Baldwin

"Testing is the most overlooked programming language on the books!"

Ask a great question, get a great answer. Ask a vague question, get a vague answer.
Find out how to get great answers FAQ219-2884.

 

[jlindbo]

I had hoped to do it from an outside application writing directly to the DB via ODBC.

 

[abaldwin]

I would highly suggest that you read a previous post

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=757895

Very good information posted there.

Andy Baldwin

"Testing is the most overlooked programming language on the books!"

Ask a great question, get a great answer. Ask a vague question, get a vague answer.
Find out how to get great answers FAQ219-2884.

 

[jlindbo]

All good info. Thanks for the help. If it gets to hairy we will have to look at going down the EDI path.

 

[crystalreporting]

Creating an 'O' type order from an outside application, is a big task as there are a lot of files involved. In addition to OEORDHDR and OEORDLIN, there are numerous tables that need to be updated to reflect the on order qty's on the order lines.

Seeing as you are on Pervasive, you can use a test database (with no-one else in it) to enter an order, then use Windows Explorer to list the tables in the data directory by modified date. This will give you some idea of the number and types of tables you will need to update...

Another option might be to create the orders as 'Q' type e.g. Quotes. A quote only touches the basic OE files as the rest of the files are updated when the quote is converted to an order. Someone would need to manually convert each quote to an order, which may be impractical, but it would cut down on a lot your development work.

Peter Shirley

http://www.srhconsulting.com

 

[dgillz]

Since the thread Andy referenced, Wisys has developed .com objects to really streamline this process. Please look up

http://www.wisys.com,

this is the company that Bruce Hollinger, the founder of Macola, is now working at.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

 

[jlindbo]

Thanks for all of the help. The option offered by Wisys looks like a great alternative to direct manipulation (and more flexable than the EDI path). We will look hard at that if we get to far into the weeds on this. I like the Quote to Order option for a first step. Any ideas on automating the Quote to Order status change?

 

[dgillz]

Quote to order is not needed with Wisys' .com objects.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"making predictions is tough, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra

 

[stravis]

The WiSys solution is only compatible with the MS SQL version of Progression and not with the Pervasive version.

That said your task is not too great and you don't have to worry about getting too many ducks in order to create your sales orders. The main thing is mimick what Macola is doing when you create a sales order manually. This gets complicated if you are using kits, oe to po, or other advanced OE features.

As for an automated way of converting quotes to orders you could do something like this programmatically. I would have to test to see if this could be done with Flexibility alone but you could certainly do this using WinBatch (or a similar product) and a custom application that finds quotes in the database passes the quote information to a WinBatch script and then converts the quote to an order by automating data entry in the Macola Progression interface. This solution may not be nearly as reliable as the EDI solution.

Scott Travis
infoSpring, LLC.

 

[jlindbo]

We are using kits but I think I can figure that out (Extra lookups and a bit of extra waggling of the table values from what I can see). My plan of attack is this.

1) Get the listener inserting quotes which can be converted to orders

2) See what gets touched in all of the use cases associated with the orders

3) Mimic that behavior in the buisness logic of the listener

If all else fails automate the quote to order conversion.

Thanks for all of you help