DotNetNuke & Catalook Store Portal Activity(For Smart Phones (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and Android to follow)

This Application is designed to work in conjunction with our Smart Phone set of Modules. The first of the Apps is for iPhone and iPod with iPad soon and Android to follow First quarter 2010.

This Application is available in Apple iPhone Store and is designed to allow a shop owner running their shop with Catalook Store in DotNetNuke with an easy method of checking the activities of their Store as well as a basic DotNetNuke user’s online type overview.Once The Application is opened, it is quick to check and see if any significant activities have happened in the recent days. If something important is noticed, then with just one click the shop owner can reach a page on their portal so to do further checks and interact with their Users, Customers, or Suppliers if necessary.

Please note that, this Application does require running alongside a DNN Modules on salaro.com store and it will not be useful if run on its own. The module is 20 USD and without it this app has no value.

This combination of the SmartPhone App and this module therefore, has great deal of value to a Catalook enabled DNN Portal owner on the move. If the shop owner is only relying to use their PC to manage their entire store, then they probably don’t need our Mobile tools, as they can do so with standard Catalook Admin pages visible as admin in their portal. However, if a shop owner is likely to want to check their shop activity on the move, or away from Broadband, in a taxi, on Vacation, etc… via using smart phones such as iPhone, then they would want the web experience to be as painless as possible.
Main View

Edit Mode
The combination of iPhone/iPod Touch App and the DNN module suite will make this experience as easy as possible. DotNetNuke Web Content Management System is entering enterprise environment, therefore, it is quite likely that such tool made available to Sales Force and Managers that are mainly on the road and have less access to PC/Broadband and therefore, these tools become very useful.

Here are the basic steps the shop owner would typically take when using our suite of applications. We will explain them in more details later.
  1. Purchase iphone App and install it on your iPhone or iPod Touch Version 3.1 (Android 2.1 version is to follow very soon).
  2. Purchase the Application’s companion modules from SalarO.com or Snowcovered store or Excommerce and install it on your Portal.
  3.  Do the initial configuration on your Catalook enabled portal and take a note of your page that the module exists. Ensure that you don’t give long names to the page as entering long URLs is not easy even in iPhone.
  4. You can use your iphone to navigate to the pages and then paste the web service URL and the management page URL from your portal on the iPhone App or in the future when we release other Mobile platform Applications.

Once the above steps are completed then from then on, every time our iPhone App is lunched, it will capture the latest activities of your store and portal via the web service running on your portal.
People's Online
Portal's Membership
Purchases
 
If you see anything interesting happening on your site, like some purchases or registrations that may require you to interact with purchasers or users or perhaps you need to order what was purchased. Whilst on the move, for example, you may want tosend welcome messages to the new user/purchaser etc…. All you have to do is to click on take me to MY PORTAL LINK button and the app opens the browser in your Smartphone (Safari on iPhone) and take you to the designated page on your portal so you can do further interrogations.
 

The combination of the Smart Phone Application like this App and the Web service module as well as an iPhone Optimized Skin on your DNN portal will allow you to easily interact with your portal store on the move or away from your pc.

Please note that further to giving you the ability to check as Administrator, our complementary tools such as optimized catalook dnn skin, allows end users using mobile browsers to navigate your store better and purchase in the optimized view. This specially helps shop owners that have products that are mostly viewed by mobile users.
Purchase Amount

 

Please note that you can of course do all these without these our using Safari the normal way. However, the experience will be so cumbersome that you may not do it often. As every time you want to do it, the process takes a lot of your time by entering URLs navigating a site that is clearly slow to launch in a typical DotNetNuke none optimized skin.

DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail Module for DotNetNuke version 5.x:
  1. Install DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail module (Salaro_ModDetailService) first.
  2. Please ensure you either place it in a hidden page on your portal or if security is essential, keep it visible to specific roles in your portal. Ensure that the name you give the page is short so make it easy for your first setup in your iPhone/iPod application. Please note that Smart phones are still not so easy to enter Long URLs as you may be making mistakes. Easier you make life in your mobile environment the better.
  3.  It is a web service detail information page with login access for iPhone version. We install this page in DNN site and set this page URL into the “Salaro_SimpleWS” module to go to a safari browser of my site page from an iPhone Store Application.




Ideally you need to install this module on a page that is optimized for iPhone preferably using an optimized iphone skin. If you want the page to be Admin only, you need to set the role for the page the standard way in your DNN Portal. Otherwise, you need to make the page visible to all, but you need to set this module viewable by admin only. And place the login module above the page for login access to view the detail information.

One of the useful information that will be shown, is the Users Online or for example the today’s buyer Email link. So the “Catalook_Admin” Role or the shop owner could send an email to buyer by just clicking the email link.

The Advanced Information available in the module are as follows :
  • DNN Membership Info (Contact Details, Current login status etc.,.)
  • Catalook Info (Buyer Details, Purchase Details, Pricing, Stock etc.,.)
You could also use any other third party modules you own on this page. For example, Ventrian DNN Messaging to allow you to send internal messages to users in your organization or purchasers that system holds their email address. (Please note that this module is not a SalarO module and to purchase you need to visit www.ventrian.com

For example, you may want to add Ventrian Private Messages here so to allow you easily communicate with users on your site or new registered users andpurchasers of your products.

Therefore, by clicking MY PORTAL LINK on the iPhone App you will be directed easily to this page so you can interrogate other aspects of your store and portal activities on your smartphone.






Note: Please also ensure that you have made Users Online enabled on your portal. This is what you do:-

Host > Host Settings > Advanced Settings > Other Settings > To Check the Enable Users Online? Option to display Users online section in iPhone App and DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail module.

Here are some sample screen shot of DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail module display…

Typically the shop keeper would want to quickly navigate to see the Number of users in online etc…

Catalook Purchase Report:

2. Buyer’s purchase report
3. Product’s purchase report
4. Overall purchase report

In order to provide important links in the DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail Page:

This page ideally should have a set of links to take the shop owner to important or pages on his site to be able to quickly interact with customers, buyers, suppliers, etc.... to action any important purchase related item or perhaps to the ticketing system that the shop owner has on his store portal using Text/HTML module.(Refer below image).


Web Service Module for DotNetNuke version 5.x:
“Salaro_SimpleWS” is a web service module will generate a web service link which is needed to configure a DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail module page link on the iPhone Application.
  1. Install web service module (Salaro_SimpleWS) in your DNN Portal through the usual Module Definitions tab in Host Menu
  2. 2. Add this module to an appropriate page on your portal. You may want this page to not be visible in DNN Menu. Also avoid giving this page a long name because it will make entering the URL more difficult in your iPhone/iPod Touch. Please note that you only need to do this once on your iPhone App and there after the app in the configuration page and thereafter, you will go straight to these pages.
  3. After calling this module it will display the web service URL and to set the destination page URL in this module by admin, which is the page URL from DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail module installed. Show the following screenshot:
  4. When entering the web service into your iPhone/iPod Touch you could navigate to this page on your site as an example set as www.yoursite.com/M/WS.aspx Then on your iPhone Safari, copy and paste it into the iPhone/iPod App since you would be using OS 3.1 or later that is required and they do have copy and paste facility.
  5. The App Setting page on your iPhone also requires you to enter the Activity page. This page is combination of the DotNetNuke and Store Activity Detail module for DotNetNuke version 5.x and any other relevant module you would like to be on this page. This page will launch easily straight from your iPhone App. So, it allows you to interrogate your site further. For example we have shown you as an example a typical page here that allows youto use the iPhone & SmartPhone optimized skin. This page will make it an easy page to navigate and interrogate your portal ’s essential tools whilstusing small mobile devices. For example you would be able to email certain users or interact with portal registered users with third party modules. Or just a set of links that are essential for you to quickly view important aspects of the store activities.

webservice


Module installation guide on your DNN Application:
  1. Open DNN site and login as Host.
  2. Select menu host module definition.
  3. Then click module definition icon. Refer the following image.
  4. Click install module and brows your modules location and select your PA file, then click next to your module should be installed.

storeactivity

storeactivity

 

store activity
iPhone Smart Phone Optimized Skin:

This is not optional as it is not essential but very helpful if you or any other mobile users browsing your store to have a SmartPhone optimized skin applied to these pages. This will save time when you interrogate your store activities in a convenient small screen optimized way. For example have a look here at our optimized page and experience it on your smart phone.

Please note that Standard DotNetNuke skin and page structure does not make typical Mobile experience easy. Optimized skin will help you and your customers, to see the pages in a minimalist way on your iPhone and iPod Touch. Android phone too mainly have small screens like iPhone and are slower than your regular PC so to make lives easier whilst on the move.

Please have a look at the example provided to see the experience if you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or Android phone. If you don’t already have a iPhone and Mobile optimized skinpack, then please purchase one from our range. Please see our iphone optimized skins from our store at www.salaro.com

Or contact us for further information and clarifications before purchase.

Please use this site www.testiphone.com to emulate the optimized pages such as www.salaro.com/iphone or the demo site here www.storeintegrator.com/Mobile.aspx