Using custom PHP/MySQL catalog/shopping cart with Miva Merchant payment, fulfillment

[electricroot]

I have a fairly complex product catalog system written in PHP/MySQL that I need to extend by adding a shopping cart, payment validation and processing, order confirmation, etc. The hosting account on which this site is running supports Miva Merchant, which will support various forms of payment validation and processing.

I see several options:

1. (Desired) Pass the catalog/pricing information from MySQL catalog database into a Miva shopping cart, then configure Miva to do the rest.

2. (Probably better) Load up a shopping cart using PHP, then pass the order information to Miva to let it process payment, etc.

3. (Much to learn and do) Do it all using PHP.

4. (Forget this option! I won't do it.) Rebuild in MivaScript.

Any suggestions, resources, guides, experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[Kinsbane]

I would suggest not going with Miva. What a craphole of an 'eCommerce Solution'.

go to www.hotscripts.com and get yourself some eStore solutions from there for free. 🙂

[electricroot]

Thanks, Kinsbane, for the Hotscripts URL. Looks like they have enough code for me to build a pure PHP/MySQL solution: shopping carts, payment processing, credit card validation, etc.

Once I have gone through it all, I will report my findings and point out any relevant snippets. I still welcome any comments/recommendations from users with specific experience in this arena.