[consulting] Drupal E-Commerce 4.7 Announcement

[Kieran Lal]

http://drupal.org/node/67682

We're proud to announce the release of a E-Commerce 4.7, which
contains a large collection of new features and improvements. The E-
Commerce project is a Drupal project containing over 30 modules, and
5 developer APIs.

We've been working hard to release the 4.7 version of E-Commerce. For
example, the number of code changes per month is up from 45 in 2005
to 120 in 2006.

We hope you like the improvements, because there are plenty more on
the way for E-Commerce 4.8.

New Features Added

      * Full HTML email notifications
      * Improved transformation of content like audio, images and
other files into their own products
      * Shipping from multiple distribution centers via Fedex, UPS and
USPS
      * Develop your own address book, or integrate with CiviCRM
      * More robust transaction auditing
      * New documentation at the E-Commerce handbook
      * New payment gateways
      * 4.7 E-Commerce modules now automatically install their own  
tables
      * Support for PostgreSQL installations

Usability Improvements

      * A more robust and streamlined checkout system
      * Improve transaction search page that is easier to use and more
flexible
      * Store settings are better organised and easier to find

Developers

There has been a general strengthening of the E-Commerce APIs with a
couple of new ones around the corner.

      * The shipping API has been improved by Goodstorm and Bioneers
and now facilitates additional shipping modules.
      * The pricing API has been streamlined and is now better-
integrated into the cart. This has improved the ease of writing price-
adjustment modules.
      * The documentation in CVS has been cleaned up, new
documentation is begin written for each of the E-Commerce APIs, and
new documentation is on the way to help developers write their own
modules.
      * E-Commerce has multiple maintainers, lead by Gordon Heydon, to
help you keep your SQL and code tight and your documentation up to
date and user-friendly.
      * There is increased networking among E-Commerce developers,
utilising a mailing-list, an E-Commerce group and IRC (#drupal-
ecommerce).
      * Some additional unofficial tricks such as sending PDF invoices.



The Drupal E-Commerce Team