Last week we were able to finalize our integration connector to Fetch for dashCommerce 2.2 and Commerce for Umbraco.  (The integration connector is in the works for dashCommerce 3.0)  This means that dashCommerce and Commerce for Umbraco users can now offer digital products from within a web store and let Fetch handle the secure download and package management.  If you're not familiar with Fetch, check it out here.

We will launch the Fetch Connector concurrently with the Motus Connect Store in the third week of March, 2008.  If you're looking to add digital products to your dashCommerce or Commerce for Umbraco store then this may be just what you need to get rolling.

If you're interested in participating in the private Beta post here and we'll put up a registration form soon.

-Paul

This week, in lieu of the big update we'd hoped to drop into CodePlex we have instead...a logo.  We've been heads down stabilizing the core bits (fixed a number of defects in the dashCommerce 2.2 code as well) and working on integrating the Administration UI with Umbraco CMS that, well, we broke the build.  I have a stint at Microsoft as part of my CV and so I still can't bring myself to do a commit that's broken.  (Thank me later.)  There's sure to be a commit of the latest build next week (25 February).  Until then, thanks for your patience. 

-Paul

Not much to say here other than Umbraco makes this easy.  Here's the Products Administration area in the Umbraco UI:

(click for a larger view)

We also have the CodePlex site up and are making weekly (or more frequent) commits - http://www.codeplex.com/commerce4umbraco

-Paul

This week was largely spent reworking Commerce for Umbraco to SubSonic 2.0.3 (the latest release) from its previous affiliation with SubSonic 1.0.5 (a legacy of the CSK roots).  This update, in addition to adding stability and security, will allow Commerce for Umbraco users to extend the project easily without having to write, maintain, or worry about the DAL.  Of course, the tradeoff is that there is a very short, but steep learning curve with SubSonic. 

Earlier this week we released the early Preview Release 1 of Commerce for Umbraco and it has seen a fair number of downloads (about 200).  Some of the feedback from these early users prompted me to create my first Umbraco Package.  This was a breeze using Per Ploug Hansen's excellent Package Creator.

The membership bits of Commerce for Umbraco are working as expected and next up for us is to plumb in the member views for account information, addresses, orders, tracking, etc....  Once that's complete we'll finish up the product attributes (multiple images and variants) and promotions (discounts, etc...) and then we'll be ready for a Beta phase.

-Paul

Due to the great feedback we're getting from lots of folks in both the Umbraco and dashCommerce communities we've decided to make a very, very early Preview Release of our Commerce4Umbraco Project.

It can be found here.

Please note there are many items we removed from this release and have included the bare minimum set of controls to create a store in an Umbraco installation.

Good luck and check back often for updates.

-Paul