DonNTU   Masters' portal

Abstract

Contents

Introduction

With the advent of web-based technologies are beginning to use the computer a whole new population of the Earth. You can select two of the most characteristic groups on the different social poles, which were rapidly involved in the new technology, perhaps even against their own will. On the one hand, they were representatives of the elite groups of society - the heads of large organizations, presidents of banks, senior managers, influential government officials and so on. On the other hand, there were representatives from most of the general population - housewives, pensioners and children.

With the advent of the Internet, computers have turned to these two completely opposite categories of potential users. Elite shared one trait - because of the high degree of responsibility and almost one hundred percent employment "big people" have never used a computer was a typical situation when the computer was working secretary. At some point they realized that their computer may be useful, they can effectively use the little time that can be allocated to work on the computer. They suddenly realized that the computer - it's not just a fashionable and expensive toy, but a tool to-date information for businesses. In this case, they did not need to spend a lot of time to master the technology of computer (compared to how it was before).

Range of social groups that are connected to the Internet and searching for information in the WWW, expanding all the time from users who do not belong to the category of specialists in the field of information technology. They are doctors, builders, historians, lawyers, financiers, athletes, travelers, clerics, artists, writers and artists. The list is endless. Anyone who has experienced the usefulness and indispensability of the network for their professional activities or hobbies, joins the vast army of consumers of the information in the "World Wide Web".

Web technology has completely turned our understanding of the information, and with the computer at all. It turned out that the traditional parameters of the development of computer technology - performance, bandwidth, storage capacity, do not take into account the main "bottleneck" of the system - the interface with the person. Outdated mechanism of human interaction with the information system to the introduction of new technologies and reduced benefit from their use. And only when the interface between humans and computers has been simplified to a natural perception ordinary man, followed by an unprecedented explosion of interest in the possibilities of computing.

With the development of technology Hypertext Markup on the Internet began to appear more and more sites, the subject of which was quite different - from the websites of large companies, telling us about the successes and its failures, the sites of small firms offering to visit their offices within the same city.

The development of Internet technology gave rise to the emergence of a new branch on the internet - online forums. Began to emerge sites and portals where people from all over the world can communicate, get answers to any questions and even to enter into business transactions.

Also nowadays becoming prevalent purchase any goods in the shops. Shopping - employment is good, sometimes spectacular, which brings both positive emotions and frustrations. Thing of the past are the days when, in order to become the owner of the desired object, it was necessary for his "two" to make long trip to offline shopping sites. Now in our lives actively include online shopping, we often do shopping, staying in the workplace, through a few clicks of the mouse.

1. Theme urgency

Online store that meets all modern requirements, is a sales channel through which the company has the opportunity to sell their goods and services to millions of audience that enjoys an internet network. In modern conditions, creating an online store is becoming increasingly important. This allows the company to strengthen its position not only in traditional markets, but go far beyond them.

Online shopping has many advantages, with the help of visitors not only have the opportunity to receive full information on products and services, but also to make a booking. In this case, almost no matter what part of the world is a buyer, its distance from the seller is not significant, because the information provided is as complete, can be found within minutes, wherever you are. Make an order, the buyer for some time waiting for their delivery, while it does not matter where the office or warehouse where the seller and the seller gets the goods. This is convenient for both parties and is another huge advantage online store to traditional outlets.

Nowadays more and more popular is to create an online store under the key. In this case, the artist creates a multi-functional, self-sufficient and fully completed project in full compliance with the wishes of the customer. As a result, technically challenging, complex work, the customer receives the finished trading platform for its business, and the combination of intuitive and user-friendly interface with an attractive design solution will harness the power of the Internet more effectively. Certainly, the creation of an online store takes time and investment, but with well-thought-out marketing strategy of the money spent will pay off in the short term. Internet users are increasingly make purchases on-line, so I e-shop offering quality goods and services, there will always be buyers, but over time their number will only increase.

2. The general formulation of the problem

Currently available software solutions to create online stores, there is the problem of sorting complex range of products. Instead, it offered a trivial sort by some criteria. Only a few commercial systems for the creation of online shops have at their disposal expert systems for high-quality customer service. This means that consumers who make purchases spend more time searching for a particular product or do not find it. In turn, these factors have a negative impact on the performance of the store and, as a consequence, the economic growth of the enterprise.

3. The purpose of the work

Purpose - to improve trade in the online store. In the thesis work will be determined by a block diagram online store and the methods of creating graphics layout of the site, the analysis of the approaches to the creation of an online store and a review of existing development tools expert system. Primary technical development is to create an integrated expert system as a module of the site for sorting e-shop assortment of ways to improve e-commerce. A means of solving the basic problem is chosen scripting language PHP.

4. Review of existing software development tools

Because of existing software products required functionality have only a few, as well as due to open source the most optimal way, the basis for the development of this type of e-commerce with the goals is a content management system (CMS) Joomla.

CMS Joomla is written in PHP and JavaScript, and uses a database MySQL. Joomla is licensed under GPL, which allows developers to view, update or modify the features and functions of the system [1]. One of the main features of Joomla, it is the relative ease of management and flexibility in manufacturing sites.

For the design of an expert system requires a good support for hypertext. It is also necessary to provide a flexible management structure material. It's enough markup language HTML, but in order to manage the content of the site will need a bunch of PHP and MySQL. In contrast to the basic functions of CMS, which displays the contents (news, gallery) in the text of the page, mainly in the center, add-on modules for output to the other parts of the page in the header, in the left and right of the unit, in the footer. In CMS Joomla has a built-in Module Manager, which greatly simplifies the installation and removal of modules. Therefore the output of the expert system is developed as a module, which is to the left of the main content. Module for CMS Joomla, in the simplest case is the two files archived in ZIP. One file is an XML file describing the module and the settings in the admin panel Joomla, second file - the code module for PHP.

XML - is a markup language that describes a class of data objects called XML-documents. This language is used as a means to describe the grammar of other languages and control for the accuracy of the documents [2]. By itself does not contain any XML tags designed for layout, but it determines the order of their creation.

PHP - a programming language specifically designed for writing Web-based applications (scripts) running on a Web-server, and selected as the main programming language for developing an expert system [3].

Abbreviation of PHP is "Hypertext Preprocessor" (Hypertext Preprocessor). Syntax draws upon C, Java and Perl. Primary factor advantages of PHP language is practicality. PHP provides the means to quickly and effectively achieve the objectives. Practical nature of PHP due to the five important characteristics [4]: traditional, simplicity, efficiency, safety, flexibility.

Unlike module which is a space on the page, there are also components. Component - a small content management system. It is set in Joomla and then used almost as a separate CMS. It is also possible to install extensions. An example of a component can be called online shop VirtueMart. It gives the possibility to display on the product page, instead of the usual news. Actually, this component is selected when creating an online store.

VirtueMart - is a free software for creating an online store created to complement such Content Management Systems Web site like Mambo or Joomla. This allows developers to PHP-view, update or modify the features and functions of the online store.

VirtueMart, written in PHP and uses a database MySQL [5]. VirtueMart supports an unlimited number of product items, categories and currencies for one product, the appointment of multiple categories of products, the ability to sell products for download, and provides the ability to disable the function of sales and use VirtueMart in catalog mode. VirtueMart allows you to have different prices for the same products based on quantity or membership of a particular buyer group, and allows the use of different payment systems.

To store the database, Joomla and VirtueMart uses MySQL. MySQL - is a popular database management system (DBMS), the most frequently used in conjunction with PHP [6]. A database is a structured collection of data. To add, access and process data stored in a computer database, you need a database management system, which is MySQL.

Thus, we can see that the selected software development tools are best suited for the job, since they are free, are open source and the most popular (and, hence, have broad support among developers) to date due to the outstanding functionality.

5. Prototyping the online store

After selecting a content management system Joomla and a component for creating an online store VirtueMart, prepared a prototype site, which is located on the local server where the approved primary tasks, it has been the location of the sections, styles and navigation elements were also made basic setup an online store VirtueMart, for the subsequent implementation of the expert system module.

A prototype of an online store VirtueMart

Picture 1 – A prototype of an online store VirtueMart

6. Statement of the problem

Problem in a general form can be put as follows. Necessary to build a model to determine the number of clicks through your site needed to find a specific range with a view to minimizing the time spent searching for the product by the buyer and maximize the benefits of the entrepreneur.

In order to develop an expert system to analyze and select the content management system and a component of an online store for the development of an expert system module.

The main objective of the design is the creation of an expert system in order to segregate range of complex method.

The solution of the problem will increase sales, thus reducing the number of buyers who left the site before the item is found, which in turn will result in a positive economic effect.

To solve the problem it would be appropriate to conduct a study in the dynamics of sales for a long time to identify all the characteristic patterns and excluding them in the planned development.

Management sections of the goods in the module of the expert system

Picture 2 – Management sections of the goods in the module of the expert system
(animation: 12 frames, 10 cycles of repetition, 22 kilobytes)

Conclusion

The novelty of the work lies in a new method of representation of an expert system for sorting range of online store.

The method involves a search for a suitable product according to many criteria, therefore, is a comprehensive method for finding the goods, which requires the development of appropriate software module for osCommerce.

To implement the module was prepared prototype site, which is located on the local server, for better debugging mechanism and ability to work without the Internet.

As a means of solving this problem is chosen scripting language PHP and database MySQL. At this stage of development is carried out selection of basic functions that will provide the best functionality.

The result of solving this problem is the implementation of a module of an expert system for sorting goods for an online store, with a view to minimizing the time spent searching for the product by the buyer and maximize the benefits of the entrepreneur.

In writing this essay master's work is not yet complete. Full text of the work and materials on the topic can be obtained from the author or his manager after that date. The final completion of the master's work — in January 2014.

References

  1. Joomla! The CMS Trusted By Millions for their Websites/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla.html
  2. ßçûê XML/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://www.codenet.ru/webmast/xml/part1.php
  3. Îñíîâû PHP/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://www.php.su/php/?php
  4. Ïðåèìóùåñòâà PHP/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://www.php.su/php/?opport
  5. Âèêèïåäèÿ: VirtueMart/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtueMart
  6. Îñíîâíàÿ èíôîðìàöèÿ î MySQL/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://www.php.su/mysql/?info
  7. Ñàìîó÷èòåëü ïî ýêñïåðòíûì ñèñòåìàì/ Èíòåðíåò-ðåñóðñ. — URL: http://sapr-mgsu.narod.ru/biblio/ex-syst/