Magento Image On PDF Invoice

Here is a quick module that allows you to display images in your Invoice PDF in Magento. This was taken and combined from 2 other web posts I found here:

1) http://www.webmasterbulletin.net/2009/06/magento-display-product-image-on-invoice-shipping-pdf/873 2) http://inchoo.net/ecommerce/magento/magento-pdf-invoice-with-product-images-extension/

but neither one worked quite the way I wanted so I combined them. All the module does is extend 2 base Magento classes for PDFs, one is for the invoice the other is for the invoice items. It adds to the invoice items class the images code, and to the base invoice class the line header for the Product Image text and adjusts the spacing x values. Both classes are commented so you can check them if you want.

Here is the module: www.rental-e-commerce-software.com/pdf_image.zip

 Install instructions:
1) Upload the app folder to your magento app folder
2) Clear magento cache in admin
3) Try printing a magento invoice

Best WAMP Magento Development Environment

Well, after some screwing around I found what I think is a good dev environment, maybe it will help you. Tried out a few and AMPPS seems really nice as it has latest versions, and a very good control panel. Also it seems faster than WAMP. It has softaculous built-in to it so is easy to test out scripts if needed.

It is:

1) AMPPS

Install from: http://www.ampps.com/download

2) Xdebug Extension

Copy and paste your phpinfo output to: http://xdebug.org/wizard.php and it will show you exactly how to install it.

Here is what I put in php.ini to turn it on:

xdebug.remote_host=localhost

xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp

xdebug.remote_enable=1

Screenshot showing how it can dump out variables at a breakpoint:

3) APC Cache

Download from here: http://downloads.php.net/pierre/ put it in your extensions folder for ampps, and put in php.ini: extension=php_apc.dll

It is nice cause it runs pretty fast and the Xdebug thing is pretty nice for setting breakpoints. It will run up to that breakpoint and dump all the variables as shown in the attached screenshot.

4) Magento Notes

localhost does not work good for some reason logging into the admin it doesn't set cookies right so set your url to be 127.0.0.1/yourfolder/ in your mysql database table > core_configs that is what I found after comparing my install with a softaculous install that is how it does it so that is how it works.

Learning To Program Rental Software for Magento, PHP, etc. "The Right Way"

If you are like me you have tried to learn to program for awhile but never really "got the hang of it." Will I finally got it, and the key to learning it was very simple. Here are my tips:

1) NEVER COPY AND PASTE CODE FROM TUTORIALS - type it all out. This was the biggest mistake I was making. I thought I could read the tutorial and understand it and then I had learned it. Well that is not the case. When you are learning to code, don't copy and paste anything. Type it all out. Yes it's slower, but the process of typing it all out (and maybe after you type it changing a few things to experiment) is the key to learning to program. You will make mistakes as you type out the code. Then when you run it you will get errors. Correcting these errors is actually teaching you how not to make mistakes and how to catch the grammatical side of the programming language.

Copying and pasting code is equivalent to trying to learn a new language like Spanish and recording people that speak it and playing back the recording when you want to talk. Of course that wouldn't work, you'd never learn.

2) The second key to learning to code is to find the right learning resources. Here are the best ones that I have found in order of how good I think they are, they are very popular so you have probably already heard of them:

• Codeschool.com - excellent hands on approach to learning to code with videos and lessons. 
• https://tutsplus.com/ - really well written tutorials - especially the ones by Jeffrey Way. A few of my favorites:
• https://tutsplus.com/course/php-fundamentals/
• https://tutsplus.com/course/laravel-essentials/
• http://net.tutsplus.com/sessions/test-driven-php/
• Lynda.com - try their fundamentals courses on jQuery, PHP, Ruby on Rails, PHP Debugging, LAMP server setup, and MVC frameworks.
• http://sqlzoo.net/wiki/Main_Page - best resource and online lessons I've seen for learning SQL

So what are some key programming languages & concepts you should learn when starting out?

1. HTML & CSS
2. PHP
3. Ruby on Rails - not necessary really but PHP & Ruby are the 2 of the most popular web development languages
4. jQuery
5. GIT file versioning and deployment system
6. How to use Objects and what Object Design Patterns are
7. SQL
8. Photoshop basics for web developers (from lynda.com or tutsplus.com they both have this course)
9. Linux command line basics (also available from tutsplus.com)
10. Try setting up your own LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, php) server using Virtual Box
• https://www.virtualbox.org/ download virtual box here
• download Linux here: http://www.linuxmint.com/ (or whatever your preferred vareity is like Ubuntu or CentOS)
• Install it, follow online tutorial guides for how to get LAMP up and running in your virtual box
• What you learn will be invaluable in your web development career.

Ok So What About Learning Magento?

So now coming to the important point - really to learn Magento you need to know all the concepts above except for Ruby on Rails and GIT. The best way to learn Magento right now is to go through all of Alan Storm's tutorials at his website: http://alanstorm.com/category/magento then also buy his book "no frills magento" and try out those tutorials too. 

We are planning on releasing our own eBook on learning Magento via hands on Module creation. We are not statisfied with the learning materials that are currently out there to learn Magento. We've paid the $350 for the "quickstart to Magento development" directly through Magento Inc. and it's the best one but overpriced and doesn't teach you everything you need to know. We'll keep this blog posted for when we release the eBook. Here are some topics we plan to cover:

• Step by step module creation with explanations along the way of everything that is going on. We are not talking about "hello world" type modules, but actual modules that are useful in the real world like
• Admin sales staff commision calculation
• Request for quote module
• Writing a payment module
• Writing a shipment module
• Shipping labels module
• How to develop Magento modules using Test Driven Development
• Debugging techniques 
• Speed optimization
• Breakdown of available events to tie onto in Magento using observers
• Using the Magento API to show products on another website

Our goal with this eBook is that by the end of reading it and typing out the examples you should be a professional Magento developer and save lots and lots of time over trying to learn Magento via what is currently available online. 

Magento Paypal Recurring Profiles IPN 503 Error Sanbox Mode

This is just a quick post to help those struggling with this error. The issue appears to be that Paypal Sandbox when enabled does not record orders for testing Magento recurring profiles. It will only record the recurring profile. So if you enable Paypal live mode the order recording will then work. So just ignore the IPN 503 error because when you set it live the order recording will then work we wasted a lot of time researching what was wrong but nothing is wrong, it's just a issue with Paypal sandbox. Just make sure that in order to record the orders in Magento you setup the following:

On Paypal settings in Magento:

On Paypal IPN settings at Paypal > profile > my seller settings > ipn notifications

Then after that you should start to see orders being recorded under the recurring profile like this:

Rent Master Rent System Development Updates

Version .1

• First release with support for pay per rentals, serial numbers, rental calendar, send/return

Version .2

• Added rental memberships, add to queue and recurring billing support for memberships

Version .3

• Fixed some issues with pro-rating

Version .4

• Fixed bug with deposits

Version .5

• Added product bundle support
• Deposits are now multplied by the quantity of the product it is for
• Deposits are automatically removed if product is removed from cart

Version .6

• Added support for date locales
• Added support for auto select end date based on min and max rental periods
• Now fully compatible with Magento store views
• Add to customer edit page a rentals history
• Overbooking now shows on quantity report if overbooked shows red and the number overbooked
• Sku now shown in quantity report
• Integrate Magento shipments for sending out rentals (before was only possible to send via the rentals > send/return report)
• Added to rentals > settings a way to adjust the pricing calculations. Some stores charge a one day rental only if the product is returned the same day. Other business charge a 1 day rental for 2 calendar days. Now you can add time to the pricing calculation. So if you added one day, then a rental from November 15 - 16 would count as a 2 day rental rather than a 1 day rental.
• Added support for PDF labels and DYMO label printer on rental queue rental history page

Version .7

• send and return admin email reminders, ability to send and return items from this email

Version .8 (in development)

• Fixes to bundles for checkbox added products and when updating price for removing and adding products to bundle
• Changing deposits to be a line item sub-total rather than be a product added to cart

Rental System For Rental and Hire Store Management

Do you need a rental system for your rental hire store?

Sales Igniter is a online e-commerce enabled rental system that will fulfill your needs. Sales Igniter is the premier online rental solution for inventory management, online rentals, online hire, and in-store rental software.

Sales Igniter is based off of Magento shopping cart which already featured a very powerful back end administration panel for managing inventory, customers, orders, invoices, content, and staff logins. Sales Igniter adds to Magento a complete rental solution. This gives you the advantage of using any of the 1000's of other available Magento modules in addition for your rental system.

Here are a few of the advantages to using our rental hire system:

• One time licensing fee as low as $600 No per staff or per seat licensing fees!
• Always available from anywhere online system so you can have access to all of your rental store data anytime anyplace
• Compatible with many other systems via Magento extensions such as Quickbooks, Salesforce.com, and Sugar CRM. 
• Social Media friendly. Enable facebook or google login for your customers, allow your clients to like or google +1 your site. 
• Highly customizable. Our rental system is open source as well as Magento so you can program the code to fit your needs or hire us to do it for you.
• Ability to offer rental packages where a customer can rent more than one item at once
• Your customers can login online to view order status, make a payment, or update their contact details - saves lots of time for your sales staff.
• Do you also sell products? Our rental system can do that too you can add both for sale and for rent products to the same store catalog.

Rental Software Considerations For Rental Hire Software

It's important when searching for Rental Software for your rental hire business that you know what to look for. Here is a list of some of the important things to consider for your rental software system:

1. How easy is the rental software to use? What is the learning curve? Do you have to have on-site training or do they provide free video training?
2. Do you want a Windows installed rental software system or do you prefer a web based rental system for use anywhere (on the road, remote, in the office)? Warning - Windows based systems tend to charge per each staff member that uses your software.
3. How flexible is the pricing structure setup for rentals? Can it handle but pro-rated and non-pro rated as well as discounts for certain customers?
4. How much does it cost for each license is it by seat?
5. Can the rental software handle bundle / kit rentals where you rent multiple items at the same time?
6. How easy is it to visualize your inventory? Does it include a calendar that shows how many of each item you have in stock for each day?
7. How does the rental software integrate with other systems like Accounting, Social Media, Customer Relationship Management systems, Enterprise Resource Planning, E-commerce, and Email Marketing?
8. Can your rental software do online rentals? Can your customers manage or view their account online and get quotes?
9. Is your rental software multi-language compatible if you decide you want to expand your market?
10. What do support and updates cost? 
11. How quickly does the system run like for compiling reports or rental data?
12. Can the rental software support multiple inventory locations?
13. Can the rental software integrate with barcode readers or printers to track inventory easily?

We feel these are some of the important questions to ask when evaluating different rental software solutions. Now we will answer these for the product we offer Sales Igniter Rental Business Software.

1. Sales Igniter is easy to use and can be learned in perhaps 2 - 3 hours and training is free if you use our screencast training videos. 
2. Sales Igniter runs from a web server so it can be accessed anywhere in the world if you have a web connection. You could even run Sales Igniter from your local computer if you install a free web server like WAMP.
3. Sales Igniter can handle both pro-rated and non-pro rated rentals. Pricing can be entered by hour, day, week, month, year with multiple time periods in between each so it's as flexible as possible.
4. A big advantage to using Sales Igniter is there is no per seat or per staff member license. One license and you can use it for your entire organization and licenses start at only $600. As compared to other solutions that cost usually $2500 to start and a per staff fee of $1000 or more this is a great value. 
5. Sales Igniter rental software can handle bundles and kits easily and correctly tracks inventory for the whole bundle when checking for availability on the calendar. 
6. The inventory is easy to visualize as we provide a calendar with all of your inventory on it so you can visualize everything on one page - how much of each product is in stock for each day or even broken down hourly.
7. Sales Igniter is a Magento Based E-commerce rental extension. Magento plugs into almost all other systems you can visit their integrations page here: Magento Integrations
8. Because Sales Igniter rental software is web based yes your clients can all rent online and manage your account. This does not mean that you HAVE to offer online rentals if you don't want to. If you prefer, you can only enable the admin side of Sales Igniter and not allow your clients to rent online. But it's a nice option to have. 
9. Sales Igniter is multi-lingual compatible there are over 27 language packs available. 
10. Support and updates after the included free support and updates (time period included depends on your package) is $199/year. 
11. Sales Igniter runs very fast average time to load a page is 1 second.
12. Sales Igniter can run in multi-inventory mode with a separate module purchase and some custom programming time.
13. Sales Igniter has a built-in label maker for DYMO label printers. It also has a barcode scanning area on the send and return pages (checkout and checkin).