Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi guys!

I would like to draw your attention to our Christmas sale. Check the details at http://www.x-cart.com/extensions/modules/cloudsearch.html.

Hurry up, sale ends Dec 25th!

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Still liking CloudSearch - still have about 10 days of demo time left to think about this...

I really like the instant results and the overall experience for the customer who is searching specifically for a product.

HOWEVER, and it's a big however, sometimes my customer is looking for something that is not a product.

I just looked at my search stats for the past 2 weeks:

/admin/statistics.php?mode=search

in addition to the phrases and keywords that are associated with my products, my customers searched for these phrases:

shipping
tutorials
tutorial
Subscribe to Newsletter
newsletter
sale
coupon
clearance
special
special offer
free gift
an actual sku# (not displayed on the product page)
and a few product ingredients (we publish our ingredients as images, to prevent indexing).

All of these phrases are included in our static embedded pages. But search (or I should say Cloudsearch) does not search static pages.

Nikita, are there any plans to include static embedded and extra fields and other non-product detail pages into the CloudSearch index? As much as I am really liking CloudSearch, I am discovering that my customers search for phrases and keywords that are NOT on a product page just as often (or more) than they search for an actual product. Not including these other pages into the search results means the customer is not having a good experience. The expectation is that if the customer searches for something, the search results will take them to what they're looking for. Learn something from Google, right?

An instant alternative for me is to use Altered Cart's SmartSearch w/ Ajax and the static page module. I own AC SmartSearch but not the Ajax or static page modules - and I will have to buy the upgrade to version 4.5.x. But I really like the UI experience when searching for products in CloudSearch.

If I am to subscribe to CloudSearch, it's gonna have to have the static pages indexed, since so much of the customer experience is NOT on the product pages: shipping, FAQ, tutorials and knowledgebase, REVIEWS, Newsletters, how-to articles, and countless pages of content that is vital to a successful business that is not "just" a product page.

Nikita, as a test, go to a major shopping site -- try http://oldnavy.com/
Search for these terms:

shipping
return policy
store locations (which is very cool since it is geo enabled based on IP)

Try many other big retail sites:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/
http://www.bestbuy.com/
http://www.potterybarn.com/

etc... yes, EVERY SINGLE major retail site has search for their entire site, not just for products.

I am realizing that search is a critical part of the shopping experience for the customer - and we are failing them right now in X-Cart (even though CloudSearch improves searching for products).

Realistically, can you add static embedded pages to CloudSearch without reinventing the wheel? If so, what kind of timeline can I expect. If you do this, I will subscribe immediately.

Thanks,

Jeremy

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

bump?

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Jeremy!

Thank you for your detailed feedback, it is indeed helpful for us. We plan to include static pages in CloudSearch results (extra fields are already there, please refer to this post http://forum.x-cart.com/showpost.php?p=344676&postcount=9, search by sku wasn't yet announced, but it also works on current client module implementation).

As for the timeframes, it may take from 1 to 2 months to release a new version for all supported X-Cart versions. But for those who are curious ;), I think I can provide a pre-release version a bit earlier (2-3 weeks)

So stay with us and see how together we can make CloudSearch better.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hey guys!

It's time for 1.1.0! :-)

From now on CloudSearch will help your customers find categories, manufacturers and static pages (with page screenshots). Along with these major features, the release also includes usability improvements such as improved formatting of text excerpts. This release will also be slightly (5-10%) faster than older versions.

Check out these features at our demo store

New module packs are available for download here and also in file area of your accounts. Existing clients do not need to run installation script again, just update the files and wait for CloudSearch to re-index your data (do not forget to create a copy of your custom main.css if you have such).

As always you can try CloudSearch for 30 days for free.

P.S. In this post carpeperdiem explains how CloudSearch can be used to include virtually any custom page into your search results.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Nikita,

Thanks for the great update to CloudSearch. Adding the static pages is a significant improvement.

Assuming I can simply replace the CloudSearch files from the new distribution in my file area, yes? Obviously, edits to the css will have to be preserved/copied back in.
I ran the 3 sql scripts (cloudsearch_remove.sql, etc..)
Besides running cleanup.php after the update, anything else?

Thanks,
Jeremy

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Jeremy,

Nothing is needed besides these steps. Hope you enjoy CloudSearch, and thanks for taking part in testing.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hello Nikita,
CloudSearch 1.1.0 is certainly a big improvement & no doubt it's a best available search mod for x-cart at the moment.

The only thing hurting is it's pricing policy. If you can make this mod as one time paid mods instead of subscription based then I guess many people will buy it. People don't mind to pay for upgrade also but subscription base pricing method just stopping me to buy this module.

Also subscription pricing method is also not in favor of customers. $59 for 100 products search ?? now I don't think so site with just 100 product required cloud search or some one will pay $59 EVERY YEAR just to search 100 products.

After 100 product next plan is directly for 5000 products & price is $249 EVERY YEAR. Now this is the tricky pricing policy. I am sure 90% of site will have more than 100 products & less than 5000 products so all will ended up paying $249....every year !!

lets say I have 110 products so I need to pay $249 :(

It's my suggestion that if possible please make this mod as one time PAID mode or please look at subscription policy for this mod & I am sure you will get lots of buyer for this mod with reasonable pricing policy.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Although my store only has about 45 products, I also have about 40 static pages and 10 categories...

I didn't really consider the pricing when I signed up, since at 45 products (variants don't count), I was well under the limits of the basic plan -- but with the addition of the static pages and cats, how is that going to add up?

Yes, it is a SaaS. Yes, they are providing server resources and 3x daily indexing. HOWEVER - the pricing model could factor in bandwidth/resources used?

In comparison, MaxCDN provides 1TB of edge servers per year for US$40, and then incremental costs per TB. If you use more bandwidth, you pay for it.

Could cloudsearch pricing be more sensitive to the stores with many pages and/or products, but limited traffic? Could a subscription plan include a minimum number of queries, then escalations after a magic number is reached? I would imagine there are some (many) stores with sub-100 products that have 1000x the traffic of many 800+ product stores. Is that fair to everyone?

I was willing to pay $59/year for this - but if it becomes more than that, I would probably seek alternatives. Just saying. I really like the product and I think it's awesome, but I do wonder what will happen if I add 10 more products and 10 more static pages.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi guys,

Thank you for your questions.

The main thing to note here is that CloudSearch is a service. Not a module. It just can't be created as a standalone module for X-Cart written in php. One can create a similar module but the significant amount of features (not to mention performance) was created solely due to the service architecture of CloudSearch.

As for the actual pricing numbers, I would like to stress that nowadays a realtime search system is a must-have feature for any serious store owner not willing to give up his conversion rates due to customers not able to find what they need. You don't buy yet another bells-and-whistles feature, instead you pay to increase your conversion and improve your customers experience. This blog post may be interesting http://www.finestshops.com/cloudsearch-extention-helps-retailers-boost-online-sales-conversions.html

I understand your concern about having the fair pricing system taking into account all the resources/bandwidth/etc used. But from the inside it appeared that the amount of products have a good correlation with the actual resources we spend for a particular client. Last but not least, it is simple and straightforward. And answering to your question: we won't factor categories, manufacturers nor static pages when counting the number of products in store. So if you have for example 90 products and a couple of dozens of categories you can stay just fine on the bronze plan.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

I purchased CloudSearch and have just activated it, it is still showing Trial version message in the customer end drop down menu... please advise.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hello,

There can be a delay when you buy CloudSearch before installing/activating it. Please re-check.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

How do you upgrade the Cloudsearch? Do you overwrite the files ,or is it upgraded when you upgrade to 4.5.5. I am on 4.5.4

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Download the new files from your file area.
Overwrite the cloudsearch files.
IF you edited the CSS, restore your css edits.
Done.
Wait 8 hours for cloudsearch to re-index.
All better now. :-)

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Nikita,

Just a quick question on this module, can it be customized at all so it will only search in the product name and sku only (and ignore the description)?

Thanks

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi,

This customization can surely be done and it is quite simple. You need to pass an empty string as a description for each product. In modules/Cloud_Search/func.php:

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Dear Nikita,

The CloudSearch files that you posted for version 1.1.0 in the file area may be very similar to what the 4.5.4 to 4.5.5 upgrade script is looking for, but the files are all missing header or copyright or version info - which causes the upgrade script to fail.

modules/Cloud_Search/cloud_search_api.php Could not patch
modules/Cloud_Search/config.php Could not patch
modules/Cloud_Search/func.php Could not patch
modules/Cloud_Search/init.php Could not patch
cloud_search_api.php Could not patch

The reason these files can not patch, even if the 1.1.0 files are present: the damn headers.

Here is the ENTIRE contents of cloud_search_api.php.diff
Notice what has changed:

N-O-T-H-I-N-G


DO you read a bit of frustration here?
With more than 2500 files in this upgrade, I only have 49 files that "could not patch". And 10% of the files I had to deal with are simply bad/incomplete headers in CloudSearch. I am certain that there are 20 more files that "could not patch" simply because of headers. If this were the first time I saw this, I wouldn't have nearly as much heat. But this has been goping on for YEARS and YEARS. And you wonder why guys like me rant on during upgrade cycles? :-)

I am not upset with you Nikita, rather, the way X-Cart handles the upgrade script -- the left and right hands are not speaking to each other here, are they?

What can you do to solve this?

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

PS -- some of the Cloud Search files failed because the words, "All rights reserved" were added to the copyright.

Do you realize how pig headed this is -- multiply the number of your customers upgrading these files, and to simply add 3 words that has ZERO to do with the upgrade -- we have to deal with yet another file without changes?

This is not going to be pretty...

You know I'm not wrong. I know, this is the wrong place to be discussing this -- but your 5 files were the first on the block. You need to discuss this with the team. I'm a reasonable guy. But upgrade scripts stopping because of header info? Gotta work around this shit, please.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Sure enough, every CloudSearch file that was a "could not patch" simply had a different copyright notice.

I "simply" copied the 4.5.5 distribution files over, and now the files are blue. Not one character of the code changed - only the copyright. Waste of my time chasing this down. Hopefully the rest of the upgrade will be smoother.

modules/Cloud_Search/cloud_search_api.php Already patched
modules/Cloud_Search/config.php Already patched
modules/Cloud_Search/func.php Already patched
modules/Cloud_Search/init.php Already patched

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hello Jeremy,

I'm very sorry about the situation you had. Obviously it happened because of some misunderstanding about which version of CloudSearch is included in which version of X-Cart. X-Cart 4.5.5 has a CloudSearch 1.1.0 - exactly the same version you installed some time ago.

I would like to encourage everyone doing upgrades of CloudSearch connector modules to first check this thread (notifications of the new versions will always be there). The situation is as follows. If you downloaded module distribution from your file area and/or cloudsearch.x-cart.com and installed it in place of your built-in module (in case you had one) then you just don't need to upgrade CS using X-Cart upgrade packs. Probably you already have the newest version. If not, then re-install it from the file area as you did it before.

I understand that this additional check can be somewhat inconvenient, but it allows for me to create CloudSearch module packs separately (and possibly more frequently) from X-Cart upgrades. I hope that this is a fairly good reason to do so.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Nikita,
I think the version that must be used is the version that came with 4.5.5 if you want the upgrade to go without warnings, yes?

We all appreciate the new module packs that you provide -- and not having to time it out to xcart upgrade cycles is better for everyone. Thank you.

HOWEVER -- once x-cart says, "version 4.5.5 is now released" the latest module pack should have the identical files as the latest x-cart. I think.

The issue here is versioning and copyright notices, NOT the code (which is, obviously, identical).

What hung up the upgrade script was the copyright notices and versioning.

I hate to rant in your thread -- your mod just happened to be the first on the list!

Thanks,
J

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Nikita,

I re-read what you wrote, and I need to point out that the X-Cart upgrade packs do not give the option of including CloudSearch (or not). We have no option.
At least for the 4.5.4 to 4.5.5 goldplus upgrade pack, there is no option.
The "latest" CloudSearch (1.1.0) is bundled in the 4.5.5 upgrade, however it has different headers and copyright vs. the 1.1.0 distribution.

THIS is what I was complaining about. The x-cart engineer that assembled the 4.5.5 distribution made CHANGES to the CloudSearch files without changing the module distributive. This makes for two versions (even though the code is identical) but you understand what happened.

Multiply this by 2800 files. Fun, huh?

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Jeremy,

Talking about CloudSearch specifically I guess that I could update file area distributions just after every X-Cart release.

However I think that this will not always solve the problem. One can just forget to update his/her CloudSearch files before doing the upgrade. Not to mention that we will need to introduce a new version number of CloudSearch for that step.

If we can work out a reasonable solution that will help upgrading CloudSearch modules more flawlessly, I will be glad to discuss it.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Nikita,

I think all X-Cart modules - IF THEY ARE BUNDLED with X-Cart, need to follow identical file naming and versioning conventions.

There should only be one set of "the latest version" files.

In the case of a module that is available without X-cart as well as bundled with X-Cart, it is then tricky -- since for those of us who upgraded THIS module as soon as you released it, our version is "the latest" - but the versioning for X-Cart supersedes the versioning of the module, even thought the code is identical.

Shouldn't the file version be sufficient, and if there is an omission (leaving the words, "All Rights Reserved" off the module's files) - then you roll out version 1.1.1 to solve this "omission" ?

Then, everyone has version 1.1.1 - and version 1.1.1 is also the version in the x-cart distro. Done. What is pigheaded by "X-Cart" is that the main distro appears to have changed internal versioning just because it can. If that happens, then you have to rename your individual mod files to be in sync. SO then whatever is in the mod's file area is identical to the latest distribution from X-Cart.

That's the danger/benefit of the bundle!

The current CloudSearch files should have become vers 1.1.1 to match the "changes" that the 4.5.5. distribution made -- and the version in 4.5.5 should be identical.

Yes, complicated, but that's what spreadsheets are for, right?

You can also make a note that 1.1.1 is identical to 1.1.0, except for copyright notice... so that people don't feel the need to upgrade. Yes? But the version inside the 4.5.5 distro should have been called, 1.1.1, yes? SO now it's a mess. Hopefully you guys will sort this for the next time.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Thank you for your suggestion, however I don't think that's really a good idea - to have another 1.1.1 which is just like 1.1.0 but is built-in with X-Cart. It doesn't actually solve the problem that it tries to solve, instead it introduces another.

What I'd like to note here is that the problem of updating X-Cart module from multiple sources/mixed states can hardly be solved automatically in general. If you update one thing from one source you are changing it's state and another update which expects the system be in some specific state fails. However it is not a big problem for CloudSearch module (taking into account benefits of having a possibility to upgrade it separately from X-Cart installation), because there are very simple installation instructions:

For now the latest version of CloudSearch is 1.1.0. If you are an owner of the older version you can download the new version here http://cloudsearch.x-cart.com/static/cloudsearch-xcart.tgz (or from file area, or get it from latest X-Cart distribution - 4.5.5 - they all are identical). And just overwrite the files you already have. That's it. You now have CloudSearch 1.1.0. And don't forget to look into this thread - new version announcements will be here :-)

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Thank you for this Nikita, I have changed it is both locations (in the version check) yet I still have had no success (it still searched the descriptions) .

I have installed the the demo on a 4.3.2 site and have noticed that it is a touch slow to initialise when the page is first loaded - also the search results background is transparent (in IE so it's hard to see what the results are)

I'll have a dig around see see if another element is causing this to load slowly but can you confirm it works in IE?

Thanks in advance.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

First, you need to wait for the next re-indexation to see changes.

The demo site does work on IE 7-10, could you please send me a link (via PM) to your site so I could have a look?

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Thanks I thought I may have to wait for the changes, I have also sent you a PM.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

This is a nice mod, I did the trial for 30 days. However, my shop has 147 products in it and the jump from $59 for 100 products to $249 for 5000 products is too steep and makes no sense. You need something in-between, otherwise count me out.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Hi Everyone,

As a result of working on BBM_'s request, a bug in IE was fixed, CloudSearch module for X-Cart 4.1.x-4.3.x updated to 1.1.1 (owners of newer X-Carts are not affected). No other features was added to it, it is just a maintenance release.

Answering to all users having the similar question as kevinrm had, I would like to state that we're not going to charge $249 from users having slightly more than 100 products. I encourage all clients having slightly higher amount of products than the plan they would like to use allows, to contact me or post a ticket in HelpDesk. We will make a discount :)

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

I just would like to say a special thank you to Nikita who fixed this bug so promptly for us and assisted us with a quick customisation.

Excellent support - thank you :D

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

i'm trying cloud search and it is very powerful, but it misses (or i don't know how to do) a VERY important feature for me.

i WANT to "pilot" search result, i'm a merchant and search could be a powerful way to guide customer.

search engine is very powerful but it is too "honest"

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Thank you for your feedback. Do you mean you need a way to promote some products (categories, brands, pages?) to users entering specific search queries? This sounds to me like an interesting feature, let's discuss it.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

yes i think it's the most important feature.

i sell food supplements, if a customer search a specific product, ok search must show it as first result, but if he search a generic keyword (i.e. fat burners) i wish to have the option to show him what i want show.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Not sure how you separate specific product from generic keyword (CloudSearch goes far beyond from mere 1:1 product name matching).

Anyway you should understand that in order to include such a feature into the main CloudSearch distribution, it should be generally useful, not only suit your particular use cases.

Another option is to take advantage of our custom development service. This option will take much less time to make this feature available to you since I already have other interesting features to be included in the next release.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

we are merchants, not a public bilbioteque which need a mere "honest" search.

search MUST be first of all, a powerful marketing tool.

if a customer searches "IPHONE" ok search must shows related items, but if the customer search "smartphone" i want decide what to show to customer.

more the keyword is generic higher should be the option to pilot customer choice.

BTW: due my cloudsearch hates me and always shows the less important (and less sold) items in my store :-( , where i can find some documentation on how cloudsearch works, in order to improve product description?

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Thank you for clarifying your point. This feature is still being considered as a candidate, I will be able to give a more specific answer after I finish work on the upcoming release (it will include CloudSearch admin area dashboard and search statistics).

Other CloudSearch users are more than welcome to give their feedback on if it is valuable and useful feature for them.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

As a merchant, I want to help my customers find the most appropriate item for their search as well -- but I believe good content is most important. And cloudsearch will return results based on content.

I use static pages with links to specific targeted products, as well as category page content. This is in addition to product detail pages.

We can't depend on our customers using search - but when they do, I am very satisfied with cloudsearch.

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

i think the results should be ordered from bestsellers/page views of product from search query, i believe this information is already stored in the database and should be used to display the most relevant results

Re: CloudSearch service for X-Cart has been released
 

Thank you guys for your comments.

I'm going to introduce the new release of CloudSearch (1.2.0), and I see three reasons why it is an important release. First, it finally has secure admin area dashboard. I think it is a good foundation for future versions since it allows to easily introduce new configuration options and even interfaces without modifying connector code. CloudSearch module settings go cloud too, in other words :) Second, this dashboard will show some general information about your account, products in the search index and other info. It should help new users to figure out what's what. Last but not least, hopefully search results statistics will make CloudSearch a useful tool to see what your customers are searching for. It shows top search queries along with the searches that were issued by customers frequently, but did not return anything.

Please see this demo screenshot to get an idea of how it will look like. Please note that we don't have much statistics data yet (it started gathering less than a day ago).

Installation instructions. Extract the archive and copy the files over your existing (please pay attention to your modified css, back it up if you have one). Then run the install-cloudsearch.php installer, clear X-Cart's cache and that's all there is to it. You should see the dashboard at the module settings page.

You can get the module distribution in the file area or via this link. Please note that it is only available for 4.4.x-4.5.x at the moment. Version for older X-Cart editions will be available shortly.