Overview
cProductInfo allows an application to find and use standardized product information from many companies.
Executive Summary
cProductInfo allows you to turn barcodes into meaningful information. Using
some code that we give away in Excel, MS Access, and JavaScript, your company
can access the information associated with these barcodes. It only takes
"clicking", via a program, on two links to get the data Your costs are kept low by our use of common standards for web based programming:
TCP/IP, HTTP, and XML. We also maintain an open standard format for product
descriptions that can include everything from a basic description to Material
Safety Data Sheets. We even assist your information technology staff by
providing working code examples that they may copy and freely modify. cProductInfo
provides accurate, cost-effective product information for your barcodes and
migrate seamlessly to new technologies like RFID.
The remainder of the documentation is oriented towards the more technically
inclined.
Technical Overview
cProductInfo stores where to get product information in our Product
Directory. You send a Directory Request to http://www.cProductInfo.com/directory.asp
and it will send a Directory Reply telling you where to get the barcode
information for each product. You just follow the links provided by the
directory and you get the information for every barcode. Although the equivalent
of two clicks on links in a browser, this takes 4 messages, each of them very
simple.
Application
The application can be any website, computer program, database, or even an Excel spreadsheet.
The application initiates a directory request, receives the reply, requests the product information, and receives the product information.
We have created an example application webpage that shows the entire process.
This example is written in JavaScript and uses
frames to download webpages via the URLs.
Messages
Messages allow the application to talk with the cProductInfo server and the product information website.
The messages use standard HTTP to transmit GET/POST messages, some of which contain XML. There are 4 messages:
Directory Request,
Directory Reply,
Product Request, and
Product Reply.
cProductInfo
The cProductInfo website stores the barcode directory.
We provide ShopWizard data for barcodes that do not yet provide their own data.
You may also host your product information on the cProductInfo website to reduce the traffic on your server.
Product Information Website
The product information website provides the XML files describing each of your products.
This website can be hosted on your own server, hosted on the cProductInfo server, or hosted on any third party server.
These pages may be served from CGI, ASP, or just HTML. Currently we use ShopWizard data to provide product information.
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