Initially, the mall was designed to manage the creation of new database tables to facilitate each new store being created. The new store name was used as a prefix for the new table set. This has been replaced by the store ID number which is internally generated.

This gives a much higher level of security, and removes a bug in the store creation process which was exploited. SQL injection has been removed, and the admin management tool has been improved to ensure security for individual shop vendors.

Since every business has unique needs and characteristics, w have developed the mall system to be able to use various business models.  The retail business model comes with the default mall system installation at no charge.

Other business models will be offered for sites which require different solutions once the initial mall release has gone through the finial debugging stage.  The oscMall will support restaurant, wholesale and tourism based shops.  All can run in the mall at the same time and will give your mall the flexability to cater to many different businesses

If you are looking to offer a different service or need a business model customized, we are here to deal with this.   Since this is the first release of this feature, we will continue further development to stream line the logic, and minor upgrades will occur.  

With  many features built specifically by us for each business model, this  feature will add flexability for your mall not found in other mall systems.

Now people purchasing from the mall will be able to have products from various vendors in the cart at the same time.   Each vendor  still retains the ability to manage their own shipping and payment systems, but now the customer will loop though each vendor's payment system during checkout. 

This feature at present is always on, but in the future the shared cart system will be a feature which can be switched on or off. This shared cart system will give  your mall the functionality to allow your vendors to set up stores  with only one item, or an entire online market. 

With a bidding system also planned, additional  revenue methods will  be available to mall owners.  This was a suggestion given  to us by users.  We want the mall to work for you and for you  to have the functionality you need.

Initially developed by SystemsManager Technologies, our system has given many businesses and people the ability to add in their own layout with ease to their osCommerce site. The basics of this template system is used by many other "Loaded" systems out there and is still one of the most popular osCommerce modifications used today.

We have cleaned up our template system even further, and still allow for any and all shops to maintain their own unique look for their shop. This feature can be turned on or off by the mall admin for greater control of the system.  Since we are following the osCommerce MileStone Releases, we have stopped any further development on our template system and have chosen to use the system osCommerce is developing in the next release of the oscMall System (version 5).

We have completely overhauled the initial osCommerce language system, to have a more user friendly tool with 99% of the text placed into a  database table.  This means that for just about any text on the site, you can go to our language tool and make your required changes.

Changes made in this manner will take affect across the site. This multi-language system is installed and maintained with minimal technical expertise needed, and a quick look in our forums will help answer any questions regarding this process.

• Our system comes with a WYSIWYG text editing system. This language system creates a powerful tool for store admins.
• Comes with a language system that is customizable for all shops if the mall admin wants to turn on this feature. Contains the functionality for each store to manage their own site text, making each store truly unique.
• Comes with a dynamic page creation system which allows you to add in any new content pages to the site with ease.
• Comes with English as standard language install.
• Will soon support  Danish, Russian and German languages

We have changed the internal storage  system for products, and now use one  table for the product storage.  This  has enabled a mall wide search feature which was asked for again  and again by our users.   So we have set up the system  for a mall wide search. 

This is an initial release and  may need some refinement.  The search can be broad or narrow  and will allow for products from all vendors to be listed.  The use of one product category listing  for all vendors is now in place.  The store category listing  system will become an optional feature.   Plans  are to use the optional individual product category box listing for sites that use separate cart systems, verses the single category listing for  shared cart sites.
        

• Reduced number of tables created on each instance of  new shop
• CVS tree at Source  Forge will be maintained to manage version and bug fixes for version.
• Several contributions have been modified to work with the oscMall ™ system, which will be freely available for download.
• Shop rental system in place, to offer the sale of shops to vendors  (recurring billing not  supported at this time).
• Sales tracker for the mall admin (planned use is to charge shop vendors a percentage of the sales) is being worked on.
• Limit list products on various shop rentals (ie vendor can list up to 10  products only or whatever it is set to).
• e-book for the Mall owner functionality/operation of the oscMall ™ System (coming soon).
• e-book documentation on the management of an individual shop, written for  the novice e-commerce store owner (coming soon).

Support for the oscMall can be found at our forums
Download the oscMall  System at our Download Site