Magento XMLConnect...what is it and how can I use it?

magento magento-1.5
BrianVPS picture BrianVPS · Oct 27, 2011 · Viewed 11.2k times · Source

Can someone explain what the XMLConnect extension is and what it is used for? I know that in general it can be used to develop a mobile friendly site, but that's about as far as I've gotten with my Google searches. Does anyone have experience working with this extension and can provide some details and/or examples?

Thanks!

Answer

Alan Storm picture Alan Storm · Oct 27, 2011

XMLConnect is, essentially, an XML service. One way to think of a "normal" Magento website is

  • Backend code adds things to carts, fetches products from database, etc.
  • Execution is handed off to the layout system
  • Layout system makes HTML/Javascript/CSS

Magento has a product called Magento Mobile, which lets you create an iPhone or Android application to sell products from your Magento system. Magento Mobile works something like this

  • Backend code add things to carts, fetches products from databases, etc.
  • Execution is handed off to an XML rendering system
  • XML is sent back to the phone
  • The binary application sitting on the phone processes the XML and makes the pixels on the phone look and act like a store

XMLConnect is the module that lets Magento do this. It creates XML requests/responses.

Additional Reading: Develop your own Magento mobile application

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