iOS Is this even possible?

[tszwarn]

Hi,

My knowledge on coding is extremely poor and need one of you geniuses to tell me if this is achievable.

Could it be possible link the stock from multiple retail stores to one database so you could search for items from all different stores stock list via a app?

How hard would this be to do?

Would very much appreciate the help!

Many thanks,
Tessa

 

[dejo]

Could it be possible link the stock from multiple retail stores to one database so you could search for items from all different stores stock list via a app?

I believe an app like this is possible.

How hard would this be to do?

I believe an app like this would be very hard to make, since I don't think most retail stores make it easy for third-parties to access their inventories.

 

[tszwarn]

Thank you for your responses! Say I could gain permission, would the actual coding of this be difficult?

Many thanks
Tessa

 

[JohnsonK]

It depends, who is going to code it?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Thank you for your responses! Say I could gain permission, would the actual coding of this be difficult?

Many thanks
Tessa

If you had permission, they'd provide you with an API that would make this easy.

But since you probably won't be given permission, you'll need to find a way to scrape the data you want off of their website. Which is doable, but a PITA.

 

[1458279]

If this is something like Google shopping where you can see stores that have an item, except you would add in stock or not... then yes it can be done.

Making one database would be near undoable because you'd have a bunch of retailers having to update a system they don't own. This would open all kinds of security issues as well as performance concerns.

If this is a price compare + in stock, you could setup each retailer with some web based service that will tap into their database and do a stock check, then report back.

IIRC, Apple has a sample project to connect to their server and get the top apps and display them. This could be the same logic as finding if something is in stock or not. Storing that information in one database for several retailers sounds like a nightmare in many ways.