Now that we have product and inventory data on our website, we can start to take orders. The key points for this process are noted as follows:
Customers visit the website and place orders for merchandise.
The orders are stored in the website system and, on an hourly basis, all new orders are extracted to an XML file. Order extract files are time-stamped to make the filename unique and so that we can determine which is the newest or oldest file. A sample of the order extract is as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <ORDERS> <ORDER ID="10" ORDER_DATE="06/06/12"> <DELIVERY_ADDRESS> <TITLE>Mr</TITLE> <FIRST_NAME>James</FIRST_NAME> <LAST_NAME>Smith</LAST_NAME> <ADDRESS1>123 North Street</ADDRESS1> <ADDRESS2>Greenhills</ADDRESS2> <CITY>London</CITY> <POSTCODE>W1 2RD</POSTCODE> <COUNTRY>UK</COUNTRY...