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Customization
Customization is what makes your
shopping cart unique by leveraging your creativity to provide the best
shopping experience for your customers. ezStore123 was designed from the
ground up with customization in mind. Hard decisions had to be made
between flexibility and complexity, but we strived to keep a good balance
between these apparently irreconcilable concepts.
General
Customization:
The shopping cart customization
mechanism addresses the VARs' needs to create sophisticated applications
or to closely match a site 'look and feel' without modifications to the
shopping cart core functionality. In
particular, this mechanism allow insertion of 'left and/or right side bars
and/or or header/footer elements. This
system also allows implementation of 'pseudo-frames' via table
definitions.
This mechanism is implemented via two include files:
- CUHeader.inc:
Contains the header HTML or ASP code.
- CUFooter.inc:
Contains the footer HTML or ASP code.
Although
the names 'header' and 'footer' normally invoke screen elements being
displayed at the top and the bottom of the screen, these files can be
set-up to actually display screen elements to the right or left of the
shopping cart pages.
Important:
If HTML tables are used in the header and footer, the header must end
with a <td> tag and the footer must start with and </td> tag
in order to protect the functionality of the shopping cart pages.
In other words, the shopping cart will 'live' in a the table cell opened
by CUHeader.inc and closed by CUFooter.inc.
'CUHeader.inc'
and 'CUFooter.inc' must reside in the web site root directory. Sample
headers and footers are supplied with the application. The include files
are guaranteed to apply consistently throughout the shopping cart pages.
HTML syntax errors in headers and footers may affect the application
functionality.
Since headers and footers are included in the shopping cart pages, they
automatically inherit all the macro-definitions present in the
configuration file (_sysdefs.ASP) such as application default font,
company name, etc… In order
to use those values, you must use the appropriate ASP syntax as
illustrated below:
a)
<%=Response.Write(AppFont)%>
b)
<%=AppFont%>
Customization
include files may be used in combination with framesets if needed.
If no customization is needed, simply put an HTML comment (example
<!-- comment -->)
in lieu of HTML code in the CUHeader.inc and CUFooter.inc files. The files
must exist or errors will occur.
Toolbar
Customization:
All shopping cart functions display a standard
navigation bar containing the following items:
- Home:
Provides a link back to the main page.
- Search:
Allows searching products by keyword.
- Catalog:
Catalog/Class/Product pages.
- View
Cart:
View the shopping cart's contents if applicable.
- Check
Out:
Go to check out (if items are already in the cart).
The
system automatically manages the ON/OFF state for each button according to
application context. The shopping cart toolbar buttons can be customized
to match the 'look and feel' of your web site. Simply create the required
images and save them following the naming convention above in the /ezstore123/images
directory.
You must respect the naming convention and file location used by
ezStore123 ™ otherwise the system will not be able to find and display
the images.
'Home'
Button:
- HeaderHomeON.gif
- HeaderHome.gif
'Search'
Button:
- HeaderSearchON.gif
- HeaderSearch.gif
'Catalog'
Button:
- HeaderCatalogON.gif
- HeaderCatalog.gif
'View
Cart' Button:
- HeaderViewCartON.gif
- HeaderViewCart.gif
'Check
Out' Button:
- HeaderCheckoutON.gif
- HeaderCheckout.gif
Additional
buttons or other items can be added to the navigation bar by supplying the
appropriate HTML code in the 'AppToolBarExtension' global variable
(see System
Configuration).
Items are always added to the right of the standard tool bar.
How-to:
The shopping cart standard navigation menu is displayed in a table of one
row.
The value of 'AppTooBarExtension' is automatically expanded by the
shopping cart pages at run-time.
In order to add additional items, provide the HTML code for one or more
table cells in the 'AppToolBarExtension' variable in the _sysdefs.asp
configuration file.
Example:
| AppToolBarExtension="<td><a
href=/myPage.htm><img
src=/images/mybutton.gif></td>" |
You
may define as many additional table cells ('<td>...</td>')
as needed.
Tip: To make the tool-bar extend across the entire screen, use the
'width=100%' tag when defining the right-most table cell, then provide a
cell background of the appropriate color (example: <td width=100%
bgcolor=black>...).
Important:
When defining the add-on tool-bar button(s), please make sure to
follow the rules below:
1. Tag definition:
Tags must be defined as a valid VB/ASP string (delimited with
double-quotes).
2. Tag positioning:
The variable must be defined on one line. Do not use line-continuation
syntax.
3. Tag constraints:
It is illegal to use double-quotes within the tags. You may use
Chr(34) and string concatenation commands if necessary.
Failure to follow the rules above will cause run-time errors and may
disable the shopping cart. Direct manipulation of configuration parameters
must be performed only by trained personnel familiar with ezStore123
integration and IIS/ASP.
Support policy:
Support calls to //digital things originating as a result of direct
manipulation of configuration parameters are not covered by our free
support policy and will be billed at a rate of $85/hour with 1/2 hour
increments and a minimum of one full hour.
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