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Connecting
To The Shopping Cart
This section addresses the actual connection of the
shopping cart to the web site.
ezStore123 makes the task easy with a limited amount of entry points
activating the shopping cart from a simple text or image hyperlink. In
most cases, you need only specify the name of the entry point script in
a hyperlink.
The shopping cart modules will automatically use the defaults provided in
the configuration file. You can also override these defaults as needed
(see configuration file for parameter syntax).
Pre-Requisites:
This document assumes that the ezStore123 software has been installed
and can communicate with the database server.
Installation and connection issues are normally handled by the
Service Provider.
The shopping cart functions can be accessed directly of through a
frameset definition page that can be customized to your application. In
either case, the shopping cart features extensive customization options
allowing you to match it to the 'look and feel' of you web site.
Note that all entry point functions assume that a virtual folder called
'ezstore123' has been defined under the web site's 'root' folder. The
virtual folder must be addressable as 'root/ezstore123' .It is not
important where the folder is physically located on the server.
It is very important, however, not to set the properties of the virtual folder
as 'IIS application' as this will affect the way the
transaction states are handled through cookies. IIS regards applications
as separate domains and therefore will keep a separate set of session cookies for
every application defined. This might lead to loss of
transaction state as the user moves between the domains. ezStore123
automatically handles transitions from HTTP to HTTPS domains and maintains
the transaction state appropriately in this case.
Entry Points:
The following section addresses the actual connection to shopping cart
functions.
It is presented as a Q&A session.
Q1: How can I give my users a fast, low-bandwidth method to access the
product catalog?
Q2: How do I display the product full catalog?
A: Use DTCatalogList.asp:
The catalog listing function
displays all active product categories (classes). The catalog listing page
can in turn display product class listings.
It also displays the standard navigation bar, allowing the user to
quickly access various system areas.
In order to activate this function, simply place a link on your web site
pointing to:
/ezStore123/DTCatalogList.asp
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTCatalogList.asp>Go
Shopping</a>
Image link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTCatalogList.asp><img src=GoShopping.gif></a>
The catalog list display
behavior is controlled by the AppCatalogParams
system definition.
Q: How do I display the store product categories and allow category
drill-down?
A: Use DTClassList.asp:
The category listing function
displays all active product categories (classes) and allows sub-category
'drill-down'. When categories associated with products are encountered,
the category list will automatically call the product listing function.
The category list function uses the AppCatalogList parameters as default.
It also displays the standard navigation bar, allowing the user to
quickly access various system areas.
In order to activate this function, simply place a link on your web site
pointing to:
/ezStore123/DTClassList.asp
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTClassList.asp>Go
Shopping</a>
Image link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTClassList.asp><img src=GoShopping.gif></a>
The category list display behavior is
controlled by the AppCatalogParams
system definition.
Q: How do I display products from a specific category?
A: Use DTProductList.asp:
Syntax:
DTProductList.asp?[parameter_list]
Example:
ezStore123/DTProductList.asp?p=3_1_1_0_0_0_123
The parameter list is a string of values delimited by an underscore character.
Value 1: Number of products to display across the page (valid values: 1 to N, recommended values 1 to 4).
Value 2: 1=Show product category image (if defined), 0=Do not show.
Value 3: 1=Show product image (if defined), 0=Do not show.
Value 4: 1=Show first few words of product description (Gold/Platinum: show "teaser" text), 0=Do not show.
Value 5: 1=Show product SKU, 0=Do not show.
Value 6: 1=Display check box for multiple product selection, 0=Display a "Buy" button for each product.
Value 7: Product Category ID to display.
Note: If no parameters are defined:
The module will attempt to read a category ID from the HTML form header
and will use the default display settings from the shopping cart configuration file. If no valid category ID is found, the module will list all product categories and associated products.
The listing will be paginated according to system settings.
The product listing function
displays all active products for a given category (if specified) or all
products. The product listing page can in turn display product class
listings. It also displays
the standard navigation bar, allowing the user to quickly access various
system areas. In order to activate this
function, simply place a link on your web site pointing to:
/ezStore123/DTProductList.asp
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTProductList.asp?p=3_1_1_0_0_0_123>Go
Shopping</a>
Image link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTProductList.asp?p=3_1_1_0_0_0_123><img
src=GoShopping.gif></a>
Note that you must provide a display option parameter ending with
the category ID in order to display a single category. By default or if a
category ID of 0 is provided, the function will display all categories and
all products.
The product list display
behavior is controlled by the AppListParams
system definition.
Q1:
How can I give my users a fast, low-bandwidth method way to look at the products?
Q2: How do I display an A-Z product list?
A: Use DTProductAtoZList.asp:
The product listing function displays all active products in
alphabetical order with first letter headers for easy identication.
It also displays the standard navigation bar, allowing the user to
quickly access various system areas. In
order to activate this function, simply place a link on your web site
pointing to:
/ezStore123/DTProductAtoZList.asp
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTProductAtoZList.asp>Products
A to Z</a>
Image link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTProductAtoZList.asp><img src=ProductsAtoZ.gif></a>
Note: DTProductAtoZList.asp does not display product thumbnails as
it it designed for high-speed & low-bandwidth usage. Hyperlinks to
product detail pages are provided so that selected items can be purchased.
The product A to Z list display
behavior is controlled by the AppListParams
system definition.
In version 3.x and higher, the A to Z listing can also be used to display
the contents of a specific product category. This is accomplished by
specifying a category listing parameter using the same syntax as product
listings (see above).
Example:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTProductAtoZList.asp?p=2_1_1_0_0_0_999>Products
A to Z</a>
Note that the category-specific
control parameters (2 thru 6) are ignored and only the first and last
parameters (number of columns and category ID) are used. All parameters
must still be supplied.
Q: How do I display a list of the products currently on sale?
A: Use DTPromotionList.asp:
The promotion listing function
displays all active promotions in the systems.
It also displays the standard navigation bar, allowing the user to
quickly access various system areas.
In order to activate this function, simply place a link on your web site
pointing to:
/ezStore123/DTPromotionList.asp
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTPromotionList.asp>Our
Promotions</a>
Image link:
<a href=/ezStore123/DTPromotionList.asp><img src=OurPromos.gif></a>
The promotion list display
behavior is controlled by the AppListParams
system definition.
Q:
How can I give my customers a way to check on the status of their orders?
A: Use DTGetLogin.asp:
This entry point allows the customers having purchased from the web
site in the past to log on using their e-mail address and the
system-assigned password. Users can change the password as desired. This
function is capable of displaying the order status of the orders placed in
the last AppShowHistory
days. This function is also used directly by the shopping cart when a
returning user places a new order. DTGetLogin.asp
also displays the standard navigation bar, allowing the user to quickly
access various system areas. In order
to activate this function, simply place a link on your web site pointing
to:
/ezStore123/DTGetLogin.asp
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=https://www.yoursite.com/ezStore123/DTGetLogin.asp>Login</a>
Image link:
<a href=https://www.yoursite.com/ezStore123/DTGetLogin.asp><img
src=Login.gif></a>
Note that DTGetLogin.asp provides secure login through SSL.
To force display of the order history upon successful login, you
must provide 2 parameters:
- target: indicates the URL of the page to go to after successful login.
This can be any page on the web site, preferably one of the product
listing pages of the shopping cart.
- showHistory (set to 1).
Example:
< a href=https://www.yoursite.com/ezStore123/DTGetLogin.asp?target=/index.htm&showHistory=1>Login</a>
The tag must be defined on one
line (it might wrap on this page based on your browser or screen
settings).
Q1 How
can I provide a way to sell a product from a page not provided by the
shopping cart?
Q2: How can I provide a way to sell a product from a page not residing on my
web site?
A:
Use an EZLink:
The EZLink ® feature allows selling
individual (or multiple) items from any page on the web site without
loading a full product listing. It
provides a 'short-cut' into the shopping cart. 'EZLinks' must be
implemented as ASP pages (they use an ASP library) or as HTML pages when
the server is set-up to process HTML as ASP (contact your system
administrator).
The ezStore123 ™ Admin Center provides the needed 'EZLink' code in
the 'Product Edit' screen. Copy the
code and paste it into your page at the desired location and EZLink ®
does the rest.
Example:
<html>
<body>
...
<!-- #include virtual="/ezstore123/_DTEZLink.asp" -->
<%=EZLink "SKU001", 0%>
...
</body>
</html>
This
provides an EZLink to product SKU 'SKU001'.
The second parameter determines how the EZLink will display the
product image, text or price. Valid values are:
0: Header + Description + Price + Quantity + Buy Button.
1: No header, Description + Price + Quantity + Buy Button.
2: No header, Price + Quantity + Buy Button.
3: No header, Price + Buy Button (quantity defaults to 1).
11: Image, text, Price + Quantity + Buy Button.
Note
that if the first parameter is null or not supplied, EZLink will use the
page's 'local path' as parameter and attempt to match the file with one
the product 'details' page defined in the product database.
If the match is successful, the EZLink will be displayed, otherwise
a message prompting to user to order the item from the catalog page will
be displayed. This feature
provides more flexibility when creating product 'details' pages and also
allows pages retrieved from a 'site search' to turn automatically into
'sell pages' without additional programming.
Q1:
How can I provide a way to sell a product from a page not residing on my web
site?
Q2: How can I provide a way to sell a product from a page not provided by the
shopping cart?
A: Use DTProductZoom.asp:
DTProductZoom.asp builds a product detail page in real time and is
used by the shopping cart listing functions, but the script can also be
used by itself. To do so, set up a text or image hyperlink on the
referring site as follows:
Examples:
Text link:
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/ezstore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=99>
Buy
this!
</a>
or
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/ezstore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productKey=SKU001>
Buy
this!
</a>
Image link:
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/ezstore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=99>
<img
src=product.gif>
</a>
or
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/ezstore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productKey=SKU001>
<img
src=product.gif>
</a>
Note that you can pass either the product ID (in productID) or the product
SKU (in productKey). The
product IDs are listed next to the product name in the product listing
available in the admin center.
Overriding Domain Referral:
You may also provide a 'referrer override' for this product by supplying a
'TXREFID' parameter. This enables referrals from non-domain pages or
documents such as e-mails, e-books or any document supporting hyperlinks.
Q1: How can I pass a coupon ID directly to the shopping cart pages so
that the coupon is automatically applied to the order?
This is accomplished by passing a TXCOUPONID variable via an
hyperlink to any shopping cart entry point. DTProductZoom.asp is used in
this example but the format is the same for all other entry points.
Text link:
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/ezstore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=99&txcouponid=MYCOUPON>
Buy
this!
</a>
Image link:
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/ezstore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=99&txcouponid=MYCOUPON>
<img
src=product.gif>
</a>
This functionality is available only for version 2.2 or higher. Note that
TXCOUPONID must be a coupon code, not the coupon name or system ID.
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