This WebShop program CD is equipped with a new E-Commerce template file, Mediumstore.ctm.

Even if you elect not to use Mediumstore.ctm, this read-me file will help you with your WebShop e-commerce project.

Along with the printed and digital documentation included with WebShop, this file is designed to help you get off to a good start. For many users, that means importing an existing product database. Specifically, page 7-7 of the E-Commerce Guide provides instructions on importing an existing Microsoft Access database file into an E-Commerce template.

In the E-Commerce Guide, 3 product categories and 12 product fields are referenced. The new template Mediumstore.ctm features 4 distinct categories and 20 product fields. Other than the increase in categories and product fields, the instructions in the printed guide and online help files will apply to this new template.

Basic Instructions

USE THESE BOOKMARKS TO HELP YOU MOVE FROM ONE TOPIC TO ANOTHER.

TOPICS COVERED BY THIS FILE:

Trademark Notice
E-Commerce templates
Feel Free To Customize
Previewing Dynamic Pages
What Are Dynamic Pages?
Making Sure the Dynamic Pages Function Correctly
Non-Programmers Welcome
Solving Sendmail
Registering SendMAX
After You Upload Your Site
Adminstration Pages
Login and Password Required
Administering Your Web Store
Changing Your Password
Replacing The Buy Button
New Important Database Import Information
 
 

Trademark Notice and Disclaimer:

All product names, trademarks or trademarked images contained in this template are trademarks of their respective owners. They are used in this template in an editorial and educational fashion only. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement of, by, or any other affiliation with Boomerang Software, Inc.

E-Commerce templates - Required for any E-Commerce Web site.
If you want to set up an online store, only a template which includes the E-commerce wizard will suffice. This template includes the E-Commerce wizard. Other WebShop templates can be used for setting up non E-commerce Web sites.

Feel Free To Customize
This template file is meant to be customized by you to serve your needs. All types of Web pages are used to create this template. You can add new pages of your own. Learn the important links so that your online customers will be able to click to the pages where your product(s) can be ordered.

Previewing Dynamic Pages
Unlike Web pages you may have created in the past, the Dynamic pages created by WebShop cannot be "previewed" by any of the browsers on your PC. Once you have uploaded the WebShop files to a Web server, you will be able to test out all of the Dynamic pages and the links on them.

What Are Dynamic Pages?
These Dynamic pages have a file extension of .asp (ie, "Active Server Pages") and contain conditional HTML instructions for the Web server that allow for different browser input from one Web visitor to another. Active Server Page technology was developed by Microsoft Corporation. Once your site is uploaded, these ASPs are produced "dynamically" by the Web server depending on the input from a given visitor.

Making Sure the Dynamic Pages Function Correctly
The ASP technology used in WebShop was developed by Microsoft Corporation and requires that your Web site be hosted

1. Windows NT running Internet Information Server (IIS) or
2. Windows 95 running the Peer Web Server.

Solving "Send Mail"
Sending e-mail generated from Web site forms has traditionally been problematic due to errors surrounding the use of CGI scripts through an SMTP server. To solve this problem, Boomerang Software has developed an Active-X component that will contact the Mail server and send the mail correctly. This ActiveX component has been fully tested on Windows NT Servers running IIS.

Registering SendMAX, the Active-X Component
The Boomerang ActiveX component must be registered on the Web server hosting your Web site if you plan on using the Sendmail features incorporated in WebShop. Before you launch your WebShop Web site, make sure you contact your Web hosting provider/ISP.  Ask them to register the ActiveX component on the Web server hosting your Web site. You will need to send them the contents of the folder located on the WebShop program CD:

X:\Server Components\Send Mail

MailX.dll
Read Me.txt
Reg.bat
Unreg.bat

Follow these steps to register the Boomerang Software Active-X component:

1. Copy the Send Mail folder to your hard drive.
2. Send your Web hosting provider/ISP the folder by Email and ask them to run the Batch File Reg.bat.
3. They can unregister the ActiveX component by running the Batch File Unreg.bat.

After You Upload Your Internet Store:
After your Web store files are uploaded you will be able to administer your store using your browser. In other words, you will visit the site just like one of your customers then access a special password-protected area. You do not need to continually start up WebShop, update your Web site project then upload again.

Accessing Administration Pages

The pages enabling your administration of the Web store are separate from the Web pages your customers visit when they are shopping. Using a browser, there are two ways to access the administrative pages of your Web store:

1. Visit your store on the Internet, and locate the image hyper link located in the very (remote) lower right hand area of the Home page. For this template, the link is a small color image of a television. Click on this hyper link to access your Web site administrative pages. This image can be replaced by another image of your choosing. If you wish, you may run WebShop at a later date and remove the hyper link from your Home Page completely and use the following method for accessing your administrative pages:
2. From your Home page, look in the address or location line of your browser. You should see something like the following:

http://www.mystorename.com/Index.htm

1. Use your backspace key to delete "Index.htm."
2. Retain the first part of the URL: http://www.mystore.com/
3. Replace Index.htm with the following:
WebStore/Administration/Admin.htm

If your Internet store is a "sub-domain" site, such as http://www.uswebx.com/mystorename then your administration pages would be located as follows:

http://www.uswebx.com/mystorename/WebStore/Administration/Admin.htm

Login and Password Required
To enter to the administrative pages of your site, you will need to log in and enter your password. The login and password were determined when you initially registered your store. Do not let any strangers know this information - anyone could browse to your site and corrupt your files. Like any "brick and mortar" store, the security of your cyber store, as well as the information it contains is largely YOUR responsibility.

Administering Your Web Store:
When you enter the correct name and password, the SwitchBoard is displayed. From the SwitchBoard, you may select links to pages for modifying Company Info, Products and Product Categories, Shipping and Payment Methods, view Customers and Orders.

In the Company Info page, you may edit, add and delete the information details describing your company.

In the Edit Categories and Products page, you may enter new products, edit the properties of existing products, or delete them alltogether.

In the Edit Shipping Methods page, you may edit add and remove shipping methods and respective pricing.

In the Edit Payment Methods page, add, remove, change payment methods. Mention if the method uses credit card, in the check box.

In the View Customers and Orders page, you may view the customers registered at your store. If no customer has shopped in the store yet, you will see no customers listed. If there has been any sales activity, a table displays the customers' information. In the first cell there is a link to the page displaying the customer's order details.

For major overhauls of your Web store you should use WebShop, then upload the new site files to your Web server. It is up to you to decide which method of "updating" your Web site is more convenient.

Changing Your Password
The process of changing your password is not an easy one. Please start with a password that you can both remember and live with for an indefinite time period. Naturally, should you suspect a breach of security, you will be allowed to change the password.

Replacing the Buy Button:
The Buy Button is hard-coded into five separate locations in the WebShop E-Commerce module. If you decide you must replace the Buy Button image seen by your Internet shoppers, you must replace the Buy Button in each of the five locations. The first location is in the Dynamic page Products.asp. Follow these steps:

1. Open your Web project. Select Physical Layout. Locate the Web page Products.asp. in the WebStore folder. Double-click Products.asp. The Dynamic page opens in Edit mode, automatically opening in a dual-frame format. The left window contains the Dynamic Page control settings. You do NOT need to understand the control settings to complete this task. The right frame is grayed out. You may widen the Dynamic control window if it is too narrow.
2. In the Dynamic page control window, locate and select Click to Edit Products View at the bottom of the Dynamic control settings list. The right window immediately displays a table containing the Buy Button in the lower right cell.
3. Click once on the table to select it. Click once more on the cell containing the Buy Button.
4. Select Format > Object > Properties from the main menu or right-click and select Object > Properties from the drop-down menu. The Image Attributes dialog box appears.
5. In the Image Resources section, select Import. The Import dialog box appears.
6. Using the Look in section of the Import dialog box, browse to the drive or folder containing the image you wish to use for your Buy Button. Select the image and select OK. The Image Attributes dialog box re-appears, with the new image previewed (if the Preview image check box is checked). In the Image Resources section, the new image appears in the Existing Resources list, highlighted in gray, signifying its eligibility for use in your Web site project.
7. Select the new image filename. Immediately, it is highlighted in the active Windows color (blue is the default, though your system may differ). Click on OK. The Dynamic page Products.asp reappears, displaying the new image in the table, replacing the previous Buy Button image.

1. Remaining in Physical Layout, locate the Dynamic Web page SearchNow.asp. in the WebStore folder. Double-click to open the page in Edit mode, automatically opening in a dual-frame format. Again, the left window contains the Dynamic Page control settings, you do not need to understand them to complete this task and you may widen the Dynamic controls window if needed. The right frame is grayed out
2. Locate and select the control item Contains_Product Name. Immediately a table appears in the right frame displaying the Buy Button in the lower right hand cell.
3. Select the table by clicking once. Click once more to select the Buy Button.
4. Select Format > Object > Properties from the main menu or right-click and select Object > Properties from the drop-down menu. The Image Attributes dialog box appears.
5. 5. In the Existing Resources list box of the Image Resources section, select the filename of the image you just imported above. Click OK. The Buy Button has been replaced for Contains_Product Name. The Dynamic page SearchNow.asp reappears, displaying the new image in the table, replacing the previous Buy Button image.

Important New Database Import Information:

This template was released with more fields and increased database functionality after the printed User Guides had gone to press. You should still read the E-commerce Guide and the User Guide for guidance on features and proceduares. However, the following table displays the correct database import format for this template:

Refer to the User Guide, the Quick Start Guide, the E-Commerce Guide and the Boomerang Software Web Site for more documentation, FREE downloads  and support.

Good luck in your new Web venture!