Linking to your cart:
There are 2 ways you can link to your shopping cart pages.
The first is by linking to your shoppingcart start page. This is your table of contents for you as well as your clients. This page contains links to each of your cart pages, also valuable information about how to use the system, and a link to your "safe-shopping & privacy" policies.
To link to this page the format would be: http://gsgwebs.virtualis.com/your-user-name/cart.cgi
**note** in place of your-user-name above you should substitute whatever name was assigned to your company for the title of your cart directory. It usually matches your company name (or is an abbreviation of it). Look on your main Shoppingcart Administration page in the top section and you will find not only the link to your main cart page but your user-name as well.
The second way you can link to your shoppingcart is by linking directly to individual cart pages themselves. The method will depend on whether you are using our database driven cart or our Html driven cart. If you are not sure which type you have, email our Customer Support Staff and they will let you know.
Linking to a Database Driven Cart Page
To link to a database driven cart page, you will actually be linking to a Product Category, not an individual Html page (your pages are created dynamically). You will start with the base URL as described in the above example of linking to your main page, but you will add a few more items to the end of the URL.
Here is the format for the database cart:
http://gsgwebs.virtualis.com/your-user-name/cart.cgi?product=Category_Name&cart_id=
** Several things to note in the above example **
1) First step, in place of your-user-name above you should substitute your assigned user-name.
2) Next, there should be NO SPACES anywhere in the link. After "cart.cgi" you have a question mark and then "?product=".
3) Next, directly after the "?product=" you have the name of the category you would like a link to (remember no spaces, but capitals are ok).
4) Lastly, after your category name, you have an ampersand with cart_id and an equals sign "&cart_id=". MAKE SURE you put nothing after the equals sign, but make sure you include it!
Linking to a Html Driven Cart Page
To link to a Html driven cart page is similar to the above database link method. But in place of "product=" and a category, you will substitute in "page=" and then the name of the Html page (with the extension).
Here is the format for the Html cart:
http://gsgwebs.virtualis.com/your-user-name/cart.cgi?page=your_page.html&cart_id=
** Several things to note in the above example **
1) First step, in place of your-user-name above you should substitute your assigned user-name.
2) Next, there should be NO SPACES anywhere in the link. After "cart.cgi" you have a question mark and then "?page=".
3) Next, directly after the "?page=" you have the name of the Html product page you would like a link to (INCLUDING the extension ".html" or ".htm", just make sure it matches whatever page you have created).
4) Lastly, after your Html page name, you have an ampersand with cart_id and an equals sign "&cart_id=". MAKE SURE you put nothing after the equals sign, but make sure you include it!
Editing Your Shoppingcart Pages
We have added a File Management System to give you full control over the look and feel of your shoppingcart. With our system you can easily accomplish the following tasks:
We only allow 1 MB of space for our standard Html driven carts. In your File Manager you will see the remaining space you have left. Use it wisely. We DO NOT allow storage of any other files besides your cart-related or product-related material. If you run out of space contact Customer Support, and we will arrange it for you.
The Directory Structure:
The directory structure of the cart must remain exactly how we installed it. If you delete or rename any files or folders, your cart will not function. You can add as many pages or categories as you like and link to them as described in the linking to your cart pages section. But you should not have to add any folders, and we recommend you don't.
** IMPORTANT ** - We have included an "index.html" page in every directory. MAKE SURE you leave these in their place. DO NOT DELETE them in any directory. They are there for security purposes so hackers cannot get into your shoppingcart. If you delete them you are open to losing everything in your cart! We have very tight security on our system and have taken every means available to secure your carts (and our system) from attack.
For the Html driven cart
You have 2 folders (directories). An "images" folder, and a "products" folder. The "images" folder holds all your cart images, and the "products" folder holds all your Html product pages. In place of
sample images and product pages we have listed below you will have the names your images and product pages.
|
|____"images" Directory
|
** These Html pages above are for companies using real-time credit card processing with their shoppingcart. If you are just having the results emailed to you, these 2 Html pages may not be included.
Editing Your Order Forms:
You have 2 order forms included with your cart ("order_form.html" and "check_order.html"). You may alter the layout and appearance of these forms any way you like. You can add your logo, make color changes to fonts or table cells, include a background image (or color), etc.. Although, DO NOT change ANY of the Html <input> or <form> tags on the page! If you do your cart will not function properly.
Editing Your "begin.html" Page:
This is the start page for your cart and can be changed in any way you like. You can add your logo, make color changes to fonts or table cells, include a background image (or color), etc..
Adding Images to your pages:
To add images to your cart Html pages you will need to have the correct path to your images folder (see the directory structure above). Here are the appropriate paths to the images folder:
| From Page: | Correct Path: |
| begin.html check_order.html order_form.html | ./html/images/image_name.jpg |
| accepted.html declined.html | images/image_name.jpg |
| any product page | html/images/image_name.jpg |
Html Driven Carts:
There are several elements in your Html pages of your carts that are essential for the cart to function properly. We have broken it down into 2 areas of explanation. The Html Basic Structure, and the Directory Structure.
First we will cover the Html basic elements.
1) Your Html cart pages operate using the <form> tag.
2) All cart pages must have 2 hidden tags (described below) inside of your <form> and </form> tags.
3) Your <input> tags (the quantity fields) will contain the information specific to each product.
4) Make sure to include the bottom navigation buttons Html code exactly as we have given it to you. (do not alter the values)
The <form> Tag:
The <form> is a standard Html tag the sends the results of the form to a specified URL. It will be the same for all of your Html product pages. The format will always be this: <form method="post" action="cart.cgi">
The Hidden Tags:
Your cart will always contain 2 hidden tags that help keep track of what your visitors order as they move from page to page. They are each assigned a unique cart_id number. The tags should NEVER contain any numbers in your Html. These hidden tags should always be inside your <form> and </form> tags. The format will always be this:
<input type="hidden" name="cart_id" value="%%cart_id%%">
<input type="hidden" name="page" value="%%page%%">
<input> Tags:
Your <input> tags pass all the product information to the cart. This way the cart can distinguish between different items, quantities, prices, and descriptions. The format must remain exactly as we describe in this section! Do not alter the order in any way or your cart will not function properly. Here is the format of this Html tag:
<input type="text" name="item-0001|name_of_page|item_price|item_name" size="3" maxlength="3">
There are 4 items in the above <input> tag you will need to substitute information for each of your products. The type="text" section leave as is. This tells the browser it is an input text box. the parts that read size="3" maxlength="3" tells the browser that the text box will be 3 digits wide and accept a maximum of 3 digits. Below is a description of what you need to change in the name=" . . . " area.
| item-0001 | This is the individual item number unique to each item. MAKE SURE you do not repeat item numbers anywhere in your cart pages. It does not need to be four digits. it can be any combination of alpha numeric characters (no spaces allowed). The only rule is that you must keep "item-" at the beginning. |
| name_of_page | This is the name of the Html page product page this <input> tag appears on. If you are working on your "books.html" page, then you would put "books" (without the double quotes) into this field. DO NOT include any extension on this page name (do not include .html or .htm on the end of the page name) |
| item_price | This field contains the price for each of the particular item you are working with. It must be in the format "99.95". You must include 2 decimal places for cents. You can have any number of decimal places for the dollar amount. DO NOT include commas or dollar signs (no "," or "$" or spaces anywhere). |
| item_name | This is just a short description of the product. Generally you want to keep this to around 2 or 3 words, because it is displayed in your customers "view cart" table under the "description" field. |
All items are separated with the "|" symbol (referred to as a "pipe"). The key is is the backslash key (just hit shift + backslash) and you have a "|".
Bottom Navigation Buttons:
The bottom navigation buttons may not have the "name=" areas altered in any way. These attributes are coded into the cart telling it what action to perform on the received form input (the product information). The only item you need to change is the <form> tag that says your-user-name (see below). Just substitute in your companies unique user-name.
Here is the Html code:
<input type= "submit" name="add_to_cart_button" VALUE = "Add to Cart">
<input type= "submit" name="modify_cart_button" VALUE = "View Cart">
<input type= "submit" name="return_to_frontpage_button" VALUE = "Continue Shopping">
</form>
<form method="POST" action="https://gsgwebs.virtualis.com/your-user-name/cart.cgi">
<input type= "hidden" name="cart_id" VALUE = "%%cart_id%%">
<input type= "hidden" name="page" VALUE = "%%page%%">
<input type= "submit" name="order_form_button" VALUE = "Finalize Order">
</form>
Options are a way your users can select a color, size, type, or any other category involving a specific product. Options use the <option> tag in Html.
4 items to notice:
1) option tag (which tells the script that the incoming data is an option not an item)
2) The number option this is. Each item for sale may have several options associated with it. It is essential that they each get their own number. If they were all called option|0001, it would be impossible to parse them separately. So we will name them option|1|0001, option|2|0001, option|3|0001,etc. and
3) the item number that the option is associated with. Notice that this name (or number in this example) is the same number as was used in the NAME argument for the quantity text box above. This is on purpose and essential.
4) In the option values (select boxes and radio buttons), they will follow a specific format. Notice the format of the first option value "Small|0.00" below. The "Small" refers to the specific option, and the "0.00" refers to the dollar amount added to the item price (in this case nothing was added). If the example would have been "Large|1.50", the cart would have added $1.50 to the item cost. Also note that the 2 items are separated by the "|" symbol (a pipe - shift + backslash). Do not include a "$" in any option values.
<B>Available Options for Shirt item-0010<B><br>
Sizes:
<select name="option|1|0010">
<option value="Small|0.00">Small (No charge)
<option value="Medium|1.50">Medium (+ $1.50)
<option value="Large|2.00">Large (+ $2.00)
</select>
Produces the following output:
Available Options for Shirt item-0010
Sizes:
Here is an example of using a radio button to create an option.
Size: <BR>
<input type="radio" name="option|2|0010" value="Small|0.00" CHECKED>Small
<input type="radio" name="option|2|0010" value="Large|1.50">Large (+ $1.50)
Produces the following output:
Size:
Small
Large (+ $1.50)
http://ssltech.com/<your directory name>/cart.cgi?page=&cart_id=&detail_display=on&item_id=<item id for item>
Database Driven Carts
With the database driven carts we have added a Database Administration System. This system allows you to edit/view your database as well as several other features. With our system you can easily accomplish the following tasks:
The table below describes each field and its requirements.
| Item ID Number | No spaces allowed in this field. Only numbers and letters allowed (dashes are ok). Example: 2245a You MUST make sure not have the same product ID for 2 different products, otherwise product info will be lost. |
| Product Category | No Spaces allowed in this field. Must be something like lawn_equipment, web_services, software, flowers |
| Item Price Each | No $ sign, "", or commas. Make sure you keep the decimal with cents. (Example: 10.95) |
| Product Name | Pretty much anything allowed in this field. Here is an example: Super Product #1 |
| Html Image Source tag or Html Link tag | This field will contain either a Html hyperlink tag or an Html image tag or a combination of both. Here are a couple examples:
For a thumbnail: For a full size image without a link: |
| Description of Product | In this field give a brief description of your product. Keep you description 1 to 4 sentences max. |
| options | Options refer to radio buttons, check-boxes, or select menus. in the format of: %%OPTION%%radio.html %%OPTION%%checkbox.html %%OPTION%%select.html |
Database ASCII flatfile structure
The following represents how the data in your database is set up. You can edit items in your database 2 ways. One is by using our database editor administration program (use the link on your cart administration page). The other method for configuring your database, is to use a text editor (like Notepad).
All database fields are separated with the "|" symbol (referred to as a "pipe"). The key is is the backslash key (just hit shift + backslash) and you have a "|".
Each product must have its own line. DO NOT use word wrap, line breaks, carriage returns, or allow newline characters to be present in the middle of a line.
Fields on our shoppingcart flatfile database are as follows (each letter below representing an individual field):
A|B|C|D|E|F|G
A) Item ID Number
B) Product Category (No Spaces)
C) Item Price Each (Example: 10.95)(no $ sign)
D) Product Name
E) Html Image Source tag or Html Link tag
F) Description of Product
G) options (if applicable) in the format %%OPTION%%option_page.html
Click here for an example database file without options
Click here for an example database file with options
If you would like us to help you set up your database or customize your cart in any way, please contact Customer Service.
We offer very reasonable rates in customizing as well as database manipulation and setup.