Hi all.

I have been looking at offering a full shopping cart facility on my site but not sure which way to go.

I looked at OSC and downloaded the file etc but then got completely stuck.

I am OK with HTML etc but not familiar with PHP.

Is Zen the better product to work with ?

Have now downloaded the Zen file but not had a chance to look at it yet.

I have web space set up with shared SSL, MySql enabled etc. so sorted on that side of things just need to get my head around how to install, set up and manage the e-commerce side.

Any help appreciated.

Hi miily, welcome to the forum.

To do some simple tasks with OSC such as moving side column boxes around requires some PHP knowledge. If you don't know PHP at all then ZenCart is definitely the better option for you because it's admin control panel gives you a lot more control over your store.

__________________
Lawrence

Hi Milly,

If your comfortable with HTML and CSS then you may well want to take a look at our solution. In a nutchell, to skin the store requires you to edit just three files and away you go.

You can also edit the core files if you wish but ot get the basic layout up, three is the magic number

Take a look: http://www.openmindcommerce.co.uk

__________________
Cheers,

Phil

Open Mind Commerce - Simple but powerful eCommerce Stores

Hi Lawrence.

Thank you for you reply.

It sounds like Zen would be the better option. All I need to do now then is take a look at the file downloaded and see if i can work out how/where to install it.

My host is Easyspace so everything on that side is set up ready to go. I just need to get my head around the new structure for Easyspace as the recent upgrade on my web space for numerous reasons has meant that the way the folders are structured is different to what I have been using with them the past 10 years on a different package.

Need to make sure that I put everything in the right place.

When logged in on FTP I get the following options:

1st level - logfiles and web

Happy that the option I need here is web.

2nd level - content and data

This level I am unsure

Currently "data" is empty

"content" has my current site web pages etc and some additional sub-directories - no problem there and fully understand how to access/edit existing files etc but not sure where Zen should go.

I will not list all of them but also have:

awdata, cgi-bin and _vti-log

Cgi-bin contains files store_stats.cgi and a folder "formmail"

I presume that Zen should go in it's own folder ?

Hi milly

You have Frontpage extensions installed on your server which you will only need if you are planning to use Frontpage which is something I wouldn't recommend to anyone. If you are never going to use Frontpage then you can ask your host to remove them as they only clutter up your webspace with unnecessary files.

Zen will go where your current site is. If you are replacing it then just delete the old files and replace them with the Zen fileset. If you want to keep your existing files then you will need to create a subdirectory in the same space for Zen such as "store", "shop" etc. then upload the zen files to there.

__________________
Lawrence

Hi Lawrence.

Thank you.

Yes, I will be retaining my existing files as this is for my main website that currently does not offer e-commerce and one where shortly I will have over 200 pages to add to it (as time permits) as moving another website that has been running for several years over to this web space and incorporating into the current one as I go so lots of work ahead re-building and ammending pages etc.

With regard to Frontpage, thank you for the advise.

I think, however, I will retain then for now as the website has currently been built using FP and notepad.


From your reply I think the safest option will be to put Zen into its own folder. That way everything stays separate and minimises the risk of me messing something up when playing around with the main site files.

I will have a go at that a little later on. Hopefully I have downloaded the correct Zen file

This is the one I picked.

zen-cart-v1.3.7.1-full-patched-07052007.zip

Thanks

Milly

That's the latest stable version of Zen and the best one to install.

__________________
Lawrence

Hi Lawrence.

Many thanks.

I have not had a chance to have a go yet. Hopefully tomorrow I can start looking at this.

Milly.

Hi Lawrence.

I have just tried to do the install and got stuck.

All files are under the correct location on my host
I have just run www.mydomainname/Store/zc_install.

All ran as I was expecting to start the install process but one of the first steps has thrown up the following so have stopped the install:

System Inspection Results

• Webserver =
• HTTP Host = www.mydomain.co.uk
• Path_Translated = D:\sites\mydomain.co.uk\www.mydomain.co.uk\web\content
• Server Free Disk Space = 99.72 GB
• PHP O/S = WINNT
• PHP API Mode = isapi
• PHP Max Execution Time per page = 30
• Register Globals = OFF
• MySQL Support = ON
• PHP Version = 4.4.6
• PHP Safe Mode = OFF
• PHP Sessions Support = ON
• PHP Session.AutoStart = OFF
• PHP session.use_trans_sid = OFF
• Suggested SQL Cache Folder = D:/sites/mydomain.co.uk/www.mydomain.co.uk/cache Click here for more info
• PHP magic_quotes_runtime setting = OFF
• PHP GD Support = OFF Click here for more info
• GD Version = GD Click here for more info
• PHP ZLIB Compression Support = ON
• PHP cURL Support = OFF Click here for more info
• PHP Upload Support = ON upload_max_filesize=2M; post_max_size=8M
• PHP Upload TMP dir =

View PHPINFO for your server
Other System Information (For Reference Only) The following info does not necessarily indicate any problem or configuration issue. It is simply for the sake of displaying it in an easy-to-find location.

• PHP include_path = .;c:\php4\pear
• PHP SMTP destination = localhost
• PHP sendmail path =
• PHP sendmail 'from' = php@web01.iomart.com
• PHP open_basedir restrictions =
• PHP Output Buffering (gzip) = ON
• PHP FTP Support = ON
• PHP XML Support = ON
• PHP Session.Save_Path = Unknown

File and Folder Permissions In order for many Zen Cart™ administrative and day-to-day functions to work properly, You need to mark several files/folders "Writeable". The following is a list of folders which need to be "read-write", along with recommended CHMOD settings. Please correct these settings before continuing installation. Refresh this page in your browser to re-check settings.

Some hosts may not allow you to set CHMOD 777, but only 666. Start with the higher setting first, and switch to lower values if required.

• includes/configure.php = Writeable
• admin/includes/configure.php = Writeable
• cache = OK
• images = OK
• includes/languages/english/html_includes = OK
• media = OK
• pub = OK
• admin/backups = OK
• admin/images/graphs = OK

As you can see, in the first table there were 4 warnings:

Cache folder required to use file-based caching support

If you wish to use the "file-based SQL cache support" in Zen Cart, you'll need to set the proper permissions on the cache folder in your webspace.

Optionally, you can choose "Database Caching" or "No Caching" if you prefer not to use the cache folder. In this case, you MAY need to disable "store sessions" as well, as the session tracker uses the file cache as well.

To set up the cache folder properly, use your FTP program or shell access to your server to CHMOD the folder to 666 or 777 read-write permissions level.


GD Support Details

Zen Cart™ uses GD support in PHP, if available, to do image management activities. It is preferred to have at least version 2.0 available.

If GD support is not compiled into your PHP install, you may want to ask your hosting company to do this for you.

[Close Window]



GD Support Details

Zen Cart™ uses GD support in PHP, if available, to do image management activities. It is preferred to have at least version 2.0 available.

If GD support is not compiled into your PHP install, you may want to ask your hosting company to do this for you.

[Close Window]


cURL support not detected

Some 3rd-party payment and shipping modules/gateways require cURL in order to talk to an external server to request real-time quotes or payment authorizations.

It appears that your server may not have cURL support configured or activated for your account. If you need a 3rd-party tool that uses cURL, you will need to talk to your web host to have them install cURL support on your server.


How do I go about resolving these please ?

Thanks

Milly.

Hi Lawrence.



I found this on E/Space.



Not sure if that means that they have GD support or not.



Milly.





How do I use PHP with MySQL?
You can find out how to use images with your MySQL database at http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/william19990908.php3.


We provide a MySQL database and we do recommend some software but we do not provide tutorials on how to use these scripts.


There are many fine websites with tutorials. Below are some examples

• http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/
• Graphing With PHP and GD http://phpbuilder.com/columns/allan20000830.php3 - you can use the gd functions we have built into PHP
• http://sitepoint.com/books/?bookid=banner1 is a good site for information for Internet tools, offering a book based on the tasks you are likely to want to undertake.

Hi Lawrence.



I found this on E/Space.



Not sure if that means that they have GD support or not.



Milly.





How do I use PHP with MySQL?
You can find out how to use images with your MySQL database at http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/william19990908.php3.


We provide a MySQL database and we do recommend some software but we do not provide tutorials on how to use these scripts.


There are many fine websites with tutorials. Below are some examples

• http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/
• Graphing With PHP and GD http://phpbuilder.com/columns/allan20000830.php3 - you can use the gd functions we have built into PHP
• http://sitepoint.com/books/?bookid=banner1 is a good site for information for Internet tools, offering a book based on the tasks you are likely to want to undertake.

Hi Milly

You don't have the GD library installed, the only way to install it is to ask your hosts if they can install it for you. Those were only warnings not errors, Zen should still run but not as well as it would if the missing elements were installed. Even though you might still be able to get Zen to run you are likely to run into problems later on.

I haven't come across a PHP installation without the GD library installed for a couple of years, it's virtually standard on all installations nowadays so I'm surprised your hosting doesn't have it.

The best thing you can do is to have a word with your hosts to see if they can move you onto different hosting, if not I suggest you consider changing hosts because with your current configuration you're likely to have problems with anything more than a basic php script.

__________________
Lawrence

Hi Lawrence.

I have spoken to Easyspace today.

They have explained that on my current package they do not have GD Library Installed because it is hosted on a shared server.

To do so they would need to move my account over to a Virtual or Dedicated server.

Before looking at those options and discussing it further with the contact I have there to look at doing so, is there anything else that I would need to make sure they have set up ? I don't want to opt for another package and then find I have the same problem again later on.

At the moment I am coming to the conclusion that it would be far less hassle for me to look at something like RentACart and just go with a separate site hosted by them for this side of my site and just provide a link off of my own current site.

Not ideal but at least it would get me up and running with a lot less hassle.

Thanks

Milly.

That's a very poor excuse for customer service. The GD libary is normally installed by default by the majority of hosting companies...

__________________
Cheers,

Phil

Open Mind Commerce - Simple but powerful eCommerce Stores

Hi Phil.

Many thanks.

I guess I am learning the hard way here. Such a shame as I have been with then for a long time and had no problems at all with them hosting my websites up until now.

The plus side at least is that I now have a direct contact that I can e-mail that fully understands what I am trying to do so can at least help.

I am a little bit peeved that I was told when I upgraded to the package I am on that I should have no problems setting up either Zen or OSC.

Looks like the first person I spoke to didn't really understand what was involved. Being a novice at this side of things myself I was none the wiser either.




Milly.

Hi Milly

Every shared hosting package with PHP that I know of comes with the GD libraries pre-installed, you certainly don't need a virtual or dedicated server to use them. Them trying to sell you a package that will inevitably be a lot more expensive is shockingly bad of them and I would strongly advise you not to follow their advice. You will only need to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server once you're established and your traffic warrants it, in which case your sales will more than cover the extra expense. Until then, shared hosting is more than adequate for your needs.

The other thing your hosting is missing is cURL which won't stop Zen from running, but it may stop some of the mods from working such as some payment modules which in effect will make your store non functional.

If you can't resolve this issue with your current host or find another one to your liking then send me a PM and I'll arrange hosting and installation for you.

__________________
Lawrence

Hi Lawrence.

PM on it's way.

Many thanks

Milly