Support: Documentation

This is the place to find the latest information on the current release.

Note: The information on this page may no longer be valid or accurate. We include it here only because it may be useful to some users of older versions of eDatCat. For information on Version 3, please see the current Update Documentation Page.

Upgrading from 1.5 to 2.0

New Release (3/18/02) 2.0f

Release 2.0f

Important Notes:

Review important changes in free-freight calculation. It now works a little differently and works with UPS.

Review import changes in error handling in test mode.

It is recommended you run live sites, with test mode set off. You should ensure your payerror template has a webmaster contact in the event of errors.

!!!The new Perl Release 5.6.1 may have some compatibility issues with existing DB files!!! You should create exported downloads of your data files, before upgrading.

Glitches Fixed:

ü Checkbox fields for product not saving right when removing check.

ü For Local SSL, sslemail was not being asked for in admin setup, so PGP couldn't be utilized.

ü Checked for newlines in the data fields entries. Could cause file corruption.

ü Cat descr on list page didn't work.

ü Quantity break option--if you have a minimum order, ex, ranges start at 10-50, it malfunctioned when customer orders less than 10. This was fixed with by adding a new system field--min_prod_qty. See below.

ü Order status didn't check ups tracking flag before drawing button and form.

ü Made free-freight to work with UPS. Now, when all items purchased has free-freight marked, total freight costs are zeroed out. Handling costs are still acrued.

ü When uploading two files in same product screen, it didn't work.

Improvements:

· Added flag in store setting right under store discount. This flag will bybass category discount calculation. If site has a lot of categories, or many leveled categories, script took a long time and timed out. The default setting is off, so category discounts will be calculated.

· The edatcat support email address was removed from the error message routine in test mode.

· Added V-check for credit card check. To implement, you must check this flag on in payment settings. Then add the field "v_check_digit" to your payment template. You may want to modify the error message found in the error message setup in admin.

New shortcuts/variables.

· Shortcut to display grand_total times 100, used with some gateways--%%grand_total_cent%%

· Shopping cart total items/total dollars. Available to any page. Shortcuts are %%cart_total%% and %%cart_items_count%%

· Added min_prod_qty check. To implement, add new data field min_prod_qty to database. Enter minimum qty into product record. Otherwise, no check will be performed. Also, go to admin error messages and fill in desired error message.

· Added show_products flag to category record. Show_products flag in category will override "category" user action with "list" user_action. To implement, simply go to category and check flag on.

· New variable: has_products: Available on category templates only. Signifies if category has products. values are YES and NO

Example: (remember IFs most be on one line--no cr's to break it)

%%IF($has_products eq "YES") THEN(<a href="%%script_loc%%? user_action =list&category= %%urlcategory%%"> Click here to list all products in %%category%%.</a>)%%

New Release (2/3/02) 2.0e

Release 2.0e

Scripts modified: auth, adlib2, lib, stlib1, stlib2, chkout, and SSL. For more detailed mods, look in script headings.

Bug fixes:

Phone numbers were not being saved with order information, resulting in inconsistant display in order reports.
Note: some order report templates (found in admin directory) may have the shortcut %%phone%% this is not right.

The correct shortcuts are:

Day time phone: %%hphone%%

Night time phone: %%nphone%%

Fax: %%fax%%

These may be labeled in the account setup and billing templates differently, depending on amount of customization.

Problem with category discount with products having multiple categories.
Zip plus 4 didn't work with UPS.
Several category shortcuts were adding extra blank category link at beginning of list. (This Wasn't noticable unless using bullets)
List products in all categories displayed no detail.
When searching for all Categories and ALL prices it always resulted in finding no results.
When entering or updating products in admin, the category listing had a blank category at the top of the list.

Improvements:

Improved remote SSL error handling.
When a customer clicks on add to cart without selecting items, received a vague error message. That has been
replaced with a carterror message. This error message can be edited by going to the error message section in admin.
That error message is the last one, labeled: no_items_selected.
The default is: Sorry, no items were selected to add to the cart.

Authorizenet changes:

Fixed authorizenet error message text.
If payerror template is not found, the script will use carterror instead.
Updated to Authorizenet version 3.01

New Release (12/16/01) 2.0d

Release 2.0d

Important notes

Warning: You should not re-run the setup script to incorporate new script changes. This script is for new installs only, and should be deleted from your cgi-bin when install has been completed. To update scripts, use the update script link on the admin menu under system utilities.

All scripts have at least minor changes since the last update, except auth and purge. For more detailed mods, look in script heading.

Template Fixes

There are several issues that require template fixes. Since the updater does not write over template files, these cannot be fixed with the update link. However, in the latest install templates, these fixes have been included.

1. Related items on the detail page: When you include options input or quantity input for the related items, the quantity or options selected do not always get carried over to the cart correctly. If you do not have quantity input or options with your related items, no fix is needed.

To allow shopper to make option selections for the related items or specify quantity for related items, you must make the following changes:

Template: detail.txt

Within the form tags, add:

Template: relrows.txt

Replace the following HTML:

with this:

2. The customer order status function will now show order detail. To activate this, you will need to alter the existing ordstatrow.txt and add a new detail row template.

Template: ordstatrow.txt

add:

%%detail_rows%%

This will mark where the order details will be placed. (Works on the same principal as

%%list_rows%%). You may also want to add any appropriate headers on the statuspage.txt or on the ordstatrow.

Template: orddetrow.txt (new)

include HTML and shortcuts for your order detail. (Could be similar to order_rows.txt)

New features

1. Expanded IF-THEN-ELSE shortcut. See updated docs at www.edatcatsupport.com/

2. Customer order status now shows order details. See notes above.

3. SSL diagnostics for NT have been completed.

4. Convenient admin interface to download SSL payment info, and purge file. Before running this utility, you must go to payment options and enter the parameters for a download directory and URL. For remote SSL sites, you will need to upload the newest SSL script and setup file. The Utility link is found under system utilities. Note: the orders.edc file is created only when the "export payment" option has been selected.

5. Multiple category featured items. Instructions are on the category screen.

6. Additional SMTP mail option. Thanks to the Tecinfo programming team. Works extremely well with NT! And it's free. This option does require the Net::SMTP module. Run perldiver to check your installation.

7. Added ascending and descending secondary sort option to the category sort. Defaults to ascending, so if you want descending, go to sort setup. Note: Regenerate indexed to take sort on new settings.

8. Newlines in the description field are now automatically replaced with <br>.

9. Added a required_field parameter. Available on any form template. Especially useful on the payment, acct-info, acct-setup, billing, and shipping templates. Multiple parameters can be used. Example:

10. Product options can now have any non-digit character preceeding it. Useful for currency symbols.

11. New variable for ifthen's reflects user's browser type. To use, refer to $browser_used. The values will be "NETSCAPE", or "MSIE". Example:

%%IF($browser_used eq "MSIE") THEN(%%file(msie_java.txt)%%)%%

12. After importing catalog data, script regenerates indexes.

Bug fixes

1. For Remote SSL, incorrect scriptdir in SSLscript. Only in NT sites.

2. When %%maincats%% or %%cat_links%% used twice on a page it grew like the Blob.

3. Inconsistent UPS problem. Max_weight kept isappearing. Caused script to bog down or server error.

4. On admin order status/order reports--userids weren't being displayed when customer had checked out using nologin option.

5. In search, when search parameter contained newlines, couldn't find result.

6. Fixed clearing out text opts from previous items in some situations.

7. Fixed sendemail to not use redirection, in case the temp directory can't be written to.

8. Made USER fields to save to order file, both after billing and shipping.

9. Category listing problem. When one category was "Accessories" and another was "Accessories for you dog" wouldn't display one of the categories correctly.

10. Added formating to amount fields from order database. Useful in order reports.

11. Fixed disappearing userid for customers who don't login.

New Release (11/10/01)

Release notes:

Bug Fixes:

Note: There have been no changes since the last update, made to the following scripts: SSL, admin1, admin2, admin3, auth, purge. However, these scripts will still be updated over the existing scripts in the cgi-bin.

For more detailed mods, look in script heading.

Fixed payaction shortcut when used with payment type "OTHER"
Removed nested ifthen check to eliminate error when using more than 3 related products.
Fixed %%cat_tree%% or %%cat_links%% showing twice on checkout page.
Fixed where deleted prods won't cause error in mostpop, what's new, and order reports.
Fixed error.txt file link in import procedure.
Fixed bug in file_upload function. Saving multi-files per order.
Fixed moving items from cart to wishlist and viceversa.
Fixed calculating price when price options had a price with no decimal point.
Fixed whatsnew bug. Was using default whatsnew days of 15 regardless of admin setting.
Fixed bug in export when a double quote ended a field.
(UPS tracking) Fixed using track_button specified by admin rather than always using the default.

Note: If you are using this shorcut, go to Tracking/confirmation screen to set the appearance of your button.

New:

New variable to use in IFTHEN. It is $new_item, contains "YES" or "NO" depending on date_added and admin settings for whatsnew. Available on list_row, detail, searchpage, featured items, and related items.

Usage:

%%IF($new_item eq "YES") THEN(New Item!!)%%

%%IF($new_item eq "YES") THEN See how long it takes Ian to put this to use!%%

New shortcut, %%categoryname%%. Displays the immediate parent category, without the full category hierarchy. Example: If category is Footwear;Boots;Women's Boots, displays Women's Boots
Steps have been taken to add a module interface to the scripts. Tecinfo, Inc. will be developing several in the next few months. If you have questions about how to use it with your own addon's, email Support for more info.
Link on admin page pointing to Customization Guide.

Scheduled for next bug release: (Early December)

Extended IFTHEN shortcut.
Numeric comparison operators: >,<,>=,<=,!=

"AND" and "OR" operators

Extended category navigation shortcuts. Check to see if any products in category or if bottom level call a different HTML snippet.
Admin interface to download order/payment info from SSL.
Ability to add multiple category feature products.
Additional email options--Using SMTP, a PERL module usually present. Thanks to the programming staff at Tecinfo, INc for this one.
Add ascending and descending sort options to category sort.

Previous Release (10/25/01)

Release notes:

These glitches have been removed:

· Price Options with parenthises or brackets weren't calculating.

· Minimum shipping not always getting applied.

· Category delimiter (^^) showing up in category name when used in features shortcut

· Ordertrack function (effects sites updated from 1.5) wasn't calling

· Manual links linked to old manual site.

· cat_list shortcut did not work properly with user_action=list

· Checkout script when called without sessionid, tries to save order anyway. This causes a vague error message.

New Admin Function!

· Test payment options. This function tests local and remote SSL payment setups. Sorry, this function is under construction for NT sites and sites utilizing no SSL options. This function does not check beyond payment collection for processing services, ie, Authorizenet.

New discount variables available for if statements.

· $discount_item
contains either "YES" if item has a discount or "NO" if not
This variable will be more reliable than other ways of checking for discount.

Usage:

%%IF($discount_item eq "YES") THEN(This product is On Sale!)%%

· $discount_percent
contains a number for the discount percentage or blank if none

Usage:

%%IF($discount_item eq "YES") THEN(Now %$discount_percent OFF!!!)%%

Look for these in the next release:

· Fed ex integration.

· Setup diagnositcs. Will display crucial settings, and look for any problem areas. Will check file permissions, etc.

· Diagnostic function for payment processing services, NT sites, and sites utilizing no SSL.

· Improved category shortcuts. Will check for bottom level with no sub categories and display an alternate html template for bottom level (ie, list instead of category.)

Previous Release (10/5/01)

Notes:

In case you have modified scripts, they can just download the new lib file You will need to rename using your DB code.
.
Reminder toremote SSL users:

Copy the new SSL and lib scripts to the remote SSL site.

Double check for required template files, images, style sheets, and files
included in file shortcuts. The setup.edc file is required in the cgi-bin.
The storemsg, errormsg, and tmpl files are required in the data directory.

Be sure the following templates are in the template directory and do not call shortcuts such as the category naviagation shortcuts and feature item.

Bug Fixes:

This fixes a problem with the error reporting program when error mode is not set on "test" and certain other conditions occur. This problem, if not corrected, can cause the web server to crash. Although the circumstances that this would happen is unusual, the possibility is there.
Also, if you had recursive mal-formed ifthens or fileshortcuts it could happen.

The problem was fixed by automatically killing the error routine if it goes
into a loop mode for any reason.

We would also like to remind you that the test mode feature is there to give you diagnostic messages while you are developing your site and should be used to point out potential problem areas. When the site has been tested, you should set test mode off using program settings found in the admin menu. There is a red indicator reminding you the test mode is on. This is not an error message, simply a reminder.

If you have reported a problem during the beta testing period, it may have been fixed, even if it is not listed here. If the problem persists after update, please let us know.

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Disclaimer: This page is no longer maintained and may be out-of-date. It is provided only as a courtesy to users of older versions of eDatCat.	Copyright® 2001 - 2004, EDatCat, Inc.