# Minivend V4.x # # Copyright 1996-2000 by Michael J. Heins # # Originally based on Vend 0.2 # Copyright 1995 by Andrew M. Wilcox # # Portions from Vend 0.3 # Copyright 1995,1996 by Andrew M. Wilcox # # This program is free software; you can redistribute it # and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either # version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later # version. # # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the # GNU General Public License for more details. # # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public # License along with this program; if not, write to the Free # Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, # MA 02111-1307 USA. Welcome to Minivend! This program is completely unsupported, without warranty of any kind. The author is interested in problems, suggestions, or comments, but does not have time to offer free individual support in most cases. See the Minivend website at http://www.minivend.com/ for more information. IMPORTANT NOTE: Minivend 4.0 requires, repeat REQUIRES, Perl 5.005 or Perl 5.6. The information you need is in the following files: README Copyright info, roadmap to installation and pointers to support system Copying Your Minivend license -- please read. WHATSNEW Change information for all versions in this version family. MANIFEST List of all core distribution files. Major files/directories in the distribution: Makefile.PL The installation scripts dist/ The distribution files, exclusive of executable files and modules. Includes: minivend.cfg.dist Distribution minivend.cfg checkout/ Checkout-only demo application. simple/ The not so aptly named "simple" demo application. src/ C and Perl code for CGI links compat/ Some Minivend-3 compatibility tags usertag/ Some fairly-standard usertags extra/ Some not-always-needed Perl libraries. lib/ The library modules needed to run Minivend. scripts/ The executable files, relocated to bin in the run directory. test.pl The installation test script. win/ Windows-specific files -------------------------------------------------------------- M I N I V E N D Minivend is a full-featured electronic catalog system (commonly known as a shopping cart) with online ordering capability. It is a high-end database access and retrieval system with SQL support via the Perl DBI. Minivend is freely-redistributable under the GNU General Public License -- you can download it via FTP. Minivend 4.0 Features * Users maintain a "shopping cart" for ordered items * Multiple independent or shared catalogs allow one server to run many storefronts or a "mall" * SSL support means secure and practical credit card ordering * PGP and GPG support for secure off-site mailing of orders * Complete addressable database support with virtually unlimited rows and columns * Complete SQL support via DBI * Catalogs can be of almost unlimited size with excellent performance * Multi-server mode for very high capacity on systems with sufficient memory * Cookie support allows browsers to leave catalog and come back without losing session state * Minimate web administration interface (separate package) * Complete user authentication and database with address books and stored shopping carts * Many, many, other features Powerful search capability * One-click scan and search -- build a whole search in a single HREF * Pageable results, configurable in many ways * Versatile built-in text search * Complete Glimpse support * Fast binary search * Independent field search selection and return * Range searching, numeric and alphanumeric * Search sorting with reverse, numeric and case-insensitive options * Search any file, build results from any database Complete control of appearance * Over 90 predefined tag functions * Powerful user-definable tags * Catalog pages automatically selected -- either built "on the fly" from the database or pre-made for popular items * Embedded Perl and conditional HTML allow complex and flexible catalog pages to be completely built from the database * ASP-like syntax available Flexible Ordering Process * Single- or multi-level order screens with configurable field verification * Multiple shopping carts per catalog, allows both buy and sell operations * Shipping calculation, mixed modes, with UPS table lookup * Sales tax calculation, with fully independent non-taxable item and taxed shipping * Route orders to multiple fulfillment houses with complete configurability * PGP encryption of credit card information or the entire emailed order * Fully-configurable discounts with coupons or across-the-board discounts * Fully-configurable quantity pricing * Fully-configurable item price adjustments * Sophisticated back end order entry capability including CyberCash(R) * Fully configurable order reports and receipts Miscellaneous * Automated installation and configuration * Runs under Perl 5.005/5.6, Windows, and almost any UNIX * Designed to be secure * Static page build option for high performance * Works well with all browsers ------------------------------------------------------------------- A V A I L A B I L I T Y A N D C O M P A T I B I L I T Y Minivend 4 has been tested on Solaris 2, Linux, FreeBSD, and Digital UNIX/Tru64. Its predecessor Minivend 3 also reportedly runs on SCO, AIX, and other Unix ports. It should work on any UNIX or Win32 OS with Perl 5.005 or higher. Windows does not support fork(), so the server runs in the foreground. There are other differences; the canonical installation is UNIX. UNIX INSTALLATION ------------------ Here is the short version: gzip -dc minivend-4.xxx.tar.gz | tar xvf - cd minivend-4* perl Makefile.PL make test && make install -- WHEN IN DOUBT, RE-START THE SERVER. It won't take but a few seconds, and changes in configurable options don't take effect until it is done. You may even change a page and not see the effect until the server is restarted. WINDOWS INSTALLATION -------------------- Not yet. You can manually create a software directory and get things going if you know your way around Perl. But I don't recommend trying unless you are prepared for some serious work. ------------------------------------------------------------------- D E M O There are two demo applications included; one is not so aptly named "simple", the other is "basic". For the best instructional experience, start with "basic" and then try "simple". To install the demo, go to the directory where you installed Minivend (default is "mvend" in your home directory or /usr/local/minivend for root installations) and run: bin/makecat basic or bin/makecat simple Follow the prompts and after restarting the Minivend server you should be able to access the demo catalog. ------------------------------------------------------------- D O C U M E N T A T I O N The documentation is in several man pages and HTML files in the doc/ subdirectory of the main Minivend directory. There is an extended documentation package available at www.minivend.com. ------------------------------------------------------------- K N O W N P R O B L E M S BSDI, FreeBSD: If installing as root, you should use this procedure: perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/usr/local/minivend Windows: Just a few things don't work the same as UNIX. See the README-win.txt file for more information. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I, the author, am very interested in learning your problems with Minivend, and am interested in clarifying the documentation for future improvements. I am not much interested in BEING your documentation, though, unless you pay well and promptly. Please send kudos, comments, questions, and complaints to: mikeh@minivend.com Note that I receive thousands of emailed questions per year and cannot answer them all. The more research you do on your own the more likely I am to respond. Helpful suggestions and real bug reports are almost always acknowledged. There is an active user support mail list, minivend-users@minivend.com, which has traffic of about 600-900 messages per month. To subscribe, send "subscribe minivend-users" in the *body* of a message to majordomo@minivend.com, or visit the mail list page at www.minivend.com. Good luck with Minivend!