# MiniVend V2.0 # # Copyright 1996 by Michael J. Heins # # Largely 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., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Welcome to MiniVend, based on Vend, Andrew Wilcox's fine shopping cart program. This program is completely unsupported, without warranty of any kind -- but that doesn't mean the author is not interested in problems, suggestions, or comments. Please feel free to send them to Mike Heins, . ------------------------------------------------------------- I N S T A L L A T I O N We implore you to read all of the verbiage below. We know how most of us are, so we put the install procedure up here, but if you have problems please read all of this file, PLUS the MiniVend documentation in doc/minivend.html. Also, please check out the official MiniVend home page at http://www.iac.net/~mike/mvend.html before you call for help. Here is the short version: gzip -d mvend200.tar.gz tar xf mvend200.tar cd mvend200 ./configure su bin/makecat sample bin/makecat simple bin/start With comments: # Unzip and untar the file -- if you have GNU tar, you can combine # the first two steps with 'tar xzf mvend200.tar.gz' gzip -d mvend200.tar.gz tar xf mvend200.tar # Change directory to the one that was created -- this is a change # from MiniVend 1.0x. # cd mvend200 # If you have trouble with picking up the wrong Perl version, # try '/dir/where/perl/is/perl configure.pl /dir/where/perl/is/perl'. # # If you aren't already the user ID of the user who will run the # minivend server, you might want to 'su' to that user before # running this step. # This step will set the MiniVend directory and Perl location, # and build the small dispatch program. # # If in doubt, the defaults are probably OK. # ./configure # Become superuser if you are an ISP or other organization that # will be running multiple catalogs # su # Make the demo catalogs -- either one or both. On the first # one, you will be prompted for some initial parameters, then # asked to re-run. This is OK. # bin/makecat sample # Make the other catalog. The extension .cat will be # put on the catalog configuration file that is created. # # If you want to make it with a different name, just use: # # bin/makecat yourname # bin/makecat simple # un-su if you became superuser # exit # Start the MiniVend server # bin/start That should be it. If you have problems, please do what is asked above, and pretty please reference the web site. And -- 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. ------------------------------------------------------------- K N O W N P R O B L E M S IRIX: This software will not work at all, unless there is a fix to file locking with GDBM or DB_File. A forked and dissassociated process cannot guarantee that a lock will work. Help on this from the user base would be appreciated. DEC OSF: (aka Digital UNIX) You cannot fork searches, the ForkSearches directive in minivend.cfg must be set to 'No'. This has to do with preserving locks across forks and may someday be fixed. Otherwise it should work properly. FreeBSD: The makecat script fails on some Perls and some BSDs. Unknown, but it looks like improper file test indications. Solaris: You must use the File::Lock module -- flock() emulation still does not work properly, and fcntl() locking must be used. Linux: No known problems other than some bogus GDBM libraries floating around the net (especially for Linux 2.0). If you have problems, obtain and re-build GDBM and Perl. ------------------------------------------------------------- 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 designed to provide an interface complete with SSL security and full database support. MiniVend is freely-redistributable under the GNU General Public License -- you can download it via FTP. IMPORTANT NOTE: MiniVend requires Perl 5.002 or higher and GDBM or DB_File databases. The program is no longer compatible with NDBM or Perl 5.001. Features MiniVend is a full-featured electronic catalog system (commonly known as a shopping cart) with fast and easy online ordering. It is designed to provide an interface complete with SSL security and full database support. It is as powerful as commercial systems costing thousands of dollars. MiniVend 2.0 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 support for secure off-site mailing of orders * Catalogs can be of almost unlimited size with excellent performance * Multi-server mode for very high capacity on systems with sufficient memory * Forked searches for consistent response time in single-server mode * Cookie support allows browsers to leave catalog and come back without losing session state * Complete addressable database support with virtually unlimited rows and columns Powerful search capability * Fast binary search * One-click scan and search -- build a whole search in a single HREF * Complete Glimpse interface * Range searching, numeric and alphanumeric * Independent field search selection and return * Search any file, build results from any database Complete control of appearance * Full frames support * 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 Flexible Ordering Process * Multi-level order screens with configurable field verification * Shipping calculation, mixed modes, with UPS table lookup * Sales tax calculation, with fully independent non-taxable item and taxed shipping * Fully-configurable discounts with coupons or across-the-board discounts * Fully-configurable quantity pricing * Back end order entry capability * Full client-side imagemap support, including frame targets and form submits * Fully configurable order reports Easy Administration * Automated installation and configuration * Runs under Perl 5 and almost any UNIX * Designed to be secure, runs with taint checking enabled * Built-in online help capability * Works well with all browsers Andrew Wilcox wrote Vend, the copylefted shopping cart software. MiniVend is based on Vend V0.2, but enhanced considerably, adding support for frames, powerful searching, remote administration, superfast server mode, conditional HTML, user-customizable help and displays, and much more. This version of MiniVend includes an automatic configuration and installation utility, and continues to be free under the GNU copyleft. To learn more about MiniVend, see the HTML documentation, visit the offical MiniVend site, or download it. ------------------------------------------------------------------- D E M O There are two demos supplied. The 'sample' demo demonstrates frames on MiniVend, along with most of the advanced features. The 'simple' demo does not use frames, but now demonstrates a subset of the features of MiniVend. To install the demos, go to the MiniVend installation directory and run: bin/makecat simple bin/makecat sample Follow the prompts and after restarting the MiniVend server you should be able to access the new catalogs. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 has been well-tested on Solaris 2, SunOS, Linux, OSF/Alpha, , and FreeBSD. The underlying Vend engine has certainly been tested on several more OS versions -- and it should work on any UNIX with Perl 5 and GDBM, DB_File, or NDBM support. GDBM works best -- it is the fastest for import, and most reliable. IRIX 5 has problems with MiniVend -- it apparently has bugs in the UNIX-domain socket code that were not yet resolved as of this writing. For Solaris 2, you will need the File::Lock module, available at the same CPAN archive where you obtained this program. If you are using GCC on Solaris, you may have to pass -lsocket on the compile command line. Please let the author know if you have successfully run MiniVend on any additional platforms -- patches would be appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------- S E T T I N G U P Y O U R C A T A L O G Setting up a MiniVend catalog can be quite complex, and that is why the documentation and demos were provided. They should be sufficient to get you started. Many hours have been spent in documenting the features of MiniVend, and thoughtful users should almost always find their answers there. Key things that people sometimes don't understand: -- The actual pages of the catalog are NOT in HTML document space. They are in the catalog directory of the catalog that is in question. -- The highly interpolative nature of MiniVend and HTML tags means that order is often important. -- The first thing to do in setting up a custom MiniVend catalog is to define the database. Everything with MiniVend stems from the products database -- many of the custom features depend on the shipping, salestax, accessories, pricing, and other databases. Determine your data set first. -- The demo pages are there to be played with. With MiniVend 2.0, you shouldn't be able to stop the system simply by changing a page. -- Many of the configurable features of MiniVend are determined by the directives in catalog.cfg (or minivend.cfg in a standalone catalog). -- WHEN IN DOUBT, RE-START THE SERVER. It won't take but a few seconds, and many of the configurable options don't take effect until it is done. The author is very interested in learning your problems with MiniVend, and is interested in clarifying the documentation for future improvements. (He isn't much interested in BEING your documentation, though, unless you pay well and promptly.) Please send comments, questions, and complaints to: mikeh@iac.net