How can I use contributions?

[Kruna]

Hello,

 

I would like to know how to implement contributions, e.g. I would like to be able to enable/disable categories.

 

I go to the contributions page and find the following:

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...able+categories

 

Which of the contributions do I have to chose, the latest one? In this case which one would it be?

Sorry for asking stupid, but I can't help myself...last week my webhost installed OSC and I am not familiar with programming, PHP, Codes, OSC, etc...I don't get it how to work with OSC.

 

Anyway,...I download the contribution and save to a folder on my desktop..and then? Do I have to upload it again into the file-manager? In case I have to, in which folder do I have to upload it?

 

What do I have to do next? Replace the uploaded file or just replace the content or add it or else?

 

Please can somebody help me on that, I somehow got stucked in configuering my shop.

 

I appreciate any kind of help...

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Kruna

[Jack_mcs]

You normally need to download the latest version of a contribution, although there are exceptions to this. But a lot of people take the lazy way out and just upload changes made to a contribuiton so that it is not a full package. That means you end up having to go through, sometimes, three or more partial updates. Unfortunately, there is no way around this. If you can't figure out what the latest, ful version, package is of a contribution, then you need to find the support thread for it and ask there. The support thread is sometimes mentioned on the contribution page. But, if not, go to the Contributions Support forum and search for it there.

 

Once you have the full package, it will be in the form of a zip file, or in some cases, a tar file. You need to extract the contents of that file and there will be intructions in it as to how to install it. It can't be stressed enough that you need to backup your files and database before trying this. Mistakes are not uncommon when installing contributions so you need to have a way to recover. If your shop is unchanged from a basic oscommerce shop, you can install by copying files over the ones you have. But if they have changed, you will have to install the changes one at a time. In either event, there are usually other changes that will need to be made to files by editing them. But that is (should) be mentioned in the instruction file. If you have probelms with a particular contribution, the question should be asked in the support thread for it. You can ask in this forum, but your chances of getting an answer may not be very good.

 

Jack

[Kruna]

Thank you very much for your reply, Jack.

 

You are right I didn't see that there is a Contribution Support Forum, sorry...I will post there again, just one more question..how do i make a Backup?

 

Thanks,

Kruna

 

You normally need to download the latest version of a contribution, although there are exceptions to this. But a lot of people take the lazy way out and just upload changes made to a contribuiton so that it is not a full package. That means you end up having to go through, sometimes, three or more partial updates. Unfortunately, there is no way around this. If you can't figure out what the latest, ful version, package is of a contribution, then you need to find the support thread for it and ask there. The support thread is sometimes mentioned on the contribution page. But, if not, go to the Contributions Support forum and search for it there.

 

Once you have the full package, it will be in the form of a zip file, or in some cases, a tar file. You need to extract the contents of that file and there will be intructions in it as to how to install it. It can't be stressed enough that you need to backup your files and database before trying this. Mistakes are not uncommon when installing contributions so you need to have a way to recover. If your shop is unchanged from a basic oscommerce shop, you can install by copying files over the ones you have. But if they have changed, you will have to install the changes one at a time. In either event, there are usually other changes that will need to be made to files by editing them. But that is (should) be mentioned in the instruction file. If you have probelms with a particular contribution, the question should be asked in the support thread for it. You can ask in this forum, but your chances of getting an answer may not be very good.

 

Jack

[Jack_mcs]

Go to admin->tools->backup and create a database backup. Then ftp to your site and download all of your files. Or, if your host has a backup option, use it.

 

Jack

[Kruna]

Thank you very much for your help, Jack.

 

 

Kruna

 

Go to admin->tools->backup and create a database backup. Then ftp to your site and download all of your files. Or, if your host has a backup option, use it.

 

Jack