Searching for the most basic installation instructions.

[btravlin2]

I've searched, and all the threads I find are already beyond my starting point. Does anyone have a series of links to posts on this forum that will give me more step-by-step instructions on how to get started?

 

I just downloaded Wampserver Wampserver (32 bits & PHP 5.3) 2.2E.

 

I'm looking for posts that will walk me through what to do from here.

[Guest]

@@btravlin2

 

If you have downloaded and installed WAMP, then all you need to do is download and install osCommerce (follow the instructions included)

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[btravlin2]

Well, I downloaded and installed OS and I have Wampserver. I read the installation instructions, but it doesn't seem to tell me how to open OS in Wampserver, if that is what I'm supposed to do. I can get over this hump, but I need a jump start.

 

I did manage to teach myself enough html and css to fairly radically change my yahoo store, but this terminology with php, mysql, FTP, etc, is Greek.

 

What does this mean?

 

 

The contents of the download package need to be copied to the public HTML directory the web server is serving from.

 

 

 

Examples of public HTML directories are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

/home/shinyredapples/public_html/

 

 

/srv/www/htdocs/

 

/usr/local/htdocs/

 

/var/www/vhosts/shinyredapples.com/httpdocs/

[♥geoffreywalton]

Well, I downloaded and installed OS and I have Wampserver. I read the installation instructions, but it doesn't seem to tell me how to open OS in Wampserver, if that is what I'm supposed to do. I can get over this hump, but I need a jump start.

 

I did manage to teach myself enough html and css to fairly radically change my yahoo store, but this terminology with php, mysql, FTP, etc, is Greek.

 

What does this mean?

 

 

 

 

 

The contents of the download package need to be copied to the public HTML directory the web server is serving from.

 

 

 

 

 

Examples of public HTML directories are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

/home/shinyredapples/public_html/

 

 

/srv/www/htdocs/

 

/usr/local/htdocs/

 

/var/www/vhosts/shinyredapples.com/httpdocs/

 

 

If you have installed wampp on your pc the path could be

 

c:\wampp\html\www

 

Look in the documentation for wampp, it should tell you in there.

 

Cheers

 

G

[MrPhil]

How to operate a *AMPP stack (server installed on your PC) is beyond the scope of this forum. Our starting point here is that you have a server available and know how to install software on it and make use of it. Frankly, running a server on your PC is something for fairly advanced users, and is beyond the abilities (or needs) of most beginners. What exactly are you trying to do? Are you trying to get the feel of how to set up a site before spending money on a real server contract? There are free (ad-supported) servers out there, if that's what you're doing. Under no circumstances should you attempt to put a real, live, production site on a PC server -- the hackers will eat you alive. Every server needs a full-time, well-trained, experienced administrator just to keep on top of security issues.

[btravlin2]

Frankly, running a server on your PC is something for fairly advanced users, and is beyond the abilities (or needs) of most beginners. What exactly are you trying to do? Are you trying to get the feel of how to set up a site before spending money on a real server contract?

 

This might explain why I think I missed something in my research. I thought all I had to do to start building my store in oscommerce was to download the program and wampserver and then start tweaking and adding add-ons for a few months while learning....... without going live.

 

Or do you mean "host" for "server"? I understand host. If so, I thought wampserver served as the server/host until going live, at which point a contract for web-hosting would be needed.

[♥geoffreywalton]

You can install osc on your pC using wampp or xampp, and once you have it working the way you want put it onto a "live" hosted server.

 

Or you can install osc on a "live" hosted server and prevent anyone except yourself from accessing it using htaccess.

 

THere are some good links in my profile that will help to understand osc and how to set it up once installed.

 

HTH

 

G

[btravlin2]

I have opened the contents of osc in a folder. According to the documentation below, I should be able to copy this into Wampserver, but I'm not having any luck. I can't find anything that says "public html directory". I see a www directory, but it just goes to an index and testmysql.

 

Just to explore I have clicked on Localhost and phpmyadmin. What happens is......Firefox opens and gives me a "forbidden" message. Clearly I am doing something wrong. Help.

 

Using FTP to Copy the Download Package Contents to the Web Server:

 

The download package of osCommerce Online Merchant should be saved and extracted on your computer to reveal its contents. The catalog directory must be copied to the public HTML directory on the web server.

 

This can be achieved on most FTP clients by dragging the catalog directory from your local file browser panel to the remote panel listing the files on the web server.

 

All PHP files must be uploaded in ASCII mode (not in Binary mode).

 

Directly Extracting the Download Package on the Web Server

 

The download package of osCommerce Online Merchant should be saved and extracted on the web server to reveal its contents. The catalog directory must be copied to the public HTML directory.

This can be achieved with the following terminal command:

 

cp -R catalog /path/to/public/html/directory/

[MrPhil]

If you just want to play with osC for a while, on a private server/host (PC with *AMPP stack) without racking up hosting fees, that's fine. However, it sounds like you are having a lot of trouble making sense of your private server. The "public HTML" directory could go under many names, including htdocs/, public_html/, and www/, depending on the whims of whoever designed the stack. You're going to just have to read the instructions and play with it until you find the magic name. You are looking for the directory that HTML thinks of as "/". Hint: it's not the real filesystem / directory! Try putting a little "Hello world" script in different directories until you find the one that works. The maker of the *AMPP stack will also tell you (in the instructions) how to invoke a script. You won't give a domain name, since you're not on the Web, but there might be something like http://127.0.0.1/hello.php or http://localhost/hello.php.

 

As Geoffrey mentioned, if you don't mind shelling out some money right away to get real hosting on a real server, it is possible to install osCommerce for real but hide it from the world by use of .htaccess password protection on the shop's directory. You ought to know how to do that kind of thing anyway, as you may need to if you ever need to take your shop offline in a hurry while you fix something. BTW, an advantage of developing on your real server is that there's no question about having problems due to different PHP, MySQL, and Apache versions on your PC and your host server.

[btravlin2]

I guess I'll go with a real server. Cost isn't the issue. Rather, I had read on other archived posts here that the temporary thing to do while learning and tweaking was to use wampserver.