about to abandon my site

[Guest]

is there anyone here willing to help a newby? ive been working on this site for a month and im about to abandon the site or give it away. im that upset that i cannot operate this site that im almost willing to take the loss at this point. I am not a programmer nore do i want to be. i just want this site to work. the latest problem im having is this email isnt working from the site, it just kicks me back to the first page where im suposed to compose the email. there are no help files that i can see on the actual operations on how to get this email to work. this should not be rocket science. i just wanna send a mail. i have no istructions on how to configure mails whatsoever. any one have any suggestions? :(

[♥MYC267]

I can appreciate what you are trying to do but you said it yourself, you are not a programmer. These open source applications are not really for someone with no programming experience.

 

I'd suggest paying someone to get in there and help sort out your problems. What's a little money spent on some programming services for a potential healthy business? Not much.

[Coolblue]

Does that mean the software is not stable ?

Im about to download a copy but the last thing i need is to spend most of my time fixing bugs

[hydra22uk]

In my experience OSC IS stable and is a superb solution, but it's best feature is it's biggest problem. What I mean is that I love OSC as I can customise, change, edit, amend, rewrite etc etc every part of the site and solution. But, as I say, this is also the biggest problem in that you can damage, corrupt, break or generally messup every part of the site and solution.

 

Having been (and to a great degree still being) a newbie I would suggest that you get ready for quite a while of hard work followed but an immence feeling of satisfaction.

 

Yes, you will break it. Yes, you will make an innocent change and the whole thing will collapse in a heap, but do what I did, back up all the files in a seperate location every day, then, when it does fall over, you only lose a day.

 

That's my take anyway, right or wrong, it is working for me!

[Guest]

i agree with basil brush. yes you will break your shop when trying to customise it. you'll delete a full stop or add a space and then the whole thing might collapse. this isn't an issue of software stability it's just human error.

 

so to avoid human error why not have two installations of os commerce one as an original which you don't touch. that way after changing a file and breaking it you can always copy an untouched version of your file from the original folder. also change a file on your computer and save you downloaded before messing around, and the altered version. if your modification don't work you could upload the first file and you're back to where you started.

 

if you aren't a programmer then put a few things in place to help you get back to what you started with if the worst happens and your shop collapses.

 

kori find out what the original file should look like and see how that is different from your file.

[peterr]

Hi Kori,

 

.. the latest problem im having is this email isnt working from the site, it just kicks me back to the first page where im suposed to compose the email. there are no help files that i can see on the actual operations on how to get this email to work. this should not be rocket science. i just wanna send a mail. i have no istructions on how to configure mails whatsoever. any one have any suggestions? :(

 

I'm no PHP guru, but I'll have a guess ...........

 

/catalog/contact_us.php - lines 17 - 32

 

  $error = false;
 if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['action']) && ($HTTP_GET_VARS['action'] == 'send')) {
   $name = tep_db_prepare_input($HTTP_POST_VARS['name']);
   $email_address = tep_db_prepare_input($HTTP_POST_VARS['email']);
   $enquiry = tep_db_prepare_input($HTTP_POST_VARS['enquiry']);

   if (tep_validate_email($email_address)) {
     tep_mail(STORE_OWNER, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS, EMAIL_SUBJECT, $enquiry, $name, $email_address);

     tep_redirect(tep_href_link(FILENAME_CONTACT_US, 'action=success'));
   } else {
     $error = true;

     $messageStack->add('contact', ENTRY_EMAIL_ADDRESS_CHECK_ERROR);
   }
 }

 

and following the rest of the code, for the page (email form) to resubmit itself (action NOT == success), then an $error was set to true in the above code.

 

If there is no warning message at the top of the form/page stating:

 

Your E-Mail Address does not appear to be valid - please make any necessary corrections.

 

then something stopped the proces at this command ..........

 

tep_mail(STORE_OWNER, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS, EMAIL_SUBJECT, $enquiry, $name, $email_address);

 

Therefore ................

 

1. Do you have Store owner specified ?

2. Do you have Store owner email address specified, and is it a valid address ?

3. Do you have email subject set ?

4. The SMTP Server should be configured correct in php.ini

 

Hope that helps,

 

Peter

[Guest]

In my experience OSC IS stable and is a superb solution, but it's best feature is it's biggest problem. What I mean is that I love OSC as I can customise, change, edit, amend, rewrite etc etc every part of the site and solution. But, as I say, this is also the biggest problem in that you can damage, corrupt, break or generally messup every part of the site and solution.

 

Having been (and to a great degree still being) a newbie I would suggest that you get ready for quite a while of hard work followed but an immence feeling of satisfaction.

 

Yes, you will break it. Yes, you will make an innocent change and the whole thing will collapse in a heap, but do what I did, back up all the files in a seperate location every day, then, when it does fall over, you only lose a day.

 

That's my take anyway, right or wrong, it is working for me!

ITA

 

Osc IS an out-of-the-box cart in that it works perfectly as it stands. It is also perfectly stable as it stands.

 

But if you want to change it in any way, adding functions, altering the appearance, moving boxes about, then you run the risk of messing up.

 

That's when the fun starts. I started mesing around with osc last July and it took me a full month to get my cart up and running with a few customisations. I learned SO much about programming in those 4 short weeks and that was just to make it look a bit prettier and do a coupld extra things.

 

Since then I have read up and done more, made more changes, set up another, more complex store and I am still only beginning to work out how php actually works. I;m at the point now where I can confidently make my own small changes and know (pretty much) that the thing will not fall down because I am starting to know what I am changing and why.

 

But back in July I knew absolutely nothing. I barely knew how to use basic HTML tags. And we're talking <b> here - didn't even know how to write a table.

 

So if a musician with absolutely no programming experience can come in here and have a working shop a month later, then anyone can do it.

 

But just don't get too ambitious too soon. Don't come along with a URL of a fantastic shop with millions of modifications and say "How do I make it do that?"

 

Or go and pay ?600 and buy an out of the box shop.

[Coolblue]

I once spent months fixing a php message board because the company was still developing the software

Then i changed to Invision - the same company that made this forums software and ive hardly had any problems because it is well developed

My point is that i dont really want my head stuck in software files learning off companies that are developing software

I only hassle i am willing to put in is installing the damn thing and making it look right

[Guest]

The MS releases are stable releases and should not need 'fixing'

 

The CVS releases are still in development.

 

Which one did you install?

[Guest]

The majority of the problems I have seen (by the amount of email I get and the PM's) is that most are inexperienced in operating a computer, let alone know anything of an Apache or IIS server at all. PHP, well, about the same! MySQL, I would venture to say that most could not construct a very plain insert statement into a database.

People get excited in thinking they can just sit down and get a store up and going in a very short time. While true, if you know what you are doing, most want customization. While customizing, most do not test after each section! They just keep adding and adding then test only to find out something along the way 'broke'. Well, it did not break, it was not installed properly.

If you get the incorrect host, they will not give you the proper support, you will be banging your head against the wall, and if you are limited in bandwidth, you will use tons of that while 'developing' if you want to call it that.

My suggestion? First thing, do you have the time to do this. Do you have the resources and will power to stick it out.

Then install the software locally and make it work there! If you can't do that, it is very doubtful you will get it going on the net! Start with the package without any changes. Take a look around, snoop! See what things do, read the Wiki Documentation. Actually read that first!

Then, if you are ready to give up, it was not meant to be.

[brett]

i think the reason why this guy's having a problem is because he's not asking any questions. three posts for a newbie is not much, and he's yet to reply to this post.

 

i'm a n00b too, with very little programming php background, but it's slowly getting there for me. OSC is the only way this would even be possible. i could never code this from scratch and similar codes that i know [like cgi] would never handle this sort of use.

 

stick to it. it's slowly paying off for me.

 

www.seattleteams.com <--a work in progress.

 

=brett=

[Guest]

osCommerce is not for people who lack the willingness to do for themselves what is necessary. It is also not a complete program. It Is a program in development. HPDL and everyone else who works on it and the contributions have done a great service to those of us who did not have the option of spending any amount of money on a similar commercial product. I have been working with osc for over a year and enjoy it more everyday. You can use it as is or you can customize it in any way shape or form that you wish, and if you will bother to look hard and long enough you will usually find that someone else has already done or begun to do the very thing you are seeking. If you cant make it work the way you want it to then you don't deserve to have it for free anyway, so spend some of the cold hard cash ya got spittin out of yer ears and pay for something different. But do not, I repeat do not continue to use these forums to slander that which is the blood of my life and my manna from heaven.

[Guest]

and with that i say goodnight. Good Night!

[Guest]

is there anyone here willing to help a newby? ive been working on this site for a month and im about to abandon the site or give it away. im that upset that i cannot operate this site that im almost willing to take the loss at this point. I am not a programmer nore do i want to be. i just want this site to work. the latest problem im having is this email isnt working from the site, it just kicks me back to the first page where im suposed to compose the email. there are no help files that i can see on the actual operations on how to get this email to work. this should not be rocket science. i just wanna send a mail. i have no istructions on how to configure mails whatsoever. any one have any suggestions? :(

I can feel your pain. It took me about 6 months to get my first store up and running. i was ready to scrap it as well after a month or 2. Ti however have an interest in programming so I stuck with it and learned alot. Still, I wish I was better at it. It would still take me a while to get another store up and running.

 

I suggest you pay someone to get it together for you if you do not want to bother anymore or find a paid cart. There are a few out their that are OK, but none with features OSC has.

[Guest]

osCommerce is not for people who lack the willingness to do for themselves what is necessary.  It is also not a complete program.  It Is a program in development. HPDL and everyone else who works on it and the contributions have done a great service to those of us who did not have the option of spending any amount of money on a similar commercial product.  I have been working with osc for over a year and enjoy it more everyday.  You can use it as is or you can customize it in any way shape or form that you wish, and if you will bother to look hard and long enough you will usually find that someone else has already done or begun to do the very thing you are seeking.  If you cant make it work the way you want it to then you don't deserve to have it for free anyway, so spend some of the cold hard cash ya got spittin out of yer ears and pay for something different.  But do not, I repeat do not continue to use these forums to slander that which is the blood of my life and my manna from heaven.

Jeeeeez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I can understand your frustration, though.

 

Folks think "Hey it's free!!!!!!"

 

No way. everything comes with a price. OSC is definitely not for those who have no intention of learning any programming.

 

If you do have money ot spend, I would contact an OSC team member and get a quote on getting your site set up and customized for you. If I had money to burn, I would not buy ashopping cart, I would pay aprogrammer to build me an awesome OSC store. OSC (along with all its contribs) is really all you could ever want in an ecommerce program.

 

If you are not aprogrammer but are willing to learn, you can do it. But keep in mind that the more you rush it, the more frustrated you'll get. remember, free = you gotta spend the time.

[brett]

i had a dream the other night that someone took the time to compile every truly useful contrib and integrate it into an installable version of OSC... i've spent like 100 hours installing stuff that everyone else already seems to have installed.

 

but, i dont mind. it's sort of enjoyable. too bad no one knows my amazing accomplishments but me and you. [everything is amazing to me, i'm slow ;)]

 

keep on rockin.

 

=b=

[HighHobbies.com]

I can appreciate what you are trying to do but you said it yourself, you are not a programmer. These open source applications are not really for someone with no programming experience.

 

I'd suggest paying someone to get in there and help sort out your problems. What's a little money spent on some programming services for a potential HEALTHLY business? Not much.

Like very good for you... Healthy...;-)

[Coolblue]

Out of interest .........Once a osc is installed on a server - how do you go about changes fonts ,colours and layout ?

Do you have something in the settings that make it easier like a stylesheet or do you have to open loads of files and edit them ?

 

How stable is the latest release if you dont intend to make too many changes ?

Ie ..will i have to spend hour/days/months looking for bug fixes ?

 

How well do php pages register on search engines ? is there a way to make all the new pages search engine friendly or is the majority of the content of the site hidden in some database that no search engine will ever pick up on ?

 

What makes php better than asp ? or is it ?

[Guest]

Out of interest .........Once a osc is installed on a server - how do you go about changes fonts ,colours and layout ?

Do you have something in the settings that make it easier like a stylesheet or do you have to open loads of files and edit them ?

 

Depends on how extensive the changes you want to make are. Colours, fonts and background etc are in the stylesheet but if you want to move things round ike boxes and change the layourt of pages, then that would involve going in to the files, yes.

 

How stable is the latest release if you dont intend to make too many changes ?

Ie ..will i have to spend hour/days/months looking for bug fixes ?

 

Well, I use 2.2-MS1, which is the previous release. Not found a single bug with it. I don't know about MS2.

 

How well do php pages register on search engines ? is there a way to make all the new pages search engine friendly or is the majority of the content of the site hidden in some database that no search engine will ever pick up on ?

 

Well, some have said that search engines don't pick up anything after a ? in a URL. Some have said that they do. But, yes there is a switch in the admin that makes URLs search engine friendly, gets rid of all the ? and = and & and makes them all /

 

All my content has now been indexed. It's a good idea to put in the allprods contrib, which basically lists all of your products on one single page with links. Submit THAT to the search engines, and it goes to all your products straightaway, with no messing about going through a spiderweb of categories.

 

What makes php better than asp ? or is it ?

 

Haven't a clue.

[peterr]

Hi Mark,

 

What makes php better than asp ? or is it ?

 

Having used both, I would simply state each has their own use/purpose. I _think_ PHP was around before ASP, which wouldn't surprise me. :D

 

I can use ASP with Win95 and PWS as a local web server, and also use it (PWS) for PHP work, but of course I'd rather install a local Apache server to do the PHP side of things. Each have their own disadvantages and advantages no doubt, but, sorry I'm not qualified to speak on that.

 

ASP uses VBS (Visual Basic scripting), and as 'any' product that slightly resembles BASIC is easy to pick up, I found the learning curve fairly easy with ASP. ASP can also run Perl scripts I think, and possibly other scripts. With PHP, my learning curve was (and still is) a bit steeper, but I'm finding there are _so_ many libraries,etc with PHP that would make life a lot easier (as a 'part-time' webmaster).

 

With ASP, it is fairly much hooked into M$ libraries/components, for example, you can read a Word doc with ASP, but it uses (I think) the components that come with Word, therefore you may not be able to use _that_ part, unless you have a (legal) copy of Word installed on your computer. As far as db connections, both ASP and PHP can connect to MySQL and Access db's, PHP can connect, I think to PostGreSQL as well, and of course ASP connects to a M$ SQL Server (but so can PHP, thru an ODBC connection).

 

Which is better, ......hmm, I have no idea, but I'd rather support a non M$ product, because I don't like supporting products that may be potential monopolies, and force everyone to be locked into using that product , and have no way of migrating. Portability is important, and freedom, but having said that, if a client liked using an ASP application, and it met all their needs (requirements), then why change ??

 

Peter

[brett]

ASP is awesome, PHP is awesome.

 

with that said-- go with PHP. it's easier for support reasons, and it has ALOT more open source progs and mods that you can use within whatever php prog you're using.

 

I believe ASP might eventually be *better* than php, but that's awhile from now.

 

...as far as how stable MS2 is... I have it, and it's awesome. I would recommend sticking with a milestone though. I tried to install a daily snapshot just for kicks and it totally bunged up on me :)

 

good luck!

 

=brett=

[Guest]

asp will not run on apache without installing cpan . . . .

 

now, lets see all those who know what cpan is, raise their hand . . .

[Noobish-n-stuff]

first off, let me say that i am very happy to see what everyone has to say about OSC. I'm also glad to see that everyone has learned their lessons about backing up and having to put the time in to get exactly what you want. (even if they learned the hard way.)

 

OSComerce is open source, so it is free, but if you plan to add anything custom, it will cost you time and effort. that or you can find people to do it for you if you are willing to pay.

 

Custom add-ons and mods can be very simple or extremely difficult. It really depends on what you want to do. However, you can do anything you want to. I don't think there is anything out there that this program can't do, except make a good martini, but i'm picky. (OSC does use a stylesheet)

 

Stabilty?? if you install a Milestone, you should have no issues as-is. As soon as you start changing the code, instability can occur. But it is only caused by improper coding and the such. not because of the program.

 

as far as the discussion about ASP or PHP being better, i couldn't tell you. i've never had any ASP experience. but then again i never had any PHP expirience prior to OSC.

 

good luck to everyone, we're all in this together...