Chapter 2: Installing and Using NetStores

Creating account and transaction files

NetStores automatically maintains customer files and transaction logs. All you have to do is make sure the files exists and set parameters that let NetStores know which ones you want it to use. By default, a store shares the mall-wide customer files. However, a store can also have a separate customer file.

To open an new customer account, customers can follow the link to http://www.yourdomain.com/dwos-bin/gen-acct. The pages NetStores generates provide links that let new customers open an account in the customer file you specify.

To create store-level customer files:

1. Create zero-length files in the ./dwos/data/store-abbrev directory with the following names. See "Reviewing access logs" for more details about these files.
   • cusfil The customer file
   • ordfil The master order file. Contains a complete order history
   • ordopn The open orders file. After you process orders, you may want to remove this file and create a new zero-length file.
   • ordqte The quote file. You may want to remove expired quotes from this file on a regular basis.
   • trxlog The transaction log. Contains information about customer access to your store.
2. Create files in the ./dwos/data/store-abbrev directory with the following names and contents:
   • nxtcus The customer number you want to start with.
   • nxtord The order number you want to start with.
   • nxtqte The quote number you want to start with.
   • nxttrx The transaction number you want to start with.
3. Define these parameters in ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/params.sh to tell NetStores where to find the customer and transaction files:
   • CUSFIL: Set this parameter to "$CUSDIR/cusfil" if you want NetStores to maintain a separate customer file for this store.
   • NXTCUS: Set this parameter to "$CUSDIR/nxtcus" if you want NetStores to maintain a separate series of customer numbers for this store.
   • NXTTRX: Set this parameter to "$CUSDIR/nxttrx" if you want NetStores to maintain a separate series of transaction numbers for this store.
   • TRXLOG: Set this parameter to "$CUSDIR/trxlog" if you want NetStores to maintain a separate transaction log file for this store.
4. Define these parameters in ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/params.sh to control what the form for opening a new customer account looks like:
   • CUSTFAX: Set this parameter to "yes" if you want customers to be able to have an order confirmation faxed to them automatically. If you do not set this parameter to "yes", customers can choose to receive confirmation by email or no confirmation. (The default ./dwos-bin/faxdoc script sends the fax remotely from megamart.com. Edit this script to send faxes using the appropriate commands for your server. NetStores sends the MERCHFAX phone number as a parameter to this script.)
   • ADR1LIT, ADR2LIT, ADR3LIT: Set these parameters to any words you want to use in place of "Address-1", "Address-2", and "Address-3" in the new account form.
5. If your store already has its own customer database, you can generate the cusfil file from your database. The fields in the cusfile are separated by the "|" (pipe) character. The default field order in cusfil is shown below.

   Customer number First name Initial Last name Password Address-1 Address-2 City State Zip code Country Home phone Work phone Email address Ship to name Ship to address-1 Ship to address-2

   Ship to city Ship to state Ship to zip code Bill to first name Bill to initial Bill to last name Bill to address-1 Bill to address-2 Bill to city Bill to state Bill to zip code Bill to country --unused-- --unused-- Price number Confirmation (none, yes, or fax)

   Fax number Allow alternate ship to? (on=yes) Address-3 Ship to address-3 Bill to address-3 Tax status (exe=exempt, non=nonexempt) Taxpayer ID # IP address Date and time account opened Company name

NetStores Administrator's Guide
1: About NetStores 2: Installing and Using NetStores	3: Troubleshooting 4: Technical Reference
Copyright © 1996 NetStores