Chapter 2: Installing and Using NetStores

Setting up your mall

OK, now that you've installed NetStores, you'll want to start configuring your mall &emdash; the parts of your Web site that integrate your stores into a coherent shopping experience.

NetStores's "dwos" program netstoresally generates a "mall front door" with logos and links for all the stores in your mall. The URL for this page is http://www.mydomain.com/dwos-bin/dwos.

This page and a number of other pages in your mall use parameters you will define in the ./dwos/malldata/params.sh file.

Of course, you may also want to customize your mall front with a "map" of the mall and other links. You can do this by creating your own HTML file for the "front door" or by customizing the ./dwos-bin/dwos shell script. (If you choose to customize any shell scripts, remember that the license agreement restricts you from disabling or modifying the "copyrightnotice" and "licreport" shell functions.)

The ./dwos/malldata directory is where you provide information about your mall.

To configure your mall:

Edit the ./dwos/malldata/params.sh file and set the following parameters.
- MYDOCROOT: If your Web server does not set DOCUMENT_ROOT, provide the full path to the page root directory.
- DOMAINAM: Provide the domain name for email addresses. For example, "megamart.com"
- MALLADMIN: Provide the email username (at DOMAINNAM) that should receive alert messages. For example, "webmaster".
- CRMAN: Provide the email username (at DOMAINNAM) for the credit manager for credit card processing. For example, "creditdept".
- CCCGIBIN: Provide the default CGI program for credit card processing (if applicable).
- MAILDIR: Provide the system email directory. (The software polls this directory.) For example, "/var/spool/mail".
- URLBACK: Set this parameter to the URL you want customers to be able to link back to after completing an order. The linked text will say "Return to Main Mall here". For example, "http://www.malldomain.com/dwos-bin/dwos".
- MALLNAME: Set this to the name of your mall. For example, "Joe's Megamall".
- MALLLOGO: Put your mall's logo in the ./dwos/malldata/images directory. This directory is referenced by an alias from the ./htdocs/mallimages directory. So, the image location you type for this parameter should have the format "/mallimages/logofile.jpg".
- MALLBBGD: Provide the entire HTML <BODY> tag you want to use for the mall pages. You can include the BACKGROUND, BGCOLOR, TEXT, LINK, and VLINK attributes. Make sure you put the entire parameter definition on a single line.
  Put the background image file in the ./dwos/malldata/imagesdirectory. This directory is referenced by an alias from the ./htdocs/mallimages directory. So, the image location you type for this parameter should have the format "/mallimages/bkgrnd.gif".
  For example, "<BODY BACKGROUND=/mallimages/mallbkgd.gif>"
- BBGD: This is similar to the MALLBBGD parameter. You provide the <BODY> tag for stores that do not define their own page body attributes. Each store can define its own BBGD parameter to override this setting.
Edit the ./dwos-bin/dwos file. Find the lines that set the Mall Banner Message. By default, they look like this:
```
    <h3>
    Welcome to our presence in <strong>cyberspace<strong>
    where we present $DEMO the <em>future<em> in convenience
    shopping.
    <h3>
```
Modify these lines of HTML to suit your own needs. You can provide demonstration storefronts that set the DEMO parameter to add text to this message. (You may customize more of this shell script if you like. However, remember that the license agreement restricts you from disabling the "copyrightnotice" shell function.)

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