Chapter 2: Installing and Using NetStores

Setting up the catalog (gen-cat) interface

Depending on which type of storefront interface you decided to use, you'll perform different steps to set up your product list so NetStores can use it. This section, and the one on "Setting up the search (gen-srch) interface" describe the steps for creating stores with the various NetStores interfaces.

The storefront for the gen-cat interface includes any introductory text and images you want to use followed by a list of all your products. Internally, the catalog interface uses a hierarchy of directories and a series of HTML pages for each item. It also generates forms for ordering.

"Browse a small catalog (gen-cat)" For an online example of this interface, see http://www.netstores.com/dwos-bin/gen-cat?vcp or http://www.netstores.com/dwos-bin/gen-cat?dwts (use "1" for the account number and "captain" for the password.

Directory structure

The gen-cat interface can use the same set of files to keep track of customers, transactions, and orders as the gen-srch interface. However, instead of listing the items in itmfil.asc, you create an item hierarchy in the catalog directory.

Product hierarchy

Before you begin creating files, decide on the hierarchy of products you want to offer. For example, if you are selling pet supplies, your top-level categories might be Food, Toys, Grooming tools, and Training tools. Or, you might start with categories for Cats, Dogs, Birds, and Fish. It's helpful to draw a diagram or make a list of the product hierarchy you plan to create. For example:

1. Dogs
   • Toys
     • Pulltoy_123
     • Chewtoy_100%
     • Chewtoy_456
     • . . .
   • Food
     • . . .
   • Grooming
     • . . .
2. Cats
   • . . .
3. Fish
   • . . .

You can have as many category levels in your hierarchy as you want. Also, different branches of the hierarchy can have different numbers of layers. Your hierarchy of categories and products will appear in nested bulleted lists on your storefront page.

Items vs. Styles

Within each category of products, you can choose between two methods of storing prices and item descriptions. You can use different methods for different product categories.

• Items method: This is the easiest method to use. Use the "items" method if the products do not have any customer-selected variables. You create a file for each product category that contains the item numbers, descriptions, and prices for all products in this category.
• Styles method: This method is more complex, but also more flexible. Use the "styles" method if the products in this category have variables the customer must select (such as size and color).You can provide up to two lists of variables for each product category. (If you need more than two variables, you should either break your product list into more categories or use the Order configured products (gen-conf) interface.).
  • The first variable is called "color". You can use this variable to provide a list of choices that don't affect the price of the product. Color is an example of this type of variable. Other examples could be: pattern, operating system, and computer platform.
  • The second variable is called "size". You can use this variable to provide a list of choices that do affect the price of the product. Size could be an example of this type of variable. Other examples could be: material, number of units, and material.

To create a catalog product list:

1. Move to the ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/catalog directory.
2. Create a directory for each of your top-level categories. For example, you might create directories called "cats" and "dogs".
3. If you want the storefront page to describe the categories for which you just created directories, create a file called directory.txt in the directory that contains the new subdirectories.

   In the directory.txt file, put your description of this set of categories in HTML format. This file will be included as a bulleted list item and the text will be displayed in bold. Your description can be a single line of text or lots of text with images and any HTML formatting you want to use. (If you want to turn off bolding, put </B> at the beginning of the directory.txt file and <B> at the end of the file.)

4. Move to one of the category directories you created. In this directory, you can create directories either for subcategories or for products (but not for both subcategories and products).
   • To create directories for subcategories, repeat Steps 2 and 3. For example, this time you might create subdirectories called "food" and "toys" in the "dogs" directory. You can have as many levels of categories as you like
   • To create directories for products, follow Steps 5 through 10.
5. Create a directory for each product in this category. Use your item codes to name all the directories. For example, you might create directories called "PULL124" and "CHEW246" in the "dogs/toys" directory.

   NetStores creates a page for each item is using the files and parameters shown here:

6. In each product directory, add an HTML file with the same name as the directory. For example, in the "PULL124" directory, create a file named "PULL124.html".

   This HTML file begins the page, so it should include <HEAD>, <TITLE>, and <BODY> tags. However, other files come after it, so don't include any </BODY> or </HTML> tags to end the page.

   If you want to include the same image in many pages, put that image in the ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/images directory and reference the image in the HTML file as if it were located in the /store-abbrev/images directory. (You created a link between these two directories in the section on "Creating directories and files for a store".)

   If you want to include an image for this product only, put the image in the ./dwos/store-abbrev/catalog/category-path/item_# directory and reference the image in the HTML file as if it were actually located in the /store-abbrev/catalog/category-path/item_# directory.

7. If you do not create an HTML page for a product, NetStores will create a default page that includes your store logo, the "Welcome to our presence in cyberspace..." message, and the image.jpg or image.gif file in this product directory if you place one there. NetStores uses the $CNAME, $BBGD, and $LOGO parameters you defined to do this.
8. NetStores will also use a description file called desc.txt if you place it in the product directory. This file can contain any HTML you like. For example, you may want to copy standard headers to the item_#.html files and put product descriptions extracted from your catalog in the desc.txt files.
9. If you want to use the "items" method for this product category (see "Items vs. Styles"), create a file called items (in the category directory) with the following format:

       Item_#|Item Name|Price
   

   For example:

       10003|Large Dog House|79.95
       10004|Cat Bed|29.95
       20001|Dog Training for Dummies|19.95
   
   

10. If you want to use the "styles" method for this product category (see "Items vs. Styles"), create the following files:
    • In the category directory, create a file called styles that lists the product subdirectories in the order you want them listed on the page. Put one directory name on each line. For example:

          CHEW100%_DOG
          CHEW345_DOG
          FETCH678_DOG
    
    

    • In each product directory, create a file called desc.lin that contains a one-line description of the product.
    • In each product directory, you may create a file called colors that lists options (one per line) for a variable that does not affect the price (see the description of the "color" variable above). Your file might look like one of these examples:

      Windows 3.1 Windows 95 Mac OS SPARC SunOS SPARC Solaris

      Cardinal Red Snow White Forest Green Royal Blue Deepest Black

      You can also use a colors file if you are using the "items" method. This is because the colors file does not affect the price. If you use a sizes file, you must create all the files described in this list (except the colors file, which is optional).

    • In each product directory, create a file called sizes that lists options for a variable that does affect the price (see the description of the "size" variable above) in the following format:

        Option description|#
    

    where # is a number that will match the number in the prices file you will create in the next step. Your file might look like one of these examples:

    100 orders/month|1 150 orders/month|2 250 orders/month|3 500 orders/month|4 Unlimited|5	6" tall|1 9" tall|2 12" tall|3 15" tall|4

    • If you created a sizes file, you must also create a prices file in the same directory to list the price for each option in the sizes file in this format:

        #|price
    

    where # matches the number in the sizes file. Your file might look like this:

    1|99.95 2|199.95 3|299.95

To customize the "look" of your store:

1. Set the following parameters in ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/params.sh to control what the links to the next and previous page say:
   • PPLIT: Set this parameter to the text or HTML you want to use instead of "Previous Item" in the link to the previous product page. For example, "<IMG SRC=/store-abbrev/images/backbtn.gif>"
   • NPLIT: Set this parameter to the text or HTML you want to use instead of "Next Item" in the link to the next product page. For example, "<IMG SRC=/store-abbrev/images/nextbtn.gif>"
2. Set the following parameters in ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/params.sh to control what the buttons on the order form say:
   • ADDLIT: Set this parameter to the text you want to use instead of "Add to Shopping Cart" on the button that adds an item to the order. For example: "Add to Order".
   • VIEWLIT: Set this parameter to the text you want to use instead of "View Shopping Cart" on the button that lets the customer review the order. For example: "Review Order".
   • REMLIT: Set this parameter to text you want to use instead of "Remove This Item" on the button that removes an item from the order. For example: "Remove from Order".
3. Set the following parameters in ./dwos/data/store-abbrev/params.sh to control the length of the fields in the order form and order acceptance form for customers using browsers that may not support tables:
   • STYLEN: Set this parameter to the number of letters you want to limit the field for the "Style" to when a customer is using a browser that may not support tables.
   • SIZLEN: Set this parameter to the number of letters you want to limit the field for the "Size" to when a customer is using a browser that may not support tables.
   • DSCLEN: Set this parameter to the number of letters you want to limit the field for the item description to when a customer is using a browser that may not support tables.

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