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Ecommerce Templates > ASP Version Help > Ecommerce Template instructions
For the ASP ecommerce plus templates, you need a windows server that is capable of using a Microsoft Access database. For this reason Linux servers running Chillisoft ASP are not suitable, as they do not have the capability to use a Microsoft Access database so you will probably need the PHP version.
Access Database (Most Users)
The Microsoft Access database is contained in /fpdb/vsproducts.mdb.
The default connection to this location should be correct for the
majority of installations, however if you should need to change
it, the file to edit is in /vsadmin/db_conn_open.asp. Examples are
provided in this file of different types of connection, which can
be edited with notepad or other text editor. (Do not use a word
processor to edit this file).
The directory that contains your database must be writeable, but
not browseable. If the database is not writeable,
then customers cannot add products to their shopping cart. If
the directory is browseable, then potentially people could download your database
and gain access to your login details and sales records.
Once you have the database connection set up, check that it is not possible to download it by typing in the URL of the database location in your browser. This will be something like www.yoursite.com/fpdb/vsproducts.mdb
A lot of hosts provide a directory below the web root specially for databases, and it is imperative that you use this if this is the case. If not, then your host can set the permissions described above for you. For more detailed instructions please look at our database set up page.
SECURITY TIP
The best place for your database is outside the web root. Most hosts provide
a special folder for this with the database permissions already set. Using
a folder outside the web root will make it difficult for anyone to download
your database and gain access to your username and password. Otherwise
you must set the permissions on your database folder so that your database
cannot be downloaded. More information is available here.
SECURITY TIP
Rename your database from vsproducts.mdb to a name of your choice, (keeping
the .mdb extension of course).
Examples would be (though don't use ours) yourstore591.mdb or database2221.mdb
This will make it harder for anyone to find your database if your database
folder permissions are set incorrectly.
Troubleshooting
If you receive this error when trying to add new products or categories:
Operation must use an updateable query.
...then it means that your database doesn't have write permissions. You can contact your host and ask them if there is a special folder on the server where the database should reside or if they could apply the correct permissions (writeable but not browseable) to the fpdb folder.
SQL Server database setup.
You can use an SQL Server database with your Ecommerce Plus template and here are the steps to getting your connection setup.
Firstly, you need to contract some space on an SQL Server database
with your host. They will provide you with 4 pieces of information,
and using those you need to fill in the blanks in the database
connection below in your vsadmin/db_conn_open.asp file.
sDSN = "driver={SQL
Server};server=SERVERNAME;uid=USERNAME;pwd=PASSWORD;database=DATABASENAME"
Next, you need to open the file vsadmin/includes.asp in notepad
and look for . . .
sqlserver=false
. . . and change that to . . .
sqlserver=true
Now you need to create the actual SQL Server tables. There are 2 ways to do this. One is to use our SQL Server creation script which is available here for a small extra charge.
The other way is to use the Access database and "upsize" it to SQL Server.
For this you can use Access, and go to Tools -> Database Utilities
-> Upsizing Wizard.
However the transformation process never seems to properly create
the autonumeric fields or keyfields and without these the SQL Server
database won't work properly. What you need to do to patch this
up is use the SQL Server Enterprise Manager, go through each table
of the Access database and find what the keyfield is and give the
relevant column in the SQL Server table the keyfield property.
Then check in the Access database to see if one of the columns
(normally the keyfield) has the AUTONUMBER property and if so give
the same column in the SQL Server database the IDENTITY(1, 1) property.
Using mySQL with the ASP version.
Open the file vsadmin/includes.asp in notepad and look for . . .
sqlserver=false
. . . and change that to . . .
mysqlserver=true
If that line isn't showing in vsadmin/includes.asp you can just add it to the list of parameters.
In your vsadmin/db_conn_open.asp file you need to set the following
variables, your host should be able to supply you with the correct
ones.
sDSN = "DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver};SERVER=localhost;DATABASE=dbnamehere;UID=username;PWD=password;OPTION=16427"
You will need the mySQL connector driver and that is available here.
Now you need to create the actual mySQL tables. We recommend using our mySQL creation script which is available here for a small extra charge.
Once the database connection is correctly set, you can access the admin area by opening the page /vsadmin/admin.asp in your browser. The default username and password are mystore / changeme. Take time to go through the admin pages and configure the settings for your requirements as detailed below.
8 kinds of shipping calculations are provided.
To set up the details for Payment Providers, chose the link Edit Payment Providers on the admin home page. The available payment providers will be show on this page, with the active ones in bold. Please note it is possible to have more than one payment provider active at a time, so, for instance giving you the opportunity to use both a Credit Card based system like 2Checkout together with a system like PayPal. If more than one is chosen then your customers are given the choice of payment service in the checkout phase.
For all payment providers you need to ensure that on the store admin settings the URL to your web site is correct. To set this go to the main admin page, admin.asp, and chose the Edit Admin Settings link.
Choose from the list below for detailed instructions on setting up for the individual payment providers.
If you chose this option, then your customers can make an order without actually having to go through a payment routine. You can use this option if you wish to take orders that are then paid by bank transfer, check etc at a later date. It's not possible to send credit card information via email.
Firstly, check to make sure that no-one can download your database.
To do this, enter the URL to the database in your browser. For instance
http://www.yourstore.com/fpdb/vsproducts.mdb
If your browser asks if you would like to download the file, that
means that the security settings for your database folder are set
to allow browsing. You need to ask your host to correct this.
The default login and password for the admin area is mystore / changeme.
You are encouraged to change this immediately.
Fraud is always a factor in online sales unfortunately. Always double
check with your payment providers admin area to ensure that a sale
has been properly processed before shipping products.
Please do read through our checklist here before going live with a site.
If in testing you receive emails with no problem, then you need
do no more here.
If however you do not receive emails, please visit our email
help page.