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While osCommerce straight out of the box comes as a working shopping cart application, seldom will you ever see a production site using a completely stock version of the e-commerce application. In previous articles, we've talked a little bit about making some cosmetic changes. Today we are going to talk about functionality. If I had to name the best feature of osCommerce, I would say without a doubt my answer would be that it is open source software. The fact that it is open source enables and environment where anyone is free to modify or enhance the software anyway they like. osCommerce benefits from a very large and active community, who not only participate by offering their help and advice, but also in the sharing of their work. In the osCommerce community this sharing of work are know as Contributions. As I write this article there are over 3100 contributions available for free download on the osCommerce Contributions page. The available contributions cover nearly every feature one could imagine for an e-commerce web site. Quite frequently in the support forums, the answer to the question "can osCommerce do.......?" is check the contributions. There are contributions that cover everything from payment and shipping modules to template systems. I have to admit that one of my guilty pleasures is to browse the contributions looking at all the interesting and fun tidbits that can be added to a shopping cart. Everyone needs extra toys to play with, right? And while some might fall into that fun nice to have category, even more so contributions are there to fulfill valuable business needs. Some of the more popular contributions are: Credit Class & Gift Voucher - Enables a store owner to offer discount coupons and to make available gift cards for purchase. Header Tags Controller - Enhances the SEO of your e-commerce web site by dynamically modifying the page title, description, and keywords so that they relate to the products being displayed on the particular page. Simple Template System - Provides the ability to design the layout and visual design of your site through the use of HTML templates. Pay with an Account - In the base install of osCommerce, the stores customer must create an account before she is allowed to check out. Pay without an Account allows your customers to complete a transaction without having to go through the registration process. Installing a contribution can be a little confusing at first, however its not overly difficult with a little advanced knowledge of what to look for. Following the link to a contribution's page, its very common to find a list of downloads for the contribution. This happens for two reasons, one being either the original developer or others may discover and correct bugs in the contribution. Secondly further enhancements are frequently made to a contribution to the degree they often are listed with version numbers. Generally speaking you would want to download the top listed file. However be aware that occasionally someone will fix a bug or make a small enhancement and only upload the files which were modified. In that case you would need to scan the list and find the latest full package, download it as well as everything that appears above it on the list. There is no doubt this can be a hassle at times, unfortunately its just the way it goes. Once you have the file or files downloaded and unzipped, its very important to start by reading the "Read Me" file. This will generally give you the information you need to successfully install the contribution. In the case of having to download one or more small update files, the read me file will normally explain how to apply that fix to the full package. The files for the contribution will normally be delivered in a directory format that follows that of the complete osCommerce package. If the update requires any database mods, there will usually be a *.sql file for that purpose. This sql file can normally be run in the query interface within the phpMyAdmin interface on your web host. Then its usually just a matter of modifying existing or uploading the packaged files to your web site, its normally the former and I'll explain. The "Read Me" file will normally contain instructions for installing on a "clean install" and for a non clean install. A clean install, is an instance of osCommerce that has not had any changes applied to it, in other words straight out of the box, except for changes that might have been performed in the Admin Configuration tool. Once you have made any changes to your shopping cart, or applied any contributions you no longer have a clean install. That is important to know, because the instructions for installing a contribution on a clean install normally involve uploading the files in the package as they are. Doing so however over writes the existing files on the site. If you've made any previous changes to those files, the changes will be lost. The installation for a non clean install is a little more involved and can at times be tedious. However don't be scared off, due to generally great documentation most people are able to perform the changes correctly. In most cases you can employ copy and paste from the new files to the existing ones. Most contributors will provide examples of existing code and line numbers to make it easier to find the correct locations to make the changes. The new code will also frequently comment the blocks of code being added to make it easier to identify the changes down the road. The most important things to remember about applying a contribution are first to ALWAYS make a backup of any files before you change them. As a matter of good practice its a good idea to keep a complete backup of your osCommerce files away from your work environment. Its also important to take things easily and under control, don't rush through. If after you have completed the install of a contribution and it doesn't work right or you receive errors, take a deep breath and carefully retrace your steps to find the source of the error. Its not uncommon to have a misplaced comma or apostrophe. It can be difficult to debug when you are stressed out, but can be like a treasure hunt when you're relaxed. One thing more while I'm thinking about it. It's important to not put yourself into a stressful situation when it might not be necessary. Don't try to install a major contribution the night before you "have to" go live. Give yourself plenty of time to design your site, especially if you haven't worked with osCommerce before. All too frequently I see posts in the support forum from people who are desperate for help because they need to make a deadline. Most of the time they are simply struggling just to get their feet under them. Take the time to learn and understand the system, and feel comfortable with it before you make promises. Its a great system and I believe most people can learn how to modify and manage it, just takes a little time and a little experience under your belt. Happy Coding! |