PDG Commerce Introduction
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Integrating PDG Commerce
Now that PDG Commerce is configured and your products are defined, you should link your
site to PDG Commerce so that customers can begin shopping. This is also
referred to as "integrating" or "embedding" Commerce into your Web
store. First, it is important to note that your Web store pages and PDG Commerce
are actually two separate, or independent, entities. Therefore, integrating Commerce
into your store is really the act of creating links that "call" PDG Commerce
into action. These links are words or images (buttons) that add products to
the user's cart, display their cart's contents, let customers proceed to checkout, perform a
hard or soft search, etc.
The following are basic links to get you started. You should also consult the
product documentation
for more information on additional links.
'Begin Shopping' or 'Enter Store' Link
To add a link to your "home page" using text (such as the phrase "Enter Store"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display=home">Enter Store</a>
Use your Web store's domain and specify the appropriate CGI directory and extension for the
"commerce" executable file (typically either .exe for Windows and .cgi for UNIX).
To add this link using an image:
Most HTML editors have a tool that allows you to create a "hot spot"
over an image. This hot spot is the link. Once the hot spot is "drawn" over the
image, a dialog box should appear asking you to enter the URL for the hot spot link. You
should enter the following:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display=home
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display=home">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Show Products' & 'List Categories' Link
PDG Commerce provides users with the option of utilizing PDG Commerce software to
dynamically generate an online catalog, or to add "add to cart" links to existing
site pages. If you are working with an extremely large database, or if you would like to
go live with your site in a very short period of time, using Commerce's StoreBuilder function
can save you a tremendous amount of time. When a user clicks on a StoreBuilder link, Commerce
will then generate a list of all of the product categories that you have defined within the
administration panel. When a user selects a category on the resulting page, Commerce then
generates a list of products within that specific category.
To add a StoreBuilder link using text (such as the phrase "Enter Store"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?search">Enter Store</a>
Use your Web store's domain and specify the appropriate CGI directory and extension for the
"commerce" executable file (typically either .exe for Windows and .cgi for UNIX).
To add this link using an image:
Most HTML editors have a tool that allows you to create a "hot spot"
over an image. This hot spot is the link. Once the hot spot is "drawn" over the
image, a dialog box should appear asking you to enter the URL for the hot spot link. You
should enter the following:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?search
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?search">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Order' or 'More Info' Link
This is usually the initial link which calls PDG Commerce into action from an existing
product page on your website. It displays the chosen product on Commerce's "item" page and
allows the customer to specify the quantity and options for the product. Usually this link is
placed somewhere adjacent to the product description or image on your static pages that you
have created yourself. Note: in the examples below, you would replace XXX with your product's item/sku
number that you assigned within Commerce's administration panel.
To add this link using text (such as the word "Order"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?preadd=action&key=XXX">Order</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those using an HTML editor, you should enter the following as your hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?preadd=action&key=XXX
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?preadd=action&key=XXX">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Add to Cart' or 'Buy Now' Link
If your products do not have option attributes and the typical order is for a quantity of one,
you may choose to skip Commerce's "preadd" step by using Commerce's add action. Note: although
Commerce's add action will always add a quantity of one by default, the user will be presented with the option
of recalculating the number when they view the contents of their cart. In the examples below, you would
replace XXX with your product's item/sku number that you assigned within Commerce's administration panel.
To add this link using text (such as the word "Buy Now"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?add=action&key=XXX">Order</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those using an HTML editor, you should enter the following as your hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?add=action&key=XXX
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?add=action&key=XXX">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Search' Link
If you would like to allow your customer to search for specific products, the search action will generate
a page allowing the customer to search for products based on keywords, sku numbers, product descriptions,
price range, and product category. Note that you may also embed a search form directly into any of your
HTML pages. For information on adding a search form, please refer to the PDG Commerce User Manual.
To add this link using text (such as the word "Search"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display=search">Search</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those using an HTML editor, you should enter the following as your hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display=search
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display=search">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
To add a search form to any page of your website, insert the following code. Note that you can have a
standard form submit "button", or you can specify your own custom graphic for the search submit button.
<form method="post" action="!---SCRIPT_NAME---">
<input type="hidden" name="defaction" value="search">
<input type="text" name="keywords" size="15">
<input type="image" src="!---CONFIG_ROOT---submit.gif" name="search" value="action">
</form>
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'View Cart' Link
This type of link allows customers to view the contents of their cart at anytime, from
any place in your Web store that you place the link.
To add this link using text (such as the word "View Cart"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display">View
Cart</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those using an HTML editor, you should enter the following hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?display">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Checkout' Link
This type of link allows customers to proceed to checkout at anytime, from any
place in your Web store that you place the link. Note: if your site is SSL enabled and you are
utilizing your own SSL certificate, you should direct these links for https://www.your_domain.com. If
you are using a shared certificate offered by your hosting provider, you will need to use the
"view cart" links above for your checkout links. Doing so will allow Commerce to create the
secure checkout link that will forward the user, along with their basket contents that are stored within
a cookie, to the correct secure address.
To add this link using text (such as the word "Checkout"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?checkout">Checkout</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those developers using an HTML editor, you should enter the following hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?checkout
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?checkout">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Register' Link
To add this link using text (such as the word "Register"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?register">Register</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those developers using an HTML editor, you should enter the following hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?register
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?register">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Log In' Link
Note that you may also embed a log in form directly into any of your
HTML pages. For information on adding a log in form, please refer to the PDG Commerce User Manual.
To add this link using text (such as the word "Log In"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?login">Register</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those developers using an HTML editor, you should enter the following hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?login
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?login">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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'Log Out' Link
To add this link using text (such as the word "Log Out"):
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?logout">Register</a>
To add this link using an image:
For those developers using an HTML editor, you should enter the following hyperlink:
!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?logout
If you are not using an HTML editor, then you should code the HTML like
this:
<a href="!---FULL_URL---!---SCRIPT_NAME---?logout">
<img
src="location_of_image" border=0></a>
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Additional Information
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For additional information regarding these, and other links and actions for PDG Commerce,
please refer to the PDG Commerce documentation.
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