Cart32 Using an Access Database with your Cart

The Cart32 Shopping Cart allows you to use a Microsoft Access 2000/2002 database with your shopping cart. Here are the steps you will need to use a database with your cart.

1) Download a template database

2) Upload the template database to your secure server

3) Setting up the database configuration in your Web Admin

4) Entering products in your database

5) Incorporating the database into your web site

1) Downloading a template database

In order to begin using a database with your cart you will fist need to download a copy of our template database that contains all of the tables and columns required by the shopping cart. You can modify this database to contain as many tables and columns as you like as long as the required columns are not deleted or renamed. A copy of the template database can be downloaded here. The template database is in a zip file.

2) Upload the template database to your secure server

After you have downloaded and unzipped the template database you will need to use FTP to log into your secure server. Instructions for accessing your secure server are provided in your Shared Secure Server Information email. We recommend not uploading the database directly to the root of your secure server. For security purposes we highly recommend placing the database in a directory. Remember the location of your database because you will need to enter that information into your Web Admin later. Please remember that placing any file on your secure server does not make it "secure" to where people cannot download files. For added security we also suggest that once you have your database uploaded to the secure server, log into our HelpDesk and request that we set permission on your database so that people will not be able to download or view your database.

3) Setting up the database configurations in your Web Admin

Now you will need to log into your Cart32 Web Admin. Instructions for this are in the Cart32 Shopping Cart Information email. Once you are logged into the Cart32 Web Admin you will need to go to the "Products". Once you are in this section, you will see a  Product Table Setup drop down box where you will need to select "Use external product database" and then Save the Products section. After you have Saved that section you will see a place to enter the "Access Database Name" as shown below.

You will need to enter the location of the database on your secure server and then Save the products section again. You will then see a new "Product Table" drop down box where you will need to select "Products" as shown below.

After you have selected the product table you will then Save the product section once again. Now you are ready to begin setting up the columns in the database to correspond to the fields in the shopping cart. Below shows you what the page will look like before you begin setting the fields.

For each name on the left side such as "Id Field", "Category Field", Subcategory Field", "Item Field", etc you will need to use the drop down box to the right of each name to select the corresponding column in the database to be associated with that field name. I have selected a few as show below to give you an idea of how that works. You will need to do this for all of the names on the left side.

Once you have finished with each of the names then you will need to Save the products section one last time. You are now finished setting up the configurations needed to connect to your database.

4) Entering products in your database

Now you are ready to begin entering the product information into your database. In the products section you will need to choose "Products" from the drop down menu on the right as shown below

Once you are in the products sub section you will be able to view all of the products in your database as shown below

Here you can add a new product, edit or delete an existing product. Below is an example of how it will look when you edit an existing product.

5) Incorporating the database into your web site

When you are using a database with your shopping cart you will not need to use all of the information that the HTML Form Wizard generates. This is because that information is stored in the database instead of being stored on your web pages. There is one piece of information that you will need in order to make your pages work correctly. Below is an example of how your page will look and the code used.

Here is the code used to generate the form above.

<form method=post action="https://www.cart32hosting.com/sheerwebhost/cart32.exe/clientname/-AddItem"> <font size=+1><b>Test Product</b></font><br> <input type=hidden name="PartNo" value="test"> Qty: <input type=text name="Qty" value="1" size=3> <p><b>Price: $ 35.00 <br><br><input type=submit value="Add to Cart"> </b><br><br> </form>

The bare minimum that you need for your pages is the following:

<form method=post action="https://www.cart32hosting.com/sheerwebhost/cart32.exe/clientname/-AddItem">
<input type=hidden name="PartNo" value="test">
</form>

If your products have options then you will also need to include those options in the form as shown below:

Here is the code used to generate the form above.

<form method=post action="https://www.cart32hosting.com/sheerwebhost/cart32.exe/clientname-AddItem"> <font size=+1><b>Test Product</b></font><br> <input type=hidden name="PartNo" value="test"> Qty: <input type=text name="Qty" value="1" size=3> <p>Size: <select size="1" name="p1"> <option value="Small">Small</option> <option value="Medium">Medium</option> <option value="Large">Large</option> </select></p> <p><b>Price: $ 35.00 <br><br><input type=submit value="Add to Cart"> </b><br><br> </form>

Be sure that when working with a database that you set both the P and T values in the database if your product has options such as size, color, height, etc. These are the values for the options of your product.

P values are the option values that your customer will select (ex as shown in the code above)

T values are the hidden option values corresponding to the P values

For ever P value you have you will also have a corresponding T value (P1 - T2, P2 - T2, P3 - T3, etc.)

When using a database you will not need to have the hidden T fields in your web pages as long as you have the T values entered into the database as shown in this screen shot.