Quick Start with ProductCart

This section applies to users of both ProductCart and ProductCart Build To Order. before you get started, make sure you have a Web hosting environment that supports ProductCart.

Here is a quick overview of the steps required to install ProductCart. For a more in-depth description of each step, see the ProductCart User Guide.

• Unzip the ProductCart file that you have downloaded after your purchase to a folder on your desktop
• Using an FTP program, upload to your Web server the productcart folder within the Parent Path Enabled folder
  (More on running ProductCart with Parent Paths Enabled vs. Disabled)
• Set folder permissions for the Internet user (IUser) or the Everyone user:
  • Read/Write permissions to the productcart folder and all of its sub-folders and files

  • Read/Write/Delete to the productcart/includes folder and all of its sub-folders and files.

  • Read/Write/Delete to the productcart/pcadmin folder and all of its sub-folders and files.

• Rename the "pcadmin" folder
• Rename the "productcart" folder
• Setup the database and connect to it
• Run the ProductCart Setup Wizard.

Many companies offer Web hosting services that work particularly well with ProductCart. See “Web hosting for ProductCart” in the ProductCart forums. If you are looking at different hosting companies, please make sure that you have reviewed the ProductCart system requirements.

• GoDaddy: here you will find specific instructions on how to host ProductCart at GoDaddy
• Rackspace Cloud Hosting (Mosso): some customers are reporting problems

Typical installation tips:

• Don't use the FTP component built into the Web hosting control panel: there are too many files to upload. Instead, use a desktop application (e.g. Filezilla is free).
• Use the built-in tools to set folder permissions. Permission are often set through a “File Manager” utility in your Web hosting control panel.
• Use the built-in tools to create a MS SQL database and run the setup query. Otherwise, download a free tool to do so.

ProductCart is not a desktop application, but rather a fully Web-based ecommerce system. You will use your browser to manage your online store after ProductCart has been installed on your Web site. However you can certainly install ProductCart on your desktop for testing and development purposes.

Once ProductCart has been installed, you can immediately start adding information to your store. If you wanted to, you could start selling products from your new e-commerce storefront within minutes!

• Configure general store settings. Select Settings > Store Settings: for details about configuring General Settings, see Chapter 3.
• Add products to your catalog. First add one or more product categories to assign your product to. To do this, select Products > Manage Categories from the navigation menu. Once the first category has been added successfully, select Products > Add New Products to add your first product to the store. How to add a new product to your online catalog is the subject of the Chapter 4.
• Add shipping options. You will probably need to specify which shipping options will be available to your customers. To do this, select Shipping > Shipping Settings to enter the address of the location from which orders will be shipped, and configure other settings that are related to shipping orders. Select Shipping > Add or View Shipping Services to add a variety of shipping options to your store. Refer to the Chapter 6 for more information.
• Add payment options. Then, specify how customers will pay for their orders by adding payment options to your store. Select Payments > Add New Payment Options from the navigation bar. You can use one of dozens of supported payment gateways, or create your own custom payment option (e.g. “Net 30”).

It's easy to integrate your ProductCart-powered store pages with the rest of your Web site.

• Integrate ProductCart with your Web site
• See a directory of e-commerce stores powered by ProductCart to see what other etailers have done
• Add ProductCart widgets to your store interface (e.g. a list of recently viewed products, a search box, etc.)
  • "How To" articles
  • Widgets and third-party add-on's