Custom Vantage Web™ How to Change Settings in Your Website—Part 7

 

by Amanda Katon

 

This month we will complete our exploration through the Settings tab by reviewing importing, exporting, error log settings, current app settings, fraud checks and operational mode settings.  All of these settings are available within every Stamp Shop Web website. These settings allow you more control over what your site offers to your customers and how your site will operate and function. When adjusting these settings, be sure you understand what each of them are and how they affect your site as these affect your content and websites functionality. This article will help make these settings clear and explain how to utilize them to their fullest potential. Let’s get started!

 

To begin, as with all Stamp Shop Web lessons, first sign-in to the admin area of your Stamp Shop Web site. Once you are logged in, click the Settings Tab. Next click the Import link, once clicked you will see an empty box where you would paste in your code (Picture-1). 

 

 

Within the Import link you can find the option to import all your products or categories. You also have the ability to only import inventory levels. This setting is used just for updating your inventory if you have inventory tracking turned on. The code you would paste in to import is derived from what is initially exported and edited.

Clear Existing Categories Before Import?: Select this option if you would like to remove categories that exist currently on your site before you import new categories.

  

Paste XML / CSV Here: within the text box paste the file then click the OK button located at the bottom of the page.

 

** Please Note: To import you must use either XML or CSV format. We recommend using CSV, by first exporting all your products/categories using CSV, then editing the file and import that file in CSV format. The tools and operations as to working with CSV formats will be discussed further in the exporting section of this article.

 

To edit and work with CSV files you must have the proper tools on your computer to be able to use this function. The tools and processes are described in detail in the following section. So let’s get to it and dive into how to export products, categories and users.

 

Below the Import link you’ll see the Export link. Click the Export link to see the settings for exporting categories, products or users out from your website (Picture-2).

 

 

Exporting this information is great for adjusting elements associated with categories, products and users on your site such as prices, names, descriptions, user email lists and more.

To export data from your website into a workable format, first determine what you would like to export by checking the box next to categories, products or users. Next you will need to choose whether to obtain the information exported in a CSV file or an XML file (we recommend CSV). Then set your delimiter to a pipe, “|” (can also be a comma delimiter, but we recommend using a pipe as they are the easiest to work with and is what we will use in our example). Once you have made the above choices click the OK button. All of the information will appear in the box below the OK button.

 

Editing the Information Exported
In order to edit the information generated, start by copying all the code in the box below the OK button. Now you will use some tools that are available on most computers to work with the data obtained. Open a plain text editor (Notepad on a PC and TextEdit on a Mac), and paste the code in a new document within that editor (Picture-3).

 

 

If you wish to work with the file you can do so in here, or you can convert some elements of this file to make it a workable file format in Microsoft Excel.

To work in Microsoft Excel with this file, there are a few steps you may need to take. Contact Technical Support if you need assistance.

 

Moving on, the next section we’ll look at is Error Logs. Click the Error Logs link located on the far left of the Settings tab list to display a list of all of your site’s actions listed from most recent (Picture-4).

 

 

This list of actions is more or less a diagnostics list of system events. These items can only be deleted or cleared if they are over 45 days old; otherwise they are unable to be deleted.

 

Clear All (button): click this button if you would like to remove all information stored in your error log that is over 45 days old.

 

Delete (button): click this button if you would like to delete individual error log entries over 45 days old.

 

Next we’ll look into the Current App Settings feature by Clicking on the link, Current App Settings (Picture-5).

 

 

Once inside you’ll find application settings related to the diagnostics of your site. These diagnostics show you the configuration settings that are in place on your site and they are unable to be changed. It is a read only settings area and is primarily for in-house support purposes.

 

Continuing on through the Settings tab, let’s look at Fraud Checks. From the left-hand settings menu, click on the link, Fraud Checks (Picture-6).

 

 

Once inside you’ll see the settings to prevent any fraud activity on your site. This section of options allows you to set up Emails, IP Addresses or Domains that are not allowed to either view or checkout on your site. An example of when you may want to use these settings may be to block hackers or even your competitors from accessing your website. The following breakdown explains what each area prevents the viewer from seeing if they happen to be added to any of the below fields. 

 

Banned Emails: a list of e-mail addresses that are not allowed to checkout on your site.

 

Banned IP Addresses: a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to view your site. The store will appear closed to any visitor with an IP address in the list.

 

Banned Domain Names: a list of domains whose e-mail addresses that are not allowed to checkout on your site.

 

To add an email, IP address, or domain to the fraud checks lists, simply type in the corresponding element (email, IP address or domain) then click the New button. To remove or delete any emails, IP addresses or domains from the lists, click on the element you wish to remove so it is highlighted in blue, and then click the Delete button below the corresponding list. If a banned email or domain attempts to access your site they would be able to view your site, but any order they place will be marked as troubled order. If a banned IP address tries to access your site their browser would display the store closed page.

 

Our final settings option within the Settings tab lies under the Operational Mode link. Click the Operational Mode link to see a listing of available operational settings for your site (Picture-7).

 

 

These options change the way your site functions and operates. They allow Stamp Shop Web to work with various punch-out systems and deliver additional functional options. If you are not sure how to set these please do not change them. Changing to the wrong mode will cause your site to not work properly.

 

Checkout Mode: select which type of checkout mode you would like for your store. Normal Checkout is the default, simply stating that the site is not operated as a punch-out system. The remaining options are various types of punch-out systems that work with Stamp Shop Web.

 

Punchout Production Shared Secret: special code provided by your punch-out buyer for production punch-out communications.

 

Punchout Test Shared Secret: special code provided by your punch-out buyer for test punch-out communications.

 

MDS Punchout ID: special code provided by Millennium Digital Services to punch-out using the MDS punch-out system with your site.

 

MDS Return Page: page to display after the MDS items are added to the cart. The default is set to “cart.aspx” which will take the customer back to view their shopping cart.

 

Automatically send MDS release on paid order during checkout only: this option will automatically release all paid orders through the punch-out to Millennium Digital Services for processing. In order to use this option you must be set-up with a credit card processor on your website. You may not use this option if you are set to “Offline/Manual Credit Card Processor”.

 

Dual Language Support: checking this box will allow Stamp Shop Web™ to be viewable in two languages of your choice.  This setting will require you to modify all of your product descriptions and names to include the second language text.  The description text in the primary (default) language will be followed by a tilde (~) and then the same description in the second language.

 

Default Language Name: enter the default language name here if Dual Language Support was checked for example, “English”.

 

Second Language Name: enter the alternate language name here if Dual Language Support was checked for example, “French”.

 

Display Cart Page on Add: checking this box will take the customer directly to the shopping cart each time a product is added to the cart.

 

Show Login Security Code: checking this box will display a security code for the customer to enter when they are creating a new account on your website.

 

Use Email Address vs. Username for login account: checking this box will have customers login into their accounts on your site with an email address instead of a username. If you would like customers to login with a username, uncheck the box.

 

After a long journey through the Settings tab you now can see what Stamp Shop Web can truly offer. Stamp Shop Web brings you complete control of your online store, which helps make each and every site unique and allows for a custom operating entity for your business. If you have any questions regarding your website feel free to contact Technical Support at 800-556-9932 or support@cwebtechnologies.com. Stay tuned for next month’s installment as we begin our adventure into how Stamp Shop Manager was built to automate your marking business with your website!