Installing Oscommerce Which Way Is Best?

[Corey G]

Okay so I have been searching threw the forums, trying to determin the best way to install and set up osCommerce. I see I can just click new install in cpanel, but sevral people in the forums have suggested a self/manual install is better. Which is smarter, I have my existing website and want to set up osCommerce but not as my main site ie www.yoursite.com but rather as a click able link from my main site ie a catalog button ie www.yoursite.com/catalog. I also see in cpanel it says next to new install (2.2 MS2 (051113)) I assume this is the version? But on the osCommerce site its 2.2 Milestone 2 Update 060817 So it looks to me like the version on the oscommerce site is newer? I am self taugh when it comes to all things computers so I am trying to just do this one time with the most current version as probleams and bugs can take me sometimes days to fix. Thanks for any help in advanced, TCH has been great from the forums to the FAQ with helping me change over, and the cpanel is great very user friendly.

[TCH-Thomas]

Hi and welcome to the forum, Corey.

 

The scripts in cpanel/fantastico are sometimes one or two versions behind, so its always best to install it manually with the latest version from the authors site (in this case http://www.oscommerce.com/ ).

This will also give you less problems when it comes to upgrades ofthe script in question.

When you use fantastico installs, the install usually gives the server the ownership of the folders/files and not to you, which you will need if you are wanting to manually change somethingor upgrade it.

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the forum, Corey

 

I'd vote for manual install. Makes upgrading easier as Thomas said.

[Corey G]

Thanks guys, I was hoping specifically both of you would reply.

 

I have another question for those who have set up doing a manual install, in the instructions it says:

“Using phpMyAdmin or another tool, create your database and user, and assign that user

to the database. Write down the name of the database, username, and password for this

database for the database installation procedure.”

 

Do I do this threw MySQL Account Maintenance?

 

And what’s the best way to set up so that oscommerce is not my main site so to speak or is that covered in the install later. Basically I want to set it up so I can “play” with it and get things set up long before my customers see it. Then once its done edit the link from my current shopping cart to oscoommerce. Thanks for any help guys.

[TCH-Bruce]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So is this moive tutorial

[telcor]

And what’s the best way to set up so that oscommerce is not my main site so to speak or is that covered in the install later. Basically I want to set it up so I can “play” with it and get things set up long before my customers see it. Then once its done edit the link from my current shopping cart to oscoommerce. Thanks for any help guys.

 

When you unzip/upload osCommerce to your site, don't put it directly within public_html. Create a new folder, say 'test', and unzip/upload the osCommerce files to that folder. Thus public_html/test would contain the osCommerce files. The website address would then be http://example.com/test/ where example.com = your domain name.

 

The installation of osCommerce is easy. Patching it and installing user mods/plugins are not. The documentation for osCommerce should suffice for installation, but feel free to ask for more guidance.

 

Additionally, if you want to keep the site totally private, password protect the 'test' folder. Once you are ready to unleash your osCommerce site upon the world, simply remove the password protection. If you change the location of osCommerce once you want everyone to access it, you'll also need to update the configuration within osCommerce.

 

In other words, if you put osCommmerce into public_html/test and then wanted it in public_html/store you would need to change the configuration of osCommerce.

 

It is simpler to put it where you want it always to reside and simply password protect it while it's under development.

[Samrc]

Additionally, if you want to keep the site totally private, password protect the 'test' folder. Once you are ready to unleash your osCommerce site upon the world, simply remove the password protection. If you change the location of osCommerce once you want everyone to access it, you'll also need to update the configuration within osCommerce.

 

Save yourself one step: If you put your osCommerce installation into a 'store' or 'storefront' folder (its final location on your site), and password protect it while tweaking, you can remove the password protection and make it live without needing to adjust your configuration.

[Corey G]

Thanks for all guys. I am doing a self install, I spent the better part of today just trying to get past step 2, I searched the forums and double check everything twice but still get the dreaded:

 

Access denied for user 'TCHname_Corey'@'server3124.tchmachines.com' (using password: YES) **I edited the part that says TCHname as I don’t want my user name on the forum.

 

I have created a Database, created a user with all privlages, and added that user to the datatbase—I know that’s usually what people point out first. As an example lets say its the following:

Database: Store

User: Corey

Password 1234

website www.alldaylong.com

 

For step 2, I need the following:

Database Server – localhost

The database server can be in the form of a hostname, such as db1.myserver.com, or as

an IP-address, such as 192.168.0.1.

 

So I put- Store.alldaylong.com

* I also tried TCHname_Store.alldaylong.com and got- Unknown MySQL server host

 

Username – username

The username used to connect to the database server. An example username is

'mysql_10'.

 

So I put- TCHname_Corey

 

Password – password

The password is used together with the username, which forms the database user account.

 

So I put- 1234

 

Database Name – database name

The database used to hold the data. An example database name is 'osCommerce'.

 

So I put- TCHname_Store

 

Persistent Connections:

Enable persistent database connections.

Note: Persistent connections should be disabled for shared servers.

 

I disabled as I assume it’s a shared server?

 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated I may go bald trying to figure this out.

[Just_Rob]

Database Server should remain "localhost" and yes, it is a shared server.

Edited October 9, 2006 by Just_Rob

[TCH-Thomas]

I have never installed Oscommerce but 3 things I noticed...

 

Access denied for user 'TCHname_Corey'@'server3124.tchmachines.com' (using password: YES) **I edited the part that says TCHname as I don’t want my user name on the forum.

I dont know if this is just a misspelling but should it be server 3124?

 

For step 2, I need the following:

Database Server – localhost

The database server can be in the form of a hostname, such as db1.myserver.com, or as

an IP-address, such as 192.168.0.1.

That should be localhost I believe and nothing else.

 

Also, make sure you write your info in the config like this...

 

Username: yourcpanelname_yourchosenname

Database: yourcpanelname_yourchosenname

 

Please note the underscore and that you need to begin with your cpanel username.

[Corey G]

-Database Server should remain "localhost" and yes, it is a shared server.

 

Man the one thing I did not try and I know I should have-Thanks guys.

[Just_Rob]

It's always the little things that hang me up too. Let us know if you have further questions.

[Corey G]

One last question from earlier since oscommerce has its own folder-catalog can I not just password protect that folder so it can't be accessed till I am ready

[TCH-Thomas]

Yes, you should be able to use webprotect in cpanel to protect it.

[Corey G]

With everyones help I have made it to step 5--yea, I confused about this step it basically seems like the same info from step 2, I am not looking to have 2 users so I left it the same but I am getting this message:

The following error has occurred: Sould I leave that info blank or do these chnages.

 

 

The configuration files do not exist, or permission levels are not set.

 

Please perform the following actions:

cd /home/TCHname/public_html/catalog/includes/

touch configure.php

chmod 706 configure.php

cd /home/TCHname/public_html/catalog/admin/includes/

touch configure.php

chmod 706 configure.php

 

If chmod 706 does not work, please try chmod 777.

 

If you are running this installation procedure under a Microsoft Windows environment, try renaming the existing configuration file so a new file can be created.

[TCH-Thomas]

It looks like you will need to (with either a ftp program or through the file manager in cpanel), change the permissions on the following files and folders to either 706 or 777:

 

configure.php

catalog/admin/includes/

[Corey G]

Congratulations! Now you are really done!

 

Could not have done it without you guys-Thanks

[TCH-Bruce]

Glad they were able to help and you got it installed.

[TCH-Don]

Welcome to the forums and the family , Corey

[Just_Rob]

You up and running now? Outstanding! Now the real fun begins.

[TCH-Thomas]

Well done Corey.

[Corey G]

You up and running now? Outstanding! Now the real fun begins.

 

You are not kididng I thought it would be a lot easier then it is to set up and make changes in oscommerce to the phb code to change the layouts, colors and stuff. Does anyone know a GUI for phb? I curently use dreamweaver and I am just lost without its simplicty and being able to see something other then text. Any help as always is greatly appreciated.

[telcor]

You are not kididng I thought it would be a lot easier then it is to set up and make changes in oscommerce to the phb code to change the layouts, colors and stuff. Does anyone know a GUI for phb? I curently use dreamweaver and I am just lost without its simplicty and being able to see something other then text. Any help as always is greatly appreciated.

 

 

OSCommerce is one of the worst web applications I've encountered. It does everything wrong. Customizing beyond simple color changes or graphic changes are a nightmare because the table layout it uses is horrific and it is embedded within the program logic. Bad, bad, bad.

 

You can use any editor you like, but you'll have to wade though layer after layer of PHP to find the HTML you want to change, in all the places it occurs.

 

You might be interested in ZenCart which is a modified version of OSCommerce that allows you to easily change the color-scheme (but not much else).

 

If you search the web, you'll find people and companies that have templates for OSCommerce. Most are for-pay.

[wvcrafted]

I feel your pain. I just finished my store and have been working on it since March of this year! I know next to nothing about PHP or Mysql, but after successfully installing 40 contributions and getting everything to work, I'm learning

 

You have to remember that it's free and like many free things you get what you pay for. I have tried Zen Cart, Cube Cart and another one, but went back to Osc. The others were harder for me to work with and don't have half the contributions that Osc has. The support community is pretty good too.

 

Good luck with whatever you try. If you need anymore help, just shout. I will do what I can (which probably isn't much)