Knowledge Base - Question and Answer

Here are some of the Questions that have been asked about TopShopper and the Answers given. If you have a different question or do not fully understand the answer, please email helpdesktopshopper.net

Set-up
Email
Customising
Known Issues
General

Set-Up -----

Q. I don't know if my server supports ASP or PHP. How can I find out?

A. Here are two simple scripts that will test your server:- asptest.asp and phptest.php .

Do not left click on these links. Right click on the links and choose 'Save Target As' . Save them as 'asptest.asp' and 'phptest.php' respectively. Upload them to your server and then access them via a web browser. These scripts will reveal if your server has ASP or PHP or both.

You can see the results of these scripts when run on our server by left clicking them.
Note:- our servers support both ASP and PHP.

Q. I have not got ASP or PHP available on my site, Can I still use TopShopper II?

A. NO, you must have either ASP or PHP available.

Q. I'm interested in Topshopper II - how do I download a trial?

A. Go to Free Trial Page and fill out the form

Q. I have no knowledge of ASP or PHP. Will I be able to understand and use TopShopper II?

A. Yes, Topshopper is ready to use and simply needs uploading to your site. This will give you shopping cart functionality on your site. The integrator notes explain how to link to this cart without having to have any knowledge of PHP or ASP

Q. I have downloaded the TopShopper files and uploaded them to my site. However, it does not seem to work properly. What have I done wrong?

A. You have probably done nothing wrong but there needs to be some tweeking of your set-up. The PHP version is more likely to need fine tuning than the ASP version due to the fact that different hosting companies set up PHP in different ways. Please run the diagnostic available through the Administration or you can find the scripts at '/tshop2/admin/diagnostic.asp' for the ASP version or '/tshop2/admin/diagnostic.php' for the PHP version and send the results to [email protected] for analysis. We should be able to suggest simple solution.

Q. I have downloaded the PHP version. When running the diagnostic script I get something like:
Warning: fopen("/home/sites/site1/web/tshop2/t_user/files/diagnostic.txt","w") - Permission denied in /home/sites/site1/web/tshop2/admin/diagnostic.php on line 58. What does this mean?

A. Certain folders must have Read/Write permissions. Unfortunately on some servers the permissions are normally set to read-only. The following folders must be set to read/write by the use of 'chmod' via FTP. CHMOD 666 should be applied.
/tshop2/t_user and all files and folders below.
/tshop2/t_user/includes and all files below.
/tshop2/t_user/files and all files and folders below.
/tshop2/t_user/files/post and all files below.
/tshop2/t_user/logs and all files below.

Failing this, you will have to ask the administrator of your hosting company to do it.

Q. I have downloaded my free 30 day trial today. I am unable to log in to enter my security code.

A. I suspect that the machine you are using has got a firewall or a browser with security/privicy set too high. Any software that uses asp or php needs to be able to drop cookies on your computer to remember session information. If you do not allow cookies then it is impossible to remember any session information. Topshopper needs cookies to be switched on. This is normal practice. If cookies are not allowed, then you will not be able to log in and existing products will disappear from the cart when your shoppers add new products. Review your security/privicy settings.

Q. I already use TopShopper Classic. Can I upgrade to TopShopper II without changing my sales pages?

A. YES, please see the Upgrade Page in the Support section- Upgrade Page

Email -----

Q. The Topshopper Test Shop on my site seems to be working OK, except I don't receive any emails to tell me what the shopper has bought. Also the client does not receive the purchase confirmation email. What's wrong?

A. Setting up the email addresses in the configuration section is crucial for proper operation. The Merchant Email address must be in the form - [email protected], e.g. [email protected]. If you do not do this, then emails will be sent but may be rejected by the mail server that receives them. For instance AOL will reject all emails from an address that is not in the form above. Others may also reject them. The Administrator's address should be a POP box which is not redirected to the same address as the Merchant email address.
Also, all Internet accessible hosts are expected to have a reverse DNS entry (per RFC1912 2.1),
and many mailservers (such as AOL) will likely block E-mail from mailservers with no reverse DNS entry. Get your DNS report here - http://www.dnsreport.com

Q. Please can you tell me if it's possible to include more than one e-mail address in the configuration script at 'Administrator's E-mail Address' ?

A. This will depend on the email server type in use. You should either separate the email addresses by a semicolon([email protected];[email protected]) or a comma ([email protected],[email protected]). Try both and see which one works. Normally ASP uses semicolon and PHP uses comma.

Customising -----

Q. I've been trying to integrate the shopping cart as much as possible with the Nochex checkout and was wondering if there is some way I can add a parameter to include our logo?

A. You can add extra hidden fields that will be sent to your gateway provider. You can add other parameters in this way. Use a similar process for the other payment gateways.

Known Issues -----

Q. Are there any issues relation to the use of the ASP version

A. Topshopper II ASP is designed to work on Windows Servers. If it is used on another type of server with none windows ASP then, although it should work satisfactorily, we cannot guarantee to support it. However, we will try our best to sort out any problems that may arise.

On some servers (mainly NT servers), file permissions are set to 'read only' by default. If this is the case, you will need to contact your hosts and get them to change the required files to 'read/write'. Please see readme.txt file or Integration Guide for more information.

Q. Are there any issues relation to the use of the PHP version

A. TopShopper II PHP will work on both Windows and Unix/Linux servers. However, there are many different versions of PHP used and the set-up may also vary. Run the '/tshop2/admin/diagnostic.php' script to check compatibility.

On some servers, file permissions are set to 'read only' by default. If this is the case, you will need to change the required files to 'read/write'. This can usually be done by using CHMOD through ftp. Change the permissions to 'read and write' ie. CHMOD 666. Please see readme.txt file or Integration Guide for more information.

General -----

Q. I have recently downloaded a trial version of your software and will be testing it over the coming days. I was just wondering whether you have any 'excluded products'. Basically I am developing a site which will sell wine, beer etc. online. I have already tried to use an american shopping cart company which rejected my application due to the sale of alcohol. This seemed strange to me as my company is legal, sufficiently licensed and above board. Could you let me know if the same 'restrictions' apply to your service?

A. There are no restrictions to the use of TopShopper II. The TopShopper II files are downloaded to your server so if anyone objects to the goods on sale, it will be you that is closed down but not by us. It is not possible for us to affect the functioning of your site once you have received the security code after purchasing the shopping cart.