Dynamic sites
Many users generate the product catalogues on their websites dynamically. There are several tools and options which can be to configured to allow for an almost seamless integration of the cart into a website. The fields included are:
Continue Shopping Button
The Continue Shopping button can be
set to include various fields that describe the current state of the customers cart.
These include the total value of the cart and the number of items in it. The button itself
may either be a POST request, using hidden form fields, or a GET method request with a
query string.
An obvious application for this data is to maintain a small box on every page of your site which summarizes the customers cart.
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| qty | Total number of items in the cart |
| sub | Subtotal |
| shp | Current shipping calculation |
| dis | Discounts, is expressed as a positive number |
| vch | Fixed value voucher, discount vouchers are included in the dis value. |
| tax | Current tax value |
| tot | Total for the order |
| sd | Session data (see below) |
The URL for the Continue shopping button is taken from the field named return which you include in your Add to cart and Review links. It is possible to append a query string to the value although it must be properly URL encoded if it is itself part of a hyperlink and a query string. For example;
return=www.yoursite.com%2Ftemplate.cfm%3Fdata%3D1111%26myval%3Daaa%2B2
is a valid return value for a link back to:
return=www.yoursite.com/template.cfm?data=1111&myval=aaa+2
If the cart is passing back its own values in the Continue shopping button any additional values that were appended to the return field will also be properly included as well. If the Continue shopping button is a Form POST then they will be put into hidden form fields. In this way virtually any data may be sent to the cart and then returned.
SD - session data field
You can include the field sd in your links to the cart and its value will be maintained and passed back to your site in:
- The Continue Shopping button
- Form button Return link after the customer has paid
- Remote HTTP call
However sd is not a stored value, it isn't recorded permanently with an order.
Remote HTTP call
You can configure the cart to make a silent HTTP call back to your website on the successful completion of an order. Think of it like an email notification of an order but in this case it is sent to a script on your site instead. There is a separate Help file describing this facility.