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Frequently Asked Questions
How to add hyperlink to an online page/resource to PDF catalog
These settings will result in a PDF catalog with hyperlinks to additional online resources for each product item that requires them,
a perfect PDF catalog for publishing online.
First, on the main list in the catalog, add an additional field (column), where we are going to store hyperlinks to external online resources for product items.
Click on the large GROUPS button and use any vacant field; in this case it's the fifth one (memorize this number ).
Next, complete (or import from the price list) this field for each item we want to add a hyperlink to. (Once the column is completed, you can hide it, as there isn't much sense in showing it to customers in the CD/DVD catalog).
Now you need to create the actual hyperlink in the PDF catalog template.
Select the desired template in the report manager and open the template editor.
Add a new text field and format it the way you want
(the screenshot shows it formatted as a recognizable hyperlink), give it a meaningful name (in the name field),
in this case it's mylink
Next, move on to the event tab
(the text field you have just added must be selected; simply click on it to do so).
Double-click on the area by the onBeforePrint field; that opens a page with some code
and the cursor placed between Begin and End.
Enter or paste this text:
if <frxUserDataSet1."ValueAddField#5"><>'' then
begin
mylink.visible:=true;
mylink.url:= <frxUserDataSet1."ValueAddField#5">
end
else
mylink.visible:=false;
Please note: mylink is the name of the text block we have just added to the template, and 5 is the serial number of the field, in which we store hyperlinks in our catalog
(we added it on the first step of this instruction).
You are supposed to get something like this:
That's it. Save the template and use it the way you have been using all the other templates. The hyperlinks will become visible if specified in the catalog and work in both report preview and PDF catalog.
Note: Of course, you can add a static hyperlink (e.g., to a website, purchase page, etc.)
to any block in a template. Simply enter the web address of the document in the URL
field.
How to prepare data for uploading to catalog/uploading updates
Use the application's internal tools; this information is intended for technical specialists only.
Data files are located in the DATA folder (Menu: Catalog -> Open Data Folder, /DATA). One file for each product group (you can have just one file).
File names can be viewed in the Groups section, in Add/Edit Groups, 'Group data file'
line.
How you are going to generate these Catalog data files from your database is beyond our competence and lies entirely on your company's staff.
Format - UTF-8; the file can be marked or not marked by BOM.
An example of the complete structure is enclosed.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MyBusinessCatalog_ProductList>
<Item Code="Subgroup" Ch="6" ID="255788348" ico="3">
<Item Code="New - 661" Desc="test item" Price="1,00" Add1="field 1 data"
Add2="field 2 data" Add3="field 3 data" FL="music.mp3;docs.mp3;"
FP="New - 931,New - 526" ID="255429420>
<Item Code="New - 931" Desc="new item" Price="2,00" ID="255198888" ico="2"/>
<Item Code="New - 526" Desc="not available" Price="3,00" ID="255423076" ico="0"/>
<Item Code="New - 425" Desc="expected" Price="4,00" ID="255346284" ico="5"/>
<Item Code="New - 640" Desc="sale" Price="5,00" ID="255424392" ico="6"/>
<Item Code="New - 859" Desc="invisible for customers" Price="5,00" ID="255433808" ico="1"/>
</Item>
</MyBusinessCatalog_ProductList>
Code - product code (enter subgroup name in this field too; the application will properly recognize and display it).
Desc - name
Price - price, decimalseparator - period or comma.
Add1 - first additional field, etc. through Add15;
specific field names are not described here; their names are given directly in the application's interface.
FL - list of files attacked to the item, separated by semicolon
the files are stored in the files folder
FP - list of related products, separate related SKUs by comma
ID - generated automatically, but you can set your own unique ID from your database (Integer)
ico - product icon code
blank or empty shows no icon
0 - product not available
1 - hidden, on the list but appears invisible in the customer's CD catalog or online store
2 - new
3 - folder
5 - product in transit; truck icon
6 - percent icon - sale
photos are located in the images folder
format .jpg
file names - product_id.jpg
if a product id contains characters not allowed for file names - space, parentheses, etc. - they are replaced with '-'; read
this for more.
The images and files folders can be easily located by selecting "Catalog-Open Data Folder "
on the menu.
Automatic upload of updates to server
Data files are to be uploaded to the updates folder on the server.
More
At least one successful upload is to be completed using the application's internal tools.
Before uploading, the file must be zipped with a compression utility; this appends ".pk" to the target file name Download compression utility
That's the file you are to upload as an update to server.
Next, make sure to refresh and upload the version file. That's a plain-text file with the version of the data stated in the first line.
Before uploading, the number in the file is to be increased by 1. The bzip.zip archive includes a simple .bat file that does this for you.
Summing it up
To manually form a data file for the catalog, upload your data to the above described format and place it to the catalog data folder,
which is normally c:\documens and settings\%user name%\application data\MyBusinessCatalogPT\
To update data on server for CD/DVD catalog users, zip that file with a compression utility, increase the number in the version file by 1 and upload all that to server.
This entire process can be fully automated and run as a relatively simple .bat file.
Example: (assumed that the data file has been prepared)
bzip.exe 938360.xml 938360.xml.pk
call pluser.bat version
ftp.exe -s:job.txt
pause
exit
Content of job.txt
open www.site.com
login
password
cd /update_folder/
binary
put
E:\data_folder\file.xml.pk
file.xml.pk
put
E:\data_folder\version
version
close
quit
How to Add a Multitude of Photographs Quickly
Photos (and also additional descriptions and flash movies) are stored in a separate folder.
A simple way to access it – by selecting ‘Catalog-Open Data Folder’ on the main menu.
The Images folder stores the photos.
The file names are composed in the format product_id.jpg; second photo - product_id_1.jpg
In order to avoid adding a multitude of photographs
one by one right from the interface of the application, copy your photographs to the Images folder and then
rename them to meet the described above format. This way, the job will be done much faster.
Please note that characters ?*/\!|;,'[]<>"; and the space in the file name are to be replaced with '-' (hyphen)
For example: you have an item with an ID ‘FX23/1 24lvs’ – the name of the file should be: fx23-1-24lvs.jpg; second photo - fx23-1-24lvs_1.jpg
The application will automatically recognize photographs copied and renamed this way, and even the restarting of the application won’t be required.
How to Avoid Adding Same Photographs to Similar Products
If you have a number of product groups, where the products differ from one another only by their features,
while their appearance is identical (or almost identical), you can select the option Use group's image for missing photo.
To take advantage of this opportunity, you should assign a photograph to the group, and all items within the
group will have the group photograph. That will let you avoid setting identical photographs for similar items.
(To assign a photograph to a group, temporarily disable showing the gallery or, in the gallery click
on the More button by the group name).
Also, if this is a major feature of your product list, we recommend choosing ‘compact_catalog’ as a
printed catalog template. That template is optimized for displaying such product lists.
We hope this feature will even more simplify the creation of YOUR digital catalog!
How to Use MBC on Several Computers
The license agreement does not impose any restrictions on using the catalog software
on multiple computers. Once you have received the activation key, activate MyBusinessCatalog
on one computer. Be careful when entering your activation name. Use your company name, brand name, etc.
You should not use your personal name, unless you are a private entrepreneur. (The activation name will
be displayed on the window title of the application and will be automatically set on the printable documents,
saving your efforts on personalizing the documents (printable catalog, price list, etc.)
Next, install the application on other machines and activate it with the same key and the SAME NAME
as you used during the first activation. By default, the activation server allows activating 10 copies of
the software; but if you have a need for a greater number of activations, simply contact our technical support,
and the limit will be raised to the required number free of charge and quickly enough (provided that the request
is submitted during the office hours).
Creating Different Catalogs
Your employees can create individual catalogs on diverse of areas for your organization on different computers.
Sharing Same Catalog among Several Employees
By default, catalog data is stored in /application data/%user name%/MySunessCatalog Pt (or Free).
To quickly access that folder, use the menu: Catalog-Open Data Folder. To access catalog data over network,
move the data, including the subfolders, to a different folder and allow network access to it. (This issue is
described in detail in chapter "How create MultiCatalog/Clone catalog".) Briefly, the idea is that the catalog
application is launched with an additional parameter, which specifies the alternate location of the data. This
mode does not allow editing catalog data by multiple users simultaneously.
Filling Catalog by Several Employees
Your employees can independently work on filling out their individual categories (product groups)
in their copies of MyBusinessCatalog; after that, the data is to be transferred to a single computer
for merging it all to one large catalog. For that purpose, use the Backup/Restore/Synchronize master.
Viewing catalog over LAN from multiple computers
To allow the employees of your office to use the catalog in their work (read-only, as client),
simply enter a local (or networked) folder that is shared over LAN in the Catalog Wizard and
create the catalog in that folder (of course, without burning it on a CD). That shared folder can be read-only.
Now every employee of your office can view the catalog by simply running catalog.exe.
A. How create MultiCatalog/Clone catalog
Once you have created a catalog that you can use as the foundation for the
further cloning:
Create a folder for the new catalog; e.g., c:\catalogues\catalog1
Next, in the catalog program select the menu: Catalog - Open Data Folder. Copy
all items that you see, including subfolders (Data, images, docs, etc.) to the
folder you just created.
Next, to make it more convenient, create a folder on Desktop and name it
something like "My Catalogs". Here you will keep shortcuts for running the
clones.
Next, add the shortcut from Start-Programs-mybusinesscatalog - catalog (Edit
mode) to that folder (holding down the CTRL or SHIFT key to move a copy and
leave the original unchanged. Or simply use the CTRL-C, CTRL-V combinations).
That's it; we've got a copy of our data and a copy of the shortcut for running
the clone.
Right-click on the shortcut, then select the Properties item. In the Target
field, append our data folder as follows:
Was:
"C:\Program Files\MyBusinessCatalog Gold\catalog.exe" edit
Now:
"C:\Program Files\MyBusinessCatalog Gold\catalog.exe" edit
c:\catalogues\catalog1
Clicking on this shortcut will run the program with data loaded from the
specified folder. Thus, you will have the required number of absolutely
independent catalogs on a single machine.
Repeat these steps for all clones.
A. Configuring the Catalog for Updating via the Internet
Despite that the software does not require any special skills or knowledge, the update is
facilitated on YOUR server, and misunderstanding the basics of its operation causes frequent
inquiries to our technical support. Let us clarify this issue and explain it in a simple language.
It is assumed that you can access your server via FTP (i.e. have a username, password and the server’s address).
Here is how the thing works.
You upload your fresh data to your server via the FTP protocol, where you specify your user name and password, whish nobody, except you, should know. Under no circumstances your credentials will get into the user’s distribution kit.
End user finalizes the update of his digital catalog via the HTTP protocol. This is a public area of the server, which does not require user authentication (unless you have intentionally restricted that data; for more information, please see the “Restrictions” tab in the “Update” window while the catalog is in the edit mode).
The majority of questions arise due to the misunderstanding of the folder on the server, where you upload your data, and the folder that is visible on the WEB or, in other words, from your browser.
If you connect to your server using FTP, you will see a list of files and folders like this one:
.mail
cgi-bin
logs
cpanel
htdocs
etc.
Or, something like this:
.mail
cgi-bin
logs
admin
public_html
backup
etc.
Well, all the folders have their very specific purpose, and far not all that you are seeing right now can be seen on the Web. Many folders carry out a technical function and are not parsed by the HTTP server in any way, so they can’t be accessed from the “outside”. For our purposes, we are to use just the folder where we keep our documents to be published on the Web or, in other words, the folder that stores your website - html or php pages, images, etc.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, that data is stored in the htdocs or public_html folder (depending on the particular server configuration; still the meaning is the same). This is the folder that we need! This is the folder where we will create a subfolder where we will store our updates.
Examples:
1. On your server ftp.domain.com, you have the file any.html in the folder /home/htdocs/.
It is visible on the Web as http://domain.com/any.html or http://www.domain.com/any.html
2. On your server ftp.domain.com, you have the file any.html in the folder /domain.com/home/public_html/new/.
It is visible on the Web as http://domain.com/new/any.html or http://www.domain.com/new/any.html
Hands-On Exercise
Open the “Update” window.
Switch to the Server Settings tab.
In the “FTP settings” section, enter your server’s address, your user name and password.
In the “Update folder" section, click on the “Open FTP Client” button.
In the window that appears, select a folder, accessible from the Web (see above).
Click on the “New Folder” button; e.g., catalog.
Open that folder.
Click on the large “Copy Path to Field...” button.
Close the FTP client window.
Using the knowledge acquired above, enter the HTTP addresses for obtaining the updates
in the “Root Folder” field; e.g. http://www.domain.com/catalog.
A. What if when ordering an item, one needs to specify additionally color, size or other parameters?
There is a solution for that. When running your catalog in the Administator's Console, select any item and then press F9
to add that item to the order.
On the form that appears, click on the Options button and then select the 'Offer to Enter...' item.
The entry window will change. Click on the text fields and then enter your explanation notes for end users.
That’s it. Now user will be offered to enter additional data according to your recommendations and the entry example.
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