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Frequently Asked Questions
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.
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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