Leslie Kirk - Miva Merchant Specialist

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Bill Weiland

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As I was getting the photo gallery ready for #MivaCon17, I clicked through all my pictures of Bill Weiland, my friend and Miva Merchant mentor. I miss him. I miss him every time I come up against some coding issue that doesn’t make sense to me. Bill would make suggestions that were direct and to the point which would bring me to that ah ha moment.

Once again, words cannot thank Bill enough. In case you may have missed it, Pamela Hazelton wrote a beautiful tribute to him: Bill Weiland – A Tribute to a Man Who Truly Helped Shape the Success of Small Business Ecommerce.

I will be attending #MivaCon17 and once again, I will keep the chair next to me for Bill.

Miva Merchant PR8 New Features

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Just in case you haven’t heard, Miva Merchant Production Release 8 is now available. Here’s the list of new features. If you update your site from PR7 to PR8, there will be a few code tweaks needed to be able to fully implement the new multiple image – Image Machine – functionality.

New Features:

  • Products may now have multiple images. The multiple image subsystem has the following major functionality:
    • Dynamic resizing of images for thumbnails and primary image display
    • Lightbox support, allowing display of a larger image than the primary display
    • Dynamic swapping of images as attributes are changed
    • Named image types
    • For compatibility, the PR7 and earlier product image fields still exist, and have been moved onto the primary Product tab of the Add/Edit Products screen
  • A new reporting subsystem has been added that allows detailed analysis of sales data
  • A new attribute type has been added for “swatch” attributes, which allow the user to click on an image to change the attribute selection.
  • A completely revamped Import subsystem has been provided:
    • Configuration settings may be saved between imports
    • The import parser has been centralized, and now properly handles “standard” delimited text files
    • Realtime progress and log information is displayed while importing data
    • Drag and drop file upload is supported to begin an import
  • A new module, “Template Batch Reports,” now manages the SHIPMENT_PICKLIST and ORDER_INVOICE screens, treating them as batch reports, and allows additional batch report/screen combinations to be created and managed. This module is installed in newly created stores by default
  • A new module, “Template Order Emails,” replaces all of the previous email fulfillment modules and allows more advanced configuration of emails:
    • Everything is a true page template
    • Can manually trigger the sending of emails
    • Can send emails on any number of events
    • Can have an unlimited number of different emails
    • This new module is installed by default for newly created stores instead of the old meremail and custeml modules
  • The Secure Root Directory for Graphics may now be separately configured from the Non-Secure Root Directory for graphics, which fixes behavior in shared SSL certificate environments.

Runtime/StoreMorph Changes:

  • The Basket Contents components now allow display of product images on the basket contents page.
  • Tokens provided by many component modules have been made more consistent and comprehensive
  • Attribute Inventory variant part products are now available in the order and basket contents components.

Administrative Changes:

  • The batch edit screen hover effect no longer applies a bold font face to avoid table redraws
  • The character set for a store may now be centrally configured, and will affect both runtime and admin, for proper display of accent characters in both locations.
  • When generating product variants, the user may now control the delimiter used when constructing product codes for part products
  • Administrative buttons now disable themselves and display “Processing…” while the system is performing their action
  • Administrative buttons are now disabled while switching tabs
  • Administrative Delete buttons have been moved away from other buttons and now clearly indicate what they delete
  • Administrative Delete buttons are now displayed only on the first tab of a screen to prevent confusion
  • Administrative Update buttons have been hidden on tabs where they do not directly modify the displayed settings (Product: Inventory Variants, for example)
  • Orders may now be filtered by Payment Status:
    • Authorized with $0 Captured
    • Authorized with Partial Capture
    • Captured and Not Shipped
    • Shipped and Not Captured
  • Manage Orders and Manage Shipments are now sorted by Order ID descending by default
  • Payment may now be captured for multiple orders, or an entire batch of orders, from the Manage Orders screen
  • A user may now create a batch containing all unbatched orders by searching for Unbatched Orders and pressing the Create Batch button with no orders selected
  • The Manage Orders and Manage Shipments screens have been modified to include the old-style pagination controls and now display “Loading…” when refreshing their contents
  • The list of order tabs is now refreshed after editing order charges as the recalculate button may change the current shipping module for the order.
  • A new “Batch Report” button on the Manage Orders screen allows users to run legacy or new-style batch report modules on a selection of orders or an entire order batch
  • Shipments may now be batched, similar to Orders
  • Tracking numbers for an entire batch of orders may be entered by searching for the batch and pressing the “Enter Tracking Numbers” button with no shipments selected
  • A new “Batch Report” button on the Manage Shipments screen allows users to run new-style shipment batch report modules on a selection of shipments or an entire shipment batch
  • The Product Lookup screen now has the ability to filter its results to Active products
  • More advanced Order Tab dialog in Manage Orders which allows JavaScript and other complicated functionality.
  • Modules may now extend json.mvc
  • Modules may now alter the HEAD tag content of administrative screens
  • Modules may now add tabs to all Batch Edit screens
  • For 5.70 or newer API version modules Module_xxx_BatchEdit_Update is now called with a “null” product, category, customer, etc… when the Update button is pressed and an item was not being edited in place (so that the modules can update the contents of their tabs).
  • The current stock level of products may now be displayed and edited on the Product Batch Edit screen
  • Component modules with tabs that appear on all pages and the Edit Store screen now only save their settings if you are viewing their tab. A notification now appears if modifications are made to the settings and the user attempts to switch off of the component’s tab(s) without first saving the settings.

Can’t Log Out? Adding HTTP Headers

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You’ve clicked the Logout link more than once, but you’re not being logged out. You’ve made sure that the logout link is a secure link, but that hasn’t helped. So what can you do? Try this:

Create a new page, I gave mine the Code:  LOGO1 and the Name: Logout Redirect

Create New Page

and add the HTTP Headers item to it (you may have to scroll down a bit to find it):

Page items

Next click the HTTP Headers tab and add the Header: Location and the Value: will be the full, non-secure path to your storefront. Your path may be different depending on if you are using SEO Short Links or have something other than mm5 for the store directory:

Paths

Paths

Click Update.

Next you will need to edit all of your Logout URLs. There is one in the ACED Customer Edit and the ACLN Customer Account screens. Look in the Template code for:

<a href=”&mvt:global:secure_sessionurl;Action=LOGO&Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=&mvta:global:Store_Code;”>Logout</a>

Change it to:
<a href=”&mvt:global:secure_sessionurl;Action=LOGO&amp;Screen=LOGO1″>Logout</a>

Save and test.

If you have any problems or questions, drop me a line.

Viewing Site In Maintenance Mode

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You take your Miva Merchant site offline to do a few tweaks and updates using the Maintenance Mode feature. But you’d really like to be able to see the work without the world seeing it. And you’d like to keep it simple, instead of downloading your entire site and working locally using Miva Mia. If you don’t already have Tool Kit v5 from Emporium Plus, you really need to get it.

Function 102 of the Tool Kit enables you to view your site based on your IP address. It’s an easier version of a HOSTS file. First you will need to know your IP address. Go to www.whatismyip.com. This site will show you in big bold numbers just what you need to know.

Instructions for this snippet are fairly simple*. You will add this code in your html_profile field as the very first lines – remember to change the XXXX’s to your IP address:

<mvt:if expr=”(1 EQ 1) AND (remote_addr NE ‘XX.XXX.XXX.XX’)”>
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”sassign|emessage|Closed for maintenance” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”vacreate|error_message|g.emessage|,” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”sassign|Error_Message_Count|1″ />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”vassign|Error_Messages|l.all_settings:error_message” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”render|MNTN” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”exit” />
</mvt:if>

You will need to assign the Tool Kit Item to every screen EXCEPT MNTN (this is the Maintenance Mode screen). When you are ready for the rest of the world to view your site, change 1 EQ 1 to 1 EQ 2

Perhaps you are a developer working on a client’s site and you want the client to be able to see what you are doing along with yourself. Use this snippet, changing the two sets of XXXX’s to the two IP addresses:

<mvt:if expr=”(1 EQ 1) AND (remote_addr CIN ‘XX.XXX.XXX.XX|XX.XXX.XXX.XX’ EQ 0)”>
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”sassign|emessage|Closed for maintenance” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”vacreate|error_message|g.emessage|,” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”sassign|Error_Message_Count|1″ />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”vassign|Error_Messages|l.all_settings:error_message” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”render|MNTN” />
<mvt:item name=”toolkit” param=”exit” />
</mvt:if>

This second second snippet comes from Bill Weiland as he was traveling down I-55 in Mississippi using his Sprint EVO with 2 laptops using it as a hotspot, the Sprint navigation telling him where to turn and using it as a phone when needed.

*Complete instructions are included in the ToolKit module admin.

Guest Blog Post For Miva Merchant

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Last week I was asked to write a blog post for the Miva Merchant E-commerce Blog. Susan Petracco of NetBlazon had recently written a fabulous article 15 Gorgeous E-commerce Designs Leveraging Miva Merchant and I was asked to do something similar. I wanted to keep it fun so I started with a few “fun” Miva Merchant sites that I was familiar with. Then a title came to me while searching for additional sites to include – “Fun, Fur, and Feathers” became the working title for the blog post I was working on.

Using a few related keywords and combining it with “merchant.mvc” I was able to find numerous sites that fell into my thought process. Fun sites – toys for kids, toys for grown ups (the G-rated kind). Fur sites – great stuff for dogs and cats.

For feather sites, I already knew of something unique, unusual, and fun – Avian Fashions – Home of the Revolutionary Bird Diaper, the FlightSuit! I have know about this feathers site for over ten years now. It has always been loaded with fun. The site has great step-by-step cartoons that guide you through how to put their product – a bird diaper – on your bird. They make use of video clips, a blog and Twitter, how could that not be considered fun?

While I was hunting for furry sites, another “F” type site came to mind – Faith. Perhaps because I have had the opportunity to work on a Priest’s site, a Rabbi’s site, a Deacon’s site, a group of Nun’s and to work at EWTN – the largest religious media network in the world. So I search for a few sites of faith that also used Miva Merchant.

I found myself narrowing my list of sites down to 15 to keep the post manageable. Some of sites didn’t play nicely with ScreenGrab so I resorted to my most favor key combination on a Mac ?-shift-4 which let me drag and capture the portion of my screen that I wanted.

With text and images completed, I submitted my article for publication. It is with great pleasure, I share with you Get Smart – 15 Fun & Quirky Ecommerce Designs*

*it should be noted my submitted title was Finding Fun, Fur and Feathers using Miva Merchant

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