Who Built It?

The JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart was created by Steve Fazekas, multimedia designer & internet programmer for Act1 Interactive. He has been an internet designer for 4+ years. Starting off with HTML and graphics design in the fall of 1995, he has programmed a good number of websites and CD-ROM applications in Macromedia Director (Lingo), DHTML, JavaScript, Cold Fusion, and Perl for companies such as Ernst & Young, Progressive, Telxon, Mozes Cleveland, NCS HealthCare, Bank One, Riddell Football, & Sure-Grip International Skate Company. Steve currently is a consultant through Maxim Group to Bank One for his core consulting work as he continues to develop Act1 Interactive's JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart to its full potential.

When it came time to prepare an E-Commerce shopping program that would work for many of his clients, Steve decided it was best to create the ideal cart that people had been asking him about. Through his research, Steve knew that a shopping cart written in JavaScript is the most effective type of cart to use on a website, so he decided to create one. After he was done creating it, Steve knew it was so good that others would want to use it themselves. So now, it is available to everyone!

How Was It Built?

The design of the JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart was made to utilize the latest features of HTML 4.0, DHTML, and Javascript 1.2 for 4.0 and later browsers. It had to be very easy to maintain, update, and be capable of integrating with back-end databases. Also, if the website were to need a server platform change to Windows NT or UNIX, the cart would not limit the website owner from making a change, since the back-end processes would be standard between platforms.

After testing, debugging, and more testing, we have come up with a product that can be run with or without a database of products. It does not need to utilize any CGI-BIN programs until the final order is sent to the website owner! What this means is that you can run and test your shopping cart off-line w/o running any CGI scripts!

Who Is The JSP Shopping Cart Best Suited For?

The JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart is for website owners and independent web designers to use as a mid-level solution for their E-commerce needs. Their catalogs may include as many products as they can add. It is entirely possible for a website owner to start small and continually add items to their website without adding a database, and their overall catalog can grow to well over 5000 items. It would be recommended that a search program be installed on their server for those larger catalogs. If using larger catalogs that may run from a database, we currently have a solution developed for Cold Fusion Application Server (see Allaire.com) that will allow you to integrate a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet into JavaScript.Pro.

For larger companies...

The opportunity exists to use The JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart as a part of an entire full E-commerce solution. Because the code for JavaScript.Pro is sourced for user modifications, a skilled programmer can integrate his/her own solution into a database and add his/her own custom programming additions as they see fit. As we develop this cart further, you will see us adding more features and capabilities to the program for further customization.

There are four major parts to an entire custom-built shopping cart, but not all 4 are needed. Needed parts are #2 and #3. The JSP Shopping Cart is #2 and #3 (CGI script), and we provide links to resources for #1 and #3 (secure certificates).

1. Database - The searchable database with the desired HTML output for adding items to a cart. A database can start off as a simple 4 column spreadsheet in Excel with columns for Product, Price, Quantity, and Weight. A database solution is currently available separately as an add-on to our Cold Fusion Application Server (for NT) version. Development of this for Perl and ASP is being scheduled.

2. The Cart - The shopping cart that tracks the items in the cart and totals it at the checkout page. This part is The JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart. It uses JavaScript "cookies" to track products (& weight of each), prices, and quantities that a user chooses. The cart uses a CGI program to submit the order to a server for order writing and notification.

3. SSL & CGI - The (SSL) Secure Socket Layer and CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program is what takes the form information in an encrypted form and stores it on a server for later retrieval. Order data from The JavaScript.Pro Shopping Cart is stored on the server as an HTML file with a specific order number (date-time-firstname_lastname.htm). Additionally, the return page from any order form shows the output of the receipt, and an email receipt (minus Credit Card Number) is sent to the customer. Whenever an order is made, a "Master" ORDER LIST is updated with a link to the new order. Website owners can always keep a running tally on the number of orders completed throughout the day!

   The CGI program for JavaScript.Pro performs several basic functions:

   1. Retreives all variables sent from the Check Out page.
   2. Determines the type of receipt to send
   3. Sends a receipt in HTML or as a link to a receipts page
   4. Creates the order output in HTML as the return page
   5. Writes the order to the hard drive of the server
   6. Notifies the owner of the cart a new order has come in

   When you need to get a Secure Certificate for your webserver to certify that all sensitive information is being transmitted with high security encryption, we recommend you visit Verisign or Thawte to buy your certificate. If you decide to use Act1 Interactive as your web hosting provider, we'll help you get set up with your certificate set up on your server.

4. On-line Transaction - (not part of JavaScript.Pro until the Authroize.Net version is available) Any secure ordering transaction server like Cybercash that will accept an order and charge the customer the amount due. Only if the client is dealing with a large number of orders throughout the day will they really need this. Those requiring this will need to do additional research in choosing the transaction server with the best setup available. What most smaller businesses do is get a "Card Swipe" machine, sometimes called a Xon machine, from a company like Novus to perform the transactions manually.