Though its name begins with ``Mini'', MiniVend is anything but. It is a high-end, fully customizable, powerful software system with complete database functionality. It is suitable for many applications besides shopping carts, though that is its main bent.
MiniVend plugs into a system with an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) server, allowing encrypted transmission of sensitive customer data. This capability makes the entry of credit card numbers practical and secure.
Many different catalogs can be run from the same MiniVend server, allowing an ISP to serve many different customers from one or just a few MiniVend server processes. As many as 800 MiniVend catalogs have been run on one machine from the same server process.
Multiple servers can be forked to serve the same set of catalogs. This ensures fast response, while only one server runs when there is no catalog activity.
MiniVend is powerful, and correspondingly complex. It can easily handle catalogs of a million items or more, with excellent performance. It has completely flexible page display, search, and order entry capability. If you only have a few items to catalog, MiniVend is probably overkill for your needs. But if you are willing to spend some up-front learning time, it can support your simple catalog with unlimited room to grow. To get a fast start with a simple catalog, start with the simple demo and customize from there.
You can get more information on MiniVend at its web site:
http://www.minivend.com/minivend/
For availability, contact:
Internet Robotics 131 Willow Lane Oxford, OH 45056 +1.513.523.7621 sales@minivend.com
It is designed to work in concert with a good FTP program or a Samba- or NFS-mounted directory where you will edit pages (and possibly export database source) from your local machine. MaxiVend provides very little page-editing support at this time.
The configuration pages are in normal MiniVend page space, but are protected via HTTP basic authorization. If you don't wish to set up an HTTP secure CGI area, MiniVend's internal HTTP server will automatically prevent login by any except the MiniVend RemoteUser.
The interface is presented as three frames in an HTML browser. A frames-enabled and JavaScript-enabled browser is required; no Java is used. The three frames are named header, navigation, and content.
The top frame, header, is a control/status panel. It controls the server configuration, provides top-level menu selections, and displays status information.
The left frame, navigation, selects configuration parameters or database keys to display and edit. If a configuration setting, directive, or database key is selected from it output will usually go to the content frame.
The large frame, content, is where editing occurs; occasionally complex menus like database configuration will be displayed there.
Configuration directives (the contents of a MiniVend catalog.cfg file) are edited in a working configuration. The working configuration does not take effect until the catalog is reconfigured, which can be done in the header frame by clicking the Reconfigure link. Reconfiguration will normally take effect within seconds.
The working configuration then becomes the running configuration.
The previous running configuration is saved (if there were any changes made), and if a mistake is made, you may Unconfigure, which will send you back to the previous configuration (known as the saved configuration.
Database editing is done by first selecting a table, which is a normal MiniVend database table.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All edits and changes are made on the actual database; the ASCII source file does not change unless you export it.
Once a table is selected (it will default to products
), then you can edit entries (or keys) in the database with several
different selection and view options.
Keys can be inserted, updated, or deleted from any MiniVend table including SQL databases.
A ``spreadsheet'' mode is usable for smaller databases; for larger ones (greater than 1 megabyte) it is disabled except for a key search mode which can select only certain keys from a large database table.
You can always input a key name (product code) directly to edit the complete contents of the entry.
You can upload new ASCII database source from the configure/export/upload menu available for each table; as with configuration files, these database source files are saved as a working/running/saved, and may be rotated in and out.
catalog.cfg+
) if present, and the running configuration (catalog.cfg) if it is not.
You may wonder why you would want to use this if no working configuration is present. The answer is that updates to the special variable, database, and locale database tables will not take effect until the catalog is reconfigured.
This link should be displayed in green if you have a color monitor.
This link should be displayed in cyan/light blue if you have a color monitor.
catalog.cfg
, or running configuration, file.
The lower portion displays the serial of the file along with the time it was originally created.
catalog.cfg-
) case there are problems with testing of a new running configuration.
If there is no saved configuration, then unconfiguration will not be performed.
This link should be displayed in red if you have a color monitor.
catalog.cfg-
) file if it is present.
This link should be displayed in cyan/light blue if you have a color monitor.
catalog.cfg
file in the base catalog directory. Saved configuration files have a minus
sign (-
) appended, and working configuration files have a plus (+
) sign appended.
This goes a bit further; an infinite number of saved and working configuration files may be present. If you create a series of working configurations, then the saved ones will have additional minus signs appended. So you will see directory listings like:
catalog.cfg catalog.cfg- catalog.cfg-- catalog.cfg--- catalog.cfg----
If you did two unconfigure operations in succession, then the same listing would be:
catalog.cfg++ catalog.cfg+ catalog.cfg catalog.cfg- catalog.cfg--
The remaining links control other database configuration parameters like NoImport, ProductFiles, etc. Many users will never want to use these.
Maxivend allows editing, uploading, and exporting of any MiniVend database table, with a variety of views and options available. Any of the operations will operate on any attached Minivend database table except for session databases.
Some of the configuration operations -- Locale, Variable, Database, ActionMap, and SpecialPage -- are actually views into database edit.
products
. When you pull down the select box on this control you will be shown all
editable databases. (There are a few that are hidden by default; they can
be unhidden in MaxiVend
control under the Miscellaneous configuration menu.)
This control should automatically cause a refresh of the Edit control panel and display the new table name.
If your database is larger than 100,000 bytes in size, you will not be given this option.
Edit
button, then a spreadsheet-like view will be displayed in the large content frame.
To use this feature, check the boxes corresponding to the names of fields
you wish to edit/view, and click the Limit
button. To reset to the default of all fields displayed, click the
ALL button.
To load these databases, MiniVend can automatically import from any of 6 different ASCII file formats:
code description image price 00-0011 Mona Lisa print mona.jpg 100.00
This is MiniVend's preferred and default format. TAB delimits fields, newline delimits records.
The field names are always on the first line of the file. It is recommended you use all lower case or all upper case to prevent capitalization errors; MiniVend is case sensitive.
MiniVend prefers this format because it makes it easy to search ASCII files and return their contents. If you keep your files in some other format like CSV, you might consider exporting an ASCII version just for searching.
No quotes are necessary (nor desirable) around fields; if you produce files with Microsoft's Excel, which has a longstanding bug whereby they surround TAB-delimited fields with quotes when they contain a quote (or comma), then use MiniVend's EXCEL modifier to compensate.
Typical header record and first record of a table's ASCII source:
code|description|image|price 00-0011|Mona Lisa|print|mona.jpg|100.00
Commas delimit fields, and newline delimits records. If a comma is within a field it must be surrounded by double quotes; if a double-quote is within a field it should be paired with another double quote.
Typical header record and first record of a table's ASCII source:
code,description,image,price,height,width 00-0011,"Mona Lisa, lightswitch cover",mona.jpg,100.00,5"",3""
Typical header record and first record of a table's ASCII source:
code description image price height width 00-0011 Mona Lisa, lightswitch cover mona.jpg 100.00 5" 3"
Typical header record and first record of a table's ASCII source:
code %% description %% image %% price %%% 00-0011 %% Mona Lisa, lightswitch cover %% mona.jpg %% 100.00
This format allows fields of unlimited size to be edited easily, and is suitable for containing large text descriptions.
The header record contains the field names that will be used, along with an unnamed field called notes_field. The key or code is always the first field named in the header, and is required in each record.
Fields are specified by their field name and a :
(colon), followed by the contents of the field. Order is not important, and
not all fields must be present in a record. (Of course the key
must always be there if you are to access the record.)
The special notes_field begins at the first blank line in a record, and continues until the record separator.
Records are delimited by a form feed (CONTROL-L) on a line by itself.
This format allows free-form editing of a database record with a text editor without a rigid and error-prone format.
Typical header record and first record of a table's ASCII source:
code image price code: 00-0011 price: 100.00
Here is the contents of the notes_field, accessible with [data table notes_field key] or [item-data table notes_field], etc. It ends at the record separator (^L) below. ^L
There are other possible format options for the NOTES mode; here we describe the default case. See the MiniVend documentation for more information.
Each database has a file selection attribute, a format (TAB, CSV, PIPE, etc.) and several other parameters like EXCEL, CONTINUE, and MEMORY. See the MiniVend documentation for their use.
The Configure/export/upload menu can be reached by following a link in the database edit selector; remember that is in the navigation (left) frame. When that link is followed a menu will be displayed in the large content frame.
minivend
user
ID must have permission to write it (or the directory
it will be created in). If you don't specify an absolute path, the file
will be in the products
directory.
products
would be exported to products.txt
in the products
directory.
You can FTP up your new database, but that can cause a couple of problems:
Searches on the transitional ASCII file will also produce incorrect results. And if you lose your connection in the middle of the upload, the problem could persist for quite some time.
Access Maxivend, click (link) Edit databases.
(Dropdown menu) Select new table --> products
Key to edit/insert (checkbox) --> Spreadsheet.
(Submit button) --> Edit.
Spreadsheet for products
Find entry you are looking for; you may have to page through to find it. Either edit the price directly and press the submit button, or access the link for the key and edit it in its own screen.
Access Maxivend, click (link) Edit databases.
(Dropdown menu) Select new table --> products
(link) --> Key Search.
Export the key search file if it is not current.
Enter search criteria to help you find the product in the text box and click the Spreadsheet search button.
Find entry you are looking for; you may have to page through to find it. Either edit the price directly and press the submit button, or access the link for the key and edit it in its own screen.