Last month, I introduced you to LaGarde's StoreFront 2000, a set of add-ons for Microsoft FrontPage 2000, and discussed the features and basics of implementing a StoreFront Web store. In this issue, I go over the process that I've developed to bring up StoreFront Web stores for use with Microsoft Access databases quickly and efficiently. I don't discuss setting up StoreFront with Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle databases because those installations require additional licensing, involving the DBA, and possibly involving an Active Server Pages (ASP) programmer.
As I said last month, not everyone can afford a flagship e-commerce solution such as Microsoft Site Server, and a big e-commerce solution isn't always the right answer for a company just getting started on the Web. Several of my customers already have merchant accounts complete with payment processors that they're used to working with. They also have accounting software and other business-management processes in place. A business shouldn't have to fit an e-commerce solution: The e-commerce solution should fit the business. In addition, most businesses want to be able to manage their product database and see their order reports themselves without having to rely on a computer professional. StoreFront can make this independence possible.
Developing StoreFront Web Stores
I installed the StoreFront 2000 software on both the Web author's workstation, which was running Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE), and the production Web server, which was running Windows NT with Service Pack 5 (SP5), Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, IIS 4.0, Microsoft SMTP Server, and Microsoft Certificate Server. Both the workstation and the server had Microsoft Office 2000 Professional, so they already had FrontPage 2000 and Access (without additional licensing fees). StoreFront installs on top of FrontPage 2000, and installation is easy. (Be sure to back up your system before you make changes, install software, or otherwise change the registry and metabase.)
I don't recommend developing any Web application on a production server. The content author should develop the StoreFront Web store, the ASP, and the product database on the workstation. (The personal Web server that ships with FrontPage 2000 supports ASP, so the store works well on the Web author's machine.)
Prepare the Production Server
In preparation for the launch of the new Web store on the production server, you need to prepare the production Web site, the database, and the site and database security. The user guide that ships with StoreFront is good, and you can also find Help, step-by-step instructions, and a series of documents that describe the setup tasks on the server online at http://www.storefront.net/software/support/serveradmin.htm. Here's a list of tasks that matches my experience (it's somewhat different from the list you'll find on the StoreFront Web site):
Install StoreFront 2000 and the United Parcel Service (UPS) Shipping component (an optional but desirable shipping cost calculator that LaGarde provides).
From the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Internet Information Server snap-in, create the Web site.
On the Home Directory tab of the Web site's Properties dialog box, select the Script option under Permissions, as Figure 1 shows.
Next, while you're still in the Internet Information Server snap-in, configure the FrontPage Server Extensions on the Web site by right-clicking the Web site, selecting Task, then selecting the option to configure the FrontPage Server Extensions. Follow the wizard.
Create Windows 2000 or NT accounts for the author, store administrator, and any other store personnel who will need edit or browsing authority on the StoreFront administrative tools.
Open FrontPage on a workstation or the server, and launch the StoreFront Import Wizard. Point the wizard at the Web site; it will create all the files and the storefront.mdb database for the store. The Web author will overwrite these files later when you publish the Web store, but for now, you need them so you can perform the remaining setup steps.
Before you leave FrontPage, give the Web author permissions to author on the Web site. (This step assumes that you're logged on to the Web site in FrontPage with an ID that has permissions to administer the FrontPage Web in FrontPage.) To set these permissions, select Security, Permissions from the FrontPage Tools menu, then click the Users tab and add your Web author and the store administrator. Give them Browse and Author permissions.
Create a virtual Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) directory under the new Web site to handle remote data access for the StoreFront tools. (See Related Reading, page 10, for MDAC resources.) Creating a virtual MDAC directory for each StoreFront Web store and locking it down to only the Web store author and administrator adds a layer of security over the Web store internals and its database. As part of this process, you must set the security on the MDAC directory to require NT Challenge/Response authentication, Windows Integrated authentication, or Basic authentication. (I show you how the security works shortly.)
Set up a Data Source Name (DSN) for the StoreFront database.
Set up the database connection from the Web store to the DSN by opening the Web site through FrontPage and selecting the StoreFront Administration tool. On the StoreFront Database Connection dialog box, which Figure 2, page 10, shows, set up the database connection by supplying the Web site URL and the DSN. (The URL and name will be a connection to a DSN that resides locally on the production server, so you don't need to select the Use Remote Database Connection check box.)
Publish the Web Store to Production
When you've tested the Web store, approved it in its development environment, and prepared the production site, you can publish the new e-store to the production site. If the store uses an Access database (as this example does), you can publish the database to the production Web site along with the rest of the Web content and overwrite what was already there.
After publication, you need to recheck the connections from the StoreFront application to the database and the application paths in the StoreFront Administration tool. (FrontPage can change these settings to point to the developer's workstation.) To check connections, open the production Web site in FrontPage and follow these steps:
From the StoreFront menu, select StoreFront Administration to open the Database Connection dialog box, which Figure 2 shows.
Enter the Host and DSN for the production Web site. (Use the Internet domain name in the Host field, not a machine name).
If you're running FrontPage from a remote client, select the Use Remote Database Connection check box, and click OK.
When the connection to the database opens, the StoreFront Administration dialog box, which Figure 3 shows, will open. Make sure the Web Path Information for the search.asp, addproduct.asp, and process_order
.asp paths is correct for your production Web site.
Adjust any other settings that either you can't set up from some workstations or that will now point to different locations, such as the Mail Setup.
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