Larry Brouwer

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Archives for January 2011

Installing nopCommerce on Windows Server 2008

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So far, I’ve installed three (3) open source shopping carts; PrestaShop, OpenCart, and TomatoCart. All of these packages have been developed with PHP and MySQL technologies. This morning I’ve decided to see if there are any open source ecommerce packages written in a Microsoft .NET environment.

My first search lead me to the Microsoft Web Gallery. From there, I found nopCommerce. It looks like a reasonable package, so I’ve decided to install it and see what it looks like.

I wanted to first look at the documentation, however, it’s not free! I decided to download the product and install it anyway. I have two (2) choices for installing. The first way is to use the Microsoft Web Platform Installer. The second way is to manually download and install it. I’m choosing the latter, as I want to be sure to get the complete package with source code.

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Installing TomatoCart on Windows Server 2008

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I’m continuing my evaluation of open source ecommerce packages by installing TomatoCart. TomatoCart was chosen as the second runner-up of the 2010 Open Source Awards as published by Packt Publishing.

I began my TomatoCart installation by reviewing the tomato Cart documentation WiKi. The wiki has many uncompleted links, but I managed to find the TomatoCart User Guide, which covered the basics needed to get the software installed.

I downloaded the current version, TomatoCart v1.1.3, and saved it to my “install\tomatocart” folder. I then created a new “tomatocart” folder under my “www” root folder and copied the contents of the “gtrunk2” folder from the downloaded file there.

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Installing OpenCart on Windows Server 2008

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Today, I’m attempting to install OpenCart, an open source ecommerce package. OpenCart was chosen as the runner-up of the 2010 Open Source Awards as published by Packt Publishing.

I first looked through the OpenCart Online Documentation. The most current stable release as of this writing is OpenCart v1.4.9.3. OpenCart requires PHP, and MySQL. I currently have both installed on my Windows Server 2008 platform. It should also work fine running  under Windows IIS 7.

As a side note, the OpenCart Tools section outlines some great suggestions for free tools. I use some of them, like Jing, others I’m excited to check out.

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Installing Google Analytics for WordPress

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I’ve been creating a new Web Site for one of my clients, Clear Lake Auto Service, using WordPress, and the client is wanting to see statistics regarding Web Site traffic. My first thought is to add Google Analytics to the site. Here are the steps I took to get analytics up and running for him.

First, I logged into the WordPress site, and installed the Google Analytics for WordPress v4.0.9.

Second, I created a new Google Analytics account under his Google mail id.

Third, I activated the WordPress plugin, selecting his new account. The plugin automatically verified the Account and Profile to use.

Forth, added my email account as an Administrator to the profile.

That’s it!

SmarterMail Exception System.OutOfMemory Exception Errors

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Today, I discovered that my SmarterMail is acting up again. When I attempted to check my emails, I get a really nice aspx error page.

My first thought is that someone has hacked my mail system, and is sending out spam again. I’ve had this problem before, and outlined the steps I undertook in order fix the problem in my post entitled, SmarterMail Security Lockdown Prodecures.

I shut down the SmarterMail Service and started looking at the mail logs, and event logs. I can see the out of memory errors, but I still don’t know what’s causing the problems.

I then restarted the SmarterMail Service and logged into my account to look at the reports being generated. There is nothing in the reports that are out of the ordinary.

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Installing PrestaShop on Windows Server 2008

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This morning, I’m working on installing open source ecommerce packages on my Windows Server 2008 box. This is mainly for experimental and learning purposes.

The first package I choose to install is PrestaShop. PrestaShop was chosen as the winner of the 2010 Open Source Awards as published by Packt Publishing.

My first step was to read through the most current PrestaShop User Guide. The most current stable version as of this writing is PrestaShop v.1.3.5. PrestaShop uses a MySql Database, so my first task is to install the current release of MySql (5.5.8) on my Windows 2008 server.

Since I’m not currently using MySql on a daily basis, I also made sure all of my workstation components (i.e. workbench, connector, etc.) are also up to date.

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Installed Windows Azure tools for Visual Studio 2010

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I finally got around to setting up a Microsoft Azure service for doing some cloud test development this afternoon.

After logging into my MSDN account a activating my Azure service, I went into VS 2010 and installed the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio (November 2010). There are several downloads available.