KB160682 - Frequently Asked Questions About Microsoft Merchant Server

PSS ID Number: 160682

Article Last Modified on 8/27/1999

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Merchant Server 1.0

This article was previously published under Q160682

1.00 WINDOWS kbref kbfaq

SUMMARY

This article contains the answers to frequently asked questions about Microsoft Merchant Server.

MORE INFORMATION

Q. What databases can be used with Merchant Server?

A. Any ODBC 2.5 compliant relational database management system (RDBMS) can be used with Merchant Server. Also, in the order pipeline you can write your own component(s) to get data from a legacy system.

Q. In a multi-computer installation, what do I need on each computer?

A. You must have the controller and a router on the same computer. You can then install additional routers and store servers on multiple computers, depending on your scalability needs. Note that the router must be installed on a computer that has Internet Information Server (IIS). The relational database can be on any computer. Please refer to your Merchant Server documentation for more information.

Q. Does Merchant Server 1.0 work with Active Server Pages?

A. No, it does not. However, this feature is being considered for future releases of Merchant Server.

Q. What databases do the starter stores work with?

A. The Merchant Server starter stores work with SQL Server and Oracle databases.

For SQL Server, Merchant Server can run starter store SQL scripts during its setup. In the case of Oracle, Merchant Server installs Oracle SQL script files, and you need to manually run these scripts using a tool such as SQL*Plus. You can modify these SQL scripts and run them against any relational database that has an ODBC 2.5 compliant driver.

Q. Why doesn't my store work with the America Online browser?

A. Testing has shown that the America Online browser cannot handle a URL with more than 72 characters. It is relatively easy to exceed 72 characters with Merchant Server. The America Online browser also has problems with semicolons (;) in the URL. This is an issue with America Online that will be resolved once America Online converts to newer browsers.

Q. Why can't I access my stores as the administrator?

A. Make sure that you are typing the user ID (UID) and password corresponding to the admin_name and admin_password entries in the system registry under the following key:

          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MerchantServer\Stores
          \<Store Name>\Admin

Also, if you have Basic (clear text) authentication enabled in IIS, you need to create a Windows NT user account corresponding to the administrator account for each store. If you don't need Basic authentication, simply clear the option in Internet Service Manager. You should also check the admin_ip entry in the registry, to see if the administrator access is restricted by the IP address.

Q. The store will not start, and the error message is not descriptive. Why? And how can I get a more descriptive error message?

A. Try to connect to IIS (http://<machine name>), and see if you can browse your site. If you cannot connect, then the problem you are experiencing is not due to Merchant Server. You need to ensure that IIS is running properly.

To make sure that both the store service and router are running, do the following:
1. Launch the Merchant Server Administrator from Control Panel.
2. Click the Store Service tab, to see if the store service is running. Verify that the secure and insecure process count is set to 1 or more.
3. Click the Router tab, to ensure that it is running.
4. Click the Environment tab, and verify that all your stores are listed in the Installed Stores box.
Something is causing Merchant Server to stop or not to start at all. Use the Windows NT Event Viewer application to find out why the store service stopped or did not start. Whenever the store server encounters an error and exits, it reports the error in the Windows NT event log. Multiple messages are often logged, although usually only one message describes the root cause of the problem. Depending on the messages you see in the Windows NT event log, check all the registry entries and your database connectivity. Also, depending on the number of secure and insecure processes configured and the processor speed, Merchant Server store processes may take some time to start up, and you may occasionally see messages in the event log stating that a pipe could not be opened. In this case, it is a good idea to start the store service with only one insecure process, or wait for a while before browsing your stores. However, there may be other cases, like a store service shutting down, that will report pipe errors in the event log. In this case, you should investigate other errors reported in the event log.

Also, pay attention to the URL you typed. Note that Merchant Server URLs are case-sensitive. You should use all lowercase letters in the URL, except for the shopper ID. The shopper ID should be 0L for a new shopper, and 1L for the store administrator.

To have more descriptive error messages reported to your browser, you can also enable the Debug All Stores flag on the Environment tab of the Merchant Server administrator.
Q. Can multiple stores use the same shopper table (shopper login to a mall)?

A. Yes. Use the same table name for the db_table_shopper entry for all your stores in the following registry entry:
```
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MerchantServer\Stores
          \<Store Name>\Database
					
```
Q. I copied a store using Merchant Administrator, and I am now getting the error "Cannot initialize OrderEngine because merchant: Bad currency in registry." Why?

A. You receive this error if you copied a store that is configured to use the vPOS component for the payment stage, but you have not run vPOS setup to configure the newly copied store.

Q. How do I use a Java applet running on a store?

A. The following is an example that was in the Adventure Works product.html:

          <APPLET CODE="ThreeDObject.class" CODEBASE="[img]netvr/"
          WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=240>
          <PARAM NAME=imgDirectory VALUE="[img]netvr/rock/">
          <PARAM NAME=filebase VALUE="rock">
          <IMG SRC="[img]netvr/rock/rock.gif"><P>
          </APPLET>

Q. Is it possible to have guest and member shoppers?

A. Yes. Use the shopper.guest and shopper.lookup actions respectively. You can also use the shopper.new action to insert more information into the shopper table for a non-member shopper.
Q. When using SSL, how can the warning dialog boxes be suppressed on an order.purchase action? Is it possible to secure the entire site?

A. If all the browsers recommended and tested by your store support redirection, specify "redirect=0" in the order.purchase action. Even though [sxform] or [sxurl] can be used with every Merchant Server action, you should typically use them for the order.purchase action. Because Merchant Server does not support enabling SSL on all of its virtual directories, it is not possible to secure the entire site. However, you should not be alarmed by this, as you can always use [sxform] or [sxurl] directives to run actions like order.purchase that contain confidential information. Also, there is no significant reason to secure things like product images and assets, because they can be saved locally and redistributed by a client.
Q. Can I chain actions? Can I add multiple items to the basket without leaving the product page?

A. Microsoft Merchant Server 1.0 does not directly support chaining actions. There is no Merchant Server syntax that allows more than one action to be invoked. However, you can accomplish this by targeting a hidden frame with one action, and then calling the OnLoad event to run another action in a VBScript or a Javascript function.

To add multiple items to your basket without leaving the product page, use the method described in the preceding paragraph, but do nothing in the hidden frame. You would typically do this to display a client-side basket on the product page that also displays multiple products to the shopper. When a shopper clicks on an item, you call the order.additem action to add the item to the server-side basket, and also add the item to a client-side basket (typically an ActiveX control or a Java applet). As the target for order.additem is a hidden frame, the shopper can continue to add items without ever leaving that page, until it is time to check out.
Q. How do I target a frame using the [xlink] directive?

A. You can use [xurl], which is very similar to [xlink] but does not place the URL into an <HREF> tag. You need to use the TARGET property for the <A> tag, and specify the desired frame. The following example illustrates the usage of [xurl]:
```
       <A HREF="[xurl shopper.new error="error.html"]" TARGET="FrameName">
       </A>
					
```
Q. The optional components provided for certain stages in the order pipeline do not fit my model. What should I do?

A. Merchant Server provides API functions so you can write your own components and plug them into any stage in the order processing pipeline. You can also plug-in any third-party components available for stages such as shipping, handling, tax, and payment. The following is a list of some useful third-party applications:
- Taxware (for tax component)
- Tandata (for shipping and handling components)
- Verifone (for payment component)
Q. Does Merchant Server use Secure Electronic Transactions (SET)?

A. Merchant Server ships with an evaluation version of vPOS (a payment component from Verifone), which uses its own custom implementation of SET between Merchant Server and the bank involved. This is because SET standards are still emerging. Currently, SSL is used to protect credit card information submitted by a shopper to the merchant.
Q. Does Merchant Server support fractional quantities?

A. Merchant Server 1.0 does not support fractional quantities (for example, 0.5 pounds of cheese). The system only works with integral money and integral quantities, but "1" may mean 1 quarter of a pound or 1 hundredth gram.
Q. Can Merchant Server Directives, value references and actions be used with ActiveX controls, VBScript and Javascript?

A. Yes. For some examples, see the Adventure Works starter store.
Q. When I use Merchant Server Directives, I cannot retrieve more than 200 rows from the database. How can I increase this limit?

A. You can use the Merchant Administrator Control Panel to increase the number of rows returned. To do this, use the following steps:
1. Click the Environment tab of the Merchant Administrator.
2. Select an appropriate store environment.
3. Specify the maximum number of rows that any of your queries may return in the 'Maximum Query Size' box.
The default limit is set to 200 rows to prevent the accidental retrieval of huge result sets.

Additional query words: FAQ

Keywords: KB160682
Technology: kbAudDeveloper kbMerchServ100 kbMerchServSearch