ShopWindow Technical Specifications and Support v3

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Contents

Skill and Server Requirements

Web Services: ShopWindow API

In order to access data using ShopWindow API you must have a strong knowledge of Web Services and SOAP/WSDL. You must also have a good understanding of your web architecture, so that you can integrate our data seamlessly within your own platform and environment.

Client Software

It is the responsibility of the affiliate to upload, integrate and customise the Client Software package within their website.

The publisher must be able to:

  • FTP files to a web server
  • Have a basic understanding of PHP
  • Demonstrate a sound understanding of HTML and CSS

Client Software requires a Web server running PHP5.2 or above.


Quota

For your integration of ShopWindow to function, calls are made through to the ShopWindow database using the ShopWindow API. These calls are often referred to as "operations".

For example, if a search is conducted for "Nike trainers", a call is made using the API, this is one operation. However, if a search is conducted for ‘Nike trainers’ and the user sorts results by "price", this would be two operations.

On sign-up to the ShopWindow Toolset, a default of 500 operations per day is set within your account. This quota is initially provided to allow you to setup and test the integration of ShopWindow.

This monthly quota does not apply to ShopWindow Direct.

Checking your Quota

The quota available to you and the number of calls that have already been made can be checked within the ShopWindow Admin page of your account.

Requesting Quota Review

On successful testing of your ShopWindow Toolset, please inform the ShopWindow Support Team who will review your monthly quota. This can be initiated by clicking on the "Click here" link within the ShopWindow menu of your account.

ShopWindow Account Management

The "Click here" link will take you to a simple form.

Please detail the URL that you have integrated ShopWindow on, and any additional comments you may have. The ShopWindow Support team will then review your quota and increase it as required (250,000 per day default).

uota Application Form

If during live status, your quota is less than 10% of your allowance, you will be notified within your publisher account when you next login.

Daily Quota Exceeded

If your daily quota has been exceeded, your ShopWindow integration will not be displayed when the ShopWindow index is loaded. Instead an error message will be output.

Quota Exceeded Error

In the above instance, please contact the ShopWindow Support Team, who will review your quota, this can be done by navigating to the correct area within the publisher account.

Increase Quota

If you would like a review of your quota before your current allowance is exceeded please email the ShopWindow team. This will ensure minimum disruption to your ShopWindow service.


Updating your ShopWindow Password

If you update your ShopWindow password within the "Manage API Credentials" section of your account, you must reflect the change by updating the MD5 Hash "Password String" in the constants.inc.php file within your root directory.

When updating your password string, please ensure that you only select the code and do not include the Hash identifier.

V3 MD5 Password

Failure to update the constants.inc.php file with your updated ShopWindow password will result in your ShopWindow not displaying correctly. Instead a SOAP error page will be output.

SOAP Error Message


Client Software

Template Compile Files

In order to allow your Client Software to load efficiently, the SMARTY template system saves compiled template files within the templates directory.

On download the smarty.class is set to not save compile files ensuring that all customisation that occurs during setup is made live instantly.

Awin recommends that when going live, your Client Software is set to save the compile files allowing faster download of your ShopWindow content.

Force Compile on Setup and Editing

To ensure the changes you make to your Client Software are immediately reflected in your browser window the file smarty.class.php (/smarty/libs/) will contain the text:

var $force_compile   =  true


     //This forces templates to compile every time. Useful for development
     //or debugging.
     //@var boolean
 
    var $force_compile   =  true;

If you are making changes to your templates in the future you should edit the code within the smarty.class.php file to read "true" while you are making amendments.

Force Compile

When you are ready to put these pages live to your visitors you should edit the file to read ‘var $force_compile = false’. The text will contain:

var $force_compile   =  true


     * When true, this forces templates to compile every time. Useful for development
     * or debugging.
     *
     * @var boolean
     */
    var $force_compile   =  false;

This will allow caching, which reduces the number of calls that smarty makes to the server, enabling faster download of ShopWindow content.


ShopWindow Support

Forum: ShopWindow Forum


Web Services: ShopWindow API

If you are developing your own solution using ShopWindow API, we provide support for the following:

  • Datafeed queries
  • Product mapping queries
  • Product category queries

Please contact the support team for queries of this nature.

Client Software

For support regarding the integration of ShopWindow Client Software within your website please refer to the following support resources:


SMARTY Support

If you want to customize the SMARTY templates that have been provided within the ShopWindow Client Software package, please refer to the SMARTY forum for full resources and support.

The smarty forum can be located here.

SMARTY is an open source templating system, with its own online support community.

Privacy

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