MetaCart Lite is based on Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) technology hooked to a Microsoft Access 2000 (*.mdb) database. MetaCart Lite differs slightly from our free application in that it provides for automated e-mail notifications to the store owner and the customer, and for browser-based viewing of database tables and orders.

After installation and setup, the system readies your site for eCommerce. Customers can peruse your catalog of products and add the items they wish to purchase to their "shopping basket." The customer then enters shipping and payment details and submits his/her order, which is then processed and posted to the database.

This application is designed for manual credit card and order processing but could be adapted to work with real-time credit card processing agents or electronic pay-by-check software. See "Credit Card Processing" below for more information regarding accepting credit card payments.

Hardware/Software Requirements

To use MetaCart Lite, your eCommerce site will need to be hosted on a web server that supports Active Server Pages, such as Microsoft NT Server with at least Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0, Windows 2000 Server with at least IIS 5.0, or Windows Server 2003 with IIS 6.0.

You will also need a good website design and HTML editing program (such as FrontPage 2000 or 2002, or Visual InterDev 6.0), and Microsoft Access to create your own database or to edit the one that comes with the application. MetaCart Lite was developed on a Windows platform and the demo on the MetaLinks.com site is hosted on a Windows 2000 Server.

For MetaCart Lite to work properly on your personal computer, you will need to have one of the following operating systems: Windows 98 or Windows NT with Microsoft Personal Web Server and Windows NT Option Pack 4 installed (you can download the option pack from Microsoft's website); Windows 2000 Professional with IIS; or Windows XP with IIS.

The only requirement for your customers is that their machine accept cookies since the application uses browser session cookies for some features. The cookies expire when the user session expires. No cookies are permanently stored on the customer's computer.

Credit Card Processing

The application assumes you will do manual credit card processing. To use MetaCart Lite for credit card processing, you will need an online merchant account with a bank, an account with a credit card processing agent, and a security certificate for access to your server's secure socket layer (SSL) for secure transactions. Thawte and VeriSign are the two largest issuers of SSL server certificates. Most of these services can be provided by the internet service provider (ISP) hosting your eCommerce web site. One of the largest eCommerce hosting companies is Interland, who hosts the MetaLinks.com site.

For a complete rundown of accepting credit cards online, see the article, "What You Will Need - Plain and Simple."

Additional Installation/Setup Instructions

Additional installation and setup instructions, as well as the End-User License Agreement, are included in the README file, in the MetaCart Lite download package. Use of MetaCart Lite is governed by the terms of this Agreement. The coded pages also contain instructions for modfiying the application.

NOTE: The README file also includes resources for finding answers to the most frequently encountered problems with installation of ASP-based applications. These involve the correct directory location of the global.asa file, the proper setting of permissions on a network or hosted server, and connecting to the database. Please read these instructions carefully.

Support/Add-Ins

MetaLinks.com provides limited installation and setup support via e-mail only for MetaCart Lite. Should you discover any bugs in the application, please notify us so we can post any fixes to our master download file.