Issue #20: January 16, 2003

By Harald Ponce de Leon

January 16, 2003

Shopping Cart Content
Password Validation Routines Updated
Zones In Payment And Shipping Modules
Default Order Status On A Per Payment Module Basis
Sort Order For Shipping And Payment Modules
New Log Off Page
New Off-Topic Forum Channels

Shopping Cart Content

A new method was added to the shopping cart class which returns the type of products existing in the customers shopping cart.

The method, called get_content_type(), returns one of the following:

* physical - when only shippable products exist in the shopping cart
* virtual - when only downloadable products exist in the shopping cart
* mixed - when a mixture of both physical and virtual products exist in the shopping cart

The value returned is used in the checkout procedure.

If the shopping cart contains only virtual products, the shipping address and shipping method selection pages in the checkout procedure are skipped.

The Cash On Delivery payment module also uses the shopping cart content type value - if only virtual products exist in the shopping cart, the module disables itself so it is not available on the billing method selection page.

Password Validation Routines Updated

The password validation routines were updated to disallow encrpyted passwords from being used for validation. When encrypted passwords were entered, if it matched the password in the database the logic handling the validation routines would pass the case.

This issue has not been classified as a bug as some saw it as a feature. It has been removed due to possible security issues.

Zones In Payment And Shipping Modules

It is now possible to assign shipping and payment modules to certain Zones (currently defined as Tax Zones). This allows modules to disable themselves automatically when the shipping or billing address do not meet the modules zone requirements.

An example use is the Cash On Delivery payment module, to offer this method only to local customers.

Default Order Status On A Per Payment Module Basis

It is now possible to set a default order status at the payment module level which would assign orders the set status when that payment module has been selected for the order.

This adds flexibility in providing specific feedback to customers regarding the status of their order.

Sort Order For Shipping And Payment Modules

A sort order parameter has been added to the shipping and payment modules which makes it possible to display shipping and payment methods in a pre-defined order.

New Log Off Page

A new log off page has been added which is shown to customers when they click on the log off link.

This provides an opportunity to tell the customer what has happened to their cart contents which are restored the next time they log on to the store.

New Off-Topic Forum Channels

Two new off-topic forum channels have been created to ease the amount of postings occuring in the General forum.

"General Chit-Chat" is for any discussions not relating to osCommerce, and "My Store" is for discussions regarding feedback on live sites or sites in development.