hardcoded checkout link is apparently broken...

[jxm28788]

I have hardcoded the nav bar, and it contains the following link to my checkout -

<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/os000003.pl?ACTION=Start">[Checkout]</a>

It seems to work fine for me, and I'm getting shedloads of orders, but I looked at my stats today and it showed rather a lot of '404 Document Not Found' errors.

I ran a link checker on it and it said the only broken link was the one above.

Anyone know why it shows up as a broken link? is that not the correct way to call the checkout...?

I'm calling the cart with "<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/ca000003.pl?ACTION=SHOWCART">[View Basket]</a>" but the linkcheck likes that just fine...

[jxm28788]

additional info, customers may be getting this message -

It looks like you have used the Browser's Back button to navigate to the checkout page. Please start the ordering process by using the "Checkout" icon.
Please wait for your browser to forward you to the next page or click here.

Unfortunately I don't know if this is hitting a large or small % of customers...

[pinbrook]

Anyone know why it shows up as a broken link? is that not the correct way to call the checkout...?

I'm calling the cart with "<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/ca000003.pl?ACTION=SHOWCART">[View Basket]</a>" but the linkcheck likes that just fine...

this link calls the View basket....note at the end of each call ACTION=SHOWCART or ACTION=Start

[jxm28788]

so... I think i'm being a bit dumb here... but what is the link for the checkout...?

[pinbrook]

copied from the first post in this thread

<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/os000003.pl?ACTION=Start">[Checkout]</a>

[jxm28788]

ok, so then we'vre established that I'm using the correct link.

So then

1) why is it being reported as a broken link by a link checker?
2) why do I have tons of 404 errors reported on my page stats (although not in error.err)?
3) why do somepeople get the funny error message above...?

[pinbrook]

No there are 2 different links in your first post

<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/os000003.pl?ACTION=Start">[Checkout]</a>

and

<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/ca000003.pl?ACTION=SHOWCART">[View Basket]</a>

they are different the top one (in this post) uses os000003.pl (orderscript) and has checkout in the square brackets this is the chweckout link

the 2nd link uses ca00003.pl which is the basket script it has the link text [Basket]

2 different calls for 2 different destinations

[jxm28788]

why do I get the feeling we're having two completely separate conversations here... or I'm just being really thick (either is possible )

Are we agreed this is the correct link for the checkout?

<a href="http://www.[mysite]/cgi-bin/os000003.pl?ACTION=Start">[Checkout]</a>

If so then that's the link i'm using, but also the one that seems to be causing errors for some customers, and is being reported asa broken link by a link checker...

[pinbrook]

you are right we are having 2 different conversations - i missed in your first post where it said "and this is my call to the basket." Sorry.

I've just tried to buy - and everything went through to the checkout

[Mike Hughes]

I've been following this thread with some interest (and confusion)

I always thought there was supposed to be a %21 at the end and when called from outside the acatalog directory I've always used &ACTINIC_REFERRER= on as well.

i.e. my checkout link looks like (i've corrupted the http bit deliberately so the forum software doesn't shorten it)

h ttp://www.domain/cgi-bin/os000001.pl?ACTION=Start%21&ACTINIC_REFERRER=http://www.domain.co.uk/acatalog/

Perhaps someone from actinic could say what is / isn't necessary for V6.

Mike

[pinbrook]

Mike

Just thought I'd continue to post in this thread to ensure the confusion continues....

surfwax is v6 and I have hardcoded links on the root index page

h
ttp://www.surf-wax.co.uk/cgi-bin/ca000001.pl?ACTION=SHOWCART

and

h
ttp://www.surf-wax.co.uk/cgi-bin/os000001.pl?ACTION=Start

[Mike Hughes]

I found the answer to half of this in the knowledge base. (Buried under a question about something else - error input is null ).

This error can appear if the server is running Zeus Web Server. Prior to Actinic v6.1.3, The Checkout action was 'Start!', The Zeus Web Server fails to match the exclamation mark and therefore the Start Checkout action was not recognised. As of Actinic 6.1.3 the default was changed to 'Start' without the exclamation mark.

Maybe I'll dig around and see when the Act_Referrer disappeared.

Mike

[cdicken]

Just to clarify...

In v6 you would use

...os000003.pl?ACTION=Start%21

in v7 you would use

...os000003.pl?ACTION=Start

The '%21' is an exclamation mark, which was dropped in v7.

[Mike Hughes]

I'm not sure it ever did disappear but maybe actinic is better at handling cases without it now:

Here's what it says in the knowledge base (even for V7):

http://knowledge.actinic.com/users/k...ic.html#aKB699

The page that shows a summary of the shopping cart details is actually displayed as a result of a call to an online Perl script in the cgi-bin directory.

Go to your online website and click the 'view cart' button on the navigation bar. Even with nothing in your shopping cart, the address of the page in the 'Address' bar of your browser will be something like:

http://your.URL/cgi-bin/ca000001.pl?ACTION=SHOWCART

This link will work when the call has come from inside the 'acatalog' folder online, but it will not work from outside. You need to add an 'ACTINIC_REFERRER=' parameter that tells the browser where your 'acatalog' folder is. This is the 'Catalog URL' value, which can be seen in 'Advanced | Network Setup'.

If your Catalog URL is 'http://your.URL/acatalog/' then the call to the shopping cart becomes:

http://your.URL/cgi-bin/ca000001.pl?....URL/acatalog/

Mike

[Mike Hughes]

Chris, re your post above.

It looks like it was changed from V6.1.3 onwards.

Mike