Creating an ECommerce site using iView Media Pro and the PayPal Shopping cart

First visit Dave Beckermans guide to using iView and PayPal as it covers an awful lot of the basics you will need, The main difference between his method and mine is that he has individual sizes and prices for each picture where as my method is designed for a gallery where all the prints are the same sizes & prices.

Take a look at the Galleries on this site, to get an idea of how the web pages generated by this method. While you are there why not buy a picture or two.....you know you want to.

How to do it

• Download the Paypal.zip file.
• Unzip the contents into the iView HTML template directory which is under the Plug-ins directory of iView media pro.

Set your products and paypal items

Open the Media.html file (its in the paypal directory you just created) in notepad or an HTML Editor. Find the section that looks like this:
<!-- iView HTML Engine Directives
(iView:InMediaWidth 500)
(iView:InMediaHeight 500)
(iView:Variable name = "Gallery Title" default = "")
(iView:Variable name = "PayPalAccount" default = "paypal@paypal.com")
(iView:Variable name = "ReturnScreen" default = "http://www.yoursite.com/Success.html")
(iView:Variable name = "CancelScreen" default = "http://www.yoursite.com/Galleries.html")
(iView:Variable name = "CurrencySymbol" default = "£")
(iView:Variable name = "CurrencyCode" default = "GBP")
(iView:Variable name = "Item1Description" default = "18 x 12 inch Mounted print")
(iView:Variable name = "Item1CodeNo" default = "")
(iView:Variable name = "Item1Price" default = "75")
(iView:Variable name = "Item2Description" default = "18 x 12 inch Framed & Mounted print")
(iView:Variable name = "Item2CodeNo" default = "")
(iView:Variable name = "Item2Price" default = "125")
(iView:Variable name = "Item3Description" default = "24 x 18 Mounted print")
(iView:Variable name = "Item3CodeNo" default = "")
(iView:Variable name = "Item3Price" default = "250")
(iView:Variable name = "Item4Description" default = "24 x 18 inch Framed & Mounted print")
(iView:Variable name = "Item4CodeNo" default = "")
(iView:Variable name = "Item4Price" default = "300")
-->

You need to change the value in quotes for default for each line that begins with (iView:Variable name

The Settings:

Setting	Current Value	Description
Gallery Title		Title of your Gallery - best left blank
PayPalAccount	paypal@paypal.com	Your paypal account ID
ReturnScreen	http://www.yoursite.com/Success.html	URL to return to after a succesful purchase
CancelScreen	http://www.yoursite.com/Galleries	URL to return to after the user has pressed cancel
CurrencySymbol	£	Currency symbol in HTML (£ = £, $ = $ € = €)
CurrencyCode	GBP	Currency code (GBP = pounds, USD = dollars, etc )
Item1Description	18 x 12 inch Mounted print	Description of first item type you sell
Item1CodeNo		A code number for this item if you have one
Item1Price	75	Price for item 1
Item2Description	18 x 12 inch Framed & Mounted print	Description of second item type you sell
Item2CodeNo		A code number for this item if you have one
Item2Price	125	Price for item 2
Item3Description	24 x 18 Mounted print	Description of third item type you sell
Item3CodeNo		A code number for this item if you have one
Item3Price	250	Price for item 3
Item4Description	24 x 18 inch Framed & Mounted print	Description of fourth item type you sell
Item4CodeNo		A code number for this item if you have one
Item4Price	300	Price for item 4

Having made all the changes, save the file.

Creating the Galleries

Now go to iView and select the items that you wish to appear in your gallery.
Select Make>HTML Gallery...
On the Theme tag check the settings.


Click the Theme Fields Tab and change any fields that you need to.


Click Make... and chose a directory to load the gallery into.

That's about it, if you have any questions please add them as comments at the bottom of this article and I will see if I can help.

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Related Posts

An Alternative template for Paypal and iView Media Pro

Sprucing up the Joint

I've been a bit busy over the last few days changing the Galleries and Exhibitions Sections of the site. The site even includes the obligatory gradient background that all css based sites seem to have these days.

The main reason for this is that I wanted to change the way the galleries were generated. Previously I used Breezebrowser to generate the web galleries through The EOS template. There were two main reasons for deciding to change.

• Breezebrowser is an excellent product and I use it at the front end of my workflow to sift through the images and quickly sort out the shots I don't want. The trouble is that generating web galleries is usually an end of workflow thing for me, and by the end of the workflow my images are all safely stacked away in iView Media Pro. So using iView would be a much better option.
• The EOS template is a fantastic piece of javascript programming an for event/wedding photographers it does a great job of delivering galleries for users to buy prints from. The problem from my point of view is that all that javascript stops the site being indexed by search engines. Additionally i wanted something I could easily controll with css and minimal javascript and it was time for a change.

I decided to use the iView HTML generation technology combined with the Paypal Shopping Cart system to produce exactly what I wanted. In a future blog I will provide some instructions on how to do this yourself for those who are interested.

In the meantime here is a picture I found whilst tidying up the galleries:

Triplet

Southwold Location Report

As I may have mentioned I am the Photo Locations Editor for Ephotozine. The idea of the Locations Section is for people to share their favourite photographic location with other photographers, whether it is ideal for Landscapes, Architecture, Wildlife or anything else.

I have just posted up a report for Southwold, as I was recently up in Suffolk enjoying this beautiful part of the world. For your enjoyment here is a shot taken from the bowls of Southwold Pier:

Under the Pier

(click to view large)

Compositon

Keith Henson of Northscape has produced a very interesting article on composition worth of a read by beginners and experienced photographers alike.

Also of interest is Paul Indigos series on Design in photography - Part1 & Part 2. Hopefully Paul will get round to writing the other parts soon.

Spring Gold - Which compositon rules have I use/broken here?
(Click to view large)

Extracting The Abstract

I have been having an interesting discussion about abstract images with Lewis R, its always interesting to discuss with other photographers the "why" of photography as well as the "how".

I really love this latest image of his:

I'm not sure why I like it...I just do! Why not visit the rest of his abstract photography blog, there are some very interesting images there.

Location, Location, Locatrion

Apart from maintaining this fine blog-thingy, I am also the Photo Locations Editor for Ephotozine. The idea of the Locations Section is for people to share their favourite photographic location with other photographers, whether it is ideal for Landscapes, Architecture, Wildlife or anything else.

I have just posted up a report for Durdle Door which is a very beautiful part of the world and a great place to be early in the morning.

Durdle Door
(Click to view large)

Previous location reports I have written are:

• Shoeburyness
• Roding Valley Meadows
• Epping Forest

In praise of the snap

It's so easy for the keen photographer to fall into the trap of only taking "important" photographs.

We get up at stupid times, drive for miles and wait patiently for the light to be right for that important shot, we then spend ages converting and managing our images to produce the result we want. But, in 10 years time, will these shots be close to our hearts? I doubt it.

We spend hours setting up home studios, to get stunning images of a model we don't really know or a beautiful still life that looks good on the wall. Will we ever clutch these images to ourselves and smile? I don't think so.

We grab the camera and take a snap of a loved one, who is just being themselves. The lighting is rubbish, the background cluttered and you didn't even hold the camera straight. Is this an important picture? You betcha.

The shots that really mean a lot to us will be the snaps of those we love, or a few grabbed shots of a happy time. Holiday snaps act as a postcard to our future selves, sending us messages of great times and golden memories. A single snap of a lost loved one can mean so much more than a hundred "fine-art" prints.

There is nothing wrong with striving to produce the finest shots you can, but don't forget to take a few snaps while your there...you won't regret it.

To be honest, I had real trouble finding images to illustrate this article. I had plenty of snapshots that are important to me but most of them were so personal that I didn't feel happy about sharing them on the web. So here is a snap that is important to me:


It is a picture of the day we picked up our rescue dog "Smudge" from her foster home. We often look at it to remind ourselves of the state she was in when we got her and how much she has progressed and changed. It will never win any awards or competitions... but it is very important to us.