Using ezOrderForm is easy. Everything is accomplished while on the internet using the ezOrderForm main admin menu.
We provide you with a special URL to get to your admin menu.
When you enter this address, you will first see the admin password box as follows:
To start ezOrderForm enter your password and user name. When first running ezOrderForm, the default user name is test and the password is test. (Be sure to change these the first time you run the program to keep others from having access to your order form settings.)
Be sure not to forget your password. If you do, the only way to recover is to contact us so we can reload the default password file.
You can do everything in ezOrderForm from the main menu, which looks like:
Performing any task is as simple as clicking on it's button.
Note that the main menu always shows you the site that the order form is installed on, and the email address that orders are being sent to. If you wish to change these settings, do so in the Change Settings menu option.
Adding a new item to the order form is quite simple. To do so, click the 'Add Items' button on the main menu, and you will see the following screen.
The information to be added is as follows:
- Item Id - this can be any ID number you wish. Keep in mind that you can sort the way items appear on your order form, by the ID number. So if you wish to sort items in a specific order, then make sure the ID number using a naming scheme suitable for sorting.
- Price - you can enter any valid number for the price, or the words 'free' or 'no charge'. You do not have to enter currency symbols.
- Units - this field is for units of measure. You can leave blank, or you can enter an appropriate word (such as pounds, tons, dozen, yards, etc.) This will appear on the order form.
- Taxable - if you charge tax on your orders, then this field should be set to either 'yes' or 'no', depending on whether the product is a taxable item or not. If you do not charge taxes, then it won't matter what appears in this field.
- Description - this is the product description as it will appear on the order form. You are limited to 55 characters in length.
- URL Link to Item - if you have a page on your web site that describes this item, enter it's full address here (ie. http://www.mypage.com/product1.html). This will allow a customer to click on the link from within the order form to see the product. (This helps impulse sales when customers are buying something else and can other products you have to offer.)
If you do not have a page on your web site describing the product, leave the url field blank.
When all the add item fields are complete, press the 'Add Item' button, and the item will be instantly added to the order form.
Making changes to an item already on your order form is quite simple. To do so, click the 'Edit Line Items' button on the main menu, and you will see the following screen.
Select the item you wish to edit by clicking on the word 'edit' beside the item. When you do you will see the following screen:
You can change any information about the item as follows:
- Item Id - this can be any ID number you wish. Keep in mind that you can sort the way items appear on your order form, by the ID number. So if you wish to sort items in a specific order, then make sure the ID number using a naming scheme suitable for sorting.
- Price - you can enter any valid number for the price, or the words 'free' or 'no charge'. You do not have to enter currency symbols.
- Units - this field is for units of measure. You can leave blank, or you can enter an appropriate word (such as pounds, tons, dozen, yards, etc.) This will appear on the order form.
- Taxable - if you charge tax on your orders, then this field should be set to either 'yes' or 'no', depending on whether the product is a taxable item or not. If you do not charge taxes, then it won't matter what appears in this field.
- Description - this is the product description as it will appear on the order form. You are limited to 55 characters in length.
- URL Link to Item - if you have a page on your web site that describes this item, enter it's full address here (ie. http://www.mypage.com/product1.html). This will allow a customer to click on the link from within the order form to see the product. (This helps impulse sales when customers are buying something else and can other products you have to offer.)
If you do not have a page on your web site describing the product, leave the url field blank.
When all the fields are as you like, press the 'Update Item' button, and the item will be instantly added to the order form.
Removing Items from your order form is a simple process. To remove items, click the 'Remove Line Items' button on the main menu, and you will see the following screen.
Select the items you wish to remove by clicking on box in the remove column beside the item. You can select as many items as you like.
When all the fields to be removed are selected, click the 'Remove Line Items' button, and the item(s) will be instantly removed from the order form.
NOTEOnce removed, items can not be restored. You must use the 'Add Line Items' menu option to re-add them to the order form.
The ezOrderForm system settings provide you the ability to quickly and easily change almost all the elements of your order form, and the way your order system works with your customers.
To change the settings, select the 'Change Settings' button from the main menu, and you will see the following screen:
Here are the different settings options and what you can do with them:
- Base Directory - this is the physical server path for your site. The only time you would want to change this is if you change hosting services.
- Base URL - this is your site address (ie http://www.ezorderform.com)
- CGI Library - this is the address on your hosting service where your cgi programs are run from. The only time you will want to change this is if you change hosting services.
- Order Form URL - If your host offers a secure server, then you would want to enter the secure server address of the order form url here. (IE. If your secure server address is https://www32.hway.net/bmyers then your secure server address of the order form would be https://www55.hway.net/eshowc/ezorder1.html ).
Basically you add ezorder.html to the url of your secure server.
If in doubt, leave this field blank (doing so will bypass secure server processing).
- Order Form CGI - If your host offers a secure server, then you would want to enter the secure server address of the exact location on your site where ezorder.pl is run.
For example, if your secure server address is https://www32.hway.net/bmyers and your cgi library is called cgi-local, then your order form secure server address would be https://www32.hway.net/bmyers/cgi-local/ezo/ezorder.pl .
Basically you add /cgi-bin/ezo/ezorder.pl or /cgi-local/ezo/ezorder.pl to the url of your secure server.
If in doubt, leave this field blank (doing so will bypass secure server processing).
- Mail Program - this is the location on your hosting service where your mail program is located. Almost always /usr/local/qmail/bin/sendmail
- Mail Order To - this is the email address you want orders to be emailed to. Almost always your own email address.
- Subject Line of email orders sent to you - this is the subject line you want on the orders that you receive from your order form. Usually something like 'order'.
- Subject Line of email order confirmation sent to Customer - this is the subject line of the thank you message that customers automatically receive when they place orders with you. Usually you will want something like 'Thank your for your recent order'.
- Sort Order Items By - this is the parameter you can set to determine in what order items appear on your order form. Either by Item number or date entered.
- Currency Symbol - this is the currency symbol you want used for all prices on your order form.
- State Abbreviation - this is the abbreviation of the state you wish to charge sales tax on. Not needed if you don't charge state sales tax.
- State Tax Rate - this is the state tax rate. Enter as a decimal. IE. 7.5% would be entered as .075.
- VAT Country - Country of origin where VAT should be charged. Whatever you enter here will also be default country on all orders. If you don't charge, VAT you can leave field blank.
- VAT Tax Rate - VAT amount. Enter as a decimal amount. (IE 18.5% would be entered as .185 )
- Ship Description 1 - Description of Shipping Method 1.
- Ship Charge 1 - Amount to be charged for shipping method 1.
- Ship Description 2 - Description of Shipping Method 2.
- Ship Charge 2 - Amount to be charged for shipping method 2.
- Ship Description 3 - Description of Shipping Method 3.
- Ship Charge 3 - Amount to be charged for shipping method 3.
- Ship Description 4 - Description of Shipping Method 4.
- Ship Charge 4 - Amount to be charged for shipping method 4.
- Ship Description 5 - Description of Shipping Method 5.
- Ship Charge 5 - Amount to be charged for shipping method 5.
- Require Shipping Preference? Do you require Shipping Preference to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- Accept Master Card?- Do you accept Master Card? Yes or No
- Accept American Express? - Do you accept American Express? Yes or No
- Accept Discover? - Do you accept Discover card? Yes or No
- Accept Other? - Do you accept other form of payment? Yes or No
- Name of 'Other' Payment Method? - If you accept other, enter it here?
- Customer Name Required? - Do you require customer name to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- Street Address Required? - Do you require street address to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- City Name Required? - Do you require city name to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- State Name Required? - Do you require state name to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- Postal Code Required? - Do you require postal code to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- Credit Card Type Required? - Do you require credit card type to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- Credit Card # Required? - Do you require credit card # to be completed by the customer? Yes or No
- Credit Card Expire Date Required? - Do you require Credit Card Expire date to be completed by the customer?Yes or No
- Customer Email Address Required? - Do you require Customer email address to be completed by the customer?Yes or No
- Customer Phone # Required? - Do you require Customer Phone # to be completed by the customer?Yes or No
- Color of Order Form Panels Color Panels in Order Form - select the color of the panels you want in the order form.
- Order Form Page Title - enter the title you want to appear on your order form.
- Order Form Top Text Block: - enter the text you wish to appear on the top of your order form.
- Order Confirm Message: - enter the text you wish to appear on the top of the confirm message that your order form generates.
- Customer Mail Message: - enter the email message that you want to send your customer with the 'thank you' email which includes the order summary.
- Order Heading Column 1 - enter the heading you wish to appear on the first column on the order form.
- Order Heading Column 2 - enter the heading you wish to appear on the second column on the order form.
- Order Heading Column 3 - enter the heading you wish to appear on the third column on the order form.
- Link Back URL - this is the address you want the customer to be able to return to after the order is entered.
- Link Back Phrase - this is the phrase or location you want to be associated with the link back url defined above.
To apply these changes, click the 'Change ezOrderForm Settings' button.
Since these changes affect so many elements in your order form, it is always a good idea to test the changes by sending yourself an order to see the results.
Changing the ezOrderForm password is a simple process. To change the password, select the 'Change Password' button from the main menu, and you will see the following screen:
Enter the information as requested, and press the 'Change Password' button.
Notes on Passwords:
- Never name the user name and password the same.
- Don't forget your password - if you do, the only recourse is to reload the password file from the original install.
- Don't share your password - doing so will allow others to redirect orders to their email address instead of yours.
Any time you wish to view your order form click the 'View Order Form' button, and you will see your order form.
While working inside the Admin menu, when you view your order form, it will be viewed outside of your secure area. This makes viewing quicker.
To return to admin menu after viewing the order form, use your browser's back button.
Adding the Order Form to Pages on your web site
When you purchase ezOrderForm we provide you with a unique link to add to any page of your existing web site. Vistors will simply click on the link to go directly to your order form which is hosted seperately by us, on our own secure server. The seperate hosting is completely transparent to the visitor.