Screen: ShopSite > Merchandising > Custom Templates

Creating a Customer Registration Template

A customer registration template defines the layout and elements of the customer registration pages for a store. The template actually includes definitions for many separate pages in one file, which can be divided into seven categories:

• Sign up, sign in, and sign out
• Manage customer account
• Payment accounts
• Orders
• Shipping addresses
• Forgot password
• Error messages

To Create a Customer Registration Template:

Most of the pages defined in the template are quite short, with few custom template tags. Once you define a look and layout for the pages, you probably will not have to make many changes to the template. You may find it convenient to define a standard header and footer, and then apply them to all of the pages by using an include file. If you want to make any changes to the header or footer, you only have to make the change in one place.

1. Get Acquainted with ShopSite and the Default Registration Pages

If you do not have experience with ShopSite, you should become somewhat familiar with it before designing a customer registration template. Register as a customer at a ShopSite demo stores= and place some orders to see what features and information are available to registered customers.

• Place a couple of products in the cart and click the link to register as a new customer.
• Complete your first purchase, then place products in the cart again. Sign in again and see what information ShopSite remembers and makes available on the shopping cart pages.
• Sign in as a registered customer and view you previous orders, your payment information, and your shipping addresses.
• Sign out, then click the "I forgot my password" link on the sign-in page and follow the procedure to regain access to your account.

2. Study the Examples

Look over the custom template specification to see the tags that are available. It will be one of your primary references while creating templates, or you can use the short version once you have the hang of it.

Study these example customer registration templates and resulting HTML pages. You can even copy any parts of these examples and paste them into your own template.

3. Create Your Template

Use an HTML authoring program or a text editor to create a customer registration template.

• You may find it easier to modify the default template than to start from scratch. Use the Copy ShopSite Template button to copy the cr_default template. You can then edit the template in ShopSite, or copy the template contents and paste it into your own editing program.

 

• Give the template file a descriptive name. The file name does not need an extension.

 

• If you use an HTML authoring program, enter the ShopSite custom template tags as plain text.

4. Upload Your Template

Once you have your template complete (or at least ready for testing), you need to upload it into your store.

1. From the ShopSite back office, click on Merchandising > Custom Templates.
2. On the Custom Templates screen, click Upload Template in the Customer Registration Templates section.
3. Use the Browse button to locate your template, then click Upload File to upload the template to your store.

You can also use FTP to upload the template to the correct directory. Keep these points in mind:

• Transfer the files using ASCII mode transfer, so that the line break characters get converted from the operating system of your computer to the operating system that ShopSite is running on. Do no just copy the files over a network or via floppy.
• To make the template available to a single store, copy it to the /templates/cr directory under the store's data directory. Create the directories if they don't already exist.
• To make the template available to all stores in a mall, copy it to the /templates/cr directory under the ShopSite shopping cart (sc) directory.

5. Test Your Template

You probably don’t want to test your template in a live store. Create a test store in which you can register and place test orders to see all aspects of the customer registration pages.

1. Add some products to your test store and place them on pages.
2. Go to your test store and add products to the shopping cart.
3. Click the link to register at the store. Fill out the registration page.
4. Return to the cart and finish the purchase.
5. Go back to the store and place more products in the cart. Sign in and verify that the cart remembers your registered name, shipping address, and payment information.
6. View and edit your account information, such as payment methods, shipping addresses, and previous orders.
7. Place an order using a different payment method and shipping address.
8. Put more products in the cart and sign in again, and make sure that both of the previously used shipping addresses and payment methods are displayed in the cart.
9. View the source of each page. If the ShopSite parser did not recognize a tag, or if a database field was empty, it replaced the custom template tag with an HTML comment tag containing information about the problem, like this:

<!-- VAR ASPARAGUS IS NOT DEFINED -->

Make any necessary changes and test the template again, then tell the merchant that it is available. The merchant should be able to select the template from the Commerce Setup > Order System > Layout screen.

ShopSite Help and Resource Center February 13, 2004 Give Feedback

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