SiteGround Tutorials

CubeCart tutorial

CubeCart is a powerful shopping cart application, which allows webmasters to easily setup and manage an online shop.

Easy to customize: CubeCart has a powerful template system
Unlimited products and currencies
Built-in payment systems - PayPal, 2CheckOut, Authorize.net and more;

SiteGround has been hosting Cube cart powered online shops for many years now. With SiteGround hosting you can use all Cube cart features.

CubeCart tutorial includes:

SiteGround offers the best Cubecart hosting package with the richest set of features for every Cubecart-powered website.

CubeCart Installation

To start your shop, you will need to install CubeCart Shopping cart through the Fantastico Script Autoinstaller. Fantastico is located in the cPanel of your account: look for the smiley face () at the bottom of cPanel's starting page.

Check out the CubeCart installation video tutorial:

CubeCart Installation Video Tutorial

CubeCart Installation Detailed Tutorial

Once logged into Fantastico, look for the [CubeCart] link and click on it.

A short description of Cube cart application will appear to the right. Follow the [New Installation] link to start the setup of your shop.

Select the domain name that you wish the shop to be attached to. In the box below type in the folder you would like to have the store in - you can select a name to your preference (e.g. 'shop', 'store', 'goodies', etc.). Then fill in the administrator contact e-mail address and Full name.

Click the [Install CubeCart] button to proceed to the next step.

On the page you are taken to you will see confirmation of the details. Click on the Finish installation button to go to the next step.

On the final page, you will see the addresses of the store and the administrator's panel. Add these to your bookmarks, as you will visit the two addresses often.

CubeCart Manual Installation

To install CubeCart manually on your e-Commerce hosting account, you should first of all download the CubeCart files archive on your hard drive.

Once you have downloaded the release you would like to use, you can upload it to your hosting account using an FTP client or the File Manager tool under your Cpanel. More detailed information how exactly you can do that can be found here:

As soon as the upload of the file is completed, you can unpack it using the File Manager tool. In order to do that, you should access the file manager from your CPanel, find the CubeCart package, click on it and extract it using the "Extract File Contents" button.

Creating Database and User for your Cube cart installation

The Cube cart application needs a MySQL database and a user to operate. Please, check here how to create MySQL database and user.

For the rest of this guide we will assume all file have been successfully uploaded to thedirectory /public_html/store and that the web site domain is www.yourdomain.com

Open your favorite Internet browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox and type the full URL to the root directory of the store and press return or click go. (In the example case: www.yourdomain.com/store.)

Cube cart installation - Steb by Step

Step 1 - License Agreement

Once the page has fully loaded you should be presented with the first stage of the installation process.

Please use the scroll bar to read the license agreement and once you understand and agree to it, use you mouse to click the check box.

Click [Continue to Step 2] to continue.

Step 2:

Depending on your server operating system you can either proceed directly to the next step or action will need to be taken. If the current permission value of each file is green and the button at the bottom of the screen says [Continue to Step 3] please do so as no action is required.

If however the current permission is not the same as the required permission we need to change them. Permisions could easily be changed via an FTP client.

Step 3:

On the next screen fill up the SQL details you have created as per Creating Username and adding it to the database instructions.

Administrator Configuration Settings:

These settings are for accessing the administrators control panel where you can fully manage your store.

Username - This is the username you wish to use to access the admin control panel.
Password - This is the password you desire to use to access the admin control panel for the above username.

For improved security we recommend using a combination of letters and numbers.

Confirm Password - Please input the same as you entered in the filed above. This is a check to make sure you entered what you intended.

Please make a mental note or write somewhere safe your username and password. If at any time you lose your password you will be able to reset it by providing the email address specified in the next field.

Email Address - Please enter the email address you want to associate with the administrators account.
Full Name - Please enter the full name of the administrator.

Skin: CubeCart comes with three default designs to choose from. Please select the one you want by clicking the radio box. Please, check here to learn how to change your CubeCart template.

Advanced Settings:

Normally CubeCart will successfully detect these automatically for you. We recommend leaving them as they are and if your store has errors after installation is complete they canbe modified by editing the file /includes/global.inc.php.Have a quick review of the details you have entered and click [Continue to Step 4] to proceed.

Step 4:

If as in step two you are prompted to change any file permissions back please do so as described before.

Step 5 - Installation Complete

Congratulations, upon reaching stage five installation is complete but we are not quite finished. Please make a note of the administration control panel URL.

For security reasons your store will not function until the install directory has been deleted.To do this browse your account and delete the install folder.

CubeCart Settings

Currencies

This tutorial will show you how to configure your currencies in CubeCart. Login to your CubeCart admin area usually located at the /admin URL.

Please, navigate to your Store Config options -> Currencies.

Some default currencies are set in your admin area:

If you like you can add a new currencies that is not in your list.

In this tutorial we will enable one that is already listed: The Canadian Dollar. Let's first edit the currencies setting to ensure the dollar conversion matches the current going exchange rate. A good site to check currency conversion rates is: www.xe.com. Click on the [Edit] button:

After you have finished setting up the correct conversion rates, please go ahead and enable the currency. Click on the [Enable] button. Now you should see the new currency enabled from your main store page:

Localization

You can change your store default language from your Admin panel. Please, navigate to Store Config -> General settings:

Scroll down to the [Styles & Misc] section and change the language from there:

Shipping modules

This tutorial will show you how to add shipping modules in CubeCart. Login to your CubeCart admin area usually located at the /admin URL. Navigate to your Modules -> Shipping.

You have several options for calculating shipping charges. It all depends on the product you are selling and what is best for your business. In this tutorial we will configure the shipping based on cost per item ordered. Click the [Configure] button.

Start by enabling the module:

Then enter the cost that will be charged for every item ordered in the store. Decide if you wish to charge handling fee. Specify if you will be charging tax on the shipping cost.

And click the [Edit button]. Since we have decided to use [Per item] module, we will need to disable the previous shipping methood.

Click on the [Free Shipping] and disable the module:

And now only one Shipping module will be active and you are done:

CubeCart Templates

Uploading the files

This article has been designed for those who have downloaded and installed CubeCart successfully and wish to give it a completely new look or adapt CubeCart to look like the rest of their site. CubeCart 3 has been created to allow for the usage of HTML templates which means that all the logic behind how your store operates is separate from the look and feel.

These HTML templates are extremely flexible and your store can be made so individual from others that you would find it impossible to decipher which sites are powered by CubeCart and which are not.

Step 1: Upload the new skin directory

You can upload the files to your hosting account using an FTP client or the File Manager tool under your Cpanel. More detailed information how exactly you can do that can be found here:

For the rest of this guide we will assume all files have been successfully uploaded to the directory /public_html/store and that the web site domain is www.yourdomain.com

So you need to upload your new template to the following location:

/public_html/store/skins

Step 2: Making your new skin the default

Once the files have been uploaded you need to tell CubeCart to use the new skin directory you have uploaded. To do this login to your administrator control panel and under [Store Config] click the [General Settings] link.

Once this has loaded within the Styles & Misc section you will see [Store Skin]. Use the drop down menu to select [MySkin] or whatever you named the folder. At the bottom of the page click [Update Settings].

Well done! You have successfully changed your template!

Reskinning the Store

Either use your favorite text editor program or a WYSIWYG editor such as Adobe Dreamweaver to redesign the layout and look of your store. CubeCart uses XHTML code and CSS for layout as this amounts to smaller page sizes, better compatibility for text to speech readers and faster browser rendering. The following elements of the HTML must be considered.

Macros: Any part of the HTML code which is surrounded by curly brackets is a macro. e.g. {VAL_PRODUCT_ID}. The PHP script, which powers your store substitutes these with output taken from the database, configuration file or language file. They are dynamic which mean their value may vary each time the page loads.

HTML Comments: These are used to give behaviors to the HTML code. For example they are used for repeat regions of area which will only show under certain conditions. These can be identified as follows:

As the code suggests the start or a region has the code BEGIN and end has the name END.

Be very careful when moving regions and make sure they are not accidentally deleted as your store may not function properly.

CubeCart Payments

How to accept payments with CubeCart?

If you have chosen to install CubeCart shopping cart on your website, we will show you how to configure it to accept payments through different payment gateways.

You can easily do that configuration from the administrator's panel of your CubeCart. From your home page, click on [Gateways] link in the menu to the left, under [Modules] category.

On the page that displays, you will see a full list of all payment gateways supported by default by CubeCart. Among these default gateways, you will see 2CheckOut, PayPal, Authorize.net, and WorldPay.

CubeCart and 2CheckOut

How to configure CubeCart to work with 2CheckOut.com

Click on the button "Configure" next to the 2CheckOut.com logo.

On the next page, you will see the following:

You have to "enable" the status of the gateway (it is disabled by default).
In the description field, type "Credit Card via 2CheckOut" - this is the payment way you wish your customer to pay.
In the Account Number field, type your 2Checkout merchant ID.
If you set the Default field to "Yes," "Credit Card" via 2 checkout will be preselected as the default payment way upon customer checkout.
You may turn the "test mode" off.

After you have filled in all the fields, please click "Edit Config" to save the changes you made. You are now ready to start selling your products or services via 2CheckOut.

CubeCart and Authorize.net

How to configure CubeCart to work with Authorize.net

Click on the button "Configure" next to the Authorize.net logo.

On the next page, you will see the following:

You have to "enable" the status of the gateway (it is disabled by default).
In the description field, type "Credit Card" - this is the payment way you wish your customer to pay.
In the Merchant ID field, please type your merchant ID as given by MerchantLogic.
"Transaction Key" field - you first have to get such a key from Authorize.net (the gateway).
If you set the Default field to "Yes," "Credit Card" via Authorize.net will be preselected as the default payment way upon customer checkout.
You can fill in the Relay Response URL field after you take the necessary information from Authorize.net.

After you have filled in all the fields, please click "Edit Config" to save the changes you made. You are now ready to start selling your products or services via Authorize.net

CubeCart and PayPal

How to configure CubeCart to work with PayPal.com

Click on the button "Configure" next to the PayPal.com Standard logo.

On the next page, you will see the following:

You have to "enable" the status of the gateway (it is disabled by default).
In the description field, type "Credit Card" - this is the payment way you wish your customer to pay.
In the email field, please type your merchant email - the one through which you setup for your PayPal account.
In the filed "Method," you may select IPN (Instant Payment Notification) if you wish to receive immediate notification when you receive customer payments. Please note that for the proper functioning of the IPN, you have to setup the IPN option from your PayPal account.
If you set the Default field to "Yes," "Credit Card" via 2 checkout will be preselected as the default payment way upon customer checkout.
You may turn the "test mode" off.

After you have filled in all the fields, please click "Edit Config" to save the changes you made. You are now ready to start selling your products or services via PayPal

CubeCart and WorldPay

How to configure CubeCart to work with WorldPay.com

Click on the button "Configure" next to the next to the WorldPay.com logo.

On the next page, you will see the following:

You have to "enable" the status of the gateway (it is disabled by default).
In the description field, type "Credit Card" - this is the payment way you wish your customer to pay.
In the Merchant ID field, please type your merchant ID as given by WorldPay.
You may turn the "test mode" off.
If you set the Default field to "Yes," "Credit Card" via WorldPay will be preselected as the default payment way upon customer checkout.
The Response URL is to be set in the WorldPay control panel.

After you have filled in all the fields, please click "Edit Config" to save the changes you made. You are now ready to start selling your products or services via Authorize.net.

Search Engine Friendly URLs at CubeCart

If you would like to install any third-party modules or components on your application please make sure that you have created a complete backup of your shop.

Once you've created the backup of your application, we may proceed with the SEO Mod installation. You may download the module which will be compatible with the version of your CubeCard here.

(Please, check the version of your CubeCart by logging into your admin panel at following example URL: http://yourdomain.com/admin/

The version should be available on the first loaded page, e.g.:

The application we will install the SEO mod is v.3.0.15 (Please, note that the installation should be the same for all the versions).

You should have already downloaded the correct SEO mod zip file from the above URL. Please, decompress the archive file you've downloaded on your computer. The archive contains a few folders/files. You should now upload these decompressed folders/files under the application installation folder (they will overwrite the original file).

If you are accessing your application via:

http://yourdomain.com - the files/folder from the SEO Mod distribution file should be uploaded under the public_html folder on your account
http://yourdomain.com/cubecart - the files/folder from the SEO Mod distribution file should be uploaded under the public_html/cubecart folder on your account

As soon as you have the files uploaded, please login to the admin area of your application. You may experience the following message which we will fix after the SEO mod is installed:

You should navigate the the General Settings tab which is available under the left panel of the application:

Navigate to the very bottom of the page that will load, and you will see the following message:

To proceed with the installation, please click on the Here link available in the red message box. The page will reload automatically and you should navigate to the very bottom of the page where the new SEO mod menu is available:

Note that the SEF Mod is not activated yet. You should activate it by switching the the drop-down button from No to Yes:

Also, you should chose the behaviour of the SEF Engine from the SEF URL Metatags:

You may choose the recommended value. Click on the [Update Settings] button at the very bottom of the page and the SEF Mod will be activated. Please, clean the cookie and cache files from your web browser in order to check the new SEF links of your shop.

Note that this module is paid. You may use this mod on your Cube cart without purchasing a license, if you leave the advertisement link on the footer intact.

Additionally, please note that the mod_rewrite is supported on all SiteGround server, so you should not experienced any issues with the mod settings.

For more information about mod_rewrite and htaccess, please check here.

Well done! You have successfully installed the SEF mod on your Cube cart!

CubeCart and SSL

How to activate the SSL certificate

The SSL (secure socket layer) certificate would cause additional load on your website and will slower your web pages, it is recommended that only parts of your store will run using it. These usually include payment pages, administration and registration pages.

In order to activate the SSL certificate, please, log into the admin side of your store, e.g. at http://www.example.com/store/admin, where example.com is your actual domain name and /store is the folder, where you have installed CubeCart.

Once in, please, click the General Settings link under the Store Config section:

Please scroll down to the Directories & Folders section. Here you will be presented with some text boxes and a drop down menu to enable the SSL mode.

Please, use the following settings for the Directories & Folders section:

Root SECURE Public HTML Folder to store: (Include Trailing Slash). This is the server folder path from the end of your secure domain name.
e.g.
Shared SSL: /~YourcPanelUsername/CubeCartFolder/
Absolute SECURE URL to store: (Excluding Trailing Slash). This is the full address you woudl type in the browser to access your store under SSL.
e.g.
Shared: https://server.IP.address.here/~YourcPanelUsername

Please, double check all the values entered, and once happy, use the drop down menu to enable SSL. Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click the [Update Settings] button.

IMPORTANT: Please, delete the cookies for your Cube cart website and restart your browser before checking the SSL installation.

Well done! You have successfully updated the Shared SSL certificate on your Cube cart shop!

Please, check here how to have your own Private SSL certificate.

CubeCart Backup

How to backup your CubeCart application

In order to backup your CubeCart application you have to:

Step 1. Backup all your files

Backup all of your files and folders inside your CubeCart installation. Please, click here to learn how to create a backup of your files and folders

Step 2. Backup/Export your database

Then, you have to export your CubeCart database. You can do that by using PHPMyAdmin. Find out how to reach the PHPMyAdmin here.

Once you've reached the phpMyAdmin tool, please find out how to backup/restore your MySQL database.

Once you have the CubeCart installation files and the database exported on your hard drive, you have your CubeCart backed up! Congratulations!

CubeCart Upgrade

CubeCart Upgrade from v.3.0.8 to v.3.0.15

Step 1: Backup your database and files.

Please, create a FULL backup of the database and site files.

Step 2: Download your newest CubeCart version.

Now, download your newest CubeCart version and extract the archive file to your local computer. Upload every file from the Uploads folder over to your existing files except the ones listed below:

includes/global.inc.php
install/
language/*/home.inc.php

So basically, you need to overwrite all the files except the above ones. You can use your favorite FTP client in order to upload/overwrite your files.

Step 2: Run the upgrade.php scritp

You then need to run the upgrade.php scripts (if there are any). To do this, you need to know which version you were running previously. Have a look in the /upgrade/scripts/ folder to see if there are any relevant ones. If so start with the oldest one and copy it to the root folder of your store. Run this file in your browser and follow the on screen instructions. Repeat this process overwriting each upgrade.php script at a time until there are no more.

E.g. www.example.com/store/upgrade.php

So, since you are upgrading from 3.0.8 to 3.0.15 here are the steps:

Upload the first upgrade.php file from 3.0.{6-10}-3.0.11 directory of 3.0.15 CubeCart archive to your 3.0.8 CubeCart main folder:

E.g. www.example.com/store/upgrade.php

Run the script:

Delete the upgrade.php file and upload the next one from the 3.0.11-3.0.12/ folder of your 3.0.15 CubeCart to your 3.0.8 CybeCart main folder:

E.g. www.example.com/store/upgrade.php

Run the script:

Delete the upgrade.php file and upload the next one from the 3.0.12-3.0.13/ folder of your 3.0.15 CubeCart to your 3.0.8 CybeCart main folder:

E.g. www.example.com/store/upgrade.php

Run the script:

Step 4: Your store is now upgraded.

Step 5: You may need to re-apply any modifications you have made.

Well done! You have successfully upgraded your Cubecart system!

Please, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or recommendations about this tutorial at: tutorials 'at' siteground.com