STEP TWO: Configuring the display.cgi program This step goes over the configuration and options for the display.cgi program, which does the actual displaying of webpages. It also describes some basic changes needed to the webpages being displayed to utilize the system.
ABOUT THE SCRIPT NAME
Each of the scripts within Affiliate Master are NOT limited to the given file name. In this example, we use display.cgi as the name of the script. You name rename this file to anything you desire, except it must end with .cgi or .pl (example: t.cgi, mymlm.pl). If you change the name, just ensure you use the new name anywhere display.cgi is stated below.
The best place to setup the display.cgi script is in the root directory of your server, as this gives the shortest website URL address (example: http://www.yourserver.com/display.cgi). If you are not able to run cgi scripts from your root directory, you will need to install the program in your cgi-bin directory (sometimes called cgibin or just cgi). The website URL would then be: http://www.yourserver.com/cgi-bin/display.cgi
Pull up the display.cgi file in your favorite text editor. The first key item to review (and this holds true for all the cgi programs) is the very first line of the program. This is the path to Perl5, which we looked up in STEP ONE.
Be sure this path is pointed to Perl5 on your server. The path should look like:
Scroll down to line 12 in the program, to the line that is: This setting is used to define the default webpage that should be displayed when no webpage is passed to the display.cgi file. Replace the index.html piece with the name of the webpage that should be displayed. Normally, index.html should be correct. That is the only configuration needed for this script. Be sure to save your changes.
Configuring the webpages is fairly straight forward. The two key items that may need to be changed in your webpages are the paths to the graphic files and the links. If the graphic files are in a different directory than the current directory, it is best to change the path to the graphic files to the full URL to the graphic.
Example: This will ensure no matter where the webpage is loaded from, the correct graphic will be displayed. Be sure to modify this on all graphics, including your background setting. The other key item is the links. In order to pass the reseller id number from one page to the next, you need include the reseller id in the link.
Example: When the webpage is loaded, [IDNUMBER] will be replaced with the resellers id number. When that link is clicked on, the resellers id number will be passed to the order.html form.
So, go through each webpage and add: before every link, and that will ensure the reseller id number is correctly passed to every webpage, and passed throughout the entire website itself. |