OSCommerce as index page

[67mustang]

I've already installed OSCommerce, but want my Web site home page to be the OSCommerce catalog index page. Do I have to delete OSCommerce and reinstall it checking the option to make it my home page (I seem to recall that option as I was installing it.) or is there some simple change I can make in one or two files or move them from one folder or directory to another to make my site's home page the OSCommerce index page?

Thanks for your help.

Doug

[stevel]

The best option is to delete and reinstall. Some people will tell you to put a redirect in, but that will hurt your search engine rankings.

If you have a program that will do it, download all the files, delete the catalog folder and its contents, then re-upload to the htdocs folder. Don't forget to change the paths in the configure.php files accordingly. If you do it this way, you won't lose any of the work you put in.

[67mustang]

Thanks, Steve. I read on te OSCommerce forum that I could move the contents of the catalog folder to the root folder. Do I do that and upload the catalog folder contents to htdocs or upload the catalog folder with all its contents still inside?

[stevel]

Actually, what I'd suggest is that you put in a support request asking that the contents of your "catalog" directory be moved up a level to htdocs. They can do it easier than you can. The way you would have to do it is by downloading, deleting, and uploading to the new path.

[67mustang]

I've gotten good at deleting OSCommerce then reloading it, trying to get it to be my index page, messing it up, deleting it again and starting all over. I almost had it, but when I tried to delete the install information as it said to in the pink bar atop the page, I messed it up and the site wouldn't work anymore.

So how do I set it up so that my home page will be the OSCommerce index page? Powweb tech support suggested a redirect from index.html to OSCommerce's index.php. But i've seen other sites that had OSCommerce as the index page, so it must not be too hard.

Thanks for your help.

[stevel]

All you do is upload the contents of the "catalog" folder to your htdocs folder, so that what in the osC distribution is catalog/index.php is on your site htdocs/index.php Make sure you remove any other index files in htdocs.

You will have to upload the install folder, run the install, then remove it.

[67mustang]

Thanks, Steve. So do I run the install again after moving the catalog contents and uploading them, even after I've already run the install through Powweb?

[stevel]

No, you don't have to if all you are doing is relocating an existing site. Just update the paths in the two configure.php files and you'll be good to go.

[67mustang]

Thanks again, Steve. Once I move the contents of the catalog folder, do I then need to delete the empty catalog folder?

[stevel]

I would recommend it. You will need a tool that will do recursive deletes, such as SmartFTP or even MSIE.

[67mustang]

Thanks, Steve. Meanwhile, I've screwed up something else. When I try to open my admin page, I get the following message:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /www/a/axehauler/htdocs/aha/includes/functions/general.php on line 2

It previosuly worked fine, but at some point as I was trying to fix the security problems and update the links after moving the contents of the catalog folder, this problem occurred. I use Dreamweaver, which automates link updating. I haven't changed anything on this page, general.php. Any idea what the problem is?

Thanks again for all your help.

[stevel]

You should not have let Dreamweaver touch the links, though I don't know that that is the problem. It looks as if a syntax error was introduced in that include file. Post the first 10 lines of it.

[67mustang]

Steve,

I fixed that problem but in doing so caused another but then fixed that. I think that's a record, fixing two things in one night by myself, so maybe I'm actually learning something here.

Thanks for your help. I'm sure I'll need it again.