Since the last newsletter, here are some notable changes in SOLO Server:
Bundled product
enhancements. The same product can
now be added into a bundle multiple times. This
allows creating bundles with multiple options of the same product, as well as setting up promotions such as "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" or other similar discounts.
New search and replace fields have been added to the order confirmation HTML. Support for the [varCustomerID] search/replace field has been added to both author and distributor order confirmation html. The [varChargeAmount] search/replace field is now supported by the distributor order confirmation html.
Improvements to
"Assigned From List" serial numbers. When all
serial numbers have been used, the order will no longer be declined. Instead, the invoice will display a friendly message to the user that they will be contacted shortly with activation details, and a notification email will be sent to an administrator. Once more serial numbers are loaded into SOLO, the administrator can then search for the license and issue a serial number by simply clicking a button.
New global tax capability. A new wildcard, "##", is
now available when setting up tax rules. This wildcard represents a global tax rate that will be applied to all orders. For non US orders, this is the only tax considered. For US orders, the tax rules are first searched for a state, then for all states (the "**" wildcard), then for the global wildcard. The first matching rate that is found will be used. The tax rules page has also been improved, with improved input validation and user interface.
Authors can now upload their own logo image. The restriction allowing only administrators to upload author logo images has been removed. Logo images can now be uploaded by any user with manage storefront/files permissions.
Improved help documentation on configuring the virtual storefront. A new help
page has been added with a sample html template for
setting up a virtual storefront. The existing help page on modifying the virtual storefront custom html has been updated with improved instructions and a reference to the new sample page.
The IP Address is now
logged when manually adding an invoice . The user's IP address will now be logged with the invoice when it is manually added through the author interface or when adding a test license.
Shopping cart improvements . The shopping cart interface has been improved so the customer no longer needs to click the update button to save changes before clicking the check out button. Upon clicking the check out button, SOLO will now save any updates before redirecting to the login page.
Improved search capability. The customer search page has
been improved. The user interface has been reworked so that the search types are now grouped into separate sections on the page, and the input validation has been improved. The results page now outputs the data in tabular format, with clickable column headers that allow the data to be sorted.
Enhancements to the license status page to validate the ProductID . The getlicensestatus.asp page now supports an optional ProductID input parameter. If this parameter is passed into the page, the page will check that the ProductID for the license matches the passed in ProductID. If they do not match, an error 200 is returned.
Enhancements to the license update
check page. The updatecheck.asp page
now supports an optional VerifyDaysToDL
input parameter. If this is passed in with a value
of 1, the page will compare the download expiration date of the license with the current date, and if the expiration has passed, the page will return an error 300. In addition, the page will now return an error 200 if the passed in ProductID does not match the ProductID for the license.
New InvoiceServer web service . A new invoiceserver web service has been implemented. The web service currently provides a single web method named GetInvoiceXML. This method takes an invoice number and customer password as inputs and returns all invoice information in xml format. Custom invoices can be generated using this data by applying an XSL transformation. This is a preview of the new invoice generation engine that will be added into SOLO in the near future. The new engine will allow authors create create fully customized invoices in SOLO by creating their own xsl styleheet and entering it into SOLO.
Improved WebTrends
integration . The order confirmation now supports outputting WebTrends revenue tracking meta tags.
Authorize.NET
integration
improvements. The Authorize.NET
gateway integration has been updated to be
compatible with Authorize.NET's new version 3.1
interface. This includes the use of transaction
key authentication, as well as implementation of delayed capture capability. The SOLO AVS and CVV2 security settings are also now supported by the Authorize.NET integration.
Enhanced activations report.
The activations report now supports sorting by product
or by distributor. New columns have been added
showing the total number of licenses added into SOLO
during the date range, as well the the number of those
licenses that have been activated. An export
feature has also been added, allowing you to
download registered customer data in csv
format for activations in the date range.
New XML web services. A new
XMLLicenseService web service has been deployed.
This service offers two web methods, UpdateCheck
and InfoCheck, used to check for an available update or
to query for license information. This new
web service uses xml for both input and
output, allowing for new input and output
parameters to be added without the risk
of breaking backwards compatibility due to
interface changes.
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