Q:
The standard checkout forms offered in the account configuration form do not match up with my needs. Can I use my own somehow?

A:
Yes. We support up to ten totally custom forms. New users should become familiar with Americart and try to get by with the standard checkout form choices before tackling custom checkout forms.

There is more information about creating and uploading custom checkout forms at http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cusform.shtml. Take a brief look at the upload form, then follow the link to read the documentation at the top of the page.

Q:
Do the form files need to remain on my server all the time?

A:
The files only need to be on your server when you submit the custom checkout form upload form. When you submit the upload, the file URLs are "fetched" by Americart and installed into your account. You should always keep copies of them on your local system, at least, so you can update them as desired.

Q:
I don't understand the custom form documentation. Please explain further.

A:
Try looking at it like this. There are three files needed for a checkout form; the html form itself that the shopper fills out, the template you receive in email with the data filled in, and the slightly shorter template that the shopper receives via email as their detailed order acknowledgement.

The trick to having a custom form is to get Americart to use your files instead of (or in addition to) its own standard ones. On the documentation page for custom forms, we have a table which shows the three parts of each "standard" form.

You can download a trio of these, make some changes to them, and install them as a custom form with the title of your choice. That's really all there is to the concept. The rest is detail, in how data is passed between the three parts.

Q:
I uploaded four custom checkout forms to use in place of the standard forms, but yours still show up as selections. Why?

A:
Uploading a new form does not preclude using the system forms. You must reconfigure your cart and "de-select" the system forms you no longer need.

Q:
If I have five custom forms, and want to change only one, must I put in the info for all of my custom forms?

A:
Yes! At present, Americart updates ALL custom form files each time you submit the form upload page. Always make sure that they are all available on your website before uploading custom forms.

Q:
Americart refuses to copy my custom files off my website. The size always shows as zero or the wrong size. What's wrong?

A:
Try looking at those file URLs through your browser. If you can't see them, neither can Americart. Also, double-check your URLs. Keep in mind that unlike testing pages on your local disk drive, the three files must be web readable.

Q:
What does this =-blah_blah-= stuff mean in the email template files?

A:
The =- and -= are signals to Americart that inside the two is a variable name for which it should substitute data from either the html order form or the cart tracking data.

An example is:
Customer Email: =-email-=

Americart will replace =-email-= with the VALUE of the variable named "email" which the customer supplied in the html form. Variable names must match exactly between the file trio.

Q:
In my email file, can I put more than one variable on a line?

A:
Not presently, for coding efficiency reasons.

Q:
What is *CuR* in the email file examples?

A:
It is a trick to add the merchant currency symbol into the form. This is an international service, and we have people using money that is not in $. You could presumably just replace it with a $ or whatever since you already know what your currency is.

Q:
Some variables are in the email file that are not in the html file. What are these?

A:
These are reserved variables which contain information being tracked by Americart. You can move these around, or delete some of them if you don't care about their contents, but don't try to use those same variable names yourself, or your results will be unpredictable.

Q:
What are the variables for including the Order # and customer's IP address in the text of the e-mail received from my custom order form? I noticed you used those in your standard order pages.

A:
If you keep the "Received by Americart" text in the custom html form, the variables will be put in there automatically. The cart program sticks them in when it sees that text, but you can use them like any other variable if you want to:

In the emailed file only:
Order Number: =-ordernum-=
Customer IP#: =-customer_ip-=