eConcept Retail and eConcept Property Version History RSS Feed

eConcept Retail v1.32.00

Spam Filter feature now available in the General Setup section of the admin panel. The Merchant can now enter a list of IP addresses and/or keywords to filter messages sent via the Contact us section of the front-end.

A new 'Enquiry Rejected' email template has been added to the Templates section so that if the merchant sets the 'Send Reply' option in the Spam Filter to Yes then an automatic email is sent to the submitter of the rejected message. As per the other templates, merchant can customise this template to suit their tastes.

The Subject/Title text box of the About us, Our Terms, Privacy and Events templates is now used as part of the relevant pages' Title content. This enables search engines such as Google to build a butter index of the site and so make it easier to find.

Page Title of each Product Detail page is now automatically populated with the first 60 chars of the product's short description by default, but if no short description exists then the product name is used. This is to aid with search engines.

A new home page HTML style editor has been added so that a unique home page can be created with simple html tools. Such as links, images, formatted text, even a Google Map can now be added to your home page.

eConcept Retail v1.29.10

Best Sellers, New Products and Quick Find List modules now have their own CSS anchor entries.

Order lines in the Secure Admin panel are now sorted by location and then sub-sorted by stock code.

Code drop-down list in the Stock Sizes section of the Admin panel has been modified to show the code and name of a product for easier reference.

Code drop-down list in the Stock Colours section of the Admin panel has been modified to show the code and name of a product for easier reference.

To provide better accessibility, the Multimedia section of the front-end has been modified so that the visitor can choose whether to download a multimedia file or view the contents in a new browser window.

eConcept Retail v1.29.09

Front-end Features

All skins updated to handle new features.

Complete restructure of system file structure to optimise overall performance of system.

Stock items can now be attributed to root level categories as well as sub-categories.

Now that stock items can be attributed to root level categories, all category pages show their own product listings.

Sub-categories menu list on all category pages is now hidden if a root level category has no sub-categories attributed to it. This replaces the previous design of showing a prompt to say no sub-categories are available.

Hot Offers/Specials feature modified so that a stock item can be flagged to be shown on the Home Page as a hot offer and/or shown on the relevant category and manufacturer page as an offer.

Hot Offers/Specials list on all category, sub-category and manufacturer pages is now hidden if no relevant stock items have been flagged as hot offers. This replaces the previous design of showing a prompt to say no hot offers are available.

Hot Offers/Specials list on all category, sub-category and manufacturer pages is now sorted by stock item name.

Hot Offers/Specials page limit on Home Page changed from 8 to 10.

Search menu feature modified in Manufacturers pages so that only the categories and sub-categories that are applicable to chosen manufacturer are listed and made available to the user as possible search criteria.

Search menu feature modified in Category and Sub-Category pages so that only the manufacturers that are applicable to chosen category/sub-category are listed and made available to the user as possible search criteria.

My Basket notes text modified to accommodate any design of remove icon.

Product details main section modified to hide including/excluding tax breakdown if stock item is zero tax rated.

A Best Sellers module has been added to the front-end Home Page. This new feature constantly monitors your web sites best selling products and displays the top 5 in real time.

Country selection routines in the My Account menu have been modified for better performance.

Thawte skin picture filename corrected in all skins.

The password mechanism for all customer accounts has been modified so that new customers must enter a password of at least 6 characters. Existing customers can still use their existing passwords, however should they wish to change their password at any stage then they will also have to follow this mandatory requirement to provide greater security for their account.

The Forgotten your login details? routine has been modified so that the customers password is only partially displayed when it is emailed to them. Again, this is to provide greater security for their account.

Contact us routine on the front-end modified so that customers can freely enter carriage returns in the Message field and use the same key to submit their form when they are done.

Shopping Cart routines of the site now cater for weights using 3 decimal places.

A new micropics folder has been added to the master user-data folder. This folder will store all uploaded Micropics.

New global routines have been implemented so that if a thumbnail of a stock item hasnt been uploaded then a representation of the standard picture is shown in its place. To remove any issues of over-sized thumbnails, user-definable size constraints can be set in the Appearance section of the Admin panel to force a set thumbnail size. If these constraints are set to zero then the actual dimensions of the standard picture are used.

New global routines have been implemented so that if a micropic of a stock item hasnt been uploaded then a representation of the thumbnail is shown in its place. To remove any issues of over-sized micropics, user-definable size constraints can be set in the Appearance section of the Admin panel to force a set micropic size. If these constraints are set to zero then the actual dimensions of the thumbnail are used.

A new SearchRowDivider class has been created to replace the old RowDivider class, which is now specifically used in Hot Offers pages. All front-end skins have been updated to incorporate this change.

The favicons folder that was in the master user-data folder has now been removed due to favicons now being uploaded and used via the generalpics folder.

A new imagegallery folder has been added to the master user-data folder to store images for the new Image Gallery section.

A new multimedia folder has been added to the master user-data folder to store files for the new Multimedia section.

A new ProdDetailLinks class has been added to the product details section of the front-end to enable the product tabs to show different link colours.

A new header-divider.gif picture has been added to the front-end skins folders to provide a different another form of table divider.

The Payment Method routines of the secure front-end have been modified to handle merchants who dont accept any form of credit/debit cards.

Secure checkout routine has been further enhanced with the inclusion of an industry standard credit/debit card number validation routine to complement the existing validation routines.

The architecture of the About us front-end and back-end pages has been restructured to enable the merchant to use certain special commands to format the displayed text and pictures.

The architecture of the Our Terms front-end and back-end pages have been restructured to enable the merchant to use certain special commands to format the displayed text and pictures.

The architecture of the Events front-end and back-end pages have been restructured to enable the merchant to use certain special commands to format the displayed text and pictures. This template can also include data from the Events section of the Admin panel.

New TemplateSubTitle, TemplatePic1 and TemplatePic2 generic classes have been added to the front-end Skins folders to handle the page changes in the page templates.

New Events CSS section of classes have been added to the Skins folders to handle new Events data.

The Latest News front-end module can now display either a static or animated version depending on the selection made in the Appearance section of the Admin panel.

The New Products front-end module has now been restructured.

The Quick Find Code front-end module has now been restructured.

A new ManuList CSS section of classes have been added to provide the Manufacturer Contact List page with its own stylesheet. All skins folders have been updated with this change.

A new Links CSS section of classes have been added to provide the Links pages with its own stylesheet. All skins folders have been updated with this change.

A specifically formatted robots.txt file has been added to the http side of the eConcept system.

A META abstract parameter has been added to default http page.

A META revisit parameter has been added to default http page.

A META imagetoolbar parameter has been added to default http page.

A META MSSmartTags parameter has been added to default http page.

The sub-category links menu routines, which are used in the front-end, have been modified to improve overall performance.

A new image gallery feature has been added to product details section of the front-end.

A new multimedia feature has been added to product details section of the front-end.

9 x Multimedia icons have been added to the front-end skins folder collection. All front-end skins have been updated with these files.

The Manufacturer Contact List page is now displayed in manufacturer name order.

Redundant robots.txt files removed from admin folders.

Redundant robots.txt files removed from secure admin folders.

META robot disallow routines have been installed into all admin and secure admin pages.

A new Privacy page has been added to the front-end to enable the Privacy template to be shown.

A new web page title text routine has been inserted into all front-end pages of the system to create dynamically-driven feature-rich title content for the search engines to index. The majority of page titles will now contain a combination of company name, section title and then either the bespoke web page title (if entered by the merchant) or the name of the individual category, sub-category, manufacturer or product.

The category product list on the front-end now displays either a detailed or gallery style depending on setting in the Appearance section of the Admin panel.

The sub-category product list on the front-end now displays either a detailed or gallery style depending on setting in the Appearance section of the Admin panel.

The manufacturer product list on the front-end now displays either a detailed or gallery style depending on setting in the Appearance section of the Admin panel.

The search product list on the front-end now displays either a detailed or gallery style depending on setting in the Appearance section of the Admin panel.

A new Category introduction feature has been added to the front-end so that if this is activated in the Appearance section of the Admin panel then the relevant category picture and description will be displayed in the header of the relevant category or sub-category pages.

A new PayPal payment type has been added to the Payment Method section of the Admin panel. To complement this new payment type, this section also includes new PayPal site and PayPal email address fields so that the merchant can specify what the exact PayPal payment URL should be and the PayPal account email address that the customer must make their payment out to.

The secure side of the front-end has been extensively modified to handle the new PayPal payment type. If the merchant has enabled this feature and the customer has chosen to pay this way then a new button and accompanying notes are displayed on the final order process page to advise them as to what procedure they should follow. In essence, the customer will simply click the displayed PayPal button, be taken to the PayPal web site and pay for the goods.

The Home Page Offers section of the front-end now incorporates the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

The Category Offer sections of the front-end now incorporate the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

The Sub-Category Offer sections of the front-end now incorporate the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

The Manufacturer Offer sections of the front-end now incorporate the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

A new SearchRowRight class has been added to the front-end skins folder collection. All front-end skins folders have been updated.

The Navigation header and footer routines in the front-end have been modified to handle the new header/footer section options in the Menu Items section of the Admin panel.

The Category Product List sections now incorporate the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

The Sub-Category Product List sections now incorporate the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

The Manufacturer Product List sections now incorporate the new multi-tiered pricing matrix.

The weight calculation routine has been modified in the Delivery Breakdown page of the Order Submitted section to provide better performance.

The order history of the My Account section now stores the invoice address contact, invoice address email, invoice address telephone number, delivery address contact, delivery address email and delivery address telephone number.

Redundant code has been removed from the non-secure and secure areas of the front-end shopping cart code.

The non-secure and secure parts of the front-end shopping cart code now calculates the shipping costs dependant on what method is set up in the Company Details section of the Admin panel and whether or not fixed price delivery costs are set.

The non-secure and secure parts of the front-end shopping cart code also performs a pre-flight check on the shipping calculations so that if the total order weight/value is more than the last created order weight/value band then the last user-defined order weight/value band is used.

The password cross-checking routines for user-defined passwords in the My Account section have been further enhanced.

The secure side of the front-end such as the My Account menu system has been re-created from the foundations to handle the new account requirements.

The secure front-end has been modified so that an account creation email is automatically sent to the merchant to advise them of this creation in the event that the need to act upon it.

The non-secure and secure sides of the front-end have been updated to handle the Shipping/Weight, Colours and Sizes options that have been set in the Menu Items section of the Admin panel.

A new footer menu has been added to the My Account menu sections of the secure front-end.

A new Plugins folder has been created to handle any bespoke modules that have been commissioned by our clients.

A new Calendar plugin has been created and inserted into the home page of our www.shop.eConcept.co.uk demo web site to give our clients an example of what can be created.

A new merryxmas skin has been created. This is currently available for show on our www.shop.eConcept.co.uk demo web site.

Due to numerous merchant requests, the start month and start year fields in the secure side of the front-end can now be set to N/A for Switch/Maestro cards due to some new cards not displaying such data.

The system name for the Manufacturer Contact page has been changed from manu-tel.asp to the more relevant filename of manu-details.asp. Associated system files have also been updated to accommodate this change.

The merchant system settings have been re-structured for faster update deployment.

To provide a more complete order of tabs in the product details section of the front-end, the product tabs routine has been modified to enable out of focus tab links to have different mouseout and mouseover styles to that of the in focus tab.

Trade and Educational prices in the product detail page are now displayed in the format ex tax price (inc tax price) rather than the previous reverse. NOTE: Retail prices are still displayed in the format inc tax price (ex tax price).

The unit of measure, which is entered in the Stock Details section of the Admin panel, is now displayed in the product detail page for each stock item.

Admin Back-end Features

A new on-line help system has been added to the Admin panel and Secure Admin panel. On-line help on a particular task can be called up at any time by clicking the blue/white question mark icons that are now displayed at the top of the relevant pages.

The 'County' field in the Company Details section of the Admin panel is no longer a mandatory field.

News article length in the Latest News section of the Admin panel has been increased from 60 characters to 255 characters.

'URL' field length in the Stock Manufacturers section of the Admin panel has been increased from 50 characters to 100 characters.

'Pics' and 'Thumbnail' drop-down menus in the Stock Details section of the Admin panel are now sorted alphabetically.

Global change to all sections of Admin panel so that user can use hyphen (-) and underscore (_) characters in their Code field entries.

The Stock Sizes menu in the Stock Sizes section of the Admin panel now displays the size name instead of the size code.

The Stock Colours menu in the Stock Colours section of the Admin panel now displays the colour name instead of the colour code.

'Manufacturer Pics' prompt in the navigation bar of the Admin panel has been changed to 'Stock Manufacturer Pics'.

The default 'Comments' prompt in the customer and merchant order forms of the master email order templates has been changed to 'Customer Comments'. NOTE: this change only affects new users of the eConcept system. These forms will remain unchanged for existing users of the system that are updating from a previous version.

The 'Name' prompt in the Stock Details section of the Admin panel has now been changed to 'Stock Name'.

The 'Full Desc' prompt in the Stock Details section of the Admin panel has now been changed to 'Stock Desc'.

The 'Short Desc' prompt in the Stock Details section of the Admin panel has now been changed to 'Hot Offer Desc' and the actual field is now no longer a mandatory field.

The 'Special' prompt in the Stock Details section of the Admin panel has now been changed to 'Category/Manufacturer Hot Offer'.

A new 'Home Page Hot Offer' function and prompt has been added to enable the merchant to choose whether or not a stock item should be displayed as an offer on the Home Page.

Stock Categories list in the Admin panel has been restructured to help differentiate between categories and sub-categories. Sub-categories are now grouped with their appropriate parent categories and indented.

CSS class for Form Fields now stored in database.

A new 'Appearance' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to customise the way certain parts of their site will look, eg they can now define the dimensions of the Shockwave Flash animation of the Home page, define set dimensions for their Micro Pics, select alternate display styles for their product lists, select alternate display styles for their Latest News articles and select alternate display styles for their category and sub-category pages.

A new 'Shipping' multi-section has been added to the Admin panel to cater for fixed price (home delivery), by weight or by order value shipping methods. The 'fixed price' menu supersedes the 'home delivery' facility that was available in the Stock Details section. The 'by weight' menu enables the merchant to create and use various weight bands for various countries to calculate the appropriate shipping cost for an order. The 'by order value' menu enables the merchant to create and use various order value bands for various countries to calculate the appropriate shipping cost for an order.

To avoid possible ambiguity as to the capabilities of this feature, the 'Home Page Anim' form field prompt in the Languages section of the Admin panel has been changed to 'Home Page Anim/Pic'.

Favicons can now be uploaded to the 'General Pics & Anims' section of the Admin panel so that merchants can change the appearance of the icon that appears when a customer adds the merchant web site to their Favourites/Bookmarks.

Added 'External Site', 'Manufacturers', 'Linked Sites', 'Events', 'Shipping/Weight', 'Colours' and 'Sizes' to the 'Menu Items' section of the Admin panel.

The new 'External Site' menu item enables the merchant to link an external (parent or child) web site to the eConcept site, eg if the merchant already has their own brochure-style web site then they can use their eConcept site purely for the eCommerce part of the web site and cross-link between the two sites.

The new 'Manufacturers' menu item enables the merchant to show or hide the Manufacturers part of the system.

The new 'Linked Sites' menu item enables the merchant to show or hide the Linked Sites part of the system.

The new 'Events' menu item enables the merchant to show or hide the Events part of the system.

The new 'Shipping/Weight' menu item enables the merchant to show or hide the Shipping/Weight aspect of the system.

The new 'Colours' menu item enables the merchant to show or hide the Colours aspect of the system.

The new 'Sizes' menu item enables the merchant to show or hide the Sizes aspect of the system.

The Category drop-down menu in the 'Stock Details' section of the Admin panel has been restructured so that merchants can differentiate between a root level category and a sub-category.

A new 'Web Site Prompts' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable merchants to customise certain prompts that appear in the front-end of the web site.

The 'Level' drop-down menu in the 'Stock Categories' section of the Admin panel is now alphabetically sorted by stock category name.

A new 'Sort Order' function has been added to the 'Stock Categories' section of the Admin panel. This new function enables the merchant sort the categories that are displayed on the left-hand side of the front-end by sort order number and then sub-sort by category name. Ideal for all those merchants who wish to put a Special Offers category at the top of the list and then sort the rest alphabetically.

A new 'Sort Order' function has been added to the 'Stock Manufacturers' section of the Admin panel. This new function enables the merchant sort the manufacturers that are displayed on the left-hand side of the front-end by sort order number and then sub-sort by manufacturer name. An ideal mechanism for all merchants who wish to group manufacturers together, but still sort each group alphabetically.

All entry forms in the Admin panels modified so that the first available entry field is ready for input, so as to do away with the need for the merchant to constantly click into this field with the mouse.

A new 'Linked Sites' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to add, update and remove associated web links, which are displayed in the Linked Sites section of the front-end.

The upload routine of the Admin panel has been further modified to handle oversized upload files. NOTE: the upload file size limit is now set to 400KB to cover new multimedia files.

All date drop-down form field menus are now classed as form type 11.

A new 'Events' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to add, update and remove events, which are displayed in the Events section of the front-end. Works in conjunction with the Events template (also in the Admin panel) and can only be displayed by being initiated via this template.

The foreign description form of the 'Stock Details' section, which is in the Admin panel, has been modified to provide backward compatibility on old stock code formats.

The text prompt key in the 'Stock Details' section of the Admin panel has been modified to also show stock items that have been marked as home and/or category/manufacturer specials.

A new 'Clone' feature has been added to the 'Stock Details' section of the Admin panel so that a merchant can quickly create duplicates of the same stock details.

The 'Recalc' routines for the 'Stock Details' and 'Shipping Fixed Price' sections of the Admin panel have been further enhanced for optimal performance.

All textarea prompts in the Admin panel are now top aligned.

Certain confirmation pages in the Admin panel now include an 'Add Entry' link to assist the merchant in creating entries as quickly as possible.

Global creation routines have been further enhanced in the Admin panel so that if a merchant has entered a stock item that uses a code that already exists in the system then at the point of creation they are re-directed back to the entry form and asked to enter an alternative code rather than having to start the whole entry process again.

A new 'FormWarningText' class has been created to display the form warning message when an entry already exists. All back-end skins have been modified to incorporate this new class.

The 'Sort Order' form field in the 'Payment Method' section of the Admin panel has been changed from a standard text box to a drop-down integer menu. NOTE: existing integer settings should be retained.

All stock code-related drop-down menus now show the stock name rather than the code for easier reference.

The 'Stock Specifications' form order in the Admin panel has been changed from Specification, Stock Code, Language to Stock Code, Language, Specification to give a better order of precedence.

The 'Tax Rates' section of the Admin panel now has the same code checking routine as other admin forms.

A new 'Events' template has been added to Templates section. This new template works in conjunction with the new Events section (also in the Admin panel) to display a list of events with accompanying text and pictures.

A new 'Finance Disclaimer' template has been added to Templates section. This new template will be displayed in the product finance pages of the front-end.

Further to customer feedback as to what is a list and what is a menu, the 'Go back to full list' menu link, which appears at to foot of the Admin panel's navigation bar has been changed to 'Go back to full menu list'.

The 'Stock Manufacturer Pics' section of the Admin panel has a new routine to stop a picture from being deleted if it is being used by a manufacturer. For the merchant's reference, the affected manufacturers that use the picture are listed so that the merchant knows which need to be disassociated from the picture before it can be deleted.

The 'Stock Category Pics' section of the Admin panel has a new routine to stop a picture from being deleted if it is being used by a category. For the merchant's reference, the affected categories that use the picture are listed so that the merchant knows which need to be disassociated from the picture before it can be deleted.

The Upload prompt in the 'General Pics & Anims' library of the Admin panel has been updated to reflect the new file types.

The 'Stock Import' section of the Admin panel has been further enhanced to enable the merchant to choose whether or not to delete all existing stock details before importing new data from an import file.

A new 'Micro Pics' picture library has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to upload another level of pictures and attribute them to their stock items.

A new 'Multimedia' picture library has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to upload PDF, Word Doc, Excel, MP3, AVI, MPG, MOV, WMA and SWF files and attribute them to the new 'Stock Multimedia' admin section.

A new 'Image Gallery' picture library has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to upload gif and jpg files and attribute them to the new 'Stock Image Gallery' admin section.

A new 'Stock Multimedia' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to attribute multiple multimedia files to stock items. These will be available for display/download in the product details section of the front-end.

A new 'Stock Image Gallery' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to attribute multiple picture files to stock items. These will be displayed in the product details section of the front-end.

'Tax Code' drop-down menus in the Admin panel now remember previously chosen settings.

Price listings in the Admin panel are now globally formatted by the database tier rather than the code tier.

A new 'Location' field has been added to 'Stock Details' section of the Admin panel.

The global form field routines of the Admin panel have been enhanced to display sub-groups of form fields.

Secure Admin panel routines have been restructured for optimum performance and to handle new form class and layout routines.

All picture library confirmation pages in the Admin panel now include an 'upload file' link to assist the merchant in speeding up the upload process.

The core routines of all the search menus in the Admin panels have been modified to give greater performance.

Security management routines further enhanced for better server performance.

The 'Stock Manufacturers' section of the Admin panel has been further enhanced with the inclusion of a new 'Web Page Title' field. This new field replaces the minimally used 'Comments' field and is used as a bespoke title for a manufacturer's specific web page.

The 'Desc' prompt in the 'Stock Manufacturers' section of the Admin panel has been more appropriately renamed to 'Name'.

The 'Stock Categories' section of the Admin panel has been further enhanced with the inclusion of a new 'Web Page Title' field. This new field replaces the minimally used 'Comments' field and is used as a bespoke title for a category or sub-category's specific web page.

The 'Desc' prompt in the 'Stock Categories' section of the Admin panel has been more appropriately renamed to 'Name'.

A new 'Desc' field/prompt has been added to the 'Stock Categories' section of the Admin panel to provide the merchant with a facility to display a brief description of the chosen category or sub-category. NOTE: this facility will only be executed when it has been activated via the Appearance section of the Admin panel.

A new 'Pricing' section has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to specify which accounts can see and use which pricing scheme. This new section is dependant on what System Type the merchant has selected in the Company Details section of the Admin panel.

A new 'Privacy' template has been added to the Admin panel to enable the merchant to display their Privacy statement on the front-end.

A new 'Privacy' entry has been added to the 'Menu Items' section of the Admin panel so that the merchant can decide whether or not to display this content on the front-end.

The core form routines of the Admin panel have been modified to better handle user-defined URLs.

The 'ReCalc' routine of the 'Stock Details' and 'Shipping Fixed Price' sections of the Admin panel has been converted from a JavaScript include file to a compiled ASP hybrid file. This is so that it can handle the dynamic parameters that are now passed to it.

The whole structure of the 'Stock Details' section, which resides in the Admin panel, has been modified to handle the new Retail, Trade and Educational pricing matrix.

The stock import schema file, which resides in the master 'user-data folder, has been updated to handle the new stock control structure.

The 'Stock Import' section of the Admin panel has been updated to handle the new stock control structure.

A new 'Section' field has been added to the 'Menu Items' section of the Admin panel to enable the merchant to specify whether page-related menu items should be displayed in the navigation header, footer or both.

The order form email templates, which reside in the Admin panels, now have new [INVCONTACT], [INVEMAIL], [INVTEL], [DELCONTACT], [DELEMAIL] and [DELTEL] commands so that these details can be printed on the customer and merchant order form emails.

The order form email templates now have a new [GOODSWITHLOC] command, which will instruct the eConcept system to display the stock location for each ordered item. As there is one template for the customer and one for the merchant, this command can be used for the merchant form and the original [GOODS] command can be used for the customer.

By default, the goods displayed on the email order forms are sorted by location and then entry order irrespective of whether the [GOODS] or [GOODSWITHLOC] command is used.

The 'Orders' section of the Secure Admin panel now only displays the outstanding/in progress orders by default. Merchants can choose to see other variations of orders (eg declined, shipped, etc) or simply all orders by selecting the required option from the available drop-down menu.

The 'Contact/Order Forms, Emails' section has now been added to the Secure Admin panel and is available to any user with level 1 access. Level 2 access users will still only be able to access orders via this Secure Admin panel.

The 'Accounts' section of the Secure Admin panel has been extensively enhanced to show greater detail for all customer account types.

The 'Accounts' section of the Secure Admin panel has been modified to obscure account passwords to increase customer security.

The 'Accounts' section of the Secure Admin panel has been modified to enable the merchant to change account types between Business, Trade and Educational.

The 'Accounts' section of the Secure Admin panel has been modified to enable the merchant to close and/or re-open a customer account.

New 'Account Creation', 'Account Accepted', 'Account Declined' and 'Account Closed' email templates have been added to the 'Contact/Order Forms, Emails' section of the Admin panel.
New [ACCOUNTCODE], [ACCOUNTNAME] and [ACCOUNTTYPE] commands have also been added to these new email templates so that the relevant data can be merged into the email templates.

A new 'Send Email' section has been added to the 'Accounts' section of the Secure Admin panel to enable the merchant to send automatically-formatted emails to their customers regarding their account being accepted, declined or closed.

A closed account text prompt key has been added to the 'Accounts' section of the Secure Admin panel so that the merchant can quickly see which accounts are currently closed.

The email address and telephone number for both the invoice address and delivery address of the home user are now displayed throughout the secure order process.

The contact name, email address and telephone number for both the invoice address and delivery address of the business, trade and educational user are now displayed throughout the secure order process.

The email address and telephone number for both the invoice address and delivery address of the home user are now displayed in the 'Orders' section of the Secure Admin panel.

The contact name, email address and telephone number for both the invoice address and delivery address of the business, trade and educational user are now displayed in the 'Orders' section of the Secure Admin panel.

The email address and telephone number for both the invoice address and delivery address of the home user are now displayed in the order confirmation emails.

The contact name, email address and telephone number for both the invoice address and delivery address of the business, trade and educational user are now displayed in the order confirmation emails.

A global change has been done to the Admin panel's core routines to allow the merchant to enter a period (full stop) in code entry fields.

The default email subject for customer and merchant order forms has been changed to incorporate the merchant name, account name, customer order num, account code, invoice/order num and invoice/order date.

eConcept Retail v1.29.08

A new Stock Import section has been added to the admin system. This powerful feature enables the merchant to add and/or update numerous products and services on their web site using one simple text file. This new feature can also integrate with standard accounting products such as AstrA Millennium so that the merchant can auto-extract the relevant data from their accounting system and update their eConcept site with this data in a matter of a few mouse clicks.

eConcept Retail v1.29.07

The metalfire, bluechrome, rainbowgold and redgold skins have been modified to support this new update. This includes a complete modification of all stylesheets and the inclusion of a new Update Basket button.

A new prompt has been added to the order submitted page to inform the customer that their order has been successfully sent and that they will automatically receive a confirmation email shortly.

In the event that a customer inadvertently tries to submit their order again from a cached page, a new prompt has been added to the Checkout section to explain that they have already submitted their order successfully.

The Current Order Value feature has been modified to accommodate multiple http and https points of entry.

The layout of the Login Status feature has been modified to dynamically handle text width requirements.

The Product Detail section on the front-end has been modified to allow the customer to enter their own order quantity (providing that it falls within the merchants constraints) rather than the previous method of selecting from a limited drop-down menu.
The email order routines have been modified to accommodate a fallback system.

The Approximate Weight data field in the My Basket and Checkout sections has been modified to handle weights to 2 decimal places.

The Delivery Cost Breakdown feature has been modified to handle products and services of zero weight.

The core routines of the admin system have been globally changed to provide assistance to the user when they are entering new codes. Providing that the user is using a standard browser, these new routines should assist the user by allowing them to only type in and use valid characters for their codes.

The Stock Details section of the admin system has been further enhanced with the inclusion of a new decimal places in quantities feature. This universal per stock item feature enables the user to specify how many decimal places a customer can specify when ordering a quantity of a particular stock item.

The Product Detail section on the front-end has been modified to accommodate this new decimal places in quantities feature.

The My Basket section has been further modified in that the customer can now click on any of the individual order lines in their shopping basket and change the size, colour or quantity to their chosen preference before they place their order.

The Transfer to Basket feature of the My Quotes section has been enhanced so that customers can add more items after to the basket after the quote has been transferred.

The navigation mechanism in the Product Detail and My Basket sections has been further enhanced to avoid referral loops.

2 x new Email templates have been added to the Contact/Order Forms, Emails section so that the merchant can customise how the automated Retrieve Account Login Details email will look both for the customer and themselves.

eConcept Retail v1.29.06

The Stock Sizes section of the admin system has been modified to enable users to delete unwanted sizes.

In an effort to assist users who use smaller displays or need to work with lower screen resolutions, the left hand navigation bar in the admin system has been modified so that only the sub-menu that the user is working with is displayed. This new technique will hopefully reduce the number of vertical page scrolls that the user needs to perform as they navigate round the various menus of the admin system.

The Quick Code Search facility on the front-end of the web site has been changed to allow visitors to search on product descriptions rather than product codes. To complete this change, the Quick Code Search text strings have also been changed to Quick Search.

A new Menu Items section has been added to the admin system. As certain aspects of the front-end system may be superfluous to the users needs, this new section enables the user to globally show or hide them from view. As of this version, the user can currently show or hide the About us menu, the Contact us menu, the Jargon Buster menu, the Our Terms menu, the Currencies menu, the Languages menu and the Manufacturers Contact Details menu.

As a consequence of this new Menu Items section, all of the Skins folders have been modified to suit.

The Email template heading in the admin system has been changed to Contact/Order Forms, Email.

The Countries section of the admin system has been modified to accommodate 2 new features named Zone and Tax Type respectively. These new features work in the following way:

Zone - this feature works with the Shipping Prices section so that the user can group a number of countries by a particular zone and then attribute one or more shipping price bands for this zone. By default, these zones have been preset to Zone 0 = UK, Zone 1 = EEC countries, Zone 2 = ROW countries, Zone 3 = unallocated, Zone 4 = unallocated and Zone 5 = unallocated.

Tax Type - this feature enables the user to set up how the system handles the tax for customers in different countries. By default, the tax types have been preset as follows:

UK Home users
(Tax Type 0)
charged at standard tax rate

UK Business users
(Tax Type 0)
charged at standard tax rate

EEC Home users
(Tax Type 1)
charged at standard tax rate

EEC Business users who have supplied a Tax Code
(Tax Type 1)
not charged tax

EEC Business users who have not supplied a Tax Code(Tax Type 1)
charged at standard tax rate

ROW Home users
(Tax Type 2)
not charged tax

ROW Business users
(Tax Type 2)
not charged tax

Please note that you can still hide the countries that you do not wish to deal with by changing their Available value to No.

The Shipping Prices section of the admin system has been modified to complement the new Zone feature in the Countries section. By default, all existing shipping prices have been preset to Zone 0.

eConcept Retail v1.29.05

The New Business User Account section has been modified to accommodate extra fields such as the Tax Code and Business Reg.

The metalfire skin has been modified to provide new background colours in the secure checkout side of the system.

The customer and merchant email order forms have been modified to show a more detailed breakdown of the delivery details.

The orders section of the secure admin system now only displays outstanding (in progress) orders by default.

eConcept Retail v1.29.04

In the SSL admin system, size and colour column prompts have been re-aligned in the main Order page.

In the SSL admin system, the General Pics section has been modified to show extra image information and to provide paging and search capabilities.

As requested, the On Hold feature in the Accounts section of the SSL admin system has been removed.

The Stock Finance section on the main product detail page has been modified to suit various rates.

The code-based validation routines have been further enhanced to trap invalid characters and automatically make all index values uppercase.

Postal codes are now automatically formatted as uppercase when creating or modifying Home and/or Business user accounts.

eConcept Retail v1.29.03

(incorporates internal updates v1.29.1 - v1.29.2)

As requested, access logging now fully monitored by eConcept support staff to provide merchant users with a point of reference should they feel that their admin login details have been compromised by a member of their staff.

As requested, the Collection feature has been temporarily removed from the admin system due to its redundant behaviour.

Full stock control capabilities are now in place.

Synchronisation of code modules has been completed to provide total cross-platform support.

2 new web skins called BlueChrome and MetalFire have been created for use. The MetalFire skin is currently used by our eConcept Demo site at shop.econcept.co.uk.

Various changes to the text prompt dictionary have been made to accommodate the above changes.

As requested, the Stock Colours and Stock Sizes lists in the admin system are sorted by stock code and then sub-sorted by stock colour/size code.

As requested, the Colour and Size drop-down menus in the Main Product Detail page are sorted by stock colour/size code. This enables to the merchant to put these parameters in the order that they wish rather than alphabetical or numerical order.

eConcept Retail v1.29.00

(incorporates internal updates v1.28.8 - v1.28.9)

A new section called Stock Comments has been created in the admin system, which will allow the merchant to create various standard comments/prompts (eg usually dispatched in 24 hours, includes speakers, etc) in various languages. Up to 2 of these stock comments can be allocated to each stock item so that they appear in the main product details window.

In the Stock Details section of the admin system the merchant can now allocate up to 2 comments per stock item.

A new section called Latest News has been created in the admin system, which will allow the merchant to create various news flashes (eg All Sony products half price, Latest Dyson products now in stock, etc) in various languages. These news flashes will appear at the top right of the home page and can also be given a time limit so that they auto-expire.

The General Pics library section has been modified to enable the merchant to upload their own Shockwave Flash animation files. Animation files can then be allocated to the languages that are available in the system so that a unique home page animation can be displayed for each language.

In the Languages section of the admin system the merchant can now allocate an uploaded animation file to each Language.

All picture library sections have been modified to show extra image information and to provide paging and search capabilities.

The Payment Methods section of the admin system has been modified to support multiple and changing types.

All web strings and form fields have been modified to accommodate the above changes.

eConcept Retail v1.28.07

(incorporates internal update v1.28.6)

A tabbing order has been implemented in all of the Search menus in the front-end to provide the potential customer with the ability to quickly move round the relevant criteria fields in these pages.

A Key Press event has been added to all of the Search menus in the front-end so that the potential customer can press the Enter key (the one on the numeric keypad) to submit their search criteria rather than having to use their mouse to click on the relevant search button.

The Save Quote button is now automatically disabled on the shopping basket page if the potential customer has not already logged into their account. A tool tip has also been added so that if the potential customer moves over this disabled button a short message will appear to make them aware that they need to log in first. All of this has been done to try and save the potential customer from extra unnecessary mouse clicks.

A new validation module has been added to the Payment Method section of the Checkout walk through so that the potential customer is prompted to enter new details if they inadvertently enter an expiry date that has in fact expired.

The Key Press events have been added to the My Account login, My Account - New Account, My Account - Change Details and Contact us sections to improve usability in these areas.

The system now calculates Home Delivery prices with varying quantities.

All of the Search menus in the admin system now have a tabbing order to provide the merchant with the ability to quickly move round the relevant criteria fields in these pages. These Search menus also include Key Press events as well.

All Add and Modify sections in the admin system now have a Go Back to List button to allow the merchant to gracefully come out of these pages without having to create or update any data.

Various prompt changes have been made to the front-end to try to eliminate ambiguity.

The systems base web strings have been updated to accommodate French and Spanish.

eConcept Retail v1.28.05

The Stock Details section in the admin system has been modified to include a new Home Delivery pricing structure. To keep familiarity, the design of this new pricing structure follows along the same lines as the RRP and standard price structures.

The front-end, admin, secure front-end and secure admin areas have all been modified to accommodate the new Home Delivery pricing structure. NOTE: if the merchant does set a Home Delivery price for a particular product (or products) then irrespective of the generic weight or price bands that they have set, the delivery charge for said product will be the Home Delivery price. If the merchant does not set a Home Delivery price then the system will calculate the delivery charge using the predefined shipping price bands.

A delivery cost matrix has been created and is shown in all pricing sections of the basket and checkout walk through.

The Order Form email templates in the admin system have been modified to accommodate this new delivery cost pricing matrix. Providing that the merchant leaves the [SHIPPINGMATRIX] command in these modified templates, this will send email confirmation of the delivery costs to both the merchant and the customer as each order is placed.

A number of field prompts have also been updated to synchronise this new version.

eConcept Retail v1.28.04

(incorporates internal updates v1.28.2 - v1.28.3)

There is now a new option in the Currencies section of the admin system so that the merchant can choose at any time whether to globally show or hide a currency on the web system.

There is now a new option in the Stock Categories section of the admin system so that the merchant can choose at any time whether to globally show or hide a stock category and ALL of the entities that are associated with it, ie any sub-categories and products, on the web system.

The quick list search in the admin system has also been modified to enable the merchant to show all, active or inactive stock categories for quick reference.

There is now a new option in the Stock Manufacturers section of the admin system so that the merchant can choose at any time whether to globally show or hide a stock manufacturer and ALL of the entities that are associated with them, ie any stock categories and products, on the web system.

The quick list search in the admin section has also been modified to enable the merchant to show all, active or inactive stock manufacturers for quick reference.

The Related Products section has been modified to show the price (in various applicable currencies) and also incorporates a View/Order option for each related product.

The Stock Details section of the admin system has been further enhanced to provide a quick reference key of which products are flagged as New Stock, Special and/or Discontinued.

The internal filtering routines have been modified throughout the system to enable the merchant to enter, display and use special command characters such as and in the descriptions.

All referential page links have been modified throughout the web system to accommodate the new changes.

All stylesheets, web skins and text prompt dictionaries have been modified and optimised throughout the web system to accommodate the new changes.

Order Status prompts have been synchronised between the http and https areas of the web system.

An automated login retrieval system has been implemented in the My Account section of the web system so that if a customer has forgotten their account number and/or password they can retrieve these details by submitting their email address.

To try and ensure that customer security is kept, these details will only be sent out to the submitted email address on the proviso that this email address is part of a valid web account.

Additional security steps have been taken in the way of logging the IP address of the submitter and also by sending a copy of this login details email to the merchants own mailbox for their reference.

The Quick Search button for the RedGold web skin has been changed.

The My Account Menu button for the RedGold web skin has been changed to My Account Details.

An extra failsafe has been added to the Secure Orders section of the web system to double-check whether or not the merchant wishes to update the status of a particular order.

To try to ensure that security is not compromised, a new and completely separate Picture Library section has been added to the Secure Orders section of the system. This means that the merchant can upload and show their company logo, which could be a completely different style to the one that they display for the majority of the system, in this secure area of the web system without compromising cross-browser security. NOTE: admin users with level 2 access can upload and update pictures in this secure area, but they will not be able to see or update account and order details like level 1 admin users can.

eConcept Retail v1.28.01

(incorporates internal updates v1.27.2 - v1.28.0)

Jargon Buster links added to secure section of the web system.

Favicon created for admin side of the web system to provide a visual aide in finding this specific link in the merchants own list of Favourites.

Category order updated in secure section of the web system.

Core routines updated in New Products feature to trap varying date formats.

Quick Find list updated to show last 10 searches.

Tracking routines changed to provide unique data streams for the front-end, admin section and new secure orders admin section.

Product detail page updated to show a more proportional window irrespective of whether or not a small main picture is used.

Product detail page updated to accommodate the possibility of not having the Stock Control feature enabled.

Quick Search link on Home page changed to Quick Code Search to provide better clarity.

Login summary routines modified to eliminate possibility of orphaned account logins for a particular session.

Related product links now display correctly in Quick Find list and also post correct referential URLs.

Sample orders updated in Demo DDL to provide better examples.

Password checking routines updated in New Business/Home User account sections.

Confirmation pages for New Business/Home User account sections updated.

Sort order feature in Detailed Search, Sub-Categories, My Orders and My Quotes pages updated to show a graphical representation of which column the resultant data has been sorted in at any one time.

New Default VAT rate option available in admin section to allow the merchant to specify what the default rate should be when creating new shipping bands and/or stock items. By default, the Demo and New DDLs create and set the default VAT rate to be 17.5%.

Discontinued feature in Stock Details now works as expected.

Foreign currency disclaimer now appears on all relevant checkout sections to inform potential customers that the foreign currency prices that they are seeing may be charged differently when the order is processed.

Global changes have been applied to all referential navigation links, such as the Continue Shopping link on the My Basket page.

Global changes have been applied to the validation and checking routines.

To provide better clarity, sub-category search lists are automatically given a different background colour when only a single sub-category is available.

Core routines have been updated in Quick Code Search, Detailed Search and Sub-Category Search pages.

Order Summary on both merchant and customer email templates has been modified to implement a decimal alignment result when sent as plain text emails.

Price Bands section in Admin system has been modified to allow the merchant to enter their own Price Band code rather than using an internal system reference.

French and Spanish string DDLs have been synchronised with English string set.

New web-skin called RedGold now available to use for the front-end. This can be selected via the Company Details section of the admin system.

Major overhaul of existing front-end to enable My Account section to be housed on secure server. All referential web and data links updated to incorporate this change.

New secure order system has been added to allow the merchant to view account details and view/print orders. Points to note are:

a) Security section has been modified to accommodate the following access levels:

Access Level 1 allows the merchant to gain access to the admin system AND this new secure orders section.

Access Level 2 allows the merchant to gain access to this new secure orders section only.

Access Level 3 allows the merchant to gain access to the admin system only.

b) The new Customer Accounts section in this system will allow the merchant to view any customers address and contact details.

c) The new Orders section of the system allows the merchant to view the orders that have been placed so that they can print them out and process them. Each order page displays all of the relevant order data onto a single web page for quick and easy viewing.

We have also implemented a feature whereby the merchant can modify the status of an order so that the customer can see what stage the order is at via their My Account page. To provide better security whilst at the same time not limiting the scope of the system, this facility will also remove any credit card details from the system once the merchant has changed the status of the order.

eConcept Retail v1.27.01

The feature to display prices exclusive or inclusive of VAT is a user-definable option in the Company Details section of the admin system. By default this has been set to inclusive of VAT prices.

The feature to choose whether a customer can state whether to collect goods from a store has been created as a user-definable option in the Company Details section of the admin system. By default this has been set to No so that the customer cannot state that they wish to collect from a store.

The default payment method of allowing the customer to bring payment to a store has been disabled for both Home Users and Business Users by default. These user-definable options may be changed at any time via the Pay Methods section of the admin system.

The feature to display stock levels is a user-definable option in the Company Details section of the admin system. By default this has been set to No so that no stock levels are visible.

The feature to display the preferred company name is a user-definable option in the Company Details section of the admin system.

The feature to display prices in different currencies is a user-definable option in the admin system. By default this has been set to display prices in Sterling.

The feature to display the preferred countries is a user-definable option in the Countries section of the admin system. By default this has been set so that all countries are available in both the Contact Us and New Account pages.

As requested, the prompts RRP and Our Price have been replaced by Store Price and Online Price.

The feature to display colours and sizes for products are user-definable options in the Stock Colours and Stock Sizes sections of the admin system. Only when you specify a certain colour or size to a product will it appear in the Product Details section of the front-end.

The feature to promote certain products as new or on special offer is a user-definable option in the Stock Details section of the admin system. Simply by ticking the appropriate checkboxes (and specifying the Last Updated date for new products) on the relevant products you will see that a product defined as being on special offer will be listed on the home page as well as under the category they are attributed to and a product defined as being new and having the appropriate Last Updated date will appear on the New Products floating menu.

The feature to display the preferred company details is a user-definable option in the Company Details section of the admin system.

A new Jargon section has been added to the front-end of the web system. We have also created and integrated a new admin section called Jargon so that the merchant can update the textual content of this new front-end section as and when they please.

As we have been advised in the past that it is important to have a link to the Terms and Conditions page visible at all times, we have left it on the navigation footer for now.

The prompt created and hosted by S&S Systems Ltd has been changed to eCommerce created and hosted by S&S Systems Ltd.

The credit card blanket format which is used when showing processed orders has been changed so that the last 4 digits are shown rather than the first 4.

The variable form data that is submitted from the Contact Us page has been re-formatted to handle variable widths on the plain text emails that are sent to the merchant and the enquirer.

All products that have been added to customer quotes are automatically flagged as discontinued when you either delete or mark a product as discontinued in the admin system. The customer will be notified that the relevant product(s) is discontinued and if they transfer their quote to a shopping basket they will find that all discontinued items are not transferred. NOTE: if the discontinued checkbox is subsequently unchecked for a product then this item is shown as being available again in all of the relevant customer quotes.

The prompt Please click one of the below buttons to create a new account has been changed to Please click one of the buttons below to create a new account.

The prompt Advanced Search has been changed to Detailed Search.

The Quick code search floating menu has been modified to log 10 products. It previously logged 5 products.

The prompt on this floating menu has been subsequently changed from Your last 5 searches to Your last 10 searches.

The prompt Your search yielded no results has been changed to Your search yielded no results. Please try again with new search criteria.

The subject in the default email order template has been modified to automatically show the customer account code.

The dotted line below Goods Ordered: in the default email order template has been modified to line-up neatly under this text.

The dotted line below Comments: in the default email order template has been modified to line-up neatly under this text.

2 extra carriage returns have been inserted between the Thank you for your valued order and On receipt of cleared funds... in the default email order template to provide better clarity.

The default email order template has been modified to incorporate all of the supplied address and contact details.

The stock details section in the admin system has been modified so that the merchant can create their own stock items, as well as modify and delete them.

eConcept Property v2.26.00

In the Company Details section of the Admin Panel, a new 'Latest News Style' option has been added so that the estate agent can choose to display a Static style or an Animated style.

In the Company Details section of the Admin Panel, a new 'Mortgage Calculator' option has been added so that the estate agent can choose whether or not to display this feature in the Property Information section of the main web site. As per users' request, this feature is only applicable to properties that are for sale.

The Latest News section of the Admin Panel has been further enhanced so that the estate agent can change the colour of all or certain words/letters in the News title or text.

A new security access level has been added to the Admin Panel. Any login that has been assigned with level 2 access will not be able to access the Links section of the Admin Panel.

In the event that a user uploads a property picture, which is in Portrait form rather than the preferred Landscape form, the Property Pics section on the Admin Panel has been modified to inform the user of this. Please note that the picture will still be uploaded, it will just be a gentle warning to let them know in case they had inadvertently done this.

The Property Information section of the main web site has been further enhanced by the inclusion of a Mortgage Calculator for properties that are for sale. This new feature automatically calculates the required figures and has various validation routines to try and assist the potential buyer.

The Property Information section of the main web site has also been modified to include a 'Contact Advisor' link that enables the visitor to go straight to the Contacts section.

The View/Print Brochure section of the main web site has been modified to handle variable text lengths.

eConcept Property v2.25.00

Redundant Currencies menu temporarily removed from Admin section to remove ambiguity.

Redundant Home Page menu temporarily removed from Admin section to remove ambiguity.

A new Financial Services template has been added to the admin system. This template enables the estate agent to enter and display text and pictures relating to their own or any of their associates financial services. This new template also has its own unique section on the front-end to display this information.

A new Menu Items section has been added to the admin system. As certain aspects of the front-end system may be superfluous to the estate agents needs, this new section enables the estate agent to globally show or hide them from view. As of this version, the estate agent can currently show or hide the Home menu, About us menu, the For Sale menu, the To Let menu, the Wish List menu, the Contacts menu, the Finance menu and the Links menu.

The Wish List section has been furter enhanced with the addition of 3 new mandatory data fields, which ask the potential customer to submit their postal address details together with the usual name and contact details.

Global changes to the admin systems core sub-routines have also been done to improve performance.

eConcept Property v2.24.00

Due to popular demand, the Description field in the Property Pics section of the admin system is no longer a mandatory entry field.

As many estate agent users are now taking advantage of the extended description fields, the Search Results section has been modified to show the first 250 characters of each property description to keep a uniform style.

The pologreen skin has been modified to accommodate the new changes in the Search Results section.

The Sold and Subject to Contract status options in the Properties section of the admin system have been replaced by a new Sold STC status option.

As a number of estate agent users have experienced difficulties in reducing the physical file sizes of certain pictures when using 3rd party graphics tools, we have increased the upload picture threshold to 70KB.

The Property Detail page on the front-end has been modified to accommodate a new Go back to Wish List link.