XcAuction Lite v1.1
by XCENT http://www.xcent.com

Please read the License Agreement before installing this script. By installing this product, you agree to and are bound to the terms of the licensing agreement.

XcAuction Lite is an easy to use, free for use auction script. Using an HTML template that you create, XcAuction Lite seamlessly integrates into your existing site.

XcAuction Lite is free to download and use. Because this is a free product, the license agreement requires that you leave the XCENT name and link which appears at the bottom of every page the script generates. None of the commercial(pay) versions of the scripts have this licensing limitation.

Requirements

XcAuction Lite is an Active Server Page script application for your website. It requires your website to be hosted on Microsoft Internet Information Server, or equivalent. Ask your ISP if they support Active Server Pages. If they don't, find one that is. See our website for our recommendations.

Setup Overview

1. Creating the Template
2. Configuring User Variables
3. Upload the Script
4. Administration
5. Test the Script
6. Common Problems
7. Support
8. Other Versions

1. Creating the Template

a) Create a new template.htm file in your HTML Editor (FrontPage, Notepad, whatever...).

b) Where you want the script output to appear, put the tags "<COMMENT>XCMAINVIEW</COMMENT>". Note: the tags do not include the quote marks

c) Replace the template.htm file that comes with the script with your own template.htm file.

d) Make sure that any images you have in your template point to the correct template on your server. For example: If you have an images folder in the root of your site, and you place the auction folder in the root of your site(recommended), you want to point all your images to "/images/filename.gif". The forward slash ("/") before "images" tells the browser to go to the root of your website, then to look for a folder called images.

2. Configuring the Variables

a) Open the config.asp file in notepad or any other text editor. We DO NOT recommend opening it in an HTML editor like Frontpage.

b) The config.asp file contains the configurable variables. Here you can set what colors are used in the tables, the font, whether or not to allow users to post items, whether or not to show the Add an Item to Auction link, and the number of bids before an item is shown as Hot. We recommend that you do not edit any of the other scripts.

c) The last configurable variable is the path to your auction script. We recommend you put the folder containing the scripts in the root of your website. If you do this, the path to the auction would be http://www.yoursite.com/xcauction/. Be sure that you include "http://" at the beginning and the forward slash at the end of your URL.

d) If you change the name or location of your database, make sure you change the gsConnect variable in the config.asp file IE: Server.MapPath("XcAuctionLite.mdb"). You will also need to change the admconfig.asp file in the admin directory to point to the database IE: Server.MapPath("..\XcAuctionLite.mdb").

3. Upload the Script

a) We recommend uploading the script with an FTP program such as wsFTP(www.ipswitch.com) or CuteFTP(www.cuteftp.com). We do not recommend using Frontpage to upload the script.

b) For the script to work properly, remember that the path to the auction script variable in the auctionlib.asp file (step 2c) must match where the script actually resides on your server.

4. Administration

a) To get to the administration login screen, the URL is simply the path to your auction script and "/admin". (http://www.yoursite.com/xcauction/admin"). By default, your admin username is "admin" and the password is "login".

b) In XcAuction Lite, your administrative features are: adding and deleting categories, and changing your administrative username and password.

c) Once initially logged in, you can change your username and password by clicking on the Admin Password link on the left side of the page.

d) As an administrator, you always have access to adding new items to the auction, even if you have the feature to allow users to add auctions turned off. When adding a new item to the auction, your username and password is the same as your admin username and password.

e) If you have the Show Add Item to Auction setting set to "false" (bShowAddNewLink), you can get to the add an item form by pointing your browser at "addnewform.asp" in in your auction folder.
For example: "http://www.yoursite.com/xcauction/addnewform.asp"

5. Test the Script

a) When testing the script, some things to look out for:

emails are sent out when someone gets outbid
emails are sent at the end of the auction to the winner AND the poster of the item
make sure the links in all of these emails work, if there is a problem, make sure the you have the correct path to the auction script in the auctionlib.asp file.
If you do not want anyone but the administrator posting items on the
auction, make sure you have the variable bUsersAdd set to "false".

6. Common Problems

a) If you get an error reading:
'80004005' [Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Could not delete from specified tables'
Make sure that your database is not marked as Read Only. This error frequently happens when using Frontpage to upload the script.

b) If you are having problems with the email XcAuction Lite sends, you can check operation of the Microsoft CDONTS objects by using the XcCDONTS.asp script. You can reach the XcCDONTS.asp script through the admin menu.

7. Support

XcAuctionLite is a free program and therefore we cannot provide you with direct support. Support for this script is provided via a message board on our web site. Visit www.xcent.com/products.htm.

Other Versions

XCENT has a much more enhanced auction script available for sale that is much more robust and full of features. XcAuction Pro includes features such as: user feedback, mail auction to a friend, reserve prices, and max(proxy) bidding. There are also advanced administrative features such as: emailing all or some registered users, deleting inactive users, giving selected users permission to post items, support of multiple email components and more.
If you have any suggestions for features you would like to see on future versions of XcAuction or other XCENT products please visit www.xcent.com/contact.htm or email suggestions@xcent.com.