About X-cart

• X-Cart shopping cart software is based on PHP Smarty templates, this makes it very flexible and easy to modify. The data is stored in MySQL database.
• W3C-compliant storefront design with a CSS-based layout.
• You receive a complete source code and SQL tables for MySQL database to make them extended or customized easily.
• X-Cart is a turnkey package. Installation is handled by web-based step-by-step wizard to make the system running immediately after receiving it.
• X-Cart is search engine friendly. A merchant can specify meta tags and define custom URLs for product and category pages that results in higher search engine rankings.

X-Cart includes all the necessary tools required to build a successful ecommerce store. Plus, X-Cart is constantly improving and upgrading the shopping cart software according to client requests. We have listed some of the features that are built into X-Cart for you above.

X-Cart Pro is an advanced edition of X-Cart Gold software designed to be operated in multi-vendor mode; it has the ability to operate in single-vendor mode as well. X-Cart Pro allows multiple vendors to share a single store for selling their products. Each provider manages his own products, orders, taxes, etc and is able to set their own shipping rates for pre-defined shipping methods independently of other providers. However the store has a joint catalog and a common checkout point, so the customer needs to place only one order. Customers see it like a single shop with different products, and they can purchase products from different providers at a time, and will get a notification from each provider they’ve bought products from. Respectively, each provider will get orders for his products only.

Which one do you really need? X-Cart Gold is a solution that allows selling products online. The products sold with the help of X-Cart Gold can be of your own production or made by third parties, however only one seller can access the cart back-end and operate the store. No third-party sellers are allowed. X-Cart PRO, on the other hand, is a solution which allows multiple companies to sell their products online. So a store owner can let third-party sellers use the store. The store owner will be referred to as the administrator, while the third-party sellers are referred to as providers.

X-Cart Minimal system requirements:

Below requirements are given for X-Cart v4.3. For newer versions please refer to the README file in the distribution package.

1. PHP

Web server must support PHP 4.3.0 or better. PHP 5 is also supported.
Make sure the configuration file php.ini meets the following requirements:

• safe_mode must be disabled
• file_uploads must be enabled
• allow_url_fopen must be enabled
• magic_quotes_sybase must be disabled
• sql.safe_mode must be disabled
• PCRE extension must be enabled
• ini_set function must not be disabled
• memory_limit >= 32M

2. MySQL

The web server must have support for MySQL databases. X-Cart is compatible with MySQL versions from 3.23 to 5.x.

You will need to have access to a MySQL database, so make sure you have the following information: your MySQL server name, your database name, your username and password for MySQL access.

3. Hosting space

A fresh installation of X-Cart 4.3.0 uses 39 megabytes of disk space at least. In addition to that, some disk space will be needed for X-Cart's cache data, image files (if you choose to store them on the file system) and files that might be added in connection with X-Cart customizations. The database space used by X-Cart depends on the number of products, customers and orders stored in it. Accordingly, database space requirements may vary from as little as 10 megabyte for small shops to over 500 megabytes for large stores.

Advanced requirements and recommended settings

Certain parts of X-Cart's functionality rely on using external files. Accordingly, your web server must be allowed to run external executable files (like Perl) and to make outgoing connections to the Internet (that is required for online payments). Loopback connections must be allowed by server firewall (required for HTML catalog feature).

The following components may be required:

• An HTTPS module (like Net::SSLeay perl module, CURL executable, OpenSSL executable or libCURL PHP extension) for some of the online credit card processing modules and for shipping modules.
• xml/Expat extension for PHP for Intershipper, UPS or USPS shipping modules.
• GDLib 2.0 or higher for X-Magnifier addon, for automatic generation of product thumbnails from product images, for the 'Image Verification' module and for cache generation in the 'Detailed Product Images' module. GDLib must be compiled with libjpeg and libpng (ensure that PHP is configured with the options --with-jpeg-dir=<DIR_libjpeg> and --with-png-dir=<DIR_libpng>, where <DIR_libjpeg> is the directory where libjpeg is installed, <DIR_libpng> is the directory where libpng is installed).
• PHP function "mail()" for sending emails from your store (email notifications, news messages, etc).
• External mail program, such as qmail or postfix (available on Unix systems only) instead of PHP function "mail()".
• SMTP server for sending emails from your store using SMTP Authentication instead of PHP function "mail()".

Make sure the functions "exec", "popen", "pclose" and "ini_set" are not included in the disabled functions list in php.ini:

• PHP function "exec()" must be allowed for the correct functioning of most of the CC payment processing modules used with X-Cart (CyberCash, CyberPac (LaCaixa), PayFlow Pro, PayBox, CyberSource, PaySystems Client, VaultX), HTTPS modules (Net::SSLeay, CURL, OpenSSL, https_cli), GnuPG/PGP, X-Carts Patch/Upgrade functionality.
• PHP functions "popen()" & "pclose()" must be allowed for the correct functioning of some HTTPS modules (CURL, Net::SSLeay), payment modules(Saferpay, CyberSource, iDeb), shipping modules (DHL/Airborne, Canada Post, UPS Online Tools, Intershipper, AntiFraud module.
• PHP function "ini_set()" is used for the session mechanism and enhances security.

Restrictions and dependences:

• 'HSBC Secure E-Payment Service' payment gateway works with Windows and Linux operating systems only.

An SSL certificate is highly recommended to ensure security of online transactions at your store.