Personalizing osCommerce

Figuring out exactly which files play which part in the overall scheme of how the application works can take some time, especially if you’re new to PHP. Once you’ve installed it and taken a look in the file manager through the admin tool, you’ll appreciate what I mean. It’s made up of a multitude of files, modules and functions integrated seamlessly to form the catalog. Every file includes (as in server-side includes) at least five other files, and keeping track of what changes need to be made where can be a little complicated.

Before making any changes to the code behind the application, there are a couple of things of which you need to be aware. First, although the admin tool does contain the facility to edit live files using the file manager function, I would strongly recommend not doing this--for some reason, it seriously messes with the site. Any file to be edited should be downloaded and edited locally.

Second, the facility to upload files should be restricted to graphics files. Any code files need to be uploaded using an FTP client. Code files uploaded using the admin tool are given a permission of 777 (full read, write and execute), which will kill your site instantly and generate error 500 pages. The FTP client you use needs to have the CHMOD function, which not all FTP programs have (Cute FTP Pro does). Upload the code using your FTP software, then right-click the file you’ve uploaded and select CHMOD. In the CHMOD window, change the file permissions to 644 (owner read and write, visitor read-only).