A typical user session

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## A typical user session

The user hears about your catalog via a search engine, link from another page, or click-thru from a banner ad. They access the link, which is a URL pointing to the MiniVend CGI link program (generically called VLINK or TLINK, more on that below). The MiniVend server is already running on your system, and your catalog has been designed and tested.

The link, which is a regular CGI program, calls the MiniVend server through a socket. The MiniVend server sees the path information which is appended to the URL calling it, and brings up the corresponding page. The page contains a link to find or order items from your catalog.

The user clicks on the link and MiniVend looks in the products database, finds the item, and places it in the user's shopping cart. (Each user has a separate shopping cart, which is attached to their session.)

Once the user decides to purchase, they check out by filling out a form with their name, address, payment information, etc. In the process they may make choices about how the product should be shipped, how they will pay, and provide any other information you may ask for. They then place (or ``submit'') the order.

Their payment may be taken at that point via real-time electronic payment and a soft-goods product downloaded -- or their order information may be simply sent to you, the store owner, via encrypted email or FAX. The order is saved to a file or database table as backup, or in the case of fully-automated systems sent directly to an order entry program or database link.

All of these operations are fully configurable by you. The base MiniVend distribution includes a sample store -- some users have simply customized the text and images inside, changed the database entries, and opened their store. You will probably want to fully customize for a distinctive catalog look and feel.

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