|
Cart Empty after adding products from category pag |
Post Reply 
|
Page <12345> |
| Author | |
benpate 
Groupie 
Joined: 15-February-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0 |
 Post Options
 Thanks(0)
 Quote Reply
 Posted: 17-March-2010 at 9:08am |
|
I haven't noticed the empty cart syndrome since i put in my non-www redirect but we do suffer from UPS not returning results sometimes and it gets fixed after a server reboot.
Our store is on a dedicated server and set to use "Default App Pool". I found these settings in IIS 6.0, but am not sure what the suggested values are.
|
|
|
ProductCart SEO - Resellers and Affiliates welcome
|
|
 |
|
|
Hamish
Admin Group 
Joined: 12-October-2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 56 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 03-March-2010 at 12:52pm |
|
Hi Eeversole,
Re "My boss is hesitant to move away from GoDaddy" - GoDaddy may be cheap, but there is a reason why! Some people have sites that work fine at GoDaddy, many don't. The time spent troubleshooting problems and getting to a support person willing and able to assist and the lost orders (& repeat customers) whilst a site is down and your battling through the GoDaddy helpdesk is likely to cost far more than choosing a good hosting company. Just my two cents on that subject  Mark, Thanks for your post! There is an FAQ and WIKI entry, but it's fairly brief and so I suspect it's easy to miss when searched for. I will use the info you provided to expand it (so please excuse me plagiarizing your post :-) ). Hamish |
|
|
|
|
cognecy
Certified ProductCart Developers 
Joined: 18-March-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 03-March-2010 at 3:02am |
|
I do want to add one thing to my post by saying that you really, really need to get away from GoDaddy. I know this is a broken record theme here in the forum but it is worth saying again.
For those that may be reading this post now or in the future, please take note that the chance of GoDaddy being willing to make any sort of simple server change like what I described in my previous post is very slim. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you host your ProductCart Store with a host that not only understands the application but is able to willingly customize the environment to better accomodate this Software.
|
|
|
Mark Shipp
Cognecy Solutions, LLC Hosting/Design/Customization/Database Migration www.cognecy.com www.cognecy.co.uk |
|
|
|
|
cognecy
Certified ProductCart Developers
Joined: 18-March-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 03-March-2010 at 2:52am |
|
Okay and for all that have been responding on this topic. I believe I have discovered the root cause of this.
This is issue was bugging me so I have been doing some testing with one of our customer sites on our Windows2008 64Bit server and have been able to replicate this issue on our systems. What is happening is the environment is creating a separate session variable each for "http" and another for "https" so that when you switch between them, it will give the appearance of missing items. You can verify this when you experience the empty cart (if you are in https) by simply changing the URL for the page you are on to http and you will see your items in the cart.
The root of the problem is ProductCart running in the Win2008/IIS7 environment when IIS7 is set up using default values. There is some key differences between IIS6 and IIS7 as I am discovering myself.
If you do not have your own server you will need to be in discussion with your web host to have them change some settings in IIS7.
The Fix for IIS7
I the IIS properties window, under the ASP tab --> Session Properties, there is a setting for "New ID on Secure Connections" (this is the friendly name). IIS7 had this set on/enabled by default. You will need to ask your host to turn this setting off. Once this is done, you should not have any further issue.
A more detailed explanation for this is discovered in looking at the real name for this setting which is "Keep Session ID Secure" and the description of this setting is that when enabled, it will ensure a secure channel by storing session info in an encrypted cookie.
I apologize for letting my geek show though a bit here but it is a tough one to explain. Suffice it to say that if your host will change this setting, it "Should" work for you.
|
|
|
Mark Shipp
Cognecy Solutions, LLC Hosting/Design/Customization/Database Migration www.cognecy.com www.cognecy.co.uk |
|
|
|
|
Matt
Moderator Group
Joined: 20-July-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 73 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 03-March-2010 at 2:16am |
|
We have a test store at GoDaddy that uses SSL and works. I just tested on your store and it worked fine. The issue is sporadic so is probably due to an overloaded server.
|
|
|
|
|
Greg Dinger
Certified ProductCart Developers
Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 03-March-2010 at 1:50am |
|
Check your PM. |
|
|
|
|
eeversole
Newbie 
Joined: 14-May-2009 Location: Lawrence, KS Status: Offline Points: 0 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 03-March-2010 at 1:38am |
|
I'm sorry to revisit this topic, but it seems my earlier response of "all fixed" was incorrect. I am now experiencing the Empty Cart message even on the computers which I tested this morning as working fine. It again occurs when moving from the http Shopping Cart page to the https Checkout page. Another thing to note is we have turned the Session Saver off but nevertheless, we receive a Customer Service message indicating products have been loaded back into our cart when we reopen the browser and go to the site. My boss is hesitant to move away from GoDaddy even though I have informed him several times it is not recommended for ProductCart hosting. I know you can't make 100% assurances, but do you think if we moved the site this issue would go away? And in the meantime, is there anything we can do? I’m certain we are losing customers because of this. |
|
|
|
|
Greg Dinger
Certified ProductCart Developers
Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 02-March-2010 at 1:56pm |
|
eeversole, I think I see the problem. It appears you are hosted at Godaddy. In my opinion, and that opinion is shared by many on the forum, they are not a suitable host for a store. I recommend you move to a better host. That will cure this and likely other problems, some that you may not have yet but you likely will.
|
|
|
|
|
eeversole
Newbie
Joined: 14-May-2009 Location: Lawrence, KS Status: Offline Points: 0 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 02-March-2010 at 1:43pm |
|
Thank you for all of your responses. We went ahead and changed all of our hard-coding back so the links point to http addresses rather than https. I'm still experiencing the issue on my computer on IE8 (even after clearing my cache), but we have tested it on other computers and it seems to be working fine now so I'm not going to worry about it further. There just must be something wonky with my IE8 that causes the issue to occur. Thank you again for all your help. |
|
|
|
|
cognecy
Certified ProductCart Developers
Joined: 18-March-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: 02-March-2010 at 12:56pm |
|
eeversole,
Ahh the 'empty cart syndrome', eh?
Greg, Sean, and myself are all correct in that you do not need https.
On specifics, I have seen this happen for a number of reasons but the most prominent are:
1) Multiple Worker processes
2) Dropped sessions do to a wrong setting on the server
3) Application Pool being set into 'Web Garden' mode.
----- ----- -----
#1) Multiple Worker processes.
If you have set your site into a Dedicated Application Pool you need to ensure that you are only allowing 1 worker process. ProductCart is not compatible with Multiple Worker Processes. This can sometimes be set in your Hosting Control Panel (depending on which one you use) or in IIS directly.
Another thing I see quite often and this is IMPORTANT to note ... is sites that use a combination of [http://thedomain.com] and [http://www.thedomain.com]. What many do not realize is that when you add something to the cart with the URL lacking the "www" and click on an internal link that does have the "www" included in the link, you are actually creating two completely independent sessions. This will often give the appearance of seeing your cart items disappear. All users need to ensure you are using a standardized format of your URL through your site and web store (preferably, use the fully qualified domain URL with the "www").
#2) Dropped Sessions
Session dropping happens for a number of reasons ranging from inadequate resource allocation to the shared or dedicated application pools, to having "too low" setting on your session timeouts set in IIS. This is something you will have to talk with your particular host with to determine if they are able to increase allocations. If your site is in a Shared Application Pool, you definitely need to switch it to a dedicated pool.
A Note on Dedicate Pools: Many, many, hosts, although permitting dedicate pools, will have their resource allocation for the pools set too low. The norm is about 120MB but I have seen much lower numbers. In my opinion, even 120MB is too low for a ProductCart site. In a perfect world it would be very nice if you were able to set your dedicated pools to 256MB but many hosts will be unwilling to go that high. If you can haggle with them I have seen 160-180MB be more than adequate to prevent app pool recycling. If you have a very High Traffic site, you will definitely need a pool with more allocated resources. NOTE: these numbers are not arbitrary but rather are set to a level that will prevent the very quick resource spikes from hitting the top of the limit and resetting your pool (which will cause your cart item to disappear) ... Liken it to hitting your head on the ceiling ... if it keeps happening, it is time to raise the ceiling!
#3) Web Garden Mode
This one is a 'silent killer of online stores'. Web Garden mode is basically the same as setting multiple worker processes. Occasionally, and I have not figured out the "why", when setting up a new website in IIS, or when establishing the application pools, Microsoft IIS will default the Pool to 'Web Garden" mode. I am not going to go into detail on this (that is what google is for) but suffice it to say this is VERY BAD for ProductCart Sites.
If you see strange behavior like empty carts, not being able to log in to the admin, or other weird things while browsing your online store, it is worth a call to your host to ask them if your site is in "Web Garden" mode.
A Final Word: If your host does not know what a session timeout is, how to set up a dedicated application pool, or claims then have never heard the term "Web Garden", my advice would be to run for the hills and find a new host as soon as possible.
I hope some of these suggestions help and good luck.
|
|
|
Mark Shipp
Cognecy Solutions, LLC Hosting/Design/Customization/Database Migration www.cognecy.com www.cognecy.co.uk |
|
|
|
|
Post Reply
|
Page <12345> |
Tweet
|
| Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |
Topic Options