CS-Cart is one of the best shopping cart solutions for building an ecommerce website of any size: from a small web store to a virtual shopping mall. A ready storefront, support for many payment and shipping options, full inventory control, unlimited products, promotional tools, and other ecommerce software features out-of-the-box. The feature set in the free version is limited, but enough for most start-up businesses. And, with the MerchantPlus Starter account, you can offer fully-integrated credit card payments on your own website with no monthly fee. Learn more or create your account here (instant signup) and then come back to follow this guide on how to configure CS Cart to work with NaviGate.

You can download CS Cart here. Note that when installing CS Cart, the default database table prefix is cscart_. It is recommended to keep this prefix or make a note of any changes you make to it.

Setup Time: 10-15 Minutes (This tutorial is slightly technical. Read and follow the instructions carefully.)

Step 1 - Configure API Settings

First, login to your NaviGate portal, located at https://gateway.merchantplus.com/ using the login credentials you received when your account was setup. Then, quickly browse to the Profile & Settings section of the gateway interface. This is where you'll configure the important bits about getting NaviGate to work with your shopping cart, as well as any email receipts or reports you want to receive via email. You should see several sub categories on the left hand menu, but for now you can edit the settings on the main page, including: Live/Test Mode, what email receipts are sent FROM, which email to receive administrative settlement reports and if you'd like to send customer receipts. Please note: you must still configure email receipts under the sub menu called Email Notifications.

Scroll down to the API Settings section and click on "Edit". Then, ensure the response is set to be delimited. We recommend using the pipe (" | ") character as a delimiter and leaving the encapsulation character blank. Click to save these settings.

Step 2 - Generate a Transaction Key

After you've configured the API settings of NaviGate, you need to generate a transaction key. The transaction key is like a password to be used by your shopping cart when authenticating transactions it is sending to the NaviGate API. You can only have one active transaction key at a time, so if you regenerate the transaction key, you'll need to update your CS-Cart configuration.

Click to the Security sub menu and click on the "edit" button next to the Transaction Key section. It will give you the option to generate a new transaction key -- click to generate a new key and then copy the key that NaviGate provides to you. You should save it on a notepad or text file while you finish your configuration.

 Step 3 - Download and Install the NaviGate Module for CS Cart

• Download the NaviGate module for CS Cart. (Right click on NaviGate_CSCart.rar and 'Save link as")
• Extract the NaviGate_CSCart.rar file to your CS Cart root directory. This file retains the correct directory structure if unzipped to the root directory. Otherwise, here is a listing of the file paths:

/payments/navigate.php..................................................................(Payment module)
/skins/basic/admin/views/payments/components/cc_processors/navigate.tpl........(Admin settings template)
/navigate_cs-cart.sql.......................(Contains a SQL patch to add NaviGate to the processor list)

 Step 4 - Login and Patch CS Cart

• Log into the admin area of your CS Cart installation. The admin login is typically /admin.php, unless it's been renamed.
•  In the Administration tab, click on the Database subheading.
•  From the Database tabs, select Restore.
•  Next under "Select a file or enter URL" Click Local, and pick the downloaded file navigate_cs-cart.sql, and click Upload.
•  Lastly, select the box next to the the uploaded SQL Patch, and press the Restore button.

Step 5 - Setup

• In the Administration tab, click on the Payment Methods sub-header.
• Click the Add Payment button on the right.
• The name can be anything distinguishable, such as Credit Card. The cardholder sees this as the option to select upon checkout.
• From the 'Template' drop down menu, select 'cc.tpl'
• From the Processor drop down menu, Merchant e-Solutions should be present, due to the SQL patch.
• The description is also shown to the cardholder. You may wish to enter the card types you accept, or in the example to the right, I've entered MerchantPlus.

• Once selected, click the Configure tab.
• Enter your NaviGate username in the 'Login' field.
• Enter the Transaction Key you generated earlier into the 'Transaction Key' field.
• You may leave 'Test' mode enabled to verify correct installation for step 6.
• A transaction type of 'Authorize and Capture' will capture funds immediately. If the transaction type is set to 'Authorize only', the merchant will not be funded until the transaction is manually captured via the NaviGate Gateway.
• Click Create.

 Step 6 - Test and Verify

• Log out of the admin area.
• Purchase a product from the CS Cart storefront, and proceed to checkout.
• Complete the purchase, and verify you are sent to the checkout success screen. If you left test mode enabled, be sure the cart total is over $1.00, and set the CVV code to 123. Any credit card number may be used, but will not be charged as all transactions in test mode are simulated.

• Log back into the admin area.
• In the Orders tab, click on View Orders, then the order number of your transaction.
• Verify the transaction details were logged in the Payment Information section of the order screen.

 

If you have any questions or problems setting up your CS Cart shopping cart installation with your NaviGate gateway, please simply contact the MerchantPlus support team and we'll be happy to assist you.