# MiniVend

MiniVend is a full-featured electronic catalog system (commonly known as a shopping cart) with fast and easy online ordering. It is designed to provide an interface complete with SSL security and full database support. It is as powerful as commercial systems costing thousands of dollars.

MiniVend is freely-redistributable under the GNU General Public License -- you can download it via FTP.

There is a frequently-asked question (FAQ) list for MiniVend, and a user mail list.

If you want to see what can be done with MiniVend, see some of the sites that use it.

## MiniVend 3.14-4 Features

- Users maintain a "shopping cart" for ordered items
- Multiple independent or shared catalogs allow one server to run many storefronts or a "mall"
- Complete SQL database support, inluding ODBC, via the powerful Perl DBI/DBD interface
- Complete built-in database, no SQL is required to run MiniVend
- SSL support means secure and practical credit card ordering
- PGP support for secure off-site mailing of orders
- Built in support for CyberCash
- Catalogs can be of almost unlimited size with excellent performance
- Multi-server mode for very high capacity on systems with sufficient memory
- Cookie support allows browsers to leave catalog and come back without losing session state -- browsers that don't accept cookies will still work fine
- Multiple shopping carts allow buy-sell operations or classified ad exchanges
- Built-in addressable database support with virtually unlimited rows and columns and field sizes -- no SQL is required to run Minivend
- Many, many, other features

### Powerful search capability

- Fast binary search
- One-click scan and search -- build a whole search in a single HREF
- Complete Glimpse interface
- Range searching, numeric and alphanumeric
- Delayed search feature for immediate response even on long searches
- Embed searches within searches
- Independent field search selection and return
- Search any file, build results from any database

### Complete control of appearance

- Over 90 predefined tag functions
- Powerful user-definable tags
- Tags can be embedded within HTML tags to work with popular HTML editors
- Catalog pages automatically selected -- either built "on the fly" from the database or pre-made for popular items
- Embedded Perl and conditional HTML allow complex and flexible catalog pages to be completely built from the database
- Full frames support
- Full client-side imagemap support, including frame targets and form submits

### Flexible Ordering Process

- Single- or multi-level order screens with configurable field verification
- Shipping calculation, mixed modes, with UPS table lookup
- Sales tax calculation, with fully independent non-taxable item and taxed shipping
- Fully-configurable discounts with coupons or across-the-board discounts
- Fully-configurable quantity pricing
- Powerful global subroutines and user-definable tags allow communication with any other system interface for back end order entry
- Fully configurable order reports
- Route orders to multiple fulfillment houses with complete configurability
- Easy to configure for downloadable product delivery

### Easy Administration

- Automated installation and configuration
- Numerous administration utilities
- Runs under Perl 5.004 and almost any UNIX
- Runs under Perl 5.004 and 32-bit Windows
- Works well with all browsers

Andrew Wilcox wrote Vend, the copylefted shopping cart software. MiniVend was originally based on Vend V0.2, but has been greatly enhanced, adding powerful relational database functions, user-definable tags, support for frames, powerful searching, remote administration, superfast server mode, conditional HTML, user-customizable help and displays, and much more. This version of MiniVend includes an automatic configuration and installation utility, and continues to be free under the GNU copyleft.

To learn more about MiniVend, see the HTML documentation, FAQ, visit the offical MiniVend site, or download it.