daveb1 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Hi I'm a bit lost... I'm trying to make a page that I can either integrate into an existing site, or that I can link to within the WHMCS area that my potential customers can simply look up a domain name to see if it is available. The idea behind it is that I'm catering for a user base that is fairly computer illiterate, and I'm talking them through the process a step at a time before they actually get to the ordering page. One of the steps is "Choose a domain name", where I talk about what a domain name is, what it does etc, and I want to have an area or link to the domain checker page but I don't want any of the other links that WHMCS has on this particular page. What the customer then does is find an available domain name, then write it down on a checklist I've already prepared, so that once they've gone through the rest of the checks, they click on a link which takes them to the product cart and they then complete it in one go. Can this be done, and if so what templates/php pages need to be changed or added? I'd appreciate a fuller answer please... I understand the basics of smarty and php but not enough to get this sorted. Thanks in advance Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austdata Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 G'day Dave, From the admin page (admin/index.php), on the horizontal menu, click on "UTILITIES", Integration Code, the second window is titled " Domain Availability Lookup". Copy and past that code in to your web page and that will allow your customers to look up domains within your own definitions. It should look something like this: <form action="http://www.adhc.com.au/whmcs/domainchecker.php" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="direct" value="true"> Domain: <input type="text" name="domain" size="20"> <select name="ext"> <option>.asia</option> ~~~ other options ~~~ <option>.gen.nz</option> <option>.geek.nz</option> <option>.maori.nz</option> <option>.net.nz</option> <option>.org.nz</option> <option>.school.nz</option> </select> <input type="submit" value="Go"> </form> And for years I've been wanting to say, "You're welcome, in advance"... Cheers, Mike 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Thanks Mike... oh no wait, we've already done that bit Although your post pointed much further than I had ever got so far, There's just one bit I'd like to change if possible... The code you pointed to works perfectly, except I don't want to give them the option to be sent to the order page at that point. Rather, I'd either like a popup, or them sent to another page simply with the "Congratulations! mydomainname.com is available!" statement, and maybe a back button (which I can do). The point of this dumbing down is that my customers generally don't know their mouse from their elbow, and I need to make it as easy as possible for them during the order phase. Is there a way of parsing out the "Domain available" or "Domain taken" statements, without going to the domainchecker.php order page? Thanks again Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austdata Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Okay, I understand now. I think that will require a change to the second last line but it's 1:35 AM and my brain is trying to make me go to bed, damn brains! Or this bit "method="post">" in the first line. I'll post myself a reminder and in the mean sleep on it. If I leave out the above bit, I can get a result like so: "Congratulations! go-australia.asia is available!". Which is more like what you're after. Cheers, Mike 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted June 26, 2008 Author Share Posted June 26, 2008 I tried taking out the method="post" bit but that didn't seem to have an effect? I think the problem may not be solvable as the query goes to domainchecker.php which is encrypted, but I don't know enough to know for sure. My ultimate goal is so when the customer clicks the "Go" button, they are sent to a new page that simply has "Congratulations, domain.com is available" or "Sorry, that name is taken, please try again", and a Back button. Trouble is I can't see how the ordering part can be taken out of that page unless the domainchecker.php is amended in some way, or an alternative domainchecker.php file is written, netiher of which I'm capable of Ever hopeful though that Mike or anyone else can help! Cheers Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted June 26, 2008 Author Share Posted June 26, 2008 Got a solution at last using a 3rd party script to do the simple domain checking stuff... http://www.3ascripts.co.uk/whois/index.htm Thanks for your help anyway Mike, hope the brain isn't so grumpy this morning Cheers Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austdata Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 No problems Dave. I just keep checking the forum at ridicules times, 2:13AM Saturday at the moment. It's all a bit odd actually. I created a test directory and put in an index.html file with just the original code here and it works the way I was expecting. Perhaps I didn't understand the original post properly? Can you give it a try and tell me if that's what you expected? Cheers, Mike 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Hi Mike, The page in the link was fine, but I didn't want the results to be shown as part of the order process. So for example, if you click your link, then put in domain1234.asia, then click Go, all I wanted to see was the "Congratulations! domain1234.asia is available!"... none of the box above with the captcha image, and none of the "more choices" stuff, and certainly not the "Order Now" button. All I wanted apart from that is a "Go back a page" link to go back to the page I'd embedded the code into. My customers are basically idiots when it comes to the Internet (Think of putting your Nan or Grandad in front of the screen and telling them to sign up for a web hosting service... "how do you use a mouse dear?" sort of thing) I have a page with detailed instructions (but they boil down to)... 1. Get a domain name (this is where the embedded bit goes) 2. Choose how to pay. 3. Choose a template (from a load of screen grabs). Clicking on a screen grab takes them via a direct link to the order page for that template, and that's where they enter their domain name again, safe in the knowledge that it's available. Does that make it any clearer? Regards Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austdata Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 G'day Dave, I'll have to do a bit more work on the problem, I need something that just does domain checking on one of my sites too. Cheers, Mike 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe123 Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 are you guys talking about something like that? http://www.hosting777.com/domain.html http://www.hosting777.com/domain2.html looks like it can be done , this is not my website so don't ask for the code because i don't know how to do it 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 Yes Joe123, something like that Mike, I think you misunderstood me... I HAVE a solution... Unfortunately the site I'm actually using it on is a closed site so I can't show you it in real life, but check out the following link to see what I mean domaincheck test page/. If you want the script so you can do the same thing, see post 6 above. Cheers Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austdata Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 Joe, that one is what I was thought too but it still has the "Order Now" button which Dave is trying to avoid. I downloaded the examples and tried them out. Like the way they work and the code too. I think where I was getting stuck was, I wanted it to be a part of WHMCS still (which is what I would do in that situation) and let my customers decide whether to purchase or not. If they need more help than that, hopefully I'll find out with an enquiry e-mail. Then I can bounce a few ideas of them and if they're still stuck, I'll create the account for them. Although I must admit there are times when I feel like saying, "Don't worry, I'll pay for the extra domain name and if it doesn't work I wont invoice you." I'm not sure why so many customers can't get past the "one domain one web site" idea. When they work better with two. A .com and a .com.au, for example. I suppose that's a bit like me with the domain lookup and WHMCS here. When it's working, would you post a link if you can? I'd like to see what you've done in the end. Cheers, Mike 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe123 Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 Joe, that one is what I was thought too but it still has the "Order Now" button which Dave is trying to avoid.1- it is silly to put a domain checker without an option to order 2- are you blind ?, this one has only "Congratulations! Available" and "Sorry Taken" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 1- it is silly to put a domain checker without an option to order 2- are you blind ?, this one has only "Congratulations! Available" and "Sorry Taken" Joe, I don't think you understand the circumstances in which I'm trying to use this. It is definitely NOT silly to have a domain checker without an option to order if you're trying to get your customers to understand the bigger picture for the package I'm giving them. I'll give you an example... I have a contract with a UK organisation that provides services to, let's say, small bakery businesses. I've done a deal with the UK org to provide cut price, templated websites for all their members. Remember though that they're bakers, not web designers, system managers or anything like that. Some of them haven't even touched a computer or browsed the "interweb". I need to talk them through the entire process of getting a domain name, choosing which template they want, choosing various options (contact/order forms, forums, flash animations, scrolling images etc), deciding on a hosting package, and paying for it... and all with them saying things like "what's a mouse", "I've lost my window thingy", "what's a radio button and can you get radio 1 on it?" etc. The easiest way is the way I would get my Dad or Gran to do things... make a checklist of all the options, show them on the screen what they all do one by one, allow them to pick an available domain name (without confusing text around the screen telling them to order this and choose that etc), and get them to tick the options they like and write down the available domain name that they've chosen. Then when I eventually send them to the Direct Cart order form in WHMCS, it's not as daunting as they have an ordered ticklist of what to put in and where. It might seem long winded but older people and the less computer-savvy much prefer this approach I've found. The demo I posted above is only a basic one... the actual one I'm using has the Yes and No in green and red respectively and bolded etc to make it very clear and it's generally tidied up. HTH Dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe123 Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 OK daveb1 i Understand your point ! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveb1 Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 OK daveb1 i Understand your point ! ! Regards dave 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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