MC-Access PWLink© script documentation
Introduction
MC-Access PWLink© is a real-time online access verification system linked
to a rebilling and password management sytem and is used to manage subscription
based membership sites.
This is a script that allows customers automatic access to a password protected area
on your site after a realtime order is approved.
After approval of a realtime order, from the receipt page, a customer is asked
to enter a username and password, which are then submitted to a script on your website.
This script updates a password file, giving the customer instant access.
The latest version of this software is now able to automatically disable users
after a rebill failure, or if the order is voided. We have added a password maintenance
facility in your merchant menu. Through this facility you can manually deactivate/reactivate
passwords, delete passwords (temporary disabled though), and create custom passwords,
which are not linked to any order.
Configuration
Step 1. Download the password script
here.
Step 2. Install the password
script in a directory on your website with execute permissions.
Step 3. Test the script by entering the script url in your browser. You should
see a login form.
Step 4. Enter the authentication
code you chose or was issued to you by MultiCards. A menu should appear. If it
does not, there are several possibilities, refer to
errors below.
Operation
The script is activated from the receipt page, after an order was accepted.
Note: Currently, the password script can only be used for realtime orders.
In the receipt page a small form is included, which
the customer can use to submit a username and password to your server
If something goes wrong, the action taken depends on what went wrong. If the customer
entered a wrong username or a username that
already existed, an error is shown to the customer stating what was wrong, giving
the customer the chance to fix it. If something went wrong that can not be fixed
by the customer, the customer sees "Configuration error" and an email is sent to
the merchant containing details of the error.
When a password has succesfully been submitted,
both the merchant and the customer will receive a confirmation email.
Demonstration
Proceed here for a demonstration of
the password link script. The link leads to a sample receipt page, which a customer gets to see
after completing the order process.
Note: this page uses a special order number, which is not flagged as used after
submitting a password, making it suitable for repeated demonstrations. In an
actual production environment, for each order a password can be submitted
only once. Setup a password controlled directory
To use the MultiCards MC-Access
Password link you need to have .htaccess installed on the directory that you
want to protect. If you don't know how that works on your server, you need to
contact your server administrator and ask him to install this in the directory
you want to protect and add one administrative user. He also needs to tell you
the server path to the directory where the password file is stored. Please note
that if you place the script in the directory where the password file is and
activate the script, a techinfo button appears that allows you to find the
correct server path.
Error messages
The following table lists the most common errors messages you may encounter,
with possible solutions.
602 Authentication failure
The authentication code you submitted was incorrect. Please check the authentication in the script
itself against the authentication code set in the page definition on the MultiCards server.
650 Password file not found
The location you specified for the password is incorrect.
651 Password file not readable
The password file
doesn't have proper access permissions. In order for the web browser to be
able to read it, it must have sufficient read permissions. These can be
set using the chmod command. If you don't know how this
works, you should contact your system administrator.
652 Password file not writable
The password file
doesn't have proper access permissions. In order for the web browser to be
able to write it, it must have sufficient write permissions. These can be
set using the chmod command. If you don't know how this
works, you should contact your system administrator.
653 Password file can not be created
The password file
didn't exist, so the script tried to create it, but that didn't work.
Please make sure the directory where you want to keep the password file
has proper permissions, or create a password file yourself.
650 Password file not found
660 Password file may not be stored in web directory
If you see this error,
you tried to put the password file inside the web directory. This is very
bad, because this may enable visitors of your website to retrieve the
password file. If you specifically want to do this or you protected the
directory the password file is in (for instance with a password), you can
set the variable check_webdir in the script to 0. This check
will then be disabled. |
