ViArt PHP Shopping cart allows you to sell downloadable (or digital) products online and configure a variety of other settings, like sending downloadable links and serial numbers, set downloadable period for each digital product, possibility to download the product directly after purchase, etc.

Downloadable Products feature is ideal for the electronic delivery of digital goods such as downloadable software, electronic documents, eBooks, images.

There are a number of settings which you are to make via your Admin panel to start selling digital products. In general, there are three main steps you may need to do to activate your downloadable products. They are as follows:

• Step 1: Configure general settings for downloadable products
• Step 2: Make individual settings for downloadable products
• Step 3: Settings for downloadable products in the order statuses

In addition, this section covers the below issues:

• Serial numbers for downloadable products
• How to check that your downloadable products are set correctly
• Free Shipping option for downloadable products

Step 1: Configure general settings for downloadable products

Firstly, it is recommended to configure general settings for downloadable products. To do this please go to Administration > Products > Downloadable Products. The below sample shows approximate settings to be filled on this page:

Please note that you can also specify the absolute path to the folder where the downloadable products will be located. The absolute path should be like /home/shop/public_html/images/.

When it is done you may further setup the default notifications which your users will receive by default after the purchase of any downloadable product. Do not forget to enter your valid e-mail address in the field 'From'. You can also replace the default subject and text body with your own texts.

Note: To get a detailed description of all e-mail fields press the 'Click here to learn more about all email fields' link.

ViArt Shop can send email messages in both HTML and Plain text formats. Setting the 'Message Type' radio button to 'HTML' allows you to send emails in HTML format, thus HTML tags will be used for formatting message as HTML. The 'Plain text' option discards any HTML formatting - the message will be sent exactly as it is.

Another option of e-mail notifications is the ability to use special ViArt Shop tags. These tags are placed in braces, and when an e-mail message is sent, the tags are replaced by the tags values. For example, the {first_name} tag will be replaced with the first name of the customer who submitted the order. You can see the full list of tags by clicking the 'click here to learn more about email settings and see all available message tags' link. Note that you can add these tags into your email body and email subject.

Step 2: Make individual settings for downloadable products

When you complete the first step - general settings you can start with configuration of downloadable products. For this go to Administration > Products&Categories, select a product and click the Edit product link and then select the 'Downloadable' tab. Please, view a below image for a sample:

• Downloadable marks the product as downloadable.
• Download Period specifies how long the link will be active.
• Path to Downloadable File specifies the full product address. Note that the link will be encrypted automatically for the security purposes. If you specified the correct path to your downloadable products in the General settings for downloadable products, just press the 'Select' link and the product will be added.
• Show Terms&Conditions option gives you the possibility to oblige your users to agree to your terms and conditions before purchasing a downloadable product. Accordingly, you should specify the terms in the 'Terms & Conditions' textbox.

Please note that you can upload downloadable products for options as well. This is done via Administration > Products&Categories > select a product and press the 'Options&Components' link. Further, go to Option values section and specify the correct path to the Downloadable products and the validation period the products will be available.

Step 3: Settings for downloadable products in the order statuses

There are a few extra settings for the order statuses which you can consider to use for downloadable products, namely:

• Activation of downloadable products (including links, serial numbers and gift vouchers)
• Notification for downloadable products (click here to configure email settings)

Activation of downloadable products (including links, serial numbers and gift vouchers)

If you want to make an automatic activation of the downloadable link, then it is advisable to check off the option 'Activation of downloadable products'. For example, if you activate this option for the 'paid' status then the downloadable link will be only activated when the status of the order is paid.

Notification for downloadable products (click here to configure email settings)

If this option is activated then notifications for downloadable links, serial numbers or gift vouchers (set in the general settings for downloadable products) are sent to a user automatically when this status is applied.

Serial numbers for downloadable products

If you are selling downloadable products you may need to use serial numbers for downloadable products. ViArt Shop provides you with a few options for serial numbers to choose from, namely:

• Do not use serial numbers.
• Use random serial numbers. If this option is selected serial number will be automatically generated on a random basis when the product is bought. A serial number will be something like: 1234-ABCD-EF12-DF12.
• Use predefined serial numbers. Should you decide to choose this option then you can specify your own serial numbers in the 'Predefined Serial Numbers' section. You are allowed to set any number of predefined serial numbers.

Note: You can limit activations in the Activation Options by specifying the maximum number of activations. Also, it is possible to specify the validation period for serial numbers in the 'Serial Number Period' field:

How to check that your downloadable products are set correctly

When all the aforementioned settings are completed, you will definitely want to check how downloadable products work. Please, view the below steps to ensure that everything works smoothly:

• 1. Go to your home or products page and add any downloadable product to the shopping cart.


• 2. Proceed with the checkout procedure and then return to your Admin panel (Orders > Sales Orders).


• 3. Press the Edit new order and you will see order details. Further, click the Download Links and you'll be redirected to the 'admin_order_links.php' page where you will be able to activate the downloadable link (unless you check off the option to automatically activate the downloadable option). You will see something like this:


Note: The number of links depends on how many of them you've specified in the 'Product Details' section.

The table allows sorting the links by their ID, product name (in case a few of downloadable products were purchased) or activation status (click the name of the corresponding column or the arrows next to it). You can also check the link by clicking its download URL or view/edit its setting by clicking the corresponding link.

• 4. Press the 'Downloadable' link. If your settings are correct, you will be redirected to a site page where you'll be able to download the product.

In order to view the current downloadable link or to make any changes, press the 'View/Edit link. Your screen will look like the below one:



• Product is selected from the drop-down menu and indicates the product the link contains.
• Notes may contain some information about the link or when it should be used; is shown only to administrators.
• Download Path indicates the full address of the product. Note that if left blank, the link will be taken from the corresponding field in the 'Product Details' section (or the first one provided if there are several of them).
• Date Added and Expiry Date define the time period when the link is valid. Please be sure to use the proper time format.
• Activated enables/disables the link.
• Maximum Downloads limits the number of downloads allowed from different IP per month. The value is taken from the 'Downloadable Products Settings' section
• Download Statistics usually indicates when the product has been downloaded and from which remote address.


• 5. When this is checked, you may wish to send the downloadable link(s) to a customer (in case you are not using an automatic notification sending mentioned above). In order to send an e-mail notification, you have to fill out the fields in the 'Message From' section of the page. As a matter of fact, all of them, except the 'From', have been done for you. However, you can edit the contents or even remove it (click the corresponding 'Clear' link). Click the 'Send' button to send the message or 'Reset' to reset the default settings.


• 6. When downloadable link(s) are done it is time to check serial numbers (if there are any). You can get to the 'Serial Numbers' page by clicking the 'Serial Numbers' link on the 'Order Details' page. Note that you can also click the number itself (if any); in such a case you will get immediately to the 'Serial Numbers' page.

In order to view the current serial number or to make any changes, press the 'View/Edit link. Your screen will look like the below one:

• Activated enables/disables the number.
• Product is selected from the drop-down menu and indicates the product the serial number should be applied to.
• Serial Number is generated by the system (if selected on a random basis) or by you (if selected predefined serial numbers option) and should be passed to the customer.
• Expiry Date specifies the period the serial number will be valid. You as an administrator can always extend or shorten the validation period by entering an appropriate date or by using the calendar next to 'Expiry Date' field.
• Max Number of Activations specifies how many times the serial number can be used.

Free Shipping option for downloadable products

From version 3.5 ViArt shop has been updated with a new feature - Free Shipping option. This option is most suitable for downloadable products. The option is activated on the Edit product page (Stock&Shipping) tab. Even if you have set some shipping methods and then select this option for a downloadable product, the shipping costs won't be calculated for this product(s) if the option 'Free Shipping' is activated.