Melbis Shop Guide: contents

Connecting to a Store

The application serves any number of stores: each one gets a folder of its own with a local database and its own parameters for talking to the server. This section brings both settings together — choosing a store and connecting to it.

The Store Registry

The “Stores” window is the list of stores this copy of the application works with. The table has two columns: the name of the store and the folder of the local database. The name is for you alone, to tell the stores apart in the list.

The folder is required for every store: it holds the local base — the data pulled down from the server and the edits not yet sent. Its requirements are simple:

• a fast disk, preferably an SSD — the speed of the work depends on it directly;
• as a rule, not the system disk C: — otherwise some of the features (the HTML editor, web modules) will require running the application as administrator;
• write access. If the chosen folder is write-protected, the application warns you right away when you choose it, not in the middle of the work.

“Add” creates a new row; the folder is chosen with the button in the right part of the cell. The folder may be one that does not exist yet — it will be created when the work begins.

“Delete” removes a store from the list. The folder with the local base stays on the disk: the store comes back to the list if the same folder is chosen again.

“Start work” switches the application to the selected store. Before the switch every open window is closed — and if some window will not close (because it holds unsaved data, for example), the switch will not begin.

The list of stores is kept beside the application, in the ShopList.ini file — convenient to carry over when the application is installed on another computer.

Connection

The “Connection” window sets up the link to the selected store’s server.

Connection Parameters

The store’s site URL — it can be entered without http://, the application adds that itself. The login and the password are an employee’s account in the store, and the same account decides the rights to everything you do in the application.

The “Store passwords in the system registry” checkbox spares you typing the password at every start. An unticked box means “do not store”: the passwords saved earlier are erased on saving.

The “Proxy server (if used)” group holds the address, the port, the login and the password of the proxy, when the way out to the internet goes through one.

Connection Settings

Here you set the portions the application exchanges with the server in:

• rows to receive and rows to send — how many rows go out and come in per request;
• file size — the portion files are transferred in;
• rows for merging products — the portion used when merging product data;
• auto-retry on a lock — after how many seconds to try again if the table needed is busy with another employee;
• waiting for the server’s answer — how long to wait before offering to break the operation off;
• forced sending/receiving of files — transfer the files anew instead of relying on their being there already.

Picking the values by hand is normally unnecessary: the “Auto-configure by connection type” group sets a sensible set with the “Mobile”, “Wired” and “Fibre” buttons. Start with the one that matches your channel, and change individual fields only if the exchange runs into errors.

AI Assistant

The tab describes the work with the assistant. Your role — “Owner”, “Developer” or “Employee” — sets the manner of the conversation, and the “Agent” says which tool you use.

The assistant signs into the store under your login, so it can do exactly what you can: it has no account of its own. The “Check connection” button runs a real check and names the reason if something is wrong — no licence issued, the store did not accept the login or the password, the user has no rights from the “AI Assistant” branch, or the assistant did not answer at all (usually an antivirus is blocking it).

More about the assistant itself — “AI Assistant”.