Integrations, like vitamins, are good for you.
Sure, you might not care for most of them, but when you do have a need for a specific one, you’ll be thanking the software gods that it’s available. And, given how many integrations eFront supports and the pace at which we’re adding new ones, it will most likely be available.
Just last week, for example, we launched eFront 4.5 with another major native integration, for the popular shopping cart platform FoxyCart.
If you’re looking into eCommerce solutions to integrate with your learning portal and haven’t checked FoxyCart yet, it might be worth your while to have a look at it, as it offers a comprehensive solution for managing your shopping cart and checkout pages, both for low transaction fees.
Getting the key
The main thing you need to configure this integration is a FoxyCart API key — an alphanumeric code used to authorize third-party apps and services to talk to your Foxy account.
First, sign up for a FoxyCart account (in case you don’t already have one). Then, after logging in to your FoxyCart account, you’ll find the API key in your FoxyCart settings page, in the “Advanced Settings” panel of the Store submenu.
Once you have found your FoxyCart API key, copy it to the clipboard, and get back to eFront.
Getting down to business
In eFront, log in as an administrator and go to the Payments tab of the System Settings page. Once there, select “Foxy” as your payment gateway, and paste your API key in the, aptly titled, “API Key” text entry field.
Then fill in the rest of the information (Company Name, Contact Person, etc.) as you see fit and click Save. Then the option of the FoxyCart gateway will change and a new link will appear, which is called Authorize.
Click on the “Authorize” link below the API key field, enter your FoxyCart credentials and click on “Authorize App”.
As soon as that goes through, eFront and FoxyCart are officially BFFs (best friends forever for the non-12-year-old girls among you), and you’ll be redirected back to the eFront settings page. You’re almost, but not quite, done yet.
It’s the final countdown…
With the integration now in place and authorized, the last part involves configuring a few things in your FoxyCart Store settings page.
1. Fill in the “Store URL” field with: <your_efront_url>/catalog/cart/1
2. Fill in your “Receipt Continue URL” with your <your_efront_url>
3. Set up any payment provider that you want to be available on your Checkout/Cart page.
4. (Optionally) fill-in any other fields (Shipping Location, Locale, Timezone, etc.) with your preferred values.
Note that <your_efront_url> should be substituted with, well, your eFront base url.
And that’s mostly it!
There’s a detailed guide with screenshots and all, and a few more advanced settings, which you can find here, but you should be ready for business with just the instructions shown in this post.
Conclusion
With eFront 4.5 offering native integration support for FoxyCart, you’ll certainly want to add it to your checklist if you’re looking for a comprehensive eCommerce solution for your courses, with an advanced shopping cart and solid support.
