Glossary

Common Terms in the Miva Merchant E-commerce Environment

A

accounts: Password-protected profiles that shoppers can create. Accounts contain shipping and billing addresses.
active: Products that are active are displayed in the store, and available for customers to select. Inactive products are completely inaccessible to all shoppers.
Advanced Administration: The usual interface used by administrators for managing a Miva Merchant store. The alternative is "Simple Administration".
affiliate: Another business with which the store has a commission agreement. Affiliate sites can direct shoppers to a merchant’s store, and receive a commission based on the sales generated.
attributes: The options from which a shopper can choose when selecting a product. A typical attribute might be "color". The possible values for the attribute "color" might be "blue", "red", and "yellow".
attribute templates: An easy way to specify an attribute, or set of attributes, along with the allowed values, that can be applied to many items in the store. For instance, all shirts might use the attribute "size", and be available in "small", "medium", and "large".
availability groups: Sets of products that can only be accessed by certain shoppers. For instance, some items may require buyers to be a certain age, or possess special training or certification.

B • C

batch: Group of orders placed at a Miva Merchant store. Orders accumulate until the administrator collects them in a batch, generally on a daily or weekly basis.
categories: Groups of product by type. For instance, some of the categories for an office supply business might include paper, pens, office machines, and furniture.
cgi-bin folder: A folder on a web server where CGI (Common Gateway Interface) scripts and executables (traditionally binary files) are kept.
child category: A sub-category of products that belongs to a parent category. For instance, "coats" might be a child category of "outerwear".
compiled Miva Script™: Miva Script code that has been converted, by the Miva Script Compiler, into a format that can be more efficiently processed by the web host's server.

D

database: A collection of information organized by records and fields. For instance, a typical inventory database may have a record for each product, and each product record might contain fields for name, description, price, weight, and quantity in stock,
delimiter: The symbol used to separate fields in a plain text database flat file. By default, flat files are “tab-delimited”, but some merchants prefer to use the vertical "pipe" character, "|", because it is rarely found in their existing product descriptions.
domain name: The online address where shoppers find your store, such as: www.yourstorename.com.

E

E-mail Merchant Notification: A utility in Miva Merchant that will send an e-mail message to the store administrator (and/or anyone else they've specified) when an order is placed at their store.
Expired Shopping Baskets: Shopping Baskets that have been abandoned by shoppers, who may have left the store, or who have been inactive for more than a specified time limit.

F • G • H

flat file: A plain-text database file used to import information into Miva Merchant. The structure is always 1 row per record and 1 column per field, with a delimiter separating each field.
.gz file: A compressed .tar file, under Linux/Unix, for efficient distribution. Files are “packed” into a tar file, then compressed with GNU gzip.
host: A company providing web space, usually to many sites. An online “landlord”, of sorts. For a host to support Miva Merchant, they need to install Miva Empresa Virtual Machine on their server.
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language—The computer code for web sites which includes the text, references to graphics, and instructions for how it should all be displayed on the screen.

I • J • K

IIS, or Internet Information Server: Popular web server software from Microsoft.
images: The photographs or drawings that illustrate each product or category. Each product has a small "thumbnail" image in the product list, and a full-sized image for its own page. Each category can have a "tree" image, shown in the Category menu, and a "title" image for its Category page.

L • M

mail server: An ordinary SMTP mail server that Miva Merchant needs specified in order to be able to relay mail to merchants and shoppers.
Maintenance Mode: Utility that allows the store administrator to easily bring the Miva Merchant store down temporarily for maintenance.
Mall: Several Miva Merchant stores existing on a single domain, with centralized administration and shared script files. Each has a unique store code. Each can have its own products, design, and manager. All stores in a Mall share one secure certificate.
Merchant2: The default name for the directories where Miva Merchant stores files, one for Miva Script modules, and one for data files.
merchant account: A special account for routing deposits from shoppers' credit card banks to your business banking account.
Miva-enabled: A web host that has the Miva Empresa Virtual Machine on their server. A Miva-enabled host can run Miva Merchant and other Miva Script applications.
Miva Script™: A proprietary XML-based web development language that allows for the easy creation of interactive web pages that can accept and retrieve stored data. Miva Merchant modules, including those that make up Miva Merchant itself, are written in Miva Script.
module: One of many Miva Script applications that together make up the Miva Merchant system. Third-party plug-ins are also modules.
.mv file: Miva Script source code, prior to being compiled into a module or application using the Miva Script Compiler.
.mvc file: A compiled Miva Script module or application.

O • P

Order Processing: The place where a merchant can view orders placed at their store, create batches of orders, run reports, and print invoices.
pack data files: Permanently deletes from the databases all records the store administrator has marked for removal. Even before data files have been packed, deleted records cannot be retrieved.
parent category: A category of products that includes several child categories, or sub-categories. For instance, "adhesives" might be the parent category of "tapes", "glues", and "spray adhesives".
Payment Configuration: Area in Miva Merchant where the store administrator specifies the methods by which they will accept online payments.
payment gateways: A “middleman” service usually required with e-commerce sites. The payment gateway enables Miva Merchant to accept shoppers’ credit card information, and transfer money, via a merchant account, to the merchant’s business banking account.
price groups: Classes of shoppers, created by the store administrator, who can be offered special discounts. Typical price groups might be long-time customers, or club members.
product: Item offered for sale. Products can be grouped in categories, and can have attributes, such as color or size.

Q • R • S

related product: A product the merchant suggests to a shopper, that could go with the product currently being viewed. A jacket that matches pants, or a case for a camera, for instance. Related products are displayed to the right of the primary product on the screen.
secure certificate: Certification, issued by a third party, proving the site supports encryption to protect information being sent from the shopper's computer to the host's server. Visible evidence is a small padlock icon in the browser's status bar. A secure certificate increases customer confidence in the site.
Shipping Configuration: Area in Miva Merchant where the store administrator configures the methods by which they calculate shipping costs.
Shopping Basket: The place where Miva Merchant keeps each shopper's current order information. A new Shopping Basket is created for each shopper when they first select an item to purchase.
Simple Administration: A step-by-step wizard that walks a new store administrator through the creation and basic configuration of their store.
source, or Miva Script source: Not-yet compiled Miva Script that will be converted, by the Miva Script Compiler, into a format that can be more efficiently processed by the web host's server. Miva Script source can be read and edited in any text editor.
store code: The unique identifier for each Miva Merchant store in a Mall.
storefront: Another name for an e-commerce store on the Internet.

T

.tar file: A collection of files, under Linux/Unix, packed together for easy distribution. From Tape ARchive. Directories are preserved.
Third-Party Plug-Ins or Third-Party Modules: Miva Script applications that add specialized functionality to Miva Merchant. Third party plug-ins and modules can be purchased from Miva development partners.

U

Upsale Item: Upselling is the impulse marketing technique where an additional item is suggested to the customer as they are making a purchase. The classic line "Would you like fries with that?" is an example of upselling. In Miva Merchant, any products can be designated as upsale items. Which items, if any, are offered to a shopper can depend on what they are buying, or how much they are spending.
User Interface, or UI: The way a site looks and works, including the layout of pages, navigation throughout the site, colors, button styles and graphics.

V • W

virtual machine: A layer between computer hardware and an application, making all supported machines seem, to the application, identical, thus enabling the same program to run on a variety of hardware.
web server: Refers both to the computer where a site’s files are stored, and to software that allows visitors to view and interact with them.
wizard: A helpful application that guides store administrators step-by-step through creating and configuring their Miva Merchant store.

X • Y • Z

.zip file: A compressed collection of files, “zipped” together for efficient distribution. Popular under Windows. Directories are preserved.

Reference Information: