Modernbill vs. EP-Dev whois

[hires]

Hello all,

I am using EP-Dev whois and I like it! But I have a problem with sending the variable to my billing system: Modernbill. I tried to use the variables described on the page from EP-DEV whois which shows when I test it, but those variables (/orderwiz.php?submit=register&domains[]...etc.) are not working. When I use those then the orderform from Modernbill appears but only shows an empty orderform without domainname and TLD.

I use Modernbill version 4.3.2 and also post this question on their board.

My question: how can I attach the whois-program to Modernbill and give my customers the opportunity to check for domain availability and then order it right away in Modernbill? Are the variables from EP-Dev standard variables; used for all different billing programs, or do they need to be real specific for Modernbill?

Best wishes!

[Patrick]

Good news!

This script was originally created for my own use to work with modernbill. That was originally its only purpose, of course it has flowered since then ;)

Here is an example of what I have in my "Available domains" template in the admin panel for a typical available domain:

<div>
<b>[[domain]].[[ext]]</b> - [[price]] (<a href='/client/order/orderwiz.php?submit_domain=register&amp;domains[]=regi ster|[[domain]]|[[ext]]&amp;submit_package=domain&amp;subm it='>Order Now</a>)
</div>

As you can see from the example, my modernbill install is /client/ (basically, it is the normal install, but with /modernbill/ renamed to /client/). So simply modify this to whatever yours is and it should work just fine. Also note that the package is "domain", make sure you have enabled in MB to accept domain only orders (I am not sure if it is on or off by default). I think the "domain" package is built into modernbill's default installation.

However, please note that all this will do is auto-fill in the domain and extension into the MB order form. The customer STILL has to click through, MB STILL has to lookup the domain, and the customer STILL has to select length of registration and click next.

You can probably get around this (go search through that big MB manual), but I don't think it deters customers all that much.

[hires]

Hello Patiek,

Thanks for the quick reply!
Unfortunately it doesn't work yet.. I placed the link, changed it to the location where I have Modernbill installed and I finally checked the option for customers to be able to order domains only. But still the same problem occurs: I get the Modernbill orderform, but it's completely empty; customers can only choose to 'start again', 'go back' or 'next' and the title is: 'give a domain option:'.

The configuration in Modernbill is as follows at the moment ('Domain search configuration'):

Turn of domain system: No.
Turn of WHOIS lookups: No.
Activate domain registration option: Yes.
Activate domain transfer option: Yes.
Enable DNS Transfer Option: No.
Activate domain skip option: Yes.
Activate domain only orders: Yes.
(the name might be slightly different because of a different language ;)

I'm not sure what else I did which might be influence this problem..?
I hope you can help me a bit further...

Thanks in advance and best wishes!

[Patrick]

Well, the only difference that I can see between your configuration and my configuration is that I have domain transfers on and domain skip option off.

Do you have all of the TLDs setup and connected to a registrar? In other words, if you were to visit your MB order form, could you click through and order a domain name?

[hires]

I changed both options (domain transfer and domain skip) but this doesn't change the result. Furthermore I have the domains I want to sell in the 'TLD Setup' and filled in the server names; status for all the TLD's there are set to: 'Active' and I can see the TLD's are using de mod_enom foor registering domains. And ofcourse in the 'TLD Loader' eNom is activated to register (at least the .com domain.

Any other suggestions? Cause I'm not sure what is causing this; I didn't change much and I think there is not much to change in Modernbill...?

Thanks for the help so far! Best wishes.

[hires]

I noticed the changes I made to the ' available domains' section in EP-Dev are not saved!

My complete code for this section is:

<div align="center">
<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="green">BESCHIKBAAR:<br>

<b>[[domain]].[[ext]]</b> - [[price]] (<a href='http://www.fish-internet.nl/administratie/order/orderwiz.php?submit_domain=register&domain=&ext=' target="_top"><b><u>BESTELLEN</u></b></a>)

</font>
</div>

What i do is change the line: 'order/orderwiz.php?submit_domain=register&domain=&ext='
to:
'order/orderwiz.php?submit_domain=register&domains[]=register|[[domain]]|[[ext]]&submit_package=domain&submit='

After that I hit: 'Save changes' and the message 'changes has been saved' appears. But when I go back, the same line is still there. So I quess that's the problem.

Can I make these changes (hard) in a config file or something?

[hires]

Ok, a bit further again... :)
I changed the code in the template.php file and guess what: it worked! :)
I can now transfer my domain to the modernbill orderform.
But I still have to check the way of checking, the limitation I seem to have with the .NL domain (need some string to get around this or something..) but we will see.

Thanks for the help!

[Patrick]

It is strange the your changes were not being saved.

I am going to release a new version sometime soon that has a few more options for nameservers and squashes alot of bugs.

[hires]

To keep you informed: I added the string ' IS' to the line above like: IS [[domain]] and the .NL check seems to work now. This 'IS'-string (I believe it has something to do with: 'IS FREE' or 'IS REGISTERED'?) must be used to get the right information from the: whois.domain-registry.nl server for .NL domains. Damn, it's hard to get this setup the right way, when different procedures are used for getting the whois-information... :(

But anyway, it seems to work now! :) The other domain checks are ok, as far as I tested it, so I'm a happy guy! :). But I have one slight question left.. In the orderform of Modernbill I see the domain I just checked, together with the TLD. But I also see a red line above it, which says: 'Please fill in a proper domain name' (might be a bit different, because of the different language..). Is it possible to get rid of that line?

[Patrick]

To keep you informed: I added the string ' IS' to the line above like: IS [[domain]] and the .NL check seems to work now. This 'IS'-string (I believe it has something to do with: 'IS FREE' or 'IS REGISTERED'?) must be used to get the right information from the: whois.domain-registry.nl server for .NL domains. Damn, it's hard to get this setup the right way, when different procedures are used for getting the whois-information... :(

But anyway, it seems to work now! :) The other domain checks are ok, as far as I tested it, so I'm a happy guy! :). But I have one slight question left.. In the orderform of Modernbill I see the domain I just checked, together with the TLD. But I also see a red line above it, which says: 'Please fill in a proper domain name' (might be a bit different, because of the different language..). Is it possible to get rid of that line?
The many different configurations required by various whois servers is why I setup the nameserver configuration in the manner that I did. In fact, the next version (that I am currently working on) takes it even further by allowing for http connections to pull whois from servers that only have a cgi whois script.

As for that red line, I have no idea. Might want to inquire at MB or even submit a bug into their tracking system.

[hires]

I'm curious about the new options!
Anyway, it still doesn't work... I guess I give up. I'm not sure what I can do do influence it more.. but I also think it has something to do with the name server for the .NL domains: whois.domain-registry.nl. All other domain extensions seems to work fine. I didn't change any of the name-server settings for this server in EP-Dev, and as I read about the 'is free' setting etc.; it's all properly set up in de name server settings. But it just doesn't work for the .nl domains. When I fill in a domainname which defenatley doesn't exist (like: dgsdfhsdhsh.nl) the program tells me it's not available.

I guess I have to contact SIDN or check their site for limitations or something.

[Patrick]

This thread is months old, but better late than never.

Here is how I got it to work the way intended. I setup the link as:

/order/orderwiz.php?v=1&aid=&c_code=&submit=&submit_domain=register&new_domain=DOMAINNAME&new_tld_extension=EXTENSION&submit_package=domain

The v=1 is the order group id.
The DOMAINNAME is the domain wanting to be registered (ex: mydomain).
The EXTENSION is the domain extension (ex: com)
The submit_package=domain is the type of package with the domain. In this example, the package "domain" is a special domain registration ONLY package. (reference MB manual for help on this matter... many examples in there of how to define a package).

Thus, the above took me past the red error message that MB usual displays and instead takes me directly to year selection part.