how to create gated pages

[kathee]

I have been giving away information on my site and would now like to make them only available through the purchase of my book. How do I create a gate that will allow a person to purchase my book and them download or just access pages through the reply page (I.E. Thank for your order please click to receive your free bonus)?
PS. I am working in front page.

[pottersdt2k]

I would've thought either by using PHP or ASP, connected to a mySQL database (for php) or an Access (or similar) database for ASP...
However, I'm no expert on this, so I'll leave the technical stuff for the experts on here...

Presumably there'd be some sort of database connected to a shopping cart? So when a consumer purchases a book, their details are entered into the database, and they are issued with a unique username (auto-generated?), which they can then use (along with a randomly generated password) to access the 'Free Bonus' pages...

[netbuddy]

ALSO
You will find that your going to have to pay a company to host this, it is not something you can host at home, secure servers mean behind large barbed wire fences and security patrol men with Attack dogs kind of secure. Sure they use HTTPS too! most e-commerce sites are accessed via the HTTPS protocol.

I have looked into this type of setup and it isnt cheap, in the UK the Domain name provider I use host e-commerce site from... £1,500 per year and you have to pay per transaction too, so unless your going to be selling lots, your going to be better off sticking to pay pal despite the reputation that they are gaining (some by personal experience).

[kathee]

I already have a webhost and there are php and mysql in my package. unfortunately the directions are sketchy to say the least. I know they are there but I am unsure how to use them. Any suggestions on how to get started?

[pottersdt2k]

I already have a webhost and there are php and mysql in my package. unfortunately the directions are sketchy to say the least. I know they are there but I am unsure how to use them. Any suggestions on how to get started?


Thats the problem with some of these webhosts - they presume everyone is an expert when it comes to giving directions...
There's quite a few topics in the php forum for creating a login page;
PHP Forum (http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=16)

Basically, you need a table in your SQL database: there are a couple of ways of doing this, depending on whether you're using the command line interface, or a 'GUI' approach... do you know if your webhost has phpMyAdmin installed on it? If so, creating the SQL database and table would be a lot easier than the command line approach...

You can check out
- http://www.zend.com/php/beginners/index.php for a beginners guide to php
- http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-php-read/ is a recommended reading list for php beginners...
- http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php is the home page for phpMyAdmin, with documents for using it etc, although it's pretty easy to use once you get you're hands on it...
- http://www.mysql.com/ takes you to the mySQL home page, and they've got some support documentation on there
- php.net (http://www.php.net) has some support on too
- mysqlfreaks (http://www.mysqlfreaks.com) should have stuff on to help you with setting up a mySQL database
- and finally http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/Creating-a-Secure-PHP-Login-Script/ shows you how to make a secure login script and after quickly scanning it, seems to cover the basics simply...

I hope some of these links are of use to you, and like I said - I'm a beginner in PHP and SQL, but I've been following some tutorials in a magazine I had a while ago, and that's proving to be a big help. Any other questions don't be afraid to ask :)