Getting Started

The CommerceStarterKit downloadable file is a Visual Studio Installation (.vsi) File. You can choose between a VB version and a C# version; I opted for VB. Installation was easy; I just double-clicked the .vsi file and it installed. I then opened Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, and there was the commerce kit in the "My Templates" list. Because the Commerce Starter Kit is a template, when you create a new project, several new files are created for you based on the template.

Ostensibly, this project can immediately be compiled and run in a web browser, but the first time I did this, I received a "Directory Listing Denied" error in the browser. That's because the project didn't have a default page, which is easy to fix. Back in the project in Visual Web Developer, I right-clicked on the Default.aspx file, and chose "Set as Start Page." However, that, of course, only sets the page that Visual Web Developer launches; the best way to fix this is to open up the Computer Management Console, find the virtual directory for the project, and opened the properties dialog box. Next, you click the Documents tab, and add a default document of "Default.aspx".

When the Commerce Starter Kit opens in the browser, it looks pretty nice; what I saw is in Figure 1.

AspDotNet Storefront has three commercial versions: Standard, Pro, and ML (which stands for Multi-Lingual, for providing global, multi-language support, as well as other advanced features not available in the Standard or Pro versions). It is certainly the biggest and most full-featured of the three I reviewed.

This kit requires a set of installation steps, which went quite smoothly. I unzipped the download, created the root application, created the admin application, created the database, ran the included SQL script, and set up the two web.config files as directed. Then I ran the product, opening the screen shown in Figure 2.

Installing DotNetCart was easy; I just unzipped the download file and created the web application; in the Computer Management Console, I made sure to specify ASP.NET 2.0 (otherwise the application won't run). DotNetCart doesn't offer much to see at first. However, it appears the developers spent more time building an API where you can create your own sophisticated GUIs, rather than just drop in a kit that you simply configure.

Administrative Features

At the heart of an e-commerce site's administration is adding products and categories, and this is a simple process for all three tools.

AspDotNetStorefront includes a set of pages and a login for administration, whereby you can configure products, categories, departments, and much more, shown in Figure 3. You can enter the text directly with its WYSIWYG editor, and import products from an Excel spreadsheet or an XML file.

Like AspDotNetStorefront, DotNetCart also includes an easy-to-use administrative page, including a WYSIWYG editor to describe products. The GUI isn't as sophisticated, but it has a great number of features, with tabs to separate product details, photos, taxes, and other customizeable options. You can manage the inventory, suppliers, customers; and check tracking and coupons, among other sales promotions. You can also perform various sales reports, one of which is shown in Figure 4, which includes a chart.

CommerceStarterKit's admin page, where you add products and categories, is accessible when you log into the main page with a username that has administrative privileges. These pages aren't as sophisticated as the other two tools — for instance, it has no WYSIWYG editor — but it offers most of the expected features, including a page that lets you configure products, shown in Figure 5. You can see the log of all activities, to track sales and user behavior.