====== Providing Links to Hidden Products ======

===== Why and How =====

This feature comes handy when creating custom invoices for customers, promotions, extra charges, etc.  We use it for customers to pay for international shipping charges.  First you must install the code listed below.  It is very easy, even for those that know nothing about ASP. Upload the page and you are in business. To use this feature:

  * create a hidden category, and place products into it
  * after you have created a product, cut and paste the //Admin Preview// URL. 
  * change the part that says "&adminPreview=1" to "&specialLink=1".  

This is the link you can now mail to your customer.  Only they can now access the page, but not the shoppers on your site.  

Enjoy,

Katharina (the code was kindly provided by Early Impact)

===== Source Code Changes =====

In version 3.51 we fixed an issue with products being visible in certain cases even if assigned to a hidden categories. 
This was being used to good effect by some sites to allow links to be sent to certain customers so that only they are able to access the specific product.

If you wish to re-instate this facility you can make use of the "Admin Preview" feature. That is: adding to the product page URL the querystring "//&adminPreview=1//".

Since the name "//adminPreview//" is not customer friendly, you could change the code to check for two queystrings. Here, for example, the second querystring is "//specialLink=1//". Change the following line of code inside //pc/**viewprdcode.asp**// to accomplish this.

==== ProductCart v3.51 ====
Replace:
<code>
  Dim pcv_intAdminPreview
  pcv_intAdminPreview=0
  pcv_intAdminPreview=getUserInput(Request("adminPreview"),10)
    if not validNum(pcv_intAdminPreview) then
        pcv_intAdminPreview=0
    end if
</code>
... with:
<code>
  Dim pcv_intAdminPreview
  pcv_intAdminPreview=0
  pcv_intAdminPreview=getUserInput(Request("adminPreview"),10)
      if not validNum(pcv_intAdminPreview) then
          pcv_intAdminPreview=0
      end if
  if pcv_intAdminPreview=0 then
  pcv_intAdminPreview=getUserInput(Request("specialLink"),10)
      if not validNum(pcv_intAdminPreview) then
          pcv_intAdminPreview=0
      end if
  end if
</code>

==== ProductCart v4 ====
Replace:
<code>
  Dim pcv_intAdminPreview
  pcv_intAdminPreview=0
  pcv_intAdminPreview=getUserInput(Request("adminPreview"),10)
   if validNum(pcv_intAdminPreview) and session("admin") <> 0 then
    session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=pcv_intAdminPreview
   else
    session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=0
   end if
</code>
... with:
<code>
  Dim pcv_intAdminPreview
  pcv_intAdminPreview=0
  pcv_intAdminPreview=getUserInput(Request("adminPreview"),10)
   if validNum(pcv_intAdminPreview) and session("admin") <> 0 then
    session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=pcv_intAdminPreview
   else
    session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=0
   end if

   if session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=0 then
    pcv_intAdminPreview=getUserInput(Request("specialLink"),10)
    if validNum(pcv_intAdminPreview) then
     session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=pcv_intAdminPreview
    else
     session("pcv_intAdminPreview")=0
    end if
   end if
</code>