July 2007 Archives

Beware... NetSuite has changed the way you are allowed to access a SuiteScript parameter with version 2007.

Where we used to do something like this in version 11.x: 

if ((typeof custscript_case_debug != "undefined") && (custscript_case_debug == 'T')) {
   debug = true;
   nlapiLogExecution ('DEBUG', 'Debug mode is turned on');
}

Unless you've been living in a cave for the last two years, you have by now heard about Google Analytics--the so called next best thing since sliced bread. Not only is it one of the best web analytics tools on the market, but it's also free.

If you're running your web store on NetSuite, you may have heard about the challenges in implementing Google Analytics. In this posting, we will attempt to walk you through the details of setting up Google Analytics.

Once completed, you should be able to track web site activity across product catalog pages, shopping cart and checkout pages, and order submission and confirmation pages. Additionally, you can see a listing of all orders placed through your site including the ability to see the order number, order total, shipping total, and tax total.

We used the steps defined in this article as a basis to get started on this project.

When debugging a web services application, it is extremely important to be able to view the SOAP requests and responses being sent across the wire.  And, while there do exist some really cool commercial products out there to satisfy this need, like SOAPscope, there also exist some freebies that are more than capable of getting the job done.  I personally have been developing NetSuite specific web services applications for close to three years, and up until Celigo's recent conversion to Mindreef's SOAPscope server, tcpmon and stunnel played a vital role in keeping my applications alive and healthy.

Tcpmon is a great way to view http traffic if you know the ports your traffic is being routed through.  Launching the application couldn't be easier.  Simply specify a 'Listen Port #', 'Target Port #', 'Target Hostname', and click on Add.  Point the url of your web services client to the localhost port you have just setup and watch the SOAP fly on by.

Stunnel provides the ability to encrypt and decrypt data being sent to a server.  Working with NetSuite, it is a required component, unless you have the magical ability to decifer data sent across the https connection NetSuite requries.  Launching the application entails configuring the config file titled stunnel.conf and double clicking an executable startup script.

It's taken a little longer than planned, but we're finally ready to launch our blog! Our intent is to use this as a forum to provide you with tips, tricks, articles, best practices, etc, on how to maximize your use of NetSuite and provide our perspectives on the on-demand world.

What's in it for you? In short, we invite you to benefit from our experiences. Our team has configured and implemented NetSuite for more than a hundred customers.

From a technical perspective, Celigo is a leader in automation and integration. We were part of the original Web services team at NetSuite that launched SuiteTalk, so we think we know a thing or two about this stuff...

For the curious--we use MoveableType (also a NetSuite customer) as our blogging platform.

--Jan