Developers' Quick Start Guide

1. Download the Free Edition
   It costs nothing, and gives you a good sense of how SoftSlate is structured and organized. Download the free edition from here.
2. Import as an Eclipse Project
   

   If you use Eclipse the .zip file download imports as an Eclipse project. Go to File -> Import... -> General -> Existing Projects into Workspace, choose "Select archive file", and locate the SoftSlate Commerce .zip file.

   Watch the video showing how to import SoftSlate Commerce into Eclipse.

3. Install SoftSlate Commerce in a Development Environment
   

   If you use Eclipse, use the Servers tool to create a Server running SoftSlate Commerce within Eclipse. Install SoftSlate Commerce by creating an empty database and hitting the application in a browser.

   Watch the video showing how to install SoftSlate Commerce within Eclipse.

4. Start Customizing
   Follow our Simple Rules for making customizations in such a way that installing upgrades is as painless as possible. Lots more information is available in our Documentation.
5. Need help?
   Try our User Forums. Lots of advice on technical matters is available there. Here is a list of other ways to get help.
6. Ready to buy?
   Review our purchase options. If you've made changes to the Free Edition, when you buy the Starter or Standard Edition, you can drop the upgrade file on top of your existing project to remove the product restriction and add source code. (We suggest you remove WEB-INF/lib/softslate-free.jar as well.) If you go with the Hosted Edition, contact us and we'll set your project up on our servers.