To setup bridge you have to do following:

1. Open your application main directory - usually it is "C:\Program Files\MagneticOne\Store Manager for ... " and find directory "Service" there. Inside this directory you can find bridge.php file or download latest version from "Downloads" section.

2. Important. Edit bridge - change user name and password to keep your store protected.
There are two lines inside this file
$username = "1";
$password = "1";
put some other values instead of "1" in both lines. Please also read PHP MySQL bridge: How to make connection more secure

Two other options you can change:

$temporary_dir = "/tmp";
$allow_compression = true;

You may keep them as they are unless you getting specific errors.

3. Copy bridge to your online store "catalog" directory, in other words catalog is home (root) directory of your store. Bridge should be accessible as http://www.myonlinestore.com/bridge.php whereas your store link is http://www.myonlinestore.com

4. Open Store Manager Preferences and check "PHP MySQL Bridge connection" option in Store Configuration section. You'll see PHP MySQL Bridge and Local Database Connection Settings section. Setup connection settings:

• URL to bridge.php file,
• username and password you have specified when editing bridge.php,
• select (using "..." button) or enter new local database name.

Try to test bridge connection - click "Test PHP Bridge connection" button.

If everything specified properly it should bring you "Connection successful" message.

If database with specified name does not exist Store Manager may ask you to create one.

Note: Your local database name should be "oscommerce" ("cre_loaded" or "xcart"- depending on what product you are using) - by default program use this name unless you know what you are doing and want to work with some other database. Local database and your store database are two different databases and names may be different, that's normal.

6. Click OK to save changes and close preferences. Now you have to retrieve data from your web store into your local database.

7. In main application window - Main Menu->Tools->Database Bridge->Get Data from Web. Wait while data being transfered. Depending on database size and connection speed it may take from few seconds to several hours (large database + slow connection). Follow few steps of Backup/Restore wizard. Now you may work with your store - add/modify products, categories, import products etc. After work is done you have to put all changes you made to your online store.

8. Select Main Menu->Tools->Database Bridge->Post Changes to Web. Check whether all changes you made were reflected on web store properly.

Note: It is strongly recommended to create database backup before any mass operations which may be potentially unsafe.