Sorry, I must admit that I am limited in my PHP usage. Jim, I believe I've been on track towards the later. I know that the changes need to be made to the php files under catalog/includes/modules/front_page/ (anywhere else?). Currently I'm testing featured.php, and tried modifying the following....
featured.php, around line 98:
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$featured__content .= '<a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'products_id=' . $featured_products['products_id']) . '">' . tep_image(DIR_WS_IMAGES . $featured_products['products_image'], $featured_products['products_name'], SMALL_IMAGE_WIDTH, SMALL_IMAGE_HEIGHT) . '</a><br /><a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'products_id=' . $featured_products['products_id']) . '">' . $featured_products['products_name'] . '</a><br />' . $featured_products['manufacturers_name'] . '</a><br />' . $manufacturers_name . '</a><br />' .$products_price;
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So, of course those calls to manufacturers_name I tried didn't work, <br />'s worked like a charm though, so I have been eyeballing above lines...
featured.php, around line 60
------------------------------------
select
p.products_id,
pd.products_name,
p.products_price,
p.products_tax_class_id,
p.products_image,
s.specials_new_products_price,
s.status
from
" . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p
join " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " pd
on pd.products_id = p.products_id
left join " . TABLE_SPECIALS . " s
on s.products_id = p.products_id
where
p.products_id = '" . $products_id . "'
and pd.language_id = '" . ( int ) $languages_id . "'
";
----------------------------------------
From what you posted, Jim, looks like I'm headed in the right direction. So to pull of the left join, do I just have to add 'm.manufacturers_name' under 'select' and then add the following...
left join " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " m
on m.products_id = p.products_id
...under 'from'? Then I can make the call for manufacturers_name?
Update: Nope, tried, returns the following on storefront:
--------------------------------------------------
1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '.manufacturers_name from pro' at line 9
select p.products_id, pd.products_name, p.products_price, p.products_tax_class_id, p.products_image, s.specials_new_products_price, s.status m.manufacturers_name from products p join products_description pd on pd.products_id = p.products_id left join specials s on s.products_id = p.products_id left join manufacturers m on m.products_id = p.products_id where p.products_id = '5' and pd.language_id = '1'
[TEP STOP]