Product Listing Enhancements, Thumbnails & Manufacturer Headings

[spooks]

If you get a blank page you have an error you created on install, you have error displays disabled so blank & no message, re-enable it to see your problem. There is more info in this thread if you search.

[spooks]

1. Not part of this see How Do I …? http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?sho...c=274968&hl=

 

2. The border styles are set in your css read the instructions.

 

3. Its detailed in the instructions, did'nt you read!!!

[hoken]

Please read the included instructions fully.

 

1. The settings appear under 'product listings' in admin.

 

2. You have not followed the install correctly, you have done a part that was only to be done if you have the short description mod specified, go over the install again.

 

Thank you for your sugestions. I fixed that error but haven't got the 'product listings' in admin. It dosen't matter, I can modify the database directly.

 

Now, in the thumbnail block view, I want to add 3 different headings for the products SPECIALS, NEW and NORMAL that looks like this:

andand

 

I'm using STS4. I think it is possible to add template for them. Have you got any idea to do this?

 

Merci bcp!!

Edited November 23, 2008 by hoken

[Dr Dre]

Thanks for the reply SAM.. I have read the readme in connection with "3" .. but i am a little confused.

 

I am assuming that i have to edit the product_listing_Setup.php file to change those variables.

 

For example to have the default view as listing instead of thumbnail.. i would have to edit which line int he product_listing_setup.php file ??

 

it might sound like a dumb quesiton.. but i am just making sure i dont screw thigns up :(

[spooks]

No, as detailed:

 

SETTINGS:

Extra setting are added to admin:

 

Product Listing Style (default thumbnail ) Use Thumbnail view, Manufacturer Listing or old List View. Also select 'Block' or 'Grid' mode.

Product Listing Short Description (default false ) Show the 'Short Description' (if you have that).

Product Listing Manufacturers Description (default false ) Show the 'Manufacturers Description'

Product Listing Image Width (default 140 ) Product Image Width in listing.

Product Listing Box Width (default 200 ) Set The Individual Product Listing Box Width

Product Listing Box Height (default 180 ) Set The Individual Product Listing Box Height

Product Listing Price Size (default 3 ) Set Product Listing Price Font Size

Product Listing Image Vertical Space (default 100) Image Vertical Space in thumbnail, set to the height of largest product image.

Product Listing Name Vertical Space (default 25) Name Vertical Space in thumbnail, sets vertical space for name & short description (if used).

Product Listing Per Row (default 2 ) Set Number Of Products To List Per Row

Product Listing Buy Now / Details Button Display ‘Buy Now’, ‘Details’ Button or both or nothing

Product Listing Headings (default true) Display Listing Column Headings (setting false means user sort with drop down only).

Product Listing Style Switch (default true) Provide the user the option to switch listing style.

Location of Prev/Next Navigation Bar (1-top, 2-bottom, 3-both Sets the location of the Navigation & Filter Bar

 

Additionally existing settings controling the display of Product Name, Image, Model, Quantity, Weight & Price Are Honored. The number of products shown per page is set by 'Search Results' in 'Maximum Values'.

The database query used is unchanged from the original, so order you set in admin etc will apply as before. The default sort for products_new.php is date added descending order.

 

The style of the display is controlled by a new entry in your css, you can set there if you wish a background image, colours, borders etc.

 

 

Could you not read that!! Do you not understand admin settings?

[pantarra]

Thank you Sam I looked through al the posts and found 1 that said changing the manufacteurs position was OSC standard

I didnt find anything about

what file controls the default main pages product layout? I need to put the item name to top of the product photo on the new products box on the index page...

[pantarra]

also Id like to bring the price, title and buy now button closer together how do I control this? CSS?

 

thank you

[pantarra]

Is it possible that on the index.php page I can use the LIST IN BOX style but on the sub catagory layout use the thumbnails in grid style

 

Please help....

[spooks]

It depends what listing exactly you are talking about, if your talking about the new_products.php module, found in includes/modules/new_products.php you can alter line 76:

 

$grid = strstr(PRODUCT_THUMBNAIL_VIEW, 'grid');

 

set thumbnail mode to grid in admin, but change that line to:

 

$grid = false;

[spooks]

Thank you Sam I looked through al the posts and found 1 that said changing the manufacteurs position was OSC standard

I didnt find anything about

what file controls the default main pages product layout? I need to put the item name to top of the product photo on the new products box on the index page...

 

Don`t know what your trying to do, sorry.

[spooks]

Yes, adjust with your css, firefox has some nice tools to help with this.

[Dr Dre]

Thanks for all your help sam... i miss understood the read me file.. but after a few reads i get it ...

 

i was wondering if it was possible to do

 

 

with your addon ??

[pantarra]

Thank You so much Sam

my problem with the the products_new.php.. How do I enable the abilty to see errors instead of seeing a blank white screen?

 

Your excellent contribution is setup completly working except the products_new.php in the root directory ..I replaced with original and the page works but without your contrib....I get a white screen and Im not sure how to turn this off and see what error is causing file not to open

 

Thanks again for your help

[gaverp]

Hello Sam -

 

Not sure how you manage to sustain this thread with the level of support you are providing - and still make enough to keep the lights on B)

Do you have a paypal link for contributions?

 

I spent most of the day reading the thread and then the V1.8 text file and have a few questions I was hoping you could answer before I install the contribution.

 

In the thread I thought I understood you to say that this mod affected listings by Manufacturer and would not apply to categories / products - this line in the read me file makes me wonder if I mis-understood the message.

 

<SNIP> You can also apply the thumbnail display to the new_products module & products_new page.</SNIP>

 

1) Can I generate a products (grid) page that resembles the image shown in Product_thumbnail_listing.jpg,

Or would I need to assign a manufacturer to all my products to take advantage of this contribution?

 

2) I have installed SEO-G, and will be "turning it on" after I have added a few more products to my catalog. Are you aware of any integration issues with SEO G?

 

3) I need to find a header / meta tag and Page Title contribution that can be used to dynamically produce SEO Keyword related titles / headers & meta tags, do you know of one that is compatible with your contribution? If so, what would be the correct installation order?

 

4) I also need to find a contribution that will enable me to utilize a scaled down version of product images to help reduce the page / download size of my pages, which of the existing thumbnail contributions would you suggest I try that will integrate with your contribution?

 

5) I made a few minor modifications to the layout of my site ( seen here ) - Including application_top; footer; header; index; left and right column; boxes; html_output and breadcrumb. The Product_Listing_Setup.php file appears to have no affect to any of the php pages per se, and only affects the dbase. So rolling back the script pages is just a matter of restoring the backed up pages to their pre-installation values? What's the best method for rolling back the db if required?

 

Lastly - for the other noobies like myself - A lot of the questions being posted in this thread deal with modifying the "appearance" of our webpages. I have found it very helpful to look at the source code generated by the browser for this purpose - although the PHP script / code has been stripped out by the server and the page formatted with pure HTML or CSS - you'll be surprised at how much you can figure out by looking for a "marker" in your web page source code and then looking for the same "marker" in your php script pages, or you can create a "Marker" like "HERE I AM" in one of your pages and then look for where it pops up on the page - then you'll have some idea of how the elements in the PHP script are being formatted and displayed on the page in your browser. From that point, you'll be able to relocate php driven variables and code to format the output to your desire. If you're trying to understand the effect of layout based on CSS elements - you can make almost any element have a border surrounding it so you can see how it is interacting or affecting all the other elements on the same page. The Firefox tools referenced earlier in this thread facilitate drawing a box around every element on your page with a single click of the mouse - well worth the download in the time it will save you in diagnosing layout problems.

 

I hope this helps other noobies like me...

 

Gaver

[spooks]

in aplication_top

 

// set the level of error reporting
 error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);

 

you probably have:

 

error_reporting(0);

[pantarra]

my error control is set to

 

// set the level of error reporting

error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);

[spooks]

my error control is set to

 

// set the level of error reporting

error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);

 

 

have you checked later in your code (including index) that you don`t have error_reporting(0); as that would superseed the ealier

[spooks]

1. Manufacturer mode is simply to display listings in a 'block mode' by manufacturer, if no manufacturer exist it will revert to thumbnail mode.

 

If you use the included new_products.php module it will display as per the new settings in admin.

 

2. Some seo do modifications to application top that can cause problems with 'add to cart' I`ve not tested which ones create an issue.

 

3. This contrib deals with modules, not complete pages, so any changes you make to tags are irrelavent.

 

4. As detailed additional images is supported.

 

5. using a backup utility such as AutoBackup Database in Admin http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/2314 and Database backup manager http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5769 would enable you to restore to a previous state, or you could install Total Configuration http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5040 that allows you to add/delete/modify all admin configuration items.

Edited November 28, 2008 by spooks

[pantarra]

I checked the index and also app_top and bottom and didnt see any do you have step by step for the new products modification?

 

 

 

 

have you checked later in your code (including index) that you don`t have error_reporting(0); as that would superseed the ealier

[spooks]

There is one other possibility, if you only have this issue with new products.php its possible your server has a rare issue with the thumbnail_new function within that, if you look back in this thread it occured once before when the function was used in the product_listing.php file, moving the code out of the function resolved the issue, extensive testing could not determine cause (I had no server access)

 

modifying new products.php would resolve this, you could test be renaming the function & seeing if you get a undefined error in place of blank, also note the function is not called if you have display in 'list' mode

 

B)

 

[pantarra]

modifying new products.php

 

 

I didnt see any function command in the products_new.php in the root I did find the command in the modules

 

function thumbnail_new($products,$column_list,$border,$borderend) {

global $PHP_SELF,$cPath,$cat_path;

 

when I overwrite your version with the OSC original file the produccts new works when I use product new in contrib I get a white screen

 

Is this the area function I delete?

[212121]

I recently installed the Product Listing Enhancement contribution and it is working very well, however, I have no need for the SORT ORDER dropdown or the RESULTS/PAGE dropdown- Is there a way to easy remove them.

[Dr Dre]

hi SAM,

 

Is there any way to customize the product listing page further as i had posted with my pic earlier ?

[gaverp]

I recently installed the Product Listing Enhancement contribution and it is working very well, however, I have no need for the SORT ORDER dropdown or the RESULTS/PAGE dropdown- Is there a way to easy remove them.

 

Hello Brock -

 

I made the very changes you are referring to ...

 

Here's how I did it...

1) Back up the existing product_list.php file so you have a copy to go back to incase this doesn't work out how you expect.

2) Find the following code near line 109 and comment it out.

if ($top_nav && ($listing_split->number_of_rows > 0)) echo $drop;

3) Then find the following line of code near line 562 and comment it out.

if ($base_nav && !$empty_list) echo $drop;

 

After I made the changes above - I decided I wanted to set the max number of items being displayed - which of course I had just disabled by hiding the drop down list...

 

You can set the max number by finding the following line of code near line 18:

$max_results = (tep_not_null($_GET['max']) ? $_GET['max'] : MAX_DISPLAY_SEARCH_RESULTS);

 

and changing it to:

$max_results = 9; /*(tep_not_null($_GET['max']) ? $_GET['max'] : MAX_DISPLAY_SEARCH_RESULTS); */

 

Note: change the iteger value (I used 9) to the value you want displayed.

 

You can see a sample "work in progress" for my product_list.php display here.

 

Hope that helps...

[gaverp]

Sam,

 

Excellent contribution!

 

Installation went without a hitch - excellent documentation and instructions - I wish others were this simple to accomplish!

 

I am hoping you can confirm the behaviour of the contribution as it relates to the "Add to Cart" functionality.

 

I have two different types of products on my site right now - a basic hat (with no options) and Shirts (with size or color options).

 

If I set admin to "Buy Now" button only - and it generates the "Add to Cart" option below each image, I get an item added to the cart when I click on a hat, or I get the "details" page for the product if I click on a shirt.

 

Is this due to their being "options" for the shirts that the hats do not have?

 

Check it out on the home page. Click the "Add to Cart" for a shirt then do the same for a hat.