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Where to start for newbie


coolfi

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Hi all.

I've just been reading but I don't know where to start, the more I read the more confusing it gets.

I am currently testing it on my  localhost ubuntu server and all is working as it should but which version to use I've tried everything from official and community supported, not being coder just can't find a decent one with good templates.

Oscommerce being opensource why can't I find decent templates that are easy to install?  the one I could find are too old or don't work due to my limited coding skills.

Would anyone be kind enough to upload oscommerce with pre build in template that looks and feels modern and sleek?  That I can install and test?

Thanks and much appreciated.

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First of all, avoid the official release (from this site) like the plague. It's years behind on updates and is non-responsive. You will want to use only the "Frozen" community supported version (my signature below has links both to it and to the needed patches).

The issue of "templates" is a delicate one. osC was not architected to have replaceable (plug-in) templates. Modifying the look and layout can be done to a limited extent with CSS (added to the user.css file), but beyond that (especially if you want changes to functionality) it involves core file code changes. The problem with these is that it then becomes the responsibility of whoever supplies the "template" to keep up to date with changes to the base code, and that often doesn't happen. Some "templates" even go so far as to replace almost the entire osC store with their own modified files, sometimes based on very old releases of osC.

A few people active on this forum sell fairly decent templates for Frozen, but I'm not aware of any really good free ones. What is it that you are looking to do? If it's just adjusting colors and fonts, and very minor layout changes, CSS can do it. Otherwise, you're in for some PHP coding. osC simply doesn't have templates that something like WordPress has.

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7 hours ago, coolfi said:

Would anyone be kind enough to upload oscommerce with pre build in template that looks and feels modern and sleek?  That I can install and test?

If you decide to use official osC you will find lots of templates are available for this official version, even a few free ones google is you best way to find these,

this is a official osC test site running a free template, make changes by editing the stylesheet.css

official osC with template https://jcmagpie.co.uk/     

If you decide to use the unofficial BS3 or BS4 then color changes are simlpe and the look can also be changed by adding add-ons for header index and footer

take a look at the test sites to see what can be done,

unoffical BS4 https://chilleddisplays.co.uk/

unofficial BS3 https://justfastfood.com/

Tweeking small color chages see ths link

or use this add-on which lets you make changes in admin.

 

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Thanks for all that.

I have narrowed down to  two options, to either user the frozen or official 2.4.0 which has PayPal app, but the community one is 2.4.2 but has no Paypal.

Also if I understand right bootstrap means it's files are online linked and not local?

MrPhil, how do I apply that diff patch? is it applied before or after the  install?

8 hours ago, MrPhil said:

First of all, avoid the official release (from this site) like the plague. It's years behind on updates and is non-responsive. You will want to use only the "Frozen" community supported version (my signature below has links both to it and to the needed patches).

The issue of "templates" is a delicate one. osC was not architected to have replaceable (plug-in) templates. Modifying the look and layout can be done to a limited extent with CSS (added to the user.css file), but beyond that (especially if you want changes to functionality) it involves core file code changes. The problem with these is that it then becomes the responsibility of whoever supplies the "template" to keep up to date with changes to the base code, and that often doesn't happen. Some "templates" even go so far as to replace almost the entire osC store with their own modified files, sometimes based on very old releases of osC.

A few people active on this forum sell fairly decent templates for Frozen, but I'm not aware of any really good free ones. What is it that you are looking to do? If it's just adjusting colors and fonts, and very minor layout changes, CSS can do it. Otherwise, you're in for some PHP coding. osC simply doesn't have templates that something like WordPress has.

 

1 hour ago, JcMagpie said:

If you decide to use official osC you will find lots of templates are available for this official version, even a few free ones google is you best way to find these,

Yes I did google but every time I follow instruction on any template change, I end up breaking it

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1 hour ago, coolfi said:

I end up breaking it

A good template will require nothing more than you copying the files over. Just make sure the template you use is for the corect verison of the software you are using.

It's best to download from the official site rather than hosts to be sure you have an upto date copy.

official can be got from here

https://www.oscommerce.com/Products

 

 

 

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Did you read this?

Quote

osCommerce Online Merchant v2.4.0 Joli is a development release currently in beta. This release is currently recommended only for developers.

osC 2.4.x is NOT a consumer-ready release. You should not be trying to use it for a production store, unless you are an expert developer and willing to do a lot of patching and maintenance yourself. There are very few add-ons and very little support for it at this time. The official 2.3.4.1 release on the same page is years out of date, does not play well with PHP 7, and is non-responsive. Use only the Frozen release.

The patches (either Frozen.diff or Frozen.fc) are best applied to the files (unpacked .zip file) before running the install program, but it is OK to apply them after installation. The database changes would then have to be done using phpMyAdmin table editing, which is a bit more work than editing the oscommerce.sql file before installation. Both patch files can either be used to manually edit files, using them as a reference, or you can split up the patch file into individual patch files and use a patch tool to apply them one-by-one. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any patch tool that will take in these files in their consolidated form and apply to all the files. If anyone knows of a tool (or flag) to allow a consolidated patch file to be applied directly, I would be happy to hear about it (I'll probably also have to adjust the file format).

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@ burt Thanks and I'll  have look at those, and I agree with business and costs and am not saying people shouldn't make money, I am all for it.  But I am trying out an idea and not sure it will pan out and can't afford to the costs at the moment, however I know if the web design is not up-to par and if it looks as if it was stuck in 2003 it's not going to succeed.  If it does work out then I'll will need to take it to next level and would be able afford coders here.

I also think if something more was provided doesn't mean money can't be made, people are generous if they are successful, and if they are not then they won't be using it after a while.

 

11 hours ago, burt said:

It's probably useful to point out that something being "open source" does not always mean it is "free" (as in no money).   That's a misconception that a lot of people struggle with.  We all run businesses, we all know there is a cost.

 

 

7 hours ago, MrPhil said:

Did you read this?

osC 2.4.x is NOT a consumer-ready release. You should not be trying to use it for a production store, unless you are an expert developer and willing to do a lot of patching and maintenance yourself. There are very few add-ons and very little support for it at this time. The official 2.3.4.1 release on the same page is years out of date, does not play well with PHP 7, and is non-responsive. Use only the Frozen release.

The patches (either Frozen.diff or Frozen.fc) are best applied to the files (unpacked .zip file) before running the install program, but it is OK to apply them after installation. The database changes would then have to be done using phpMyAdmin table editing, which is a bit more work than editing the oscommerce.sql file before installation. Both patch files can either be used to manually edit files, using them as a reference, or you can split up the patch file into individual patch files and use a patch tool to apply them one-by-one. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any patch tool that will take in these files in their consolidated form and apply to all the files. If anyone knows of a tool (or flag) to allow a consolidated patch file to be applied directly, I would be happy to hear about it (I'll probably also have to adjust the file format).

Thanks again, but can't Ubuntu patch program do it?  I normally use that to patch diff files.

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13 minutes ago, coolfi said:

Thanks again, but can't Ubuntu patch program do it?  I normally use that to patch diff files.

I work on Windows, and created a series of diff files and then glued them together into one file. If your utility can handle that, it's wonderful news, but I'm not holding my breath. You can try it on copies of your files, and see what it does, but I promise nothing. Please let me know if you have positive results from such a test, so I can update the documentation. If you can tell me a different way to glue the files together that works, I could modify my utility to do that.

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1 hour ago, MrPhil said:

I work on Windows, and created a series of diff files and then glued them together into one file. If your utility can handle that, it's wonderful news, but I'm not holding my breath. You can try it on copies of your files, and see what it does, but I promise nothing. Please let me know if you have positive results from such a test, so I can update the documentation. If you can tell me a different way to glue the files together that works, I could modify my utility to do that.

Yay it worked, I think.

Download the Frozen from your sig and also patch frozen.diff file unzip and copy the diff file in to frozen dir and cd in it, apply patch with command as follows.

sudo patch -p1 < ../Frozen.diff
	(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file advanced_search_result.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file checkout_shipping.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file create_account.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file admin/modules_content.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/application_top.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/template_top.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/languages/english/create_account_success.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/languages/english/shopping_cart.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/modules/address_book_details.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/modules/checkout_new_address.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/modules/product_listing.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/modules/payment/moneyorder.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file includes/modules/social_bookmarks/sb_facebook_like.php
(Stripping trailing CRs from patch; use --binary to disable.)
patching file install/oscommerce.sql
	

]

 

 

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21 hours ago, burt said:

https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce/releases => Frozen

Install it and have a play with it.

 

Burt is there any chance you could let me have access to Frozen 2 BS4?   I can work with that and it's really looks good, pretty please.

Much appreciated for all you do.

The one in the demo here https://template.me.uk/frozen2bs4/index.php

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the version with bootstrap 4 can be download from

https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce

keep in mind it is still a work in progress, 

it is easy enough to follow the progress, and add-in anything that gets changed in the future

Phoenix support now at https://phoenixcart.org/forum/
App created for phoenix
TinyMCE editor for admin

 

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40 minutes ago, puddlec said:

the version with bootstrap 4 can be download from

https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce

keep in mind it is still a work in progress, 

it is easy enough to follow the progress, and add-in anything that gets changed in the future

What I download does not look same as demo, lots of stuff is missing like right hand menu and styles and look and feel is different, header and footer not the same either.

I use git clone and not zip file, for most up-to date of it.

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32 minutes ago, coolfi said:

What I download does not look same as demo, lots of stuff is missing like right hand menu and styles and look and feel is different, header and footer not the same either.

I use git clone and not zip file, for most up-to date of it.

missing content some of it can be added by going to admin -> modules -> boxes and admin -> modules -> content 

with the carousal at the top, Burt did release something similar as part of his 28d 2019  https://www.oscommerce.com/forums/topic/492997-28d-2019-lets-move-the-project-forward/?page=2, can't rememeber f he did release the one on the site.

 

Phoenix support now at https://phoenixcart.org/forum/
App created for phoenix
TinyMCE editor for admin

 

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13 hours ago, puddlec said:

missing content some of it can be added by going to admin -> modules -> boxes and admin -> modules -> content 

with the carousal at the top, Burt did release something similar as part of his 28d 2019  https://www.oscommerce.com/forums/topic/492997-28d-2019-lets-move-the-project-forward/?page=2, can't rememeber f he did release the one on the site.

 

Yes I do that, it seems something is broken either at my end or at the git as I see the modules but every time click on them I see white blank page.

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7 hours ago, coolfi said:

Yes I do that, it seems something is broken either at my end or at the git as I see the modules but every time click on them I see white blank page.

Try downloading the stable version from the test site here,

https://chilleddisplays.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/26/products_id/57

Most of the fetures your looking at can be downloaded for free in the appsmarket.

https://apps.oscommerce.com/dCBta&amp;fading-header-ce-bs4-3-v1-2

 

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3 hours ago, JcMagpie said:

Try downloading the stable version from the test site here,

https://chilleddisplays.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/26/products_id/57

Most of the fetures your looking at can be downloaded for free in the appsmarket.

https://apps.oscommerce.com/dCBta&amp;fading-header-ce-bs4-3-v1-2

Installed from that site the stable one downloaded and it installed fine, then go to Admin then Modules > Boxes, I can see Install module box with 10 available, when I click that button I see no modules listed in the next page.  If I remove an installed module the number of available goes up but in next page that too is no longer there, and can't be installed.

 

Thanks

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That is strange,  look in the error log file to see what is being logged. Also check your config just to be sure all paths are correct.

also check the file in public_html/includes/modules/boxes/

image.png

and public_html/includes/modules/boxes/templates

image.png

 

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8 hours ago, JcMagpie said:

That is strange,  look in the error log file to see what is being logged. Also check your config just to be sure all paths are correct.

also check the file in public_html/includes/modules/boxes/

Yes all files are there, can't find log file anywhere.

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Also as i said check you config file.

/public_html/youradmin/includes/configure.php

should be somthing like this,

<?php 
 define('HTTP_SERVER', 'https://yoursite.co.uk');
  define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://yoursite.co.uk');
  define('ENABLE_SSL', true);
  define('HTTP_COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
  define('HTTPS_COOKIE_DOMAIN', '');
  define('HTTP_COOKIE_PATH', '/youradmin');
  define('HTTPS_COOKIE_PATH', '/youradmin');
  define('HTTP_CATALOG_SERVER', 'https://yoursite.co.uk');
  define('HTTPS_CATALOG_SERVER', 'https://yoursite.co.uk');
  define('ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG', 'false');
  define('DIR_FS_DOCUMENT_ROOT', '/home/yoursitec/public_html/');
  define('DIR_WS_ADMIN', '/youradmin/');
  define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_ADMIN', '/youradmin/');
  define('DIR_FS_ADMIN', '/home/your-site/public_html/youradmin/');
  define('DIR_WS_CATALOG', '/');
  define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG', '/');
  define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/home/your-site/public_html/');
  define('DIR_WS_CATALOG_IMAGES', DIR_WS_CATALOG . 'images/');
  define('DIR_WS_CATALOG_LANGUAGES', DIR_WS_CATALOG . 'includes/languages/');
  define('DIR_FS_CATALOG_LANGUAGES', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'includes/languages/');
  define('DIR_FS_CATALOG_IMAGES', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'images/');
  define('DIR_FS_CATALOG_MODULES', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'includes/modules/');
  define('DIR_FS_BACKUP', DIR_FS_ADMIN . 'backups/');
  define('DIR_FS_DOWNLOAD', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'download/');
  define('DIR_FS_DOWNLOAD_PUBLIC', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'pub/');

  define('DB_SERVER', 'yoursite.co.uk');
  define('DB_SERVER_USERNAME', 'username');
  define('DB_SERVER_PASSWORD', 'yourpassword');
  define('DB_DATABASE', 'yoursite_store');
  define('USE_PCONNECT', 'false');
  define('STORE_SESSIONS', 'mysql');
  define('CFG_TIME_ZONE', 'Europe/London');

still stuck post or pm link to site and image of what you see in admin when you click install.

 

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On 5/2/2019 at 8:52 PM, coolfi said:

unzip and copy the diff file in to frozen dir and cd in it, apply patch

Well, I'm surprised it worked, as I arbitrarily chose % for comment/separator lines, but I suppose I could have simply guessed well. Did you have to "unzip" it? It wasn't zipped in any way, just a straight Windows text file. Or did unzip remove the % lines? The messages said that it was stripping CRs from line-ends.

With the problems you're reporting, exactly what version of PHP are you using? If it's 7.2 or higher, I'm not sure that either Frozen or Edge will run cleanly at that level (there could be some subtle gotchas). Can you roll back to PHP 7.1 and see if your problems go away? On the other hand, I'm not sure what the absolute minimum PHP level is -- make sure you're not at some ancient level (pre-5.6). If you're running on Ubuntu, I'll guess that maybe this is a LAMPP stack on your PC -- they tend to include absolutely bleeding edge versions of PHP. Normal cautions apply about trying to run a production site on your own PC (i.e., don't).

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3 hours ago, JcMagpie said:

Also as i said check you config file.

/public_html/youradmin/includes/configure.php 

should be somthing like this,

still stuck post or pm link to site and image of what you see in admin when you click install.

Thanks for that, my file looks nothing like that only half the size, also log file is not anywhere, also the php problem has been found will look at that too.

2 hours ago, MrPhil said:

Well, I'm surprised it worked, as I arbitrarily chose % for comment/separator lines, but I suppose I could have simply guessed well. Did you have to "unzip" it? It wasn't zipped in any way, just a straight Windows text file. Or did unzip remove the % lines? The messages said that it was stripping CRs from line-ends.

With the problems you're reporting, exactly what version of PHP are you using? If it's 7.2 or higher, I'm not sure that either Frozen or Edge will run cleanly at that level (there could be some subtle gotchas). Can you roll back to PHP 7.1 and see if your problems go away? On the other hand, I'm not sure what the absolute minimum PHP level is -- make sure you're not at some ancient level (pre-5.6). If you're running on Ubuntu, I'll guess that maybe this is a LAMPP stack on your PC -- they tend to include absolutely bleeding edge versions of PHP. Normal cautions apply about trying to run a production site on your own PC (i.e., don't).

MrPhil just simply used the patch utility that comes with Ubuntu, it did all the required striping and patching, it  really is a good little utility.

I think you right about php issue, while the version is PHP 7.0 it might have a conflict or error somewhere, this is only test and learning site and not a production site, I want to get it right before publishing it online.

Once again thanks to everyone here and hope you all don't mind newbies questions.

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7 hours ago, coolfi said:

my file looks nothing like that only half the size, also log file is not anywhere,

Well if your file looks nothing like that then you have a bad install as this file should be the same content and size as it's stock install. This is the first thing to fix before you do anything else.

If you have no log file then talk to your hosting company and ask them to turn on error reporting. Display errors could be turned off in the php.ini or your Apache config file.

can be turn on by adding

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

You can also log the errors to a file by adding this to /public_html/includes/application_top.php directly after

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

add this.

//error_reporting(E_ALL);
    ini_set("log_errors", 1);
    ini_set("error_log", "error_log.txt");

then all your errors will be found in the fie error_log.txt  (you need to add error_log.txt file to your admin root)

 

 

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