Integrate Zen into Joomla

[DivaVocals]

Originally Posted by borhan

Borat,
If you have really done this integration please share with this community. Both Joomla and Zen Cart community will be grateful for this. Joomla + ZC makes the best CMS+Shop. Please share as all others here expressed interest in it.

Regards,

Yes it would be nice to see this. However, at this point, I think seeing a unicorn is more likely to happen before we actually see a real world version of a ZenCart component for Joomla.

So in the name of having to move forward with my project, I elected to follow the plastiquemonkey.com route. I am approaching this by using sanguisdesigns' "Easy embedded template". For anyone interested, you can check out this thread if you like. (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showth...519#post375519)

OR.. you can cut to the chase...

• Here's where you can download the template: (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...9&postcount=63)
• Here's a simple set of instructions to use this template: (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...5&postcount=83)

This contribution will allow me to very simply wrap my ZenCart around the same header or footers that I am using in my Joomla site..

To make sure that things look seamless, I just had to make sure that I copied over the appropriate styles for the header and footer from my Joomla stylesheet to my Zencart stylesheet. I had to make a few tweaks to those styles to get them to behave/look identically, but I am generally pleased with my initial results..

[madmumbler]

Do your Joomla users have to log in? Or you you just have a content-serving site?

What I want to do is have a common log in, something like Community Builder, only passed by ZC to the Joomla tables.

I can match my templates. But what I really want to do is integrate the two.

[sunzhoujian]

I have the same requirement. Your know, everybody shares the same view about nice things.

Originally Posted by madmumbler

Do your Joomla users have to log in? Or you you just have a content-serving site?

What I want to do is have a common log in, something like Community Builder, only passed by ZC to the Joomla tables.

I can match my templates. But what I really want to do is integrate the two.

[DivaVocals]

Originally Posted by madmumbler

Do your Joomla users have to log in? Or you you just have a content-serving site?

What I want to do is have a common log in, something like Community Builder, only passed by ZC to the Joomla tables.

I can match my templates. But what I really want to do is integrate the two.

Nope.. Joomla will simply be a content serving site.. But even if they did, we would just deal with the seperate logins.. If it's only two logins, based on my experience with another site, I think we could live with it.. I have another site where the forum login is a seperate login from the Joomla/Store (VirtueMart) login intentionally. This was done mostly because the site owner's existing forum members did not like using e-mail addresses for their forum logins (we required e-mail addresses as user names for the store). We have found that the site users don't mind this setup, particluarly since not all customers are interested in using the forum, and not all forum members are customers..

I agree that the single login would be nice, but if I want it I would have to hire a coder to build it for me. I know I'll never find it on this site or available comercially. However, I haven't had a client who felt there was a compelling need for this yet. So for now my solution is to use the embedded template solution and skin the sites identically..

[redmonds]

I am just about to redo my site and am using Joomla as the main Content site and linking into a subfolder for ZC. I am reasonably familier with ZC but and fairly new to Joomla. But they both continue to amaze me as probably the best of breed software and free. With great support. Although in the first instance I can make do without having members in Joomla at some stage (sooner rather then later) I want to have the user dbs linked/combined.

Why Joomla? "Content is King" or so I have heard. I want to make my site more content centric. That is lots of pages of info. Update weekly if not daily. Lots of ways for customer to add their input and having additional info or resources for members. For example at the moment I have a couple of FREE download on my ZC website. However I am using them to attact members and not just allowing anonymous downloads. The only way I ahve found to do this is to effectively have people puchase the product for free, sign up, add to cart, checkout etc. Where as with Joomla I can have memebr content. Simply create a login, confirm and then access our free articles and downloads.

I make a basic enquiry with an offshore coder that I have used before and he said he could probably do it for about US$500. I don't know on what basis that is, bridge, component, simply enterering the data to both DBs etc.

However I think that if my cash flow increases over the next few months I would be happy to invest in this project. Maybe there are some like minded people willing to invest their skills or $ to do it. I would prefer to do it properly as a component i think but am open to ideas.

Also it seems as though it would more then apporpriate (perhaps required?) for Borat to donate/return the project back to the community at what ever stage it is at. I am sure that IF they have got it working then there is enough experience and talent at ZC & Joomla to pull it together into and install package pretty quickly. It doesn't need to cost anyone any money and plenty of people will benefit.

Raoul

[birdoasis]

As a merchant I find that Joomla is a bit time consuming. Using the easy pages of zen cart you can have as much content as you want, since content is king, and the most powerful shopping cart right at your customers fingertips.

Spend more time on learning one software, adding content, adding products, and the profit will come.

If you're designing for a merchant client who will need to add all the content and products themselves, then sticking with one product will be much more appealing to them as well.

Bird Oasis started out as a Joomla/virtumart product. I wasn't profitable with it because of the many problems with both software packages. I still use joomla for other sites, and the headaches with admin permissions are still there since the modules are installed by the root admin.

[DivaVocals]

I have ONE Joomla/VirtueMart site running now.. The site is doing well.. It's been profitable for the client, and I managed to bang out all the initial bugs pre-launch and recently I got rid of one last nagging post launch bug (this bug didn't stop the site from functioning, but generated some irritating PayPal spam)

Despite the relative success of that site, based on that one experience, I'm DONE with VirtueMart until they dramatically improve that code and the support.. (I'm still testing the newest release.. Maybe one day they'll release a version that works like an e-commerce solution should.. you know like Zen does) Until then, if I have a client with a need that requires Joomla AND e-commerce, I will be skinning Zen Cart to match my Joomla template..

EZ pages is a GREAT feature, but it does not cover every content need as others in this thread have very adequately pointed out. I don't believe in one size fits all solutions.. I think its about finding the best solution for the situation and having a good set of tools at your disposal to cover those solutions.. For some sites, Zen is all I need.. For some Joomla is the solo answer, but for sites which requires more blog style content (something EZ Pages doesn't really do) AND e-commerce, I'm gonna use Joomla and Zen Cart if the need requires it.. I've got one of those I'm working on now, and the embedded template contrib for Zen made it a BREEZE to skin Zen so that the transition between Joomla and Zen is seemless.

[mmenigma]

Hello,

I have integrated Zen Cart into my sites. Actually my past programmers did. I think it mostly works well but I'm having a few problems and I'm looking to find a Zen/Joomla Master to help iron them out.

1. I have 3 domains on a single server. Zen is hosted at site 1. When a user logs into either site 1, 2 or 3 they are supposed to be logged into all three sites. When a member logs into through site 2 or 3 and they click to Zen, Zen does not recognize the login but they are logged into everything else on all the sites, just not Zen.

2. I'm also having issues with the "customer" link in the Zen admin. I think this my be related to my issue 1.

I don't know if this is the proper place to seek a programmer who has dealt with this, but I thought I'd ask.

Mitch
staging.fabulousfoods.com

[DivaVocals]

Originally Posted by mmenigma

Hello,

I have integrated Zen Cart into my sites. Actually my past programmers did. I think it mostly works well but I'm having a few problems and I'm looking to find a Zen/Joomla Master to help iron them out.

1. I have 3 domains on a single server. Zen is hosted at site 1. When a user logs into either site 1, 2 or 3 they are supposed to be logged into all three sites. When a member logs into through site 2 or 3 and they click to Zen, Zen does not recognize the login but they are logged into everything else on all the sites, just not Zen.

2. I'm also having issues with the "customer" link in the Zen admin. I think this my be related to my issue 1.

I don't know if this is the proper place to seek a programmer who has dealt with this, but I thought I'd ask.

Mitch
staging.fabulousfoods.com

Yep definitely the wrong thread to seek a custom programmer.. You should try this thread: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=138

That thread is the place to post Zen Cart custom programming requests. HTH

[leonardawilson]

Interesting thread.

I built a site in 2005 using zen, but I didn't want to make the shop the home page, and I wanted to use the login session outside of zen to create protected pages for free download pages. So I custom built the home page, some static content pages, then added phpbb, wordpress and zen as components. Then I hired a firm (spent $300) to extend the cookie outside of zen to allow the login to apply to all pages on the domain.

Here it is:

http://www.midnightoilproductions.com/

The problem was that it took so much customization that it was basically rendered useless for upgrades.

Now I need to upgrade, and want the flexibility of a CMS. So, I looked at Joomla, but eventually decided as many others that VirtueMart and any other Joomla ecommerce solutions pale in comparison to zen.

So, having a lot of knowledge of zen from my 2005 experience, I have decided to use zen for my new site, and make it the home page but not look like a shop on the home page. I have already integrated wordpress with the woz mod, and have the forum installed but not matched via CSS yet. At this point the front page is mostly built. Yet to go: CSS for everything else, and a second mod to handle "latest news" in a CMS - like fashion.

So in other words, I have faced the same question over the last six months, and decided that zen is indeed capable of handling the needs of a Joomla - with the caveat that one has to be willing to dig more (my PHP experience is entirely in customizing zen and what I learned in about 4 hours of reading a book on php - in other words, I don't write code but feel comfortable in tweaking someone else's).

I concur with the dev team - stick with zen.

If anyone wants to see my new site in development, I can send a PM - don't want to post the IP address here.