Adding a "coming soon" button to product display

**knitlady** · 30 May 2006, 04:34 PM

I would like to display the photo of products that are "coming soon" but not yet in stock. So far when I do that I set it up just like it was in stock but just don't add a count into the inventory total. When I do that a button that says "sold out" shows. Since all of my products are digital except for the cd's basically nothing will ever be "sold out"

Can anyone tell me how I can get rid of the sold out button and replace it with a "coming soon" button that will activate when I put the product in the catalog but go away when I input a quantity available into the product description?

I'm sort of guessing that I would need to make a button, save as a gif and then place in the code where the "sold out" button is now. Am I halfway on track?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mellany

**bunyip** · 30 May 2006, 04:42 PM

You're more than halfway on track - you are on the right track for one way of addressing your problem.
Make that new button, save it as includes/templates/your_template/buttons/english/button_sold_out.gif
(note that there is also a small sold_out button (button_sold_out_sm.gif) - you might need to replace that as well.

There is another way to approach this: you could create a new product type and call it products_upcoming. Everything about that product type would be identical to the product_general type except that you set it as being unable to add to cart. It's a lot more work that simply changing the sold out button, and as you're selling all digital products you probably don't need the extra flexibility this approach provides.

**knitlady** · 30 May 2006, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by bunyip

You're more than halfway on track - you are on the right track for one way of addressing your problem.
Make that new button, save it as includes/templates/your_template/buttons/english/button_sold_out.gif
(note that there is also a small sold_out button (button_sold_out_sm.gif) - you might need to replace that as well.

There is another way to approach this: you could create a new product type and call it products_upcoming. Everything about that product type would be identical to the product_general type except that you set it as being unable to add to cart. It's a lot more work that simply changing the sold out button, and as you're selling all digital products you probably don't need the extra flexibility this approach provides.

Thanks for answering so quickly. I made the new buttons and saved them as the old ones. When I check one of the products with 0 in inventory the sold out button still shows. Is there something I need to change somewhere else?

How do I ad a new product type? If I go that route and set a new product up that way could I then move it to products_general when it is available like you can move them from one catagory to another?

Mellany

**bunyip** · 30 May 2006, 06:55 PM

If the original sold_out button image is still showing then you've uploaded your custom image to the wrong place or named it incorrectly.

On second thoughts, the new product type wouldn't be a useful solution, because you can't change an existing product from one type to another.

**knitlady** · 30 May 2006, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by bunyip

If the original sold_out button image is still showing then you've uploaded your custom image to the wrong place or named it incorrectly.

On second thoughts, the new product type wouldn't be a useful solution, because you can't change an existing product from one type to another.

Its very strange....I redid the buttons, didn't like the first ones. I'm working on both my pc and my laptop. When I moved the files to the server the first time I hi-lited both files and then dragged them to the correct place and dropped them both in at the same time. Each file uploaded and ask if I wanted to replace what was there, I said yes to both. When I open the web site on the pc the and go to the products via the category menu on the side, the new small button is there. When I click on the product picture to go to the individual product description page the old sold out button is still there.

What is even more strange is that when I do exactly the same thing only on my laptop, both the old buttons are still there. I used the laptop to ftp the files.

Does this make any sense to anyone? What am I doing wrong?

Mellany

**bunyip** · 30 May 2006, 08:58 PM

try clearing your browser cache

**tajul_ashyqin** · 12 Jun 2006, 08:15 AM

did you use the CALL FOR PRICE feature? if not, you can use this feature by replacing the call_for_price.jpg to any coming soon image...that should do it! good luck!

**knitlady** · 12 Jun 2006, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by tajul_ashyqin

did you use the CALL FOR PRICE feature? if not, you can use this feature by replacing the call_for_price.jpg to any coming soon image...that should do it! good luck!

thanks for your answer. I've got everything thing figured out except the out of stock problem. I'll try your suggestion.
Thanks again

Mellany

**quentinjs** · 13 Jun 2006, 06:47 AM

I have been pondering this same thought, but in my case I need many special indicator flags.

* Coming Soon
* Special Order
* Installed

I've had others as well that I thought of as I toiled away on my site. Probably not an easy task, but might be worth looking at is a 2 part project.
1. Allow to define 10 indicators.
2. allow all indicators to be shown on each product, it will be upto the shop owner to only select 1 (or perhaps 2) that may be apropriate. The catch will be to display these in a easy to manage way.

How hard would this be to implement, alas its not a feature that can sit external to ZC but would I'm guessing need to be tied into it directly.

**tajul_ashyqin** · 13 Jun 2006, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by quentinjs

I have been pondering this same thought, but in my case I need many special indicator flags.

* Coming Soon
* Special Order
* Installed

I've had others as well that I thought of as I toiled away on my site. Probably not an easy task, but might be worth looking at is a 2 part project.
1. Allow to define 10 indicators.
2. allow all indicators to be shown on each product, it will be upto the shop owner to only select 1 (or perhaps 2) that may be apropriate. The catch will be to display these in a easy to manage way.

How hard would this be to implement, alas its not a feature that can sit external to ZC but would I'm guessing need to be tied into it directly.

ehm, not a bad idea though!