My Checkout Without Account Mod

[godspeed27]

This looks great, I can't wait till you get it finished! Thank you so much for this.

[KGZotU]

Alright, I've made a few more modifications.

1. Conditionally editing account references out of follow-up e-mails:
Done, update e-mails no longer contain the "detailed invoice" link.

2. Giving the page a more integrated look with the rest of checkout, including alternate page header('Step 1 of 5', 'Step 2 of 5' etc.) definitions:
Done, no_account looks like another checkout page now.

3. As an optional add-on, a modified tableless order steps mod that will also conditionally display 4 or 5 steps:
Done, you can see this on the test server. The order steps div shows 4 or 5 well formatted steps depending on whether you are checking out with or without an account.

Not done:
A page to check order status with e-mail address and order number.

This is all up on the test server. I'll have it repackaged for download in the next few hours, along with some screen shots from my live store which is a bit nicer looking.

Also of note, I went ahead and took down the forms asking for Company name and fax number. These are still available using the stock Configuration -> Customer Details.

--Joe

[KGZotU]

Clarification: Regular account holders still receive "detailed invoice" links with their update e-mails.

In addition to the changes above, I've created an auxiliary readme detailing a couple of optional modifications, including logout upon checkout_success.

I've also taken some screen shots of this on my live store. They do much better justice to what can be done with this mod using a more attractive template. You can find the links in my sig.

There is one thing I'd like some input on. As you can see from the first screen shot, I'm telling my customers that an account is necessary, then I offer them the option to checkout without one. Obviously I need to change this. Can anyone think of a good, short, one sentence, fairly inclusive reason why someone should create an account?

That would help. (;

To do: Simplify the readme and installation instructions. Create that page for checking order status.

Thanks much,
Joe

PS: Please keep nitpicking. (;

[Boggled]

Looks really good Joe!

How about something like...

Create a Customer Profile which will allow you to shop faster, create an address book and take advantage of other member benefits.

It's needs tweaking, but maybe it's a start.

[KGZotU]

Thanks for all the support, godspeed and Boggled.

I've got the Order Status page up, if someone could give it a look. That's the last of my planned features. I think I'll clean up my code tomorrow, then leave it open to testing and feedback for a few days.

Thanks again for the help,
Joe

[kelvyn]

Can anyone tell me what advantages/benefits there might be over the other checkout without account mod. Both are really appreciated!

[craftzombie]

Nice work KGZotU! My hack needed someone to come along and make it what I really would like it to be. When I was forced to choose account or no account, I chose no account... wishing I could choose optional account. I would prefer optional account, but do not have enough experience with PHP to do this. I am looking forward to making another test site where I can play around with your mod. I can say this.... I have had more orders come through after removing accounts. I think it would be even better with optional accounts.

Thanks for your hard work. I can't wait to poke around and see what I can do with this! And of course I am pressed for time at the moment. It figures.

[KGZotU]

Can anyone tell me what advantages/benefits there might be over the other checkout without account mod. Both are really appreciated!

Kelvyn,

Sure. Basically, my mod allows a user to either create an account for checkout, or to checkout without an account. So, it's a bit more featured but it's probably also a bit more complicated, a larger pain to upgrade with, etc. Both mods are otherwise similar.

I think the essential strength that both of our mods share is that whether the customer creates an account or "doesn't create an account", we still capture and store all essential user contact info. As I mentioned, I was inspired by Craftzombie's mod.

I've added a couple of extras, like a page to check order status and a modification of tableless order steps that displays 4 or 5 steps depending on whether you're using an account or not.

Craftzombie, well thank you for the inspiration. (; I've really been wanting to do this for a long time. IIRC some studies have found that having to create an account is second only to hidden charges as a reason for cart abandonment. None of the other checkout without account mods seemed like they had a lot of potential, though. Glad I found yours. (;

Thanks again,
Joe

[JMS_Music]

Hi all great mod... BUT :-)

Just went throught the install in the test version runs great plonked it on the live site and all hell breaks loose!!

We are using the latest edition (3.7) edited and uploaded all files and get this error

--------------------------------

Warning: main(includes/modules/no_account.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/jms-music-de/htdocs/Shop/includes/modules/pages/no_account/header_php.php on line 17

Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'includes/modules/no_account.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/jms-music-de/htdocs/Shop/includes/modules/pages/no_account/header_php.php on line 17
------------------------------------

The php reads:

<?php
/**
* no_account header_php.php
*
* @package page
* @copyright Copyright 2003-2006 Zen Cart Development Team
* @copyright Portions Copyright 2003 osCommerce
* @license http://www.zen-cart.com/license/2_0.txt GNU Public License V2.0
* @version $Id: header_php.php 4035 2006-07-28 05:49:06Z drbyte $
*/

// This should be first line of the script:
$zco_notifier->notify('NOTIFY_HEADER_START_NO_ACCOUNT');


require(DIR_WS_MODULES . zen_get_module_directory('require_languages.php'));
include(DIR_WS_MODULES . zen_get_module_directory(FILENAME_NO_ACCOUNT));

$breadcrumb->add(NAVBAR_TITLE);

// This should be last line of the script:
$zco_notifier->notify('NOTIFY_HEADER_END_NO_ACCOUNT');
?>
-----------------------------------

We use 5 language packs as we have customers in various European countries and I figure it has something to do with this as we added the other 4 language files and copied the English data across.... (will make the translations available when finished)

I guess this is an easy php fix but either I am stoopid or its more serious....

Uploading the back-up as its a working shop so you wont be able to see the error but if a php wiz has an idea we would really welcome a reply....

Kind Regards

Richie
JMS Music
www.jms-music.de

[KGZotU]

Richie,

The server is basically saying that it wasn't able to find the no_account.php file at includes/modules/YOUR_TEMPLATE/no_account.php.

The most common reason for this would be misnaming the YOUR_TEMPLATE folder. Unfortunately this mod has its fingers in a lot of pies, so it can be tough to nail down every last YOUR_TEMPLATE. (;

If you renamed these folders from your computer, you might be able to go into the folder you uploaded to see whether or not this was the case.

If this isn't the cause, and this is actually the cause of some language issue I'm not familiar with, then you could temporarily work around it by placing the includes/modules/YOUR_TEMPLATE/no_account.php file directly into /includes/modules.

That said, I'm working out a couple of bugs today, namely around gift certificates.

Thank you for your encouragement. I hope it was this simple problem.

I hope this helps,
Joe