Trying to bypass Step 2 Payment Checkout

So we use zen-cart edited with respect, there are not major in depth code edits.

I have been trying to bypass the payment step of checkout and I can not find where the progression of the pages trace through.

The idea is this is being pitched as a demo run version of front end for a client.
They don't need payment details for this, and it will be eventually producing a invoice after the order is checked out.

I want to just have them view for the demo..
Shipping Checkout and the next page would be confirmation.

How do I supply the payment needs or just have the main_page follow through to checkout?

If any of the gurus know how this is accessed I would greatly appreciate this.

I know there are basic ways to completely bypass this whole step.

Setting up free Free Order (freecharger)
and then change the base ./includes/filenames.php entry which is
define('FILENAME_CHECKOUT_PAYMENT', 'checkout_payment');
to
define('FILENAME_CHECKOUT_PAYMENT', 'checkout_confirmation');

This just forces its way around the payment loading when the link is referenced.

The obvious problem with this is it is a bad hack of a edit.
I would rather in the future know how to control the page flow through settings.

Everything I have read online for the document of this does not help at all.
Lots of people asking questions but no answers.

Lots of PayPal Express, which is another bad hack to setup just to bypass a page load.
And many mentions of turning off Coupons, and Gift Certificates..
The problem with that is it still doesn't run past the payment step with these uninstalled.

Is the need truly to bypass the page or just not to collect money in order to move forwards to checkout? If the page is bypassed, then there is information that would still need to be passed along to support the checkout and final results.

If the check/money order option is used as the only available payment option, then the process can run to completion. There are settings that could be used to consider the order fully paid for and allow the remaining actions to occur without admin intervention (indicating that the payment has been received.)

Otherwise, for learning purposes, page load is along the lines of the header_php(xxx).php file(s) in the associated includes/modules/pages folder followed by the template override file for that page with the next page to be loaded/processed based on where the form on that page attempts to send the customer... follow that set of paths on paper and if you still feel like the payment page just has to be completely omitted (even though it would/may be a part of a standard checkout) you should be able to make the needed changes.

You could check out what I did in the No Prices Template in the Plugins area. This nine-year-old mod won't work (I don't think), but there's this from the instructions: "I'm not coder enough to figure out how to bypass the checkout_payment page, so I reduced and renamed it to Instructions and Comments and offered a place to add content to the page."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjordan

I know there are basic ways to completely bypass this whole step.

....

The obvious problem with this is it is a bad hack of a edit.
I would rather in the future know how to control the page flow through settings.

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There are no settings that control this sort of thing - you'd have to change the code. And change it again every time you upgrade.
Unless your client views this as critical, you should consider just leaving the payment page in there with a single pre-checked option.