Product Type Book (by moku)

Hi Neelam
Whatever zencart contribution add-on you use, you'll often end up needing to learn some of what to do from reading the appropriate forum thread, and even buying that zencart manual. Or you can ask for paid help in the forum section

for beginners its absolutely a good idea to install a test zencart, for experimenting. Go on..just upload the contrib files, apply the sql patch in zencart admin...You can always delete the cart and start again if you need to... its free :) it doesn't go bang.. its fun...(sometimes)

The book contribs should work out of the box provided you understand that many of the book fields values are not texted directly into the admin book product page, you choose there from preset options dropdown lists.. therefore you have to go populate the authors list at start separately, because the tables are created empty on installation of the add on. We don't know what authors you require.. or what book formats you have..

So for instance, add an author to the authors list table... then all the books can see that choice for author in book admin. This method moku chose because it enables selection of more than one author for any one book.

Hi,
I've installed your expanded mod and it looks great. Just what I needed. Great work.
Is it possible to enter the names of authors, publishers, etc. directly on the "Add Product" screen rather than selecting them from a dropdown menu? I'm finding that part a bit tedious and would love it if I could enter all the book details directly on one page.
Tahnks and well done.
Bearaman

Can we make the search fileds more refind. Like In the search filed we can add fileds like Author/ ISBN/ Publisher like in the web site www.bagchee.com

Respnse will be appreciated.

the (extended) book type is based on moku's design.. 'fraid you'll have to put up with pre-populating the dropdowns with authors etc,

You're doing the extra bit of work with the dropdown entries because the returns are worth it.. if you really wanted to type in author on the collect info page, you could turn on a spare field and call it author.. but the searches won't search it..

raunharman are you typing one fingered (I use two ;)
The search sideboxes are 'as they are', ISBN is model, so in theory an ordinary search (the standard search box provided by zencart) would find that.. publisher is manufacturer, the manufacturer sidebox will search that.

That was the point.. as already said, its the dropdown admin entries that are the ones searched by the moku-style sideboxes. The search searches by 'author number', not by author name.. its a posh/efficient way of designing the database tables.

It also avoids common long term mistakes like putting both 'J Blogs' and 'John Blogs' in as authors, or 'Blogs J'...'Blogs John' when they are all actually the same author, and you forgot exactly how you had put in the name, the first time a book needed it.

I know.. the old book contrib years back had that weakness, i ended up with exactly those sort of multiple entries ..

The seach option is giving error.
When I type any keyword, I am getting the following error:

Advanced Search
Items starting with ... A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'SELECT DISTINCT
in:
[select count(distinct p.products_id) as total FROM products p LEFT JOIN manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ) , products_description pd WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND ( p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM (products p LEFT JOIN manufacturers m USING(manufacturers_id), products_description pd, categories c, products_to_categories p2c ) LEFT JOIN meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id= p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1 WHERE (p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sikh%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sikh%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sikh%' OR (mtpd.metatags_keywords LIKE '%sikh%' AND mtpd.metatags_keywords !='') OR (mtpd.metatags_description LIKE '%sikh%' AND mtpd.metatags_description !='') OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sikh%') )) ) OR p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM products p LEFT JOIN manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ), products_description pd, categories c, products_to_categories p2c LEFT JOIN meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id = p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1, product_book_extra pbe, books_to_authors bta, book_authors ba, book_authors_info bai WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND pbe.products_id = p.products_id AND bta.products_id = p.products_id AND bta.book_authors_id = ba.book_authors_id AND ba.book_authors_id = bai.book_authors_id AND bai.language_id = 1 AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sikh%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sikh%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sikh%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sikh%'OR book_authors_name LIKE '%sikh%'OR subtitle LIKE '%sikh%') ) ) OR p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM products p LEFT JOIN manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ), products_description pd, categories c, products_to_categories p2c LEFT JOIN meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id = p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1, books_to_types btt, book_type bt, book_type_description btd WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND btt.products_id = p.products_id AND btt.book_type_id = bt.book_type_id AND bt.book_type_id = btd.book_type_id AND btd.language_id = 1 AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sikh%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sikh%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sikh%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sikh%' OR book_type_name LIKE '%sikh%') ) ) ) ]

Raunharman, maybe you can p.m me with your cart page url and/or details of exactly what you did, for instance is it a sidebox (moku) search or the zencart search box, or the advanced search page with its various options

I don't use advanced search much, but it looks like the manufacturer is still being asked for, and recently I tried to alter the sql to avoid scanning manufacturer. Bear in mind there are so many possibilities (excuses excuses)

For raunharman and anyone else who gets an sql error message using zencart main search box with either moku or my extended versions, go to the download page and locate update fix labelled may 2007, it may fix the problem.

Otherwise temporarily switch off 'search in books' in admin | ...product types ..book type... edit layout

Its the file in the fix, that addes extra sql to the end of the search sql made by the rest of zencart. There were some 'missing' local prefixes to some of the book tables field names, its commented in the fix file. Not all setups seem to need it though.

http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482

Hello, does this support 1.37? I had a look on your site but under the 1.37 downloads it is not listed.
Also do the search (drop down boxes come with it or do they need to be installed seperately?
I am looking for this type of mod for a Jewellery site ( seach by gemstone, by birthstone, by metal type etc>
Thank you in advance
:smile:

http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482

shedman1 yes there is a 137 version... see link... its my version, moku ceased work on book type before 137 came out. Read the page text it explains some of your queries.

The optional 'grid' version is merely a different display format for product listings, similar to Dr Byte's contrib mod..

If you have the energy you can change the appropriate defines to suit your text labels requirements

1) I thought I read a post here that mentioned how to re-format the administration screen (used to enter book data) so that
a) I can change the order of the fields
b) I can change the title of the fields.

Can you let me know the files that need to be edited and where in the files the statements need to be re-ordered? (Approximate line number would be good).

b) I activated the "misc1" field, but it doesn't seem to show on the admin screen to allow data entry. Other fields that I have activated do show. Any advice??

Thanks

Hi gluckfs
re your (1) the order of the Display lines in the 'book info template' for the cart display can be easily changed by adjusting the **order** of the array entries in the big array, at the top of that book info template. (in ..\templates)

To re-order elements of the admin data entry page you will have to do it totally by hand, in the collect_info template.

Looking for the 'defines' entries which set the texts labels shown on pages is an art... but the defines are always in ..\languages\english or ..\languages\english\extra_defintions. (in \includes for the cart, under \admin for admin side).

The file names will have 'book' in them, see your original uploaded book contrib fileset.

Unsure why misc 1 field might not show in the admin side, but why not use one of the other misc fields?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=51&products_id=482

shedman1 yes there is a 137 version...

---

Thank you very much for your help that is great :-)
Have a nice day

I need to show sub-titles on the category pages.
How do I do it
www.nbopd.com is the web site.

Thanks in advnace

Raunharman.. If you mean show subtitles on the product listings, that's not a supported function. Only ISBN and/or author(s) can be shown...

If you wish to modify the file that adds the above ISBN etc, its class.productBookListing.php
Subtitle only exists when its a book product, whereas ISBN is a standard zencart field (=model) and the authors are got specially in class.productBookListing.php.

I think, I could not explain the problem.
Whne we click on any category, the list of books show up. What we want is that along with the title, the sub title should also show up. After the sub title ,a brief description should be there

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

Raunharman.. If you mean show subtitles on the product listings, that's not a supported function. Only ISBN and/or author(s) can be shown...

If you wish to modify the file that adds the above ISBN etc, its class.productBookListing.php
Subtitle only exists when its a book product, whereas ISBN is a standard zencart field (=model) and the authors are got specially in class.productBookListing.php.

---

I think, I could not explain the problem.
Whne we click on any category, the list of books show up. What we want is that along with the title, the sub title should also show up. After the sub title ,a brief description should be there

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

Raunharman.. If you mean show subtitles on the product listings, that's not a supported function. Only ISBN and/or author(s) can be shown...

If you wish to modify the file that adds the above ISBN etc, its class.productBookListing.php
Subtitle only exists when its a book product, whereas ISBN is a standard zencart field (=model) and the authors are got specially in class.productBookListing.php.

---

I believe that I could not explain the problem.
What I wish to get is that When we click on category, the list o books is displayed. At that place we need the title and subtitle to be displayed.

I believe that I could not explain the problem.
What I wish to get is that When we click on category, the list o books is displayed. At that place we need the title and subtitle to be displayed.

Raunharman.... yes I did understand your post, product listing is the listing of books as you describe, when you click on a category?

One way of getting round the Subtitle issue is to remove the subtitle entry from the book subtitle (in other words don't use a subtitle entry!) then ADD the subtitle text onto your actual Title:

Code:

---

book title<br />The Subtitle

---

so that now the title displayed should have an added line of subtitle underneath it.

Hey there!

OK, I'll admit to being totally confused. :-)

I'm working on a ZC site, and one of the products sold is Books. The client would like an easy way for them to add-in things like the title, author, pp count, year published, etc on the admin side (and then show this with each product on the visitor's side).

I _think_ that Moku's BPT add-on will do the trick -- but I'm completely unsure which one to download.

hareslade, if I download and use your latest add-on from your site, does it include everything I'll need, or will I need to donwload Moku's and then yours (if I want the nifty search)?

At any rate, if someone could advise me as to which item in Moku's download list is the most correct, I'd be very appreciative. :-)

Thanks!

Hi Hareslade,
I've added your book product type and it's looks great. Thanks for your work on this. I also visited your site and I really liked your grid layout once I clicked on 'Mystery Books'. How do I get this layout?
I tried to install the grid layout that comes with Moku's extended book download but that didn't seem to work. Now I'm thinking it may be the Gallery_JPH download under your ZC-1.3.7 link. Can you tell me which will work for me?
Thanks,
Bearaman

Hi
bearaman
I am not sure what the original moku book version does, you could apply the dr.byte grid layout contribution to it and get grid, but thats not what I did...

The 1.3.7 version you see on my hareslade site is as you say, the 'jph' one that is in the downloads section on my site, and the page grid design is css controlled so you need a copy of stylesheet_list_columns.css from the classic folder if you're not using classic template.
http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482

For some reason I control each grid (book block) in the product listing with a px pixel value, which you'll find settable in admin, under edit layout of book type.

In the file package there is the basic fileset (and sql in 'RUN_THIS_SQLPATCH_FOR_DATABASE') that creates the book type, all in folder 'EXTENDED_BOOK_MAIN_FILES'. Use \catalogue...

Then there is another folder 'EXTENDED_BOOK_OPTIONAL_GRID_LAYOUT_FILES' which you upload as well after the above files. This second folder has the grid modifications files, and another small sql patch.

In order to enable the grid layout, just for books, you lastly need to add/edit the 'product type' of each zc category that your books are in, to 'product book only' (or similar). Grid layout won't fire up without that being done.

(Somewhere in the 'defines' files is the numeric setting for equalling the book product type value in the database, but you won't need to alter that unless you have changed the numeric setting for the book product type itself.)

btw my replies may be intermittent, I'm out and about just now

Hi Again,
Got the grid layout working and it looks great! Just a word on how I actually installed it. I first had to install Dr. Byte's grid contribution. Once I got this working, I then added your own grid files. This gave me the grid layout that can be seen on your site. Not sure if this is the correct way to do it but it worked anyway!
One last thing - how do I get a "buy" button to appear on each book on the grid?
Thanks again,
Bearaman

bearaman
look in admin | configuration | product listing | Display Product Add to Cart Button (0=off; 1=on; ....

That can turn on buy now

Note the fields displayed (ISBN, Author) are handled by a special book 'observer' file using the zencart system.

Also includes\modules\product_listing.php has some preset true/false settings at the top, but ignore the 'gallery' ones. That file matches my gallery contrib if anyone ever installs both book and gallery product types, this file controls the product listing display of course..

Perfect. Looks great! Thanks for your help.
One thing I can suggest; if you set the height in your css file to height:150px; then you can get all your book product boxes to have the same height.
Thanks,
Bearaman

Hi bearaman
got a demo anywhere of the 'set the height mod'? Why didn't I think of that...

Sorry for the delay...to get all the boxes into and equal height and also add a nice dashed border, just update the stylesheet_list_columns.css with the following:

Code:

---

/* contents */
div.centerBoxContentsProductsCols{
        margin: 5px;
            padding: 5px;
        background-color:#FFFFCC;
        border:4px;
        text-align:center;
        height:290px;
        border-style:dashed;
}

---

I haven't checked it out of FF but it looks fine on IE6.

OK, now for my question. How do I change the width of the columns on your grid display? I tried changing the value in config - product listing - column width but that didn't do anything. I also tried running the sql script with my new value but I got an error and the change was ignored. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Bearaman

bearaman, expect you found it
I think display block column width is defined in the book type edit layout, look for a '170 px' in the list

Hi
Announcing Version 3 which replaces my Version 2 for zencart 1.3.7

What you need to know is:

BETA1 (but fully working) download zip is at:
http://www.hareslade.com/zc125/downl..._V_3_LANGS.zip

SINGLE LANGUAGE DEMO:
http://www.hareslade.com/zc137_t4bk/...roducts_id=183

MULTI-LANGUAGE DEMO (note, the English labels for book were just prefixed for other languages display, e.g with 'SC' on schinese pages):
http://www.hareslade.com/zc137_t5bkm...roducts_id=181

You can use the V3 in Single language, but its fully equipped to handle multiple languages. Its a full install pack, with grid option as V2 was.

If you are running my previous version 2, you can (but backup the existing database!) use an included upgrade SQL patch, and just overlay the V3 files over your V2 installation. I did this on my book site:
http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...=index&cPath=3

What I need from people is, test V3 out, p.m me if there are any sql hiccups or identifiable bugs, then i can issue the proper V3 download fileset in a while.

V3 has been tested by me, but I need to do other things just now, and if anyone can get it together to convert the 'extra' defines needed for book display (firstly cart, secondly admin pages) into ANY other languages ...I would really appreciate that! Dreamweaver is best for that process on those php files..

There is a sub-folder in the pack that has the 'english' defines extra set needed for book, these need going through and properly converting to equivalent other languages.

Do give me converted 'book' defines, ideally matching one of the 'official' 1.3.7 language packs languages?

Enjoy... test...be happy...

Hi,
I followed the install instructions for v2 but under Product Types I expected to see a new product, but didn't.
I have added a new product before installing this MOD, could it be conflicting?
Thanks.

gxjenkins
yes in V2 you should see a new admin product type 'book-product', (i.d is 7) did you apply the sql patch?. Are there tables in the database named '...book...'?

Maybe it needs the database tables inspecting, the sql patch line that inserts book type is

Code:

---

INSERT INTO product_types VALUES (7, 'Product - Book', 'product_book', '1', 'Y', '', now(), now());

---

so inspect the 'product_types' table in phpmyadmin, probably from your host cpanel.

- it doesn't matter what products you already put in in 'other' product types, a new book product is addable once you have the book product type files installed, with the database sql patch **successfully** applied.

I made some progress last night. I found under 'Admin', 'Extras' some things for Books, so something did happen. I still didn't have a Product Type for books.
I uploaded the files in the MOD for "EXTENDED_BOOK_MAIN_FILES", and in the catalog directory there was a folder "RUN_THIS_SQLPATCH_FOR_DATABASE". After running this patch the new Product Type was there.
I haven't figured out what the "Book DD2-DD" is for, but sofar everything seems to be working fine.
BTW, is anyone running the BETA? Does it fix any issues, or provide more than what is in V2? Just wondering.

book dd2 (in extras) is one of the extra 'multiple value' fields, if you switch it on in admin | product type books | edit layout, it sticks an extra book field in your 'collect info' book page in admin, and on book cart display.

The six dd's fields can have more than one value selected .. the authors is an example (it's dd1 actually), you can link any number of authors to a single book.

There are many other 'unused' fields lurking as well there.. you don't have to use them unless you need them. The simpler ones are just single value fields, while the dd's can provide multiple values per book, chosen from your entered values in the corresponding 'extras'.

And before anyone asks.. blame moku for having to stick authors in admin 'extras' separately .. but he had very good reason to do it that way, it enables the book display of authors being immediately searchable for other books by that author, and this method a neater way of ensuring authors don't get repeated, with entering say one called 'D.J.Smith' and one called 'D.Smith' (and one Dave Smith) all at different times, once you forget what you called him first time..

=====
BETA 3

Well give the Beta 3 a chance.. its only been up a few days. I'm encouraging people to use V3 because I won't be updating V2 when a new zencart version comes out. Although V2 is quite ok, V3 is going to be the ongoing one.

I can't support updating V2 above 1.3.7, it means double work.. V3 code is handling potential multiple languages, the database has extra 'language i.d fields' not present in V2, the php coding is more complex.

V3 is the multi-language version, which the book product 'should' have been from day 1... so someone should use it and tell me anything needs fixing..

Most people will probably use V3 in single language anyway.. and you can upgrade from V2 to V3 using the upgrade section in the V3 download.

The main difference you notice in V3 versus v2, is that in single language you get a language flag by a lot of the book fields (even though its running single language), and the books admin page for products is laid out differently because it may need to display sets of data 'per language' when running multiple languages.

btw
just to expand on the six 'dd' multiple choice fields,

For each book, imagine that values stored in that book's database field for 'authors' is a list separated by commas,

each 'author name' in that list is one of those selected in the book admin, from the 'multiple selection' dropdown box' for authors,

the master dropdown box list itself is created directly from the 'dd' entries (e.g authors) that you already loaded into in admin | extras.

Once you use it, it becomes obvious what it does...

Thanks for the explanation. I added a few books last night, and I like it. I'm glad I only had 3 books listed before adding this MOD. I will get to V3 after a do a backup. I'm trying to sell one of my three stores, and I need to be ready to move the stock over if it sells. My poor little Thrift Shop is going to go from 90 items to about 1000. I hope the seems don't break.
Thanks for your help.

I need to display the Book Title in a bigger font than other details. How do I do it.

Also if I donot write anything in the subtitles, can I stop the titel getting repeated in product display.

hareslade
Just great job on V3 of PTB especially its support for multi languages! However, some little problems :
Authors and Publishers fields do not register any input in DB except for the images (V2 had no problems with that)
I upgraded from V2 to V3 and applied all the patches but errors occur when applying the last part of patch file ADMIN_PATCH_SQL_EXTENDED_BOOK_TYPE_V3
specifically the last section about filters :

Quote:

---

#-- -------
#-- Filters
#-- -------

#jph added the other two blank fields to clear a 1.3.5 php error etc

INSERT INTO get_terms_to_filter (get_term_name, get_term_table, get_term_name_field)
VALUES ('book_genre_id','TABLE_BOOK_GENRE_DESCRIPTION','book_genre_name');
INSERT INTO get_terms_to_filter (get_term_name, get_term_table, get_term_name_field)
VALUES ('book_type_id','TABLE_BOOK_TYPE_DESCRIPTION','book_type_name');
INSERT INTO get_terms_to_filter (get_term_name, get_term_table, get_term_name_field)
VALUES ('book_authors_id','TABLE_BOOK_AUTHORS','book_authors_name');

#-----------< END >--------------------------------------------------

---

The error produced by the admin sql patch is:

Quote:

---

1062 Duplicate entry 'book_genre_id' for key 1
in:
[INSERT INTO zen_get_terms_to_filter (get_term_name, get_term_table, get_term_name_field) VALUES ('book_genre_id','TABLE_BOOK_GENRE_DESCRIPTION','book_genre_name');]

---

Other than that other stuff works fine so far. I'm still testing this beta V3 and I'll share the experience with you all.

Hi Amilcar

Thanks for trying V3 upgrade, the 'Duplicate entry 'book_genre_id' etc probably indicates you applied the full V3 sql patch for a new V3 install, rather than an upgrade patch?

You're supposed to use the update sql patch if you already have V2 book installed, maybe I didn't make that clear

Restore your backup V2 book database before your upgrade attempt, (you may now have the V3 actual books fileset uploaded, but thats ok)

now apply the update sql 'sql_update_V2_TO_V3LANGS.txt' in folder 3_UPGRADE_EXISTING_BOOK_V2_TO_V3_LANGS

This is a cut-down sql patch, that only updates some book table fields (and keys) in the database,

The full V3 sql that you appear to have used will indeed probably only half complete, and the missing authors etc are probably due to that. Cross fingers..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raunharman

I need to display the Book Title in a bigger font than other details. How do I do it.

Also if I donot write anything in the subtitles, can I stop the titel getting repeated in product display.

---

raunharman, yes the subtitle label display should not appear if you leave the book subtitle empty

and the book title main display text size/appearance is controlled by page html

Code:

---

<h1 id="productName" class="productGeneral".....

---

So... you can change the 'h1' (heading 1) css setting in the zencart stylesheet file,

Currently stylesheet.css standard zencart has

Code:

---

h1 {
        font-size: 1.5em;
        color: #9a9a9a;
        }

---

You can increase the em value for size, but this will change ALL h1 text on your cart

Or you could use the id, insert this into the css file, it should only of course change the product name size
..

Code:

---

#productName {
        font-size: 3em;
        color: #9a9a9a;
        }

---

Suggestions only, you need to read up a little on css styles, if you do these things.

I could have changed the class or id in the html page template, to relate to books only, e.g 'productBook', but I didn't.

hareslade
I congratulate you on the release of the new version of your 'product book type'. I am the 1st time user of your Zen cart add on. The issue I am facing is that I am not able to add 'author's' through 'Extras>Book authors'. It is adding the rows but not showing what I have entered as author's name or nick name. The details are not shown on the add book section also. The authors list is blank there. I am able to successfully add book type, book format etc. It would be great if you could crack my problem. I have been sitting with this for about 2days.
Thanks and Regards
Jazeem

Jazeem.. I'll upload a new test cart / V3 install, and check it out again. In the meantime, you have acess to phpmyadmin, see if the database book_authors table actually has any entries in it.

Raunharman, re. your post a few days back! I said...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

Or you could use the id, insert this into the css file, it should only of course change the product name size
..

Code:

---

#productName {
        font-size: 3em;
        color: #9a9a9a;
        }

---

.

---

my apologies...regarding the book title, in the stylesheet_book_prod.css there is already the entry

Code:

---

#productName{
        font-size:1.2em;
        }

---

That's a css entry I put in to control book title size, thats the one needs altering

Jazeem...

I installed the book V3 files on a new 1.3.7 test cart, I do get the authors entries inputted ok, and listed in books admin authors dropdown, so I currently don't know why you do not...

Feel free to 'private message' me for suggestions, to continue sorting it out.. it sounds like the authors table will be empty..

I mentioned 'phpmyadmin' above, without explaining.. usually in cpanel for your host, there is access directly to the database setup system.. also they usually use phpmyadmin to give you access into the database tables directly.

Alternatively (which is what I used to do sometimes) is get hold of the phpmyadmin fileset (its free) and install it on the actual website, then you can see the database without having to go through cpanel.

The phpmyadmin needs pointing to your database, similar to zencart install procedures.

Hello,
I install a new zen 1.37 shop and the book product type 2.0 on it. Then I transform it for using with DVDs. All works well. I add two DVDs and use the authors field for performers. Then I read in this forum about Version 3 and install it over and run the 2 to 3 SQL-Patch. Now the performers are only shown when I use the english admin, if I switch to german, there ar no performers stored. If I try to edit a performer (author) and save it, there is no name in german and also in the english language it is away. The same happens, when I insert a new performer(author), only the picture is stored in the database but no name and no nickname in no language.

I have a look with phpMyAdmin to the database. book_authors_name and book_authors_nickname are empty in both languages.

michaelhl
Your post confuses me a bit ... but that's my problem!

It's correct that if you install V3 over V2, then create german afterwards, you'll see an empty (for instance) author names dropdown, in the *german* book admin page section, for all book products. But the dropdowns are still full in English section....

The newly created / required 'language 2' (german) dropdown entries will indeed all be empty, you need to fill the empty german ones up in admin | 'extras'.

I am not sure if you are saying these german dropdown list entries now can't be filled up, or if you do, the English ones disappear?

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

Maybe its confusing that you have to go and manually put the new language's entries into all the 'extras' lists such as authors - I could change the system so it mimics what zencart does, just copy all the dropdowns lists across from English?

(there is an auto update function on each 'admin | extras' dropdown entries list,
so I can make that auto-update copy the English values across - at present it creates blank entries in the 'new' language, e.g author name, info. and nickname fields)

Further than that... do p.m me with more info (for instance mysql version, more info)... this is a V3 beta, its hard to predict how people will use it, or expect it to behave, most specially in upgrade mode, then using multiple languages.







.

The beta1 V3 has some bugs in it I need to fix...what michaelhl says is correct...

So although beta1 V3 works in single language, just the admin side needs correcting, in the way the 'extras' 'dropdown' pages work in multiple language.

I'll do those mods shortly, I will get back with a Beta 2 version3!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

The beta1 V3 has some bugs in it I need to fix.

---

To add to your list...

I just did a fresh install of 1.3.7 and then added the new beta to it. I discovered that my first couple of attempts to enter books resulted in an entry with no title and no description. (yes, I looked in phpmyadmin)

When I tried again with data in more of the fields it worked. I'll do a little more experimenting to see which field(s) make it happen and which don't, but I won't be able to get to that for a bit.

How do you handle multiple authors?

For instance, I've got books by "joe blow, jane doe, and joe schmoe"

Also, how do you handle one author who has written some books solo and some in combination with other people? Do I have to create a new author entry each time Joe Blow writes a book with someone else?

BTW, the above problem I was having appears to be associated with adding authors from the product input form. I can't add authors properly either. (though it works fine through phpmyadmin)

bits and pieces..

The authors are individual - in other words, once you put an author in the authors main list, it's there to be selected for any book. So if you need 3 authors for a book, provided they are listed you can just select them. The cart book displays sort out that there are those 3 authors, and displays them.

Well yes, my beta V3 repairs list is getting longer maybe..

When you advise what bugs may be there, please say which languages you have installed, or if running single language. What I am now aware is, that it looks like multiple language is popular, so I will indeed make efforts to ensure V3 runs ok.

[ One thing I found is that on an 'overlay' of an updated fileset onto an older one, Smartftp uploader sometimes quietly omits to overwrite some files.

This omission of course could wreck a V2->V3 upgrade .. I now only allow Smartftp to over-write step by step, 'per file' rather than letting it run through .. to make sure it actually does the overwrite on all files. ]

The probs with V2->V3 upgrade mode I've ironed out, (my omission of 'auto insert missing languages' in the authors list admin page).

I have the updated V3 fileset here, but am just delaying a little to see what else arises. If you desperately need it for a V2->V3 upgrade p.m me (click my name on left)

bilc108 yes do advise the situation.. I've not had empty titles occur,

One thing I remember may occur, is that if you go 'backwards' from the book preview page, the 'collect info' entries may be 'blanked, because it 'forgets' what was entered, so don't go 'back' from preview - its better to complete the preview page's 'save', which then puts the product data into the database.

..and then go back to the collect info first page again on that product, to correct whatever and re-save.

I have the BETA 2 version of the V3 multilanguage book product ready, there may still be the odd prob. of course. The v3 is for use in single, or multiple languages.

This time I'll give the site page url to get the zip download from, as people seeing this later can then get the latest version regardless

Click on the AVAILABLE HERE link, on this page
http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482

I've tamed some of the V3 multilanguage monster's strange habits, and it should work better on a V2 to V3 book type upgrade as well.


I emphasised the 'collate' (copy) mode, which for a brand new book product (OR an existing one) enables you to just enter title, description and select other entries, on the first language block.. saving it will automatically clone the entries into the other languages. Use 'collate' with care!

If you are overwriting Beta1 V3, do make sure all the Beta 1 files do get overwritten, do it step by step if necessary. Beta 2 'book admin' page has a Yellow area round price/weight, where Beta 1 has a reddy colour. You do not need any sql patches to go V3 Beta 1 to V3 Beta 2.

---------

For those interested in what I bin up to, all the coding changes are to the book admin files in \admin\, because the cart display side is relatively simpler.

There were some probs hopefully ironed out with the book 'collect info' page in 'new' mode, and I've corrected a fault on book 'type' field, which was not saving in multiple languages properly.

I also now copy the (english) field entries across on 'auto insert missing languages' process, which makes it easier when a new language is added, to update the 'extras' tables which provide language-based dropdown values for the collect_info page entries.

There didn't seem much point in my testing beta2 excessively, as I haven't changed it a lot... beta testers will find the bugs if any :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

bits and pieces..

The authors are individual - in other words, once you put an author in the authors main list, it's there to be selected for any book. So if you need 3 authors for a book, provided they are listed you can just select them. The cart book displays sort out that there are those 3 authors, and displays them.

---

Ah, right there in front of me, but I missed it. Thanks.

Quote:

---

[ One thing I found is that on an 'overlay' of an updated fileset onto an older one, Smartftp uploader sometimes quietly omits to overwrite some files.

---

Sounds like Smartftp may not be all that smart!

Quote:

---

bilc108 yes do advise the situation.. I've not had empty titles occur,

---

Speaking of not so smart... I had missed uploading a couple of files myself, which was the source of the trouble. Uploaded, and all is well now. Sorry for the false alarm.

Update for v3 beta2 users:

my beta tester showed up a bug, Beta2 just needs a fix, a single file uploading.. apply it anyway, the fix is not in the main beta2 fileset.

Some servers were allowing new authors names to be added in 'extras', others were not. My fault, a silly error..

The fix is listed in the V3 beta2 part, on my site page where it say 'PLEASE APPLY ALSO'
http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482

The main V3 beta2 multi-language fileset is there too

I've been looking at the 'ultimate seo' contribution, which was by Dreamscape but also is updated by Dr Byte to 135 status.

First I must say, it looks to me like not all of the url gets converted to 'friendly', regarding the V3 multilanguage beta2, I cannot get rid of '?language=' . I see this as a limitation..

BUT here is the ultimate seo contribution fileset, modified to 137 status, and with special mods to convert the 'books' product pages url's to 'friendly' url - or I should say.... less unfriendly.

There is also a readme in the zip file , explaining how to convert your 'standard' ultimate SEO install, to the book-friendly version. And you might want to consider upgrading any 135 files uploaded from the Dr. Byte 135 SEO version, to zc 137 form as well.

And my mods should work with all versions of the book contribution - that means the moku original, my V2, and V3 beta versions. Give it a try..

http://www.hareslade.com/zc125/downl..._for_books.zip

Hello Paul,
thank you for your work with the seo-URLs. It works but if I enable the SEO-URLS in the Admin Panel, the products didn't use the product_book_info.php, they are shown in a other Way, I think the use the product_info.php. If I disable the SEO contribution, the products are shown how it should be.

And another question, is it possible, that the book 3 Beta 2 overwrites the productdiscription. My standart language is german, it should copy the drop-down values to the english language. But I think it also copy the german description, because I loose the english one.

Hi michaelhl
I'm not quite sure what you mean with the SEO url's... I only modified the url for product_book_info.php url paths... which is the book template. Perhaps you can explain further..

I use xmlsitemap myself, it gives the search engines an xml file list of url's to go straight to. I looked at SEO because there was a request way back on this thread, for book SEO
------------

Regarding the product description in books, check that the particular product is **not** set to copy across, then you can do it manually later.

When I tested it in 'copy across' mode, on saving it should copy the title, description and dropdown values from the top language block (the one with the radio box setting) , to all the other languages blocks.

Often you are right if you say something's wrong... try explaining it again!

But the idea was, to set the page's language labels to the language block you need at top of the page. In your case, German..Then on save, it should copy across from German book entries (the top block) , to all the other languages, if it's set in that mode.

If it doesn't do what you expect, check the setting of the 'copy' radio box.. I had it doing things I did not want, myself...but I had 'copy' on, when I thought it was off!

Hello Paul,
I mean the SEO contribution, which is downloadable in your post from 10.07.
It works without mistake, but when it os enabled the book products didn't use the template product_book_info_display.php, they use the product_info_display.php. So the specific additional Datas from your book contribution are not displayed.

Hi
I just uploaded a replacement zip for the Ultimate SEO book mod version, (see above a bit) there was probably a second htaccess file in the zip pack, left there in error. Otherwise the files are unchanged.

Further info on Ultimate SEO (books) install:

The htaccess_sample file needs to go in cart root, in the position it is in the SEO fileset, but you need to alter where it says /shop/ in the file, to your zencart folder name.

If your zencart files are in mydomain/my_cart/files then replace 'shop' with 'my_cart' in htaccess.

In a windows pc you upload the htaccess_sample that you modified, then rename it on the server to .htaccess

Thanks, i was able to do it.

I am using an adapted version of the V2 Book Type and am having trouble with the way the Author (in my case Artist) line displays when a product has more than one Author.

Here are two of my products for an example:

A single artist (this is how it should be)
Multiple artists (the attributes/add to cart box drops down the page)

If someone could take a look at it and at least help me figure out where to look for the cause, I'd really appreciate it. I'm not great at php and can't figure out if the problem is in the product_display template or CSS.

Thanks so much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

For raunharman and anyone else who gets an sql error message using zencart main search box with either moku or my extended versions, go to the download page and locate update fix labelled may 2007, it may fix the problem.

Otherwise temporarily switch off 'search in books' in admin | ...product types ..book type... edit layout

Its the file in the fix, that addes extra sql to the end of the search sql made by the rest of zencart. There were some 'missing' local prefixes to some of the book tables field names, its commented in the fix file. Not all setups seem to need it though.

http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=51&products_id=482

---

I'm using "BETA1_ML_ZC1_3_7_EXTENDED_BOOK_TYPE_V_3_LANGS". I installed this long ago, but didn't realize the search was giving this error. I've turned off the search in the Book Product Type, but I'd like to make sure Books are going to be found during a customers search.
Is there a fix for this? I'm using cart 1.3.7, single lang, and it's my Thrift Shop if you want to take a look.
Thanks.

hrm... apologies I've been away...
Both the links you give above now point to product music items not product book, are the links out of date? The book template is normally 'product_book_info' in the querystring, yours says product_music_info i think

The template used by each product type is different..

The css entries that defines that page layout sometimes needs to be adjusted. But of course there could indeed also be a css prob, or a particular browser that gives trouble.

In the book contrib, the css file 'stylesheet_book_prod.css' must be copied into the current template, if it's not 'classic' being used.

Let me know hrm, if you still have a book authors demo to look at

gxjenkins
Well not all installs give the 'zencart standard search box' search error anyway..

If you can switch on your search temporarily and copy the sql error text, (if its giving trouble), but do send it to me by private message, otherwise it makes the posts here looooooong..

I could then check it out.. V3 books should have had the sql correction transferred from the older V2

Switching on Book Search I get this error:
"1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'SELECT DISTINCT
in:
[select count(distinct p.products_id) as total FROM zen_products p LEFT JOIN zen_manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ) , zen_products_description pd WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND ( p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM (zen_products p LEFT JOIN zen_manufacturers m USING(manufacturers_id), zen_products_description pd, zen_categories c, zen_products_to_categories p2c ) LEFT JOIN zen_meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id= p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1 WHERE (p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sheldon%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR (mtpd.metatags_keywords LIKE '%sheldon%' AND mtpd.metatags_keywords !='') OR (mtpd.metatags_description LIKE '%sheldon%' AND mtpd.metatags_description !='') OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sheldon%') and (pd.products_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%cheney%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR (mtpd.metatags_keywords LIKE '%cheney%' AND mtpd.metatags_keywords !='') OR (mtpd.metatags_description LIKE '%cheney%' AND mtpd.metatags_description !='') OR pd.products_description LIKE '%cheney%') )) ) OR p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM zen_products p LEFT JOIN zen_manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ), zen_products_description pd, zen_categories c, zen_products_to_categories p2c LEFT JOIN zen_meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id = p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1, zen_product_book_extra pbe, zen_books_to_authors bta, zen_book_authors ba, zen_book_authors_info bai WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND pbe.products_id = p.products_id AND bta.products_id = p.products_id AND bta.book_authors_id = ba.book_authors_id AND ba.book_authors_id = bai.book_authors_id AND bai.language_id = 1 AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sheldon%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sheldon%'OR book_authors_name LIKE '%sheldon%'OR book_authors_nickname LIKE '%sheldon%'OR subtitle LIKE '%sheldon%') and (pd.products_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%cheney%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%cheney%'OR book_authors_name LIKE '%cheney%'OR book_authors_nickname LIKE '%cheney%'OR subtitle LIKE '%cheney%') ) ) OR p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM zen_products p LEFT JOIN zen_manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ), zen_products_description pd, zen_categories c, zen_products_to_categories p2c LEFT JOIN zen_meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id = p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1, zen_books_to_genres btg, zen_book_genre bg, zen_book_genre_description bgd WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND btg.products_id = p.products_id AND btg.book_genre_id = bg.book_genre_id AND bg.book_genre_id = bgd.book_genre_id AND bgd.language_id = 1 AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sheldon%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sheldon%' OR book_genre_name LIKE '%sheldon%') and (pd.products_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%cheney%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%cheney%' OR book_genre_name LIKE '%cheney%') ) ) OR p.products_id IN ( SELECT DISTINCT p.products_id FROM zen_products p LEFT JOIN zen_manufacturers m USING ( manufacturers_id ), zen_products_description pd, zen_categories c, zen_products_to_categories p2c LEFT JOIN zen_meta_tags_products_description mtpd ON mtpd.products_id = p2c.products_id AND mtpd.language_id = 1, zen_books_to_types btt, zen_book_type bt, zen_book_type_description btd WHERE p.products_status = 1 AND p.products_id = pd.products_id AND pd.language_id = 1 AND p.products_id = p2c.products_id AND p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id AND btt.products_id = p.products_id AND btt.book_type_id = bt.book_type_id AND bt.book_type_id = btd.book_type_id AND btd.language_id = 1 AND ((pd.products_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%sheldon%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%sheldon%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%sheldon%' OR book_type_name LIKE '%sheldon%') and (pd.products_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR p.products_model LIKE '%cheney%' OR m.manufacturers_name LIKE '%cheney%' OR pd.products_description LIKE '%cheney%' OR book_type_name LIKE '%cheney%') ) ) ) ]"

After turning off the Book Search I can find books by searching for words in the title. That will be O.K. if I have to leave it that way.
I'd like to be able to search on Author, and the other search items. I feel like I've got a piece of this version, and a piece of that version. I installed this awhile ago, and then left it to work on another store, so I'm not sure if I left something out, or what.

Is there one install that brings everything up to the same version including any patches?

hi gxjenkins

The V3 beta does indeed include my fix for the search box.. but your sql shows there's still a bug... this part of code (excuses!) is moku's original design, so I need to look at it with intensity to see what it's supposed to do

There is obviously a small fault in the code (in the 'if' section on line 32 onwards in file class.productBookSearch.php..) where an 'AND' gets added into the construction of the query.

I will pm you now, asking for some more easy to get info.

Incidentally, to 'private message' someone just click on the user's name in top left of the post, it should give the option to p.m that person. Myself I prefer not to see the longer sql's in the thread, because unless one is a sql genius (which I'm not) reading sql is not fun..

The calender control next to the 'Date Available:' field on the add new book screen is not working for me. On the bottom of the browser it 'shows error on page'. Attaching the error message screen shot. But I am able to manually key in the date. Is it a known issue?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jazeem

The calender control next to the 'Date Available:' field on the add new book screen is not working for me. ... Is it a known issue?

---

Hi Jazeem
It is now! I'll look into it

Hi Jazeem
I racked my brains looking as to why the spiffy calendar fails on the book collect info page 'available date', but I could not see what's different from the standard product collect info page (which works ok).

I put a temporary very minor fix in the javascript file that creates the calendar, (around line 72, marked jph), the modified file (zipped) is at
http://www.hareslade.com/zc125/downl..._1_jscript.zip

Upload to replace /admin/includes/javascript/spiffyCal/spiffyCal_v2_1.js

The original already there is the standard zencart file.

(If anyone wants to try locate the real prob, let us know. Using firefox enables you to look at the exact javascipt fault, using javascript console in 'tools'.

The fix I did does not seem to affect the calendar anyway, the 'inhibited' part says it just locks the 'get calendar' button down when a calendar is showing.. but it seems to do that, even with the fix!)

Hi, first of all congratulations with this fabulous multilanguage product type book!
I made a V3 Beta 2 installation and everything works fine.:smile:
My question: There is one ISBN field. I need one ISBN10, one ISBN13 and a NUR field. All needed fields are similar to the ISBN field. How can I add these fields to my ZenCart?

Hi berrybatens

The ISBN field is really zencart product 'model' field, so it's not one that can be easily duplicated and then appear exactly the same as ISBN does, (e.g ISBN appears in product listings for book products)

But the book 'misc' fields that are spare can be used as extra data lines in the product book display lower section... these are fields that take up to 255 characters.

if you have a look in the admin ....
catalog | product types | product book | edit layout

You may see that there are some fields called 'misc...' 1 to 10
Some of these are already on (1) but those set to '0' should available for use, if set to 1.

If one of those spare is switched on, (maybe avoid misc_1) it should then appear, both in admin side book product page, (collect info page), and also appears in the data lines listing on the cart book display provided a value was inserted in admin for that field.

You would have to also find the books 'defines' php file entries to change the textual labelling of the field, in both the admin (admin/includes/languages/), and the cart defines (/includes/languages/) /your_language, if you don't want labels to remain as 'misc_' which is their currectly set label text.

Thanx for the clear explanation, I worked it out and everything looks good! I have even skipped the original ISBN field and made new ISBN fields and a NUR field from the MISC fields. It works perfectly.
I still have one more question; Is it possible to only show the Gross price of a book instead of Net and Gross?

Is the product type book recommended as the only way for building a bookstore? I notice in the README_main_book_install.txt that it talks about a few core files being replaced. What implications does this have for zencart upgrades and code maintenance? Will upgrading ZenCart overwrite these changes?

Also, I couldn't quite understand the difference between ADMIN_PATCH_SQL_EXTENDED_BOOK_TYPE_V3.txt and only_use_the_patch_for_FULL_V3_install.txt

I am installing this for the first time, so I am not sure which patch to use.

I have a few questions about the product type book mod. It seems to fill a great need, judging by the fact that this forum post has one of the largest number of views. My qeustions are:

1. Is this recommended as the only way for building a bookstore or is it okay to go with the product general type?
2. I notice in the README_main_book_install.txt that it talks about a few core files being replaced. What implications does this have for zencart upgrades and code maintenance? Will upgrading ZenCart overwrite these changes?
3. I couldn't quite understand the difference between ADMIN_PATCH_SQL_EXTENDED_BOOK_TYPE_V3.txt and only_use_the_patch_for_FULL_V3_install.txt . I am installing this for the first time, so I am not sure which patch to use.
4. Also, "Apply SQL in folder RUN_THIS_SQLPATCH_FOR_DATABASE in zencart admin sql patch section" is a bit cryptic. I understand the following patch syntax reasonably well:
   
   patch filetobepatched < patchfile
   
   but can't correlate this to the specific patch file and the directory in which the patch should be run.

[FONT=Verdana]
Thanks in advance. [/FONT]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by meeven

I notice in the README_main_book_install.txt that it talks about a few core files being replaced. What implications does this have for zencart upgrades and code maintenance? Will upgrading ZenCart overwrite these changes?

---

[FONT=Arial]I wanted to ask the same question.[/FONT]

Sorry about the double post. I have no idea how it happened.

I am facing a bit of frustration getting this to work. :dontgetit

I have uploaded all the files, but can't figure out the cryptic, "3. Apply SQL in folder RUN_THIS_SQLPATCH_FOR_DATABASE in zencart admin sql patch section".

I want to run the patch for the full version since this is a fresh install, but I don't see a "zencart admin sql patch section" among the install files. Where exactly is this? And what is the file against which this patch has to be run? Or, does this patch have to be run through phpmyadmin or something?

Also, I had renamed my original zencart admin folder to something else. It isn't clear from the readme files if the 'admin' folder for this product type is different from the original admin folder or if I need to upload the contents of this admin folder to my renamed admin folder. I ended up uploading the whole contents of this product type's catalogue folder, so there is now the original admin folder(renamed) and the admin folder for this product type. Is this the right way to do it?

I will be thankful for some help with all this.

After a few false starts I finally have the main part of the Extended Moku mod working, and will be implementing the search box and other odds and ends as I start to bring the revised site back up to speed.

I started out trying to implement version 3, from the Zen Cart Downloads area, on a brand new local Zen Cart with no other mods. This took me down a dead end as I wasn't able, with my limited php knowledge, to clear up what appears to be a T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING syntax error in or around line 1714 of collect_info.

After rebuilding a clean Zen Cart I was able to implement version 2, from the hareslade.com web site, without problems. As I only use one language, at present, I don't see this as a problem for my site - but it's certainly a caveat for those who need the multi-language features of V3. I've now repeated this implementation on my live site, and will be adding the other odds and ends as they're needed and as time permits.

I've re-organised my categories but now have over 500 books to change from Product - General to Product - Book. I'm aware of another thread that advises against changing the Product Type, but would like to get these 500 products changed as quickly as possible. An initial trial of one product shows me that there will be problems but they might be quicker to fix than copy/pasting all of the data!

Any thoughts, anyone?

I'm bumping this thread to keep it alive. :smile:

I'm in the same boat as some of the other posts. I'm pretty fair with SQL databases, and even run a vbulletin forum (which is what this forum uses) but the modding didn't quite go as expected.

I'm playing with a clean, new install of version 1.3.7 on Zen. My server has MySQL version 4.1.20. I've wiped out the Zen Cart install and re-tried the ISBN plugin several times and it's still not showing up in the admin area. The database is showing the tables...
books_to_authors
books_to_genres
books_to_languages
books_to_types
book_authors
book_authors_info
book_color
book_color_description
book_condition
book_condition_description
book_genre
book_genre_description
book_type
book_type_description

a second attempt created the following fields (just in case it needed the prefix)

zc_books_to_authors
zc_books_to_genres
zc_books_to_languages
zc_books_to_types
zc_book_authors
zc_book_authors_info
zc_book_color
zc_book_color_description
zc_book_condition
zc_book_condition_description
zc_book_genre
zc_book_genre_description
zc_book_type
zc_book_type_description
zc_get_terms_to_filter
zc_product_book_extra

The site is just for test purposes (at goodnerd.com) until I get everything worked out. The other issue will be how to one imports the bookfields from a database program such as bookttrakker, bookhound, pragersoftware or UIEE.

Do online booksellers enter their products twice? How do they list a book in both their online zen-cart store and also upload their stock listings to sites like Amazon or Alibris?

I have about 20,000 books to eventually list, of which I only have about 2000 cataloged so far. The ISBN ones are on half.com and the inventory database is a CSV file, the other I used Pragersoftware and it's a UIEE file. My site was using bookwriterweb to generate the book pages, but I'm wanting to switch to a zen-cart setup and I was hoping this ISBN plugin would do the trick but I'm striking out and I'm seeing the same results every time I install it. I just can't figure out where I'm screwing up.

The original instructions went okay until the last few lines of SQL modding, but I saw in one of the other posts what the fix was. Still, no changes in the admin area.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skydealer

Do online booksellers enter their products twice? How do they list a book in both their online zen-cart store and also upload their stock listings to sites like Amazon or Alibris?

---

Some very small sellers probably only ever list on one venue and end up out of business if that venue pulls the plug on them. Companies like Amazon are quick to do this if, for example, they receive more than a certain number of complaints in a short time. Amazon does little to protect its sellers - it is only interested in keeping buyers happy.

Very small sellers probably do manually cross-list. Without a business plan to introduce the tools to support growth they either stick at the size they can handle or try to grow too big and let customer service (and leisure time) suffer as they try to keep up with the listing in numerous places.

Those who plan to grow usually recognise that the right tools are essential. They allow time, in their business plan, for research and development. They have the tools in place as and when they're needed to either support growth through faster listing (and cross-listing) or by effective use of cheap labour. The ideal situation is to make effective speed-listing tools available to the cheap labour.

Order fulfilment and churning are other issues.

In order fulfilment the keys are to find and pack the book as quickly as possible. In the UK - over certain limits - it's more efficient and cheaper to have RM come out and collect your outgoing mail than it is to go to the post office. Once the mail is ready to go you make better use of your time by being at your desk than in the queue at the post office (especially on pension day).

Churning is about getting rid of old stock. It's a particularly important issue for those with storage problems. I list low-value books into particular boxes, give them 6 months, then churn the whole box. I still have to weed out long-standing non-sellers from the main stock (I give them 12 months) but it's less time consuming as I collect the expired stock whenever I visit a particular box to pick a book for an order.

Automatic cross-listing is a huge time saver and multiplies the opportunity for your stock to be seen and sold with relatively little effort by you or your staff.

Amazon can take a batch upload.

I don't know about Alibris or Abebooks but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they can do the same.

Thanks GSIS for the info. I don't even bother with the lower priced books. If I see other dealers having them for $1 or less then they go right into the donation bin. My stock came mainly from a family collector and most of it is limited to single copies that I'm expecting to wait quite some time to find the right buyer. A good example is a book I just found while unpacking, it's just an 1866 copy of After The Storm by J.E Skinner, which typically sells for about $200-$225. But this copy was owned by Charles Dickens and has his bookplate in it as well as another plate stating Gadshill Place, June 1870. This is a unique item and it may take years to sell.

I'm looking at multiple venues as well as the zen cart database, but I do ship out several books a day, even with just only 10% of my stock listed. US Postal regulations have recently change regarding US Media Mail so a bookseller needs to either stand in line at the local PO (a real pain) or lease a postage meter or online service such as stamps.com. UPS is simply too expensive for 1-3 pound boxes.

Amazon & Alibris can both take batch loads, half.com does also allow csv (or tab-delimited files) to be transferred, upon approval (you can always download csv files of your inventory though) and some inventory tracking programs allow automated uploading to multiple venues.... which brings us back to this thread.

What I am hoping to see is if this patch allows the same by creating the necessary indexes so that I can simplify the process of updating stock after a sale.

The bookseller theme seems to have changed to where most sales are generated through the services of Amazon/Alibris/etc., as this is where the average person is going to find a "deal". Simple search engine positions no longer seem to be the rage unless you have a hard to find edition such as what I mentioned. I asked almost everyone that I knew who I knew bought books online where they shopped at. Amazon was the winner, eBay/half.com was 2nd, and the ones who were looking for the older stuff used Alibris or Bookfinder.

Still, updating a zen-cart database at the end of every days sales could turn out to be a pain, if a bookseller has both an online presence as well as a walk-in shop. And I've seen too many other booksellers try to make it just with a website and they're gone within a year. I don't like the idea of paying the fees involved on the other search sites, but the public seems to be going in that direction for buying. EBay sales are another issue, and a complex one at that. Selling books on eBay auctions seems to mean that you will sell them cheap or use them as a tool to advertise your business website.

I've talked to other dealers and asked about what they use for inventory databases. Some independent ones use Chris Land's services and are happy. Others use homebase, FileMakerPro or Booktrakker, etc. All of these (I believe) create a file that can be exported, usually in the comma delimited or UIEE format.

If Moku's mod can be set up to accept batch files that were created on outside inventory programs then it would be a dream come true. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get this to happen as of yet. :no:

But as since I am a zen noob I mainly blame this on my own ignorance... or perhaps my bad habit of too many beers while trying to mod php files.

:cheers:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skydealer

If Moku's mod can be set up to accept batch files that were created on outside inventory programs then it would be a dream come true. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get this to happen as of yet. :no:

---

I'm looking at making things work the other way round.

An extended Zen Cart + Moku will be the central repository for my operational data.

I'm still on the basics as a PHP/mySQL noobie - but I am getting a bit faster now!

Would drop-down selections be easier for folks to enter book information rather than having to type the whole name? I don't know if it's possible in this configuration but some inventory programs have a nice feature whereas when someone enters in the first few letters it automatically goes to the most likely name.

This saves a lot of redundant typing, especially with common publishers such as Random House, Scribner's & Sons, etc. It also saves in typing errors.

I can provide lists of approx. 6000 publishers, plus items like the standard book sizes, book types, condition ratings, etc. if this is possible. I can provide them in either txt, html or csv format... whatever you want.

----

Also - which is a better mod for a fully functional product type:

The original Moku versions located at http://moku.ghosthack.net/data/dev/zencart/ (which one should be downloaded?? There's so many to choose from) or Hareslades version at http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=51&products_id=482

Are these both the same?

And would either of these give me a selection in the Product Types area of the admin?

I'm just looking at a nice admin product page were I can have fields for:

• title (plus possibly an additional subtitle field)
• author
• illustrator
• description
• publisher name (and possibly location)
• Edition
• Printing
• Number of pages
• book type (hardback, softcover etc.)
• book size (8vo 12mo 4to etc.)
• ISBN
• price (gross and net)
• quantity
• Signed by (author, illustrator, etc.)
• key words
• Image (upload or location)
• and maybe category (fiction, nonfiction, mystery, scifi, etc.)
• plus a few undefined fields for customization

I've been fiddling with several mods and have been dumping and reloading Zen cart about 20 times now (I'm getting pretty good at it.... I can install a fresh Zen in about 3 minutes!) while I try different things. I'm learning a lot but if someone has already created something of this nature I'd be more than happy to send them a donation rather than me attempting a patch to create one of these myself.

I'd be a fun challenge but time consuming.... and with 2 full time jobs time is a commodity that I don't have too much of!


Are these features that other booksellers are looking for as well?

I've been combing the forum for weeks now as I'm new to the whole ecommerece/database/template thing... so there's quite a learning cuve on my part.

My comments are interspersed:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skydealer

Would drop-down selections be easier for folks to enter book information rather than having to type the whole name?

---

I believe that what you're looking for is what Microsoft call a 'ComboBox' in .Net and yes it would be a time saver.

Quote:

---

I can provide lists of approx. 6000 publishers, plus items like the standard book sizes, book types, condition ratings, etc. if this is possible. I can provide them in either txt, html or csv format... whatever you want.

---

This is something that I might be interested in as I've also been developing lists of these items.

Quote:

---

Also - which is a better mod for a fully functional product type:

The original Moku versions located at http://moku.ghosthack.net/data/dev/zencart/ (which one should be downloaded?? There's so many to choose from) or Hareslades version at http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=51&products_id=482

Are these both the same?

---

No they aren't the same. The Hareslade product is superior, but stick with version 2 unless you need the multi-anguage support of version 3.

Quote:

---

And would either of these give me a selection in the Product Types area of the admin?

---

Yes for a short answer. I've already tried the book product as a restriction to categories and it works just fine.

Quote:

---

I'm just looking at a nice admin product page were I can have fields for:

• title (plus possibly an additional subtitle field)
• author
• illustrator
• description
• publisher name (and possibly location)
• Edition
• Printing
• Number of pages
• book type (hardback, softcover etc.)
• book size (8vo 12mo 4to etc.)
• ISBN
• price (gross and net)
• quantity
• Signed by (author, illustrator, etc.)
• key words
• Image (upload or location)
• and maybe category (fiction, nonfiction, mystery, scifi, etc.)
• plus a few undefined fields for customization

---

I can think of a couple of others that I've been trying to add with only moderate success so far.

• multi-volume boolean flag
• books Volume number
• Total volumes
• Illustrator - as you mentioned
• For those books without ISBN the LCCN or Dewey call number as options with appropriate flags in the US. Other countries, I don't know about.
• A real SKU field as a five digit field is unacceptable.

The multi-volume idea is important as I have several sets with individual ISBN's for each volume and a collective ISBN for the entire set.

Quote:

---

I've been fiddling with several mods and have been dumping and reloading Zen cart about 20 times now (I'm getting pretty good at it.... I can install a fresh Zen in about 3 minutes!) while I try different things. I'm learning a lot but if someone has already created something of this nature I'd be more than happy to send them a donation rather than me attempting a patch to create one of these myself.

I'd be a fun challenge but time consuming.... and with 2 full time jobs time is a commodity that I don't have too much of!

---

I know the feeling well.:smile: By the time I'm done, I'll be an expert at Zen Cart. I'm also developing both Music and Movie products based on this version of the book product. Many of the criteria for all three are the same, so I expect to be consolidating a lot of the database tables and resultant code in the future. I'm also looking at writing a bulk uploader as hand entering over 3000 books, nearly 2000 movies and over a 1000 music items is more than I can bear to think about right now.:laugh:

Quote:

---

Are these features that other booksellers are looking for as well?

---

Yes for my answer. I've been fiddling with this for about two months off and on.

Quote:

---

I've been combing the forum for weeks now as I'm new to the whole ecommerece/database/template thing... so there's quite a learning cuve on my part.

---

I'm afraid that there is not much beyond this thread on the forum for book products.:frusty:

Take care,

-phil

Phil, I am in the same boat. By the time we get this figured out we'll both be able to quote any line of code from memory from any Zen php file.
:D

I saw a few features while exploring a couple of other ecommerce and bookseller features. I liked the quick listing features offered in theartofbooks.com's online services (drop down selections, key phrases etc.) I also saw a nice feature in an ecommerce platform called litecommerce.com. If you fiddle with their admin area you'll see where the database fields can be easily assigned from any csv file. I think that this can be utilized for both csv as well as UIEE.

IF a bookseller is utilizing several platforms for selling... i.e Amazon, Half.com, whatever, plus the option of their own website (which is also my goal) then the task at hand is to be able to minimize the steps needed to maintain all of the listings when a book is sold.

A central inventory database that can up-link to all of these (with the exception of Zen) already exists. Several actually. Booktrakker, Prager, Bookwriter, etc. The missing link is a simple merge of the inventory databases into the Zen product fields. Litecommerce shows it can be done and the code just needs to be massaged a bit to merge with Zen.

THE 2nd IF:
Now - if a plug-in can be made that can provide all of the basic needs of inventory management as well as quick selection of fields (such as we mentioned earlier) then Zen's core could actually be used for inventory management. That part is beyond me at this point though as I don't know how the other matrix layouts work. Plus the book inventory programs all use the ISBN look-up systems, that automatically fill in the fields, which is a nice feature. Only about 20-25% of my books fall into the ISBN age-group though.

Chris Lands is already doing something along this line, but he charges a monthly fee for his services and his database merging is limited.

I see a great gameplan here. It's complex but I see what needs to be done. I already have all the common phrases in place as well as extensive lists showing publishers, book info, bla bla bla. That part is all done. Dropdown menus would be a nightmare with 6000 selections, plus the option would be needed to be able to update the list if a new publisher would need to be added in (which would be often for a used book dealer). I'm not sure this could be easily done if the data was stored in a SQL format. At least, not without possible consequences.

Hi Skydealer and all

My father passed away in August, so I have been a bit pre-occupied
... and this 'auto-advise' of new posts by email has decided not to work, yet again!...

Some of you guys seem to be in the know slightly regarding book handling methods...

The book add on here is fairly simplistic, but does have plenty of fields. And a gap exists between our (amateur) book type and the complex ones used for pro users, the main area of 'weakness' is perhaps in the ability to upload extra books quickly etc.

The problem is that zencart only creates a new (book) record manually, that is, in a 'collect info' page online.. so uploading/adding data for multiple new books 'remotely' is not an easy thing to achieve, unless the database itself is directly updated without going through zencart.

And contribs that do this 'remote upload' elsewhere for zencart won't work on book type, because there are extra tables and so on.

As of the end of October (- providing I do actually get broadband again after I move house!) I'll maybe have some time to address realising any useful ideas.

if anyone wants to private message me regarding discussion of possible features feel free to do so, ........click on the (hareslade) name in corner, it'll give option to 'p.m' me.

Otherwise if its a straightforward issue, do it in this thread.. the version 3 book type is still officially in beta, although it seems that it mostly works ok.

Hareslade,

I agree that the book product upload problem is complex, to say the least, but I think it could be done directly into the database. A complex and multifaceted approach is required, but with the use of stored procedures in MySQL it shouldn't be unsolvable. I've done some similiar work in large networked databases (27 servers running 49 interconnected databases) and got it to work after months of documentation and development.

The keyword here is documentation and that's what I've been trying to do. As you said there are many tables both for Books and for Zen Cart that need to be queried before the new data can even be inserted.

The extra field that you provided are a great place to start, but I don't think there are enough for a professional bookseller site. This package is why I chose Zen Cart over Virtuemart anyway.

skydealer,

I looked at the sites you suggested and yes they have some of the features required. For the uploader, I'm thinking of something along the lines of the AOB site, but with some complex behinds the scene software that's required to deal with the complexity of the Book Product and Zen Cart tables.

Think of it this way. You upload a CVS file and in the file is a field called publisher. After getting the data, you have to check the value against the manufacturers table and see if it is already present. If it is then you return the manufacturers id otherwise you insert the new data and get the new id. Only then can you proceed to the next step.

Actually, now that I think about it that isn't the first field that would have to be processed. I think the first field would be to check the product type. You can see how complex this all becomes. Product Type table, Manufacturers table, Categories--with subcategory searching--table, all before you get to the actual book data. Not to mention possible searches of the Product and Book tables to see if the data already exists. In that case, with an exact match, you'd simply want to increment the inventory count.

There is much work ahead just for this not so little project.

Quote:

---

My father passed away in August, so I have been a bit pre-occupied
... and this 'auto-advise' of new posts by email has decided not to work, yet again!...

---

Hareslade, sorry to hear that.

And, yes, the auto-notification feature doesn't seem to work. I never received these latest updates.

By the way, thanks to you for taking up Moku's work and extending it. It's such a badly needed module for ZenCart.

Just some thoughts on the uploader for suggestions and comments by those interested.

Booksellers store their inventory in so many formats that the only feasible method for providing a bulk upload to the Books -- or movies or music -- product type is a CVS file. A CVS file output is common to almost any of the packages used be it Excel, Homebase, Access or other database program.

I'm thinking that the user goes to a php page, selects a CVS file for upload and then is presented with the field headers of the CVS file. The user selects a table and field from the Zen Cart database to associate with that header. An option to save the format for later use should be included. The advantage here is that the user can generate the file without having to massage the data.

I'm not sure about how to specify the difference between rows in the CVS file that would indicate a DELETE product, CREATE a new product or UPDATE a product. My first inclination is a field with those keywords, but that means the user would have to massage the data.

Comments or suggestions anyone? I'm sure that I haven't thought of everything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

Hi Skydealer and all

... and this 'auto-advise' of new posts by email has decided not to work, yet again!...

---

You're so right. I'm surprised when I get emails informing me that the thread has been updated 24 hours after the event.:ohmy: Is that normal?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by quailbooks

You're so right. I'm surprised when I get emails informing me that the thread has been updated 24 hours after the event.:ohmy: Is that normal?

---

It shouldn't be. This forum uses an up-to-date version of VBulletin which is an expensive and pretty good forum software. I run this on my flight simulator tech forum (real flight sims... not the game. It's my "bill paying" job, the bookstore is a passion/2nd job).

If this has been a chronic problem with this site the admin may have to adjust the VB email options in the admin area. The command "
Number of Emails to Send Per Batch" probably just needs to be increased.

I wanted to echo meeven's comments as well. Sorry to hear about your dad and I hadn't realized that you were the one who had taken over things from Moku. I hope we didn't step on any toes here... I was just wanting to input some wish-list things.

Hi. My first time here. I'm trying to install this mod but I'm stuck when it comes to the MySQL database. I have phpmyadmin but apart from creating back-up files, I'm a total novice. Is there a step-by-step walk-through on how to add the MySQL requests using phpmyadmin?
I'd be grateful. Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere - I did look! Thanks

Hi
A general comment...

regarding taking over from Moku, its a shame he pulled out because he is a great designer... I 'took over' only by default, this is an open thread and anybody is welcome to do work on the contrib. No toes to crush :)

The ideas about bulk book upload would really make a better contribution, but whatever method is used there needs to be a lot of internal product checks at the server end to avoid upsetting the zencart database.

As I probably said already, I tried the popular contrib that does this for standard products, I found it was very secretive, gave no feedback about any errors. Certainly the excel-style Comma Separated Values (CSV) are an obvious starting point, but whatever is at the 'web' end needs to be far more intelligent than the contribs I've used. If corrupted or only part-updated, the zencart database will just show crazy entries on a live website!

[if various people do consistently work on the book contrib, 'we' could set up better ways of progressing. The V3 contrib is on my Hareslade site in beta, merely because it takes ages to identify bugs, and once on the Zencart download site its not so easy to update (in my view!) . Its not because I'm a control freak!]

The 'version 3 beta' is the current offering, see the top area at
http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482
it tries to meet requirements for multilanguage sites for book products, and that is the one to consider as the most advanced, for 1.3.7 carts. It also works in single language.

The Moku version halted at Zencart version 1.3.5 I think, and its inevitable that eventually it will not work correctly on current zencart versions. My 'single language' version 2 at the above page also works for 1.3.7, but personally I won't update that for future zencart versions.

----------

Regarding the 'new' users of the contrib without prior experience, 'we' don't normally touch the existing database directly by using phpmyadmin. [In fact, the sql patches in a contribution normally have no ' table prefix' so phpmyadmin cannot use them unless you manually add the prefix that you selected, for each table mentioned in sql.]

All contribs should supply an 'sql file' textual file which is to be applied in zencart admin, under tools 'sql patch'

Because sql instructions (which can add or delete database tables or fields etc.) sometimes fail, -(even just because you might be running the latest mysql version, and the contrib. was made before that version) - its best to ***always*** install the 'database backup/restore' contribution, which I think is still available.

With that backup contrib. you can save the existing zencart database before applying an 'sql patch'. And believe me, sometimes the sql patch will only half complete, so you just must have the original database to restore, or you end up having to install the cart again, to get a useable clean database.

However, for those who know how to use phpmyadmin, its easier because you can go in and correct/change the database as required, if you know what to do.

----------

So for new users........in the book contrib on my hareslade site, you'll find inside a folder called 1_BOOK_MAIN_FILES, a folder 'catalogue' contains the files to upload into zencart, plus a folder RUN_THIS_FULL_INSTALL_SQL_PATCH_FOR_DATABASE
containing file ADMIN_PATCH_SQL_EXTENDED_BOOK_TYPE_V3.txt
which is the sql patch. Apply the sql patch in zencart admin using the admin menu page 'sql patch'. But backup the database first!

There are other folders in the pack, these (begining 2_ to 7_ ) are other bits you could use subsequently - after using folder 1_BOOK_MAIN_FILES

My apologies if the readme files in the pack are not always easily understandable, its difficult to put suitable texts when I know the actual contrib inside out, where others do not!
-----------------

Hi,

Sorry that I didn't respond yesterday, but I teach a class at the college and had to get ready for that Wednesday and Thursday.

My comments are interspersed:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

Hi
The ideas about bulk book upload would really make a better contribution, but whatever method is used there needs to be a lot of internal product checks at the server end to avoid upsetting the zencart database.

As I probably said already, I tried the popular contrib that does this for standard products, I found it was very secretive, gave no feedback about any errors. Certainly the excel-style Comma Separated Values (CSV) are an obvious starting point, but whatever is at the 'web' end needs to be far more intelligent than the contribs I've used. If corrupted or only part-updated, the zencart database will just show crazy entries on a live website!

---

I agree as I've tried to use it also with very little success and didn't feel like paying to try the commercial version.

BTW, I looked at the MySQL documentation and found out why it is that stored procedures are not used in Zen Cart. Simple answer is that MySQL didn't support them fully until V5.0.1. Until the Zen Cart development team makes the decision to restrict development to MySQL 5.0 and above then I'll have to use the Zen standard for the upload module.

You had an excellent suggestion in the PM about storing the CVS data and processing with an error report. That's the way most uploads seem to work. Delimiters aren't really a problem as a selection of checkboxes for delimiter type (tab, comma, semicolon, etc.) seems to be the standard.

If you want to work on the book product while I do the upload module it would work for me.:smile:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

if various people do consistently work on the book contrib, 'we' could set up better ways of progressing. The V3 contrib is on my Hareslade site in beta, merely because it takes ages to identify bugs, and once on the Zencart download site its not so easy to update (in my view!) . Its not because I'm a control freak!

---

Not a bad idea! Some sort of cooperative area on the web? A restricted forum for developers with a file exchange area probably is best. That's something to think about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

The 'version 3 beta' is the current offering, see the top area at
http://www.hareslade.com/zc/index.ph...roducts_id=482
it tries to meet requirements for multilanguage sites for book products, and that is the one to consider as the most advanced, for 1.3.7 carts. It also works in single language.

---

Yes, I've downloaded it and I'll make a fresh install this weekend. I'll be interested in what the changes have been.

On that subject, perhaps you'd like to keep an idea or wish list of items --maybe you already do-- of identified features that users would like. I'd suggest putting them in as named items instead of the generic terms you've used in the past. It would make the product more standardized and since users can turn features on/off through product layout they can customize there.

I'll start with some ideas:

1. Multi-volume sets needs a bool flag and volume # of volumes #
2. Model number identifier from dropdown (ie: ISBN10, ISBN13, LCCN, whatever) as most older books don't use ISBN and ISBN has changed from a 10 digit to 13 digit number this year.
3. Book Club Edition boolean flag and maybe a text identifier of what club --I'm not sure about the last.
4. Some method of setting the default value of a dropdown selection. IE: for the model number identifier above. I'm not sure how this would work, but will think about it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

Because sql instructions (which can add or delete database tables or fields etc.) sometimes fail, -(even just because you might be running the latest mysql version, and the contrib. was made before that version) - its best to ***always*** install the 'database backup/restore' contribution, which I think is still available.

With that backup contrib. you can save the existing zencart database before applying an 'sql patch'. And believe me, sometimes the sql patch will only half complete, so you just must have the original database to restore, or you end up having to install the cart again, to get a useable clean database.

However, for those who know how to use phpmyadmin, its easier because you can go in and correct/change the database as required, if you know what to do.

---

I've already run into the problem of the SQL not reading the file completely, reporting errors that don't exist, etc. from the tool. So I fully support the idea of running backups --often!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hareslade

My apologies if the readme files in the pack are not always easily understandable, its difficult to put suitable texts when I know the actual contrib inside out, where others do not!
-----------------

---

Not a problem at all. You should see some of the code that I've had to deal with in the past and what they considered documentation.:laugh: Yours look absolutely wonderful in comparison.

In Summary:

I'm going to concentrate on the uploader and leave the book product development to Paul. In parallel, I'm also using the book product as a starting point for a movie product type (type 9 for now) that supports the various movie formats. The two are so similar that the project is trivial.

Hello,

I want to find how I can create a link to display the produtcs selected by manufacturers, colors and other attributes for exemple. I have knowledge in MySQL and PHP but I can't figure out how to do it.


I don't know which file(s) I need to edit to do it. I would like a link called for exemple "the red ones" on my header where users click on it and see all the red products displayed in the main page..

i hope I could understand everything and help me!
Is it possible to do it with product type book??

Thanks a lot

F.

fcegarra
(nearly) anything can be done if one spends enough time on it!

The book type can already search for authors, genre etc, which is essentially similar.. those files that create the 3 or 4 sidebox dropdowns lists for searches, could perhaps be copied and altered for searching different fields

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quailbooks
by all means get into uploaders, I'm sure we'll be pleased to test it for you..

I'm unsure which things to suggest regarding easing development interactions,
I can host a forum on hareslade.com, or perhaps someone else wants to...

(If I do it, it'll have to be a PhpBB forum... )

Wiki on zencart I think is more for the contribs in the downloads list?

Somewhere I also have free software that handles projects, but that would necessarily be limited to the ''main developers'', as it needs more careful use.
Files can be uploaded/downloaded with it..

Any other suggestions from those who've already done this sort of loose knit developers thing in a small way?

Thanks Hareslade for your help!!

I am still stuck and I don't know how do to it! It seems easy when you think about it, it is to show every single "red" products for exemple in the same list or every single products with the same price..
Do you know which file I could altered to do what I want?

thanks a lot for your help

Hello,
I am using the misc_8, misc_9 and misc_10 fields from product type book to display ISBN10, ISBN13 and NUR. How can I add these fields to the search engine (SQL code?)?

Thanx for helping out

Berry...

fcegarra
'fraid you might have to learn some php/sql programming skills, but as I said working with the filters is (to me) quite complex.

berrybatens
same sort of answer really... the 'extra' data fields are in separate tables, you would have to look at the search sql's in the sql product filters, and get brain ache like I do..

See below, ** for some further comments on the above

Actually why I'm posting is to say, I found this guy Nicholas who I've just emailed, because he's updated Easy Populate so it perhaps works properly for ordinary product uploads. However, he does charge for the module.

Anyone wanting to upload book products might do well to sign on with his forum thread (as ctcentralinfo did) about book at
http://www.zencartbuilder.com/forums...highlight=book and show some interest.

I reckon one way or another 'we' might find it easier to go for Easy Populate regarding bulk book product upload manipulation? It sounds like Nicholas's module has ironed out a lot of the old strife with older versions.

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** As i remember it, the basic search function normally shows all valid products, but an extra filter, usually in '/includes/index_filters' adds a small bit of sql to cut down what's shown, often depending on product type..

Unfortunately the 'small' bit of sql gets quite big sometimes, with many options, and its difficult to see at first how it all works anyway because its all done in pieces..!

Sometimes its easier to see what happens in a 'sidebox' search code, rather than in the 'main' searches code.

You might do better looking at the book files for sidebox searches e.g style or subject. Maybe you could see how to create an equivalent different sidebox, for a different search field. I'm guessing..