Defining different (dynamic) main page

[Dzy]

Hi there!

I've been working with ZenCart a lot the last week, integrating a design made by a designer with no specific software in mind, into ZenCart. It has all been working very well (see the current progress here: http://www.freshfash.nl/index.php) so I'm pretty happy.

Now I'm going to create a news module where the shop owner can add news. The idea is that on the index.php it will show a brief welcome message and then the newest 5 items. The PHP and MySQL to do this is no problem for me but I have two questions concerning ZenCart.

1) Where should I put the news module so that it shows in the main page? Where do I put the logic? In the main page or do I setup the main page to link somewhere else?

2) I want to integrate the news admin part into the admin panel, is there some sort of tutorial or how-to written on how to make an extra menu item in the admin panel?

Thanks!

[DrByte]

1. The "where" all depends on what exactly you need to use to display the content. Maybe embedding the PHP into define_main_page.php might do it?
Or maybe you need to create another centerbox much like the featured-products or whats-new centerboxes ... which is a little more complicated than the define_main_page.php (which you would just edit as a regular PHP file using your text editor).

2. The Backup MySQL plugin which can be obtained from the Admin Tools section of the Downloads area is a simple addon that can shows all the pieces required for adding something to the admin menu.

[Dzy]

1. The "where" all depends on what exactly you need to use to display the content. Maybe embedding the PHP into define_main_page.php might do it?
Or maybe you need to create another centerbox much like the featured-products or whats-new centerboxes ... which is a little more complicated than the define_main_page.php (which you would just edit as a regular PHP file using your text editor).

2. The Backup MySQL plugin which can be obtained from the Admin Tools section of the Downloads area is a simple addon that can shows all the pieces required for adding something to the admin menu.

I will try it out today, thanks! If I can't get it to work (I think I will though) I'll let it know!

[Dzy]

Define main page does the trick.

I have a question about the admin part though, if you copy the MySQL backup tool into your FTP folder it will automatically add it to the menu, however if I edit the files, rename them and upload them it won't create a menu item for me. Where and how exactly does it find out what to add?

[DrByte]

I have a question about the admin part though, if you copy the MySQL backup tool into your FTP folder it will automatically add it to the menu, however if I edit the files, rename them and upload them it won't create a menu item for me. Where and how exactly does it find out what to add?

In the example of the backup-mysql tool, the only files in the contribution that actually deal with the backups are the /admin/backup_mysql.php and /admin/includes/languages/english/backup_mysql.php. All the other files are used for the menu option. Hopefully that helps you piece things together for your own additional menu.

[Dzy]

Yeah, I thought those were it but apparently I did something wrong because it works now.

Thanks!