Mod gone bad? - fonts somehow screwed up

[Matt Smith]

Thanks for the quick response.

I did put the code in the wrong place and now the code has gone from the top of the page. But my aim of getting a section of text at the bottom of the page has still not worked. I've edited the main_page_lower.php in define pages and the changes do not show.

Do i need to create an override copy of all the changed files in my custom template?

Thanks

Matt

[kuroi]

Do i need to create an override copy of all the changed files in my custom template?

If you don't then there's a risk that the files in your custom template may override your changes.

[Matt Smith]

Hi

Thanks for your help so far. But still the text I put in the main_page_lower page in define pages does not show up on my homepage.

I have created override files for all the changes, except the extra datafiles. I know it is hard to know what I'm doing wrong, but any suggestions would be most welcome. I would include copies of the files but I'm not sure how to do this without copying the whole file.

Thanks

Matt

[Matt Smith]

Thanks Doug for all your help. I have made sure my files are exactly like yours and still it does not work. Any clues to other files I should have changed.

Thanks in hope.

Matt

[pdxdoug]

@Matt,

At this point it would seem that somewhere in your editing there is an error that is preventing this to work. You could use WinMerge against a fresh set of ZenCart files to see where the error might be.

Good luck.

[notageek]

I tried to follow Doug's instructions, and copied and pasted the code as directed.

I am now now receiving the following error message when I try to access my site on my test WAMP server:

"Content encoding error--the page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid form of compression."

I do not think it is related to my WAMP having Gzip compression and my web host not having implemented that.

More likely is that I did not correctly identify the location of where to put the override copy. The instructions say to make the override copy, but do not state where to place it.

I placed it in includes/templates/MY_TEMPLATE/templates/tpl_index_default.php. If someone can identify the correct place for the override copy identified in Doug's Step 5, I would appreciate that.

At the moment, I will just remove the file in the probably wrong override box and see if the WAMP site works again.

As an alternative, I intend to try Numinix's module, Center Box Categories, [URL="http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:TwO1aCo3M5UJ:www.numinix.com/zen-cart/template-modifications/categories-center-box-module+zen+cart+numinex+center+box+categories&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us"] to accomplish the split of the main page text with insertion of pictures higher up.

However, the Numinix module appears limited to category display, with the problem of trying to come up with representative images for each category instead of going with specials, featured, or new products as the prominent main page images.

[kuroi]

If you're getting a message saying that you're using an invalid form of compression, then most likely you're using an invalid form of compression.

This message would certainly not be generated by putting your over-ride file in the wrong place, since that would result only in the over-ride file not being found and the file that it is supposed to over-ridden being used instead.

I'm also puzzled by your reference to your web host. If you're using WAMP aren't you running it locally, so why is your web host relevant? Or are you trying to run WAMP in hosted space? In which case I could see that this might mess with your hosted account's configuration settings (such as compression).

[notageek]

Thanks, Kuroi.

I am using Gzip compression on my local WAMP test site. When I copy my live site to my wamp, I always need to change the compression settings in my database, and make sure I do not overwrite my local config files.

I went online to try to troubleshoot the "invalid form of compression" error and found suggestions such as reload, clear cache everywhere, and make sure there are no stray spaces or lines in the php code, all of which I have tried to follow, including a complete restart of Firefox 3 which seems to be the source of this error often, and a complete reboot.

I am about to remove all of the files and code added under Doug's instructions before restoring my backup cart.

Since I can't control my live site's host, I am thinking maybe I need to change to having no gzip compression on my WAMP. However, I will then need to figure out how to change the config file accordingly.

Doug's instructions seem so straightforward and it is so appealing to be able to have this lower define main page file, I regret that I could not ascertain how to fix this. I have re-examined the files and really find nothing that stands out as a possible error.

One thing I did do, however, was try to add a "//this file added 1-09 by myself" comment so that I could recognize the modified file if ever I do a future Zen Cart update. I did have an unintended space before the //, which I corrected, and then I finally took that addition out. It was inserted just before a sentence stating "this is the first line of...." So maybe I created an error situation that is being retained despite my taking out the extra space.

I would like to know how to add a comment identifying changes in future files I try to change without messing up the code.

Thanks for looking at this.

[notageek]

Well, I reviewed my Gzip compression setting in PHPMyAdmin on my WAMP server, and it had the wrong setting for my local site. I changed it, and ... er ... indeed, it works. It helps for someone like Kuroi to point out the obvious. A compression error is a compression error. I don't know how the particular changes made would have caused this so maybe on my last copy of my online site I forgot to change the compression to adapt to my WAMP server's opposite setting.

The define_main_page_lower isn't working yet but I will revisit that before I try the Numinex Center Box Category solution.

Thanks Kuroi.

[notageek]

I regrouped and tried a suggestion earlier in this thread to compare files with Winmerge. I did find that I had left in a "//this file changed 1-2010" type of comment so I took that out. I found that some of the changes made had not been double-spaced as they were in the original file. Also, I removed the "featured products" center box that I had activated to be in the middle of the two main text center boxes.

I now see a difference in what I did and my result, in that instruction #2 states: "For the content that you want to show at the bottom of your main page, create a new file includes/languages/english/html_includes/define_main_page_lower.php - you'll be able to edit the content of that from the Define Pages Editor in Admin."

I did place a file there, but I also noted that the define_main_page.php appeared in MY_TEMPLATE at includes/languages/english/html_includes/MY_TEMPLATE/define_main_page.php, so I put a copy of the define_main_page_lower.php file in that override file, and that is the file that is actually appearing in my define pages edit screen from the tools/define pages editor.

I believe that since Doug's instructions didn't mention the MY_TEMPLATE override, maybe the code in his steps 3, 4, or 5 didn't incorporate the MY_TEMPLATE override, and that may be why I can edit it in Admin->Tools_define_main_page_lower, but it doesn't show up on my main center box.

However, I am not seeing an obvious place where the MY_TEMPLATE override should be referenced. In Step 5, I placed the new version of includes/templates/template_default/templates/tpl_index_default.php in includes/templates/MY_TEMPLATE/templates/tpl_index_default.php, but this made sense because there are other override templates in that directory which appear in the template-default file.

It is difficult to let this go as it is such a mystery and there must be some form of php code or logic that is essential to solving this that would probably elucidate the whole coding process which I am not seeing, so if someone else sees it, it would be a great thing to understand and solve.