consistent look for product listing

[tdblanchard]

I'm trying to achieve something that I've come oh so very close to finding searching around here, but still no luck...

My New Products, which are showing up underneath the category pages, are displaying without any tables (hallelujah!), but my main products listed in the main area above are in a table that O can't seem to find to strip out.

Is there a way to make all instances of product listings use the same layout?

Thanks in advance!

[stevesh]

Check this:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84174

[tdblanchard]

Yeah, I've gone through that guy's two-year-old steps about three times now and the New Products listings are still coming up in a table-less format while my category listing is in a friggin' table!

I'm also a little leery of hacking the core code simply because when the next update comes around, there goes the neighborhood!

I also hate the fact that my client will ultimately have the power to completely obliterate the layout through the "admin>configure>product listing" after I hand over the site.

Zen, my friend, you 're trying my patience. But TGIF!

[gjh42]

By "table-less", do you mean the grid layout, or simply the absense of table code? The default product listing actually is presented as tabular data, so table layout there is appropriate.
If you want non-tabular layout, get the Column Layout Grid mod from Free Addons. Even if you only want one product per row, this will allow you more freedom in element layout. For more control over element positioning, you might want to try Flexible Product Listing (styling product listing pages with column layout grid thread, post 50).

The new products on the home page are not a "listing" but a centerbox, and will not be affected by listing page mods. Centerboxes and the specials listing use non-tabular layout code. The new, featured and all listing pages actually use tables just for layout - I think they are even older code than the default listing.

For most front-end code, the template override system will let you keep your mods safe from being overwritten in an upgrade (you will still need to merge any changed core files that you have overridden into your mod versions manually).

If you are really concerned about your client damaging the site with random admin changes, use the Admin Profiles mod to make him an admin with limited access.

[tdblanchard]

I super-appreciate the reply!
That's a great idea about creating users with limited abilities. I guess I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it.

I'd rather not install some mod or add-on that could potentially be destroyed with an update. Really, all I'm trying to do is have EVERY instance of a product list in my store spit out the following html (dynamic stuff is enclosed in *'s):

<div class="store-item" id="desc-*pRODUCTiD*">
<img src="*pRODUCTiMAGE*" width="*pREDETERMINEDbYaDMINsETTING*" height="*pREDETERMINEDbYaDMINsETTING*" alt="*pRODUCTnAME*" title="*pRODUCTnAME*" border="0" />
	<div class="description">
		<div class="innerdescription">
		<h3>*pRODUCTnAME*</h3>
		<p><a href="*lINKtOpRODUCTpAGE*">> Interested in this item?</a></p>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

Is that really not that simple?

[gjh42]

If you don't install a mod, you will have to make a mod yourself. The end result is that you save modified code in an override copy of the file, which will be safe from upgrades. Have you studied the template override system yet? That is key to doing proper customization. See the tutorials.

Do you really want only an image, a title and a link for all product listings? You can edit /includes/modules/your_template/product_listing.php to strip out most of its display-creating functionality and insert the desired dynamic content in the HTML output. You would need to start from the Column Grid version of the file, and use the mod's tpl_ file, to get the non-tabular output.

[gjh42]

Note that you can achieve the equivalent of the output results you want for the product listing page by installing Column Grid, selecting columns layout, and turning off display of all elements beside image and name in Configuration > Product Listing. The image and name are both automatically links to the product info page.

You can do the same for the all, featured and new listings by setting their display attributes in the respective Configuration pages. Set image to 1101 and name to 1200.

[tdblanchard]

Thanks again for the help!
I'm a real newb when it comes to getting into the php and writing.

I opened up that product_listing page and have started to hack away at it, but really haven't the foggiest notion of what the heck I'm doing!

I guess I need some sorta "for each...set...this...that" kinda stuff :)

I would use the Column Grid mod, but pretty much need it to be exactly the quoted html I threw in a couple posts ago.

[tdblanchard]

Shouldn't there be variables for commonly used bits like "Item_Name", "Item_link", "Item_price", etc...?

[gjh42]

There are, but they are in much more complex forms, due tp advanced PHP coding practices required to handle all this information.
E.G. the name after much preprocessing is contained in this variable
$listing->fields['products_name']
but only for this file. Other files that use a product's name will likely have different containers for it.

It's going to be much more work creating the dynamic product listing display from scratch than working from the nearest available mod. You will have to use the mod's tpl_ file to output the listing in any case, unless you write your own replacement for it.

A good working knowledge of PHP is necessary for effective code modification on the scale you are attempting. www.w3schools.com is a good source of information.