Switching templates at run time

[eccentric]

G'day,

I'm in a situation whereby I need to be able to load a different template, depending on where the visitor is in the site. Example: the visitor is viewing the category "Men's Clothing," - I want the template in '/includes/templates/mens' to be loaded. When a visitor is viewing "Women's Clothing," - I want the template in '/includes/templates/womens' to be loaded.

I have found the line in 'admin/template_select.php' that is responsible for updating/switching the template that is used the site (line 52):

$db->Execute("update " . TABLE_TEMPLATE_SELECT . " set template_dir = '" . $_POST['ln'] . "' where template_id = '" . $_GET['tID'] . "'");

So, theoretically, I should be able to execute this query replacing the template_dir and template_id with whatever template I want to use - based on what category/section of the site the visitor is viewing. To do this all that would be needed is something like a variable stored in $_GET that has the template_dir. Let's say I know the template_id is 1. The query would be something like:

$db->Execute("update " . TABLE_TEMPLATE_SELECT . " set template_dir = '" . $_GET['template'] . "' where template_id = '1'");

This piece of code works if placed anywhere after line 111 of 'includes/application_top.php', which reads:

require('includes/autoload_func.php');

But it will not work if placed before that line, I imagine because this line is responsible for running 'autoload_func.php' which in turn initiates all the classes and objects used throughout the site (at least this is my understanding).

At present, the code works, only it will only load the new template after you have refreshed the page more than once (or viewed 2 pages with the same $_GET['template']). This is because the first time the page is run, it updates the template with the query. The second time the page is run, the template has already been updated so you see the new template.

So, I need someone who has some advanced knowledge of Zen Cart to give me a pointer here. How can I run a query that will switch templates as the page is generated?

Many thanks.

[MarkRS]

I'm not sure I can claim advanced knowledge, but I've been fiddling with stylesheets too, and in the css directories of the templates (eg includes/templates/template_default/css) there's a file css_readme.txt that suggests you can set up templates for all sorts of things. Here's what it says

The CSS files are sent to the browser in this order: (and alphabetically within each case of more than one match):

             style*.css   // are always loaded and at least ONE should contain site-wide properties.
language_stylesheet.css   // changes to ALL pages, when that language is used
          page_name.css   // changes to one page 
 language_page_name.css   // changes to one page, when that language is used
            c_??_??.css   // changes to all info pages in a category
   language_c_??_??.css   // changes to all info pages in a category, when that language is used
               m_??.css   // changes to a manufacturer's listing page
      language_m_??.css   // changes to a manufacturer's listing page, when that language is used
               p_??.css   // changes to a product's info page
      language_p_??.css   // changes to a product's info page, when that language is used
             print*.css   // printer-friendly global usage site-wide changes for printing-only

Now, setting up categories seems to be a bit of an issue. I've gone some of the way to sorting out a (manual) solution, but it (product categories) seems like such a sensible idea it's too good to miss out on. It's just a bit more manual than it might be at the moment d:

Hope it helps
Mark

[eccentric]

Hmm okay, so it looks like you can apply different stylesheets to different categories quite easily. But what if you want to have different HTML/layouts for different categories? CSS can't do that. I think that's why I need to able to switch entire templates.

I'm close to finding a sketchy solution using the query I posted above, but as long as it works I don't really care (:

[eccentric]

Righto, here's my (temporary) solution. Placed at the beginning of index.php.

The variables $zf_host, $zf_user, $zf_password and $db_name represent the MySQL host, username, password and database name.

switch($_GET['cPath']) {
case 1: // Men's Clothing category
  $template = "mens"; // directory name of Men's Clothing template (includes/templates/mens)
  break;
case 2: // Women's Clothing category
  $template = "womens"; // directory name of Women's Clothing template (includes/templates/womens)
  break;
default:
  $template = "default"; // directory name of default template (includes/templates/default)
  break;
}

if($_GET['cPath']) {
  $link = mysql_connect($zf_host, $zf_user, $zf_password, true);
  if (!$link) {
    die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  } else {
    mysql_select_db($db_name);
  }  
  $query = "UPDATE zen_template_select SET template_dir = '" . $template . "' WHERE template_id = '1'";
  $result = mysql_query($query);
  mysql_close($link);
}

...Oh dear. I just realised that this actually switches the template for every viewer - not on a per viewer basis. That's not what I want. Oh well! back to the drawing board (:

[eccentric]

Okay, got it! The final solution. The file that is responsible for selecting the template is 'includes/init_includes/init_templates.php'. By placing this code (and modifying it to have your own template directories, adding more cases, etc.), you can load a different template based on which category a viewer is browsing. It should go on Line 37:

  if($_GET['cPath']) {
    switch($_GET['cPath']) {
    case 1: // Men's Clothing
      $template_dir = "mens"; // directory name of Men's Clothing template (includes/templates/mens)
      break;
    case 2: // Women's Clothing
      $template_dir = "womens"; // directory name of Women's Clothing template (includes/templates/womens)
      break;
    default: // If none of the above
      $template_dir = "default"; // directory name of default template (includes/templates/default)
      break;
    }
  }

I think this should be a standard feature.

[DrByte]

I think this should be a standard feature.

As of v1.3.5, you can call it 'index_home.css' and it will only affect the "home" page.

[eccentric]

Okay that's cool, thanks for the info. But my idea was to allow entire templates to be applied to categories, not just css files, ie. the template in 'includes/templates/pants' is loaded whenever someone is browsing the 'pants' category. When someone goes to view a product in the 'shirts' category the template in 'includes/templates/shirts' is loaded. It's actually not difficult to implement at all, using the code above.

[DrByte]

It's actually not difficult to implement at all, using the code above.

True, as long as one is willing to manually code it for each individual category.

[eccentric]

True, as long as one is willing to manually code it for each individual category.

I don't think it'd be too difficult (although somewhat time consuming) to write a mod to achieve the same thing though. Maybe one day I'll get around to that.

[clydejones]

Why not do a stylesheet for the category call it c_4.css
Where 4 would be the category for "shirts"

the stylesheet would consist of declarations used only by that category.

You could change the header_bg image and any thing else to make that page unique.

The stylesheet would only be called when that category page is displayed.

doing this saves messing with the core code.