default template cloning

[skaterschoice]

OK, rechecked all changes twice, uploaded via fillazilla, was able to login to admin, able to see all option, when I went to Tools, template selection - I had the following:

Windows error page come up. in URL bar: https://www.skaterschoicecolorado.co...ate_select.php

The website cannot display the page
HTTP 500
Most likely causes:
The website is under maintenance.
The website has a programming error.
What you can try:
Refresh the page.
Go back to the previous page.
More information
This error (HTTP 500 Internal Server Error) means that the website you are visiting had a server problem which prevented the webpage from displaying.
For more information about HTTP errors, see Help.

www.skaterschoicecolorado.com

[skaterschoice]

Update:

Uninstalled changes, went back to known good includes files ,went into admin reset from test clone, reset back to original contemporary green reset boxes, system admin login worked, site was up with classic contemporary green. Also I am keeping close eye on permissions.

obviously I missed something in the new changes, I will review all changes and start from scratch again and provide update.

[skaterschoice]

schoolboy You ARE DA MAN!

User interface issues as usual, a short between the floor and keyboard.

After double checking all edits, re uploaded, I realized that the classic folder needed to be removed from the server side.

Thanks much, now the fun begins.

Again a big thanks and I owe you at least one COLD ONE!

The OLD guy

[schoolboy]

I realized that the classic folder needed to be removed from the server side.

Er... not as such...

The classic folder is an important component of CORE. You should not remove it.

Are you sure you re-naned ALL folders to my_template on your LOCAL machine... especially the one that houses template_info.php ?

If you want me to take a quick look at whether you have done this correctly send me a Provate Message with your server FTP login details.

[Athens Collectibles]

Hi schoolboy,

I want to do the same as skaterschoice but:

1) I am on v1.3.9d (I don't suppose it matters)

2) I have already done some customisation although it wouldn't be that bad if I lost it.

3) I don't have a local copy of Zen Cart.

4) My configuration is dual-language, Greek and English. I had some initial problems with Greek but everything seems to work fine at the moment.

Your reply #2 to this topic was:

Then, go through ALL the folders, SUB-folders and even the SUB-SUB-folders in:
templates
languages
modules


... and wherever you see a folder called "classic"...

... change that folder's name to my_template

You now have your exact clone of classic (called my_template) which you can FTP to your server.

What if I did it like this directly on the server:

Go through ALL the folders, SUB-folders and even the SUB-SUB-folders in:

templates
languages
modules

... and wherever I see a folder called "classic" ...
... copy it (and its contents) to a new folder called my_template

If the above action is correct, I assume that the file includes/templates/classic/template_info.php will be cloned as includes/templates/my_template/template_info.php and I can do the changes as described in your reply above (template name, author etc).

What I'm not sure about is what cloning of language files (if any) will be required. If it doesn't work, I believe that I can always revert to the Classic Contemporary Green until problems are solved.

May I have your expert opinion please before I proceed? I will really appreciate it and thank you in advance. In case you want to have a look on the present appearance in Greek and English, my URL is http://athenscollectibles.info

Have a nice evening and kind regards from a hot Athens (nearly 40º).

[schoolboy]

George...

If you have been making changes to CORE files, then you have some extra work to do.

It's not just about re-naming folders...

You say that you have already made some customizations to some files.

When you customized these files, did you send the EDITED file to its CLASSIC folder... or did you just send it back to its original location after you edited it?

What I am asking is this... Did you follow the over-ride principles (after editing a CORE file, you sent it to its appropriate "classic" override folder)?

If you DID follow the over-ride procedure with ALL the files you have edited so far, then just re-naming the "classic" folders on your server will be OK. (NOTE: you will, however lose your sidebox settings when the template changes).

After you rename "classic" folders on your server, then you MUST ftp a fresh copy of "classic" template to the server. (You must ALWAYS have the classic template on the server).

If you DID NOT follow override principles, then your task is a little harder because you will need to:

1. MOVE all edited files that are still in their CORE locations, into your over-rides folders.
2. FTP fresh CORE copies of the files that you have moved, so that they REPLACE the ones you just moved. (In this way, you are returning the core files to their original, un-edited state).

When you have all your core files back as their originals, and the edited files in the proper over-ride location (probably classic folders in your case), you can do the folder re-naming.

[Athens Collectibles]

Hi Schoolboy and thank you for your reply. I will not pretend that I fully understand what you say (more below) but it's encouraging to see that senior members of this forum are always helpful. Having installed another ecommerce package before Zen Cart, I found their forum discussions addressed to developers and ASP programmers only, ignoring requests for help from simple users like me who only want to set up a store and are not developers. That was the reason I decided to switch to Zen Cart.

Coming back to your reply: I installed Zen Cart and the Greek language pack a few weeks ago. You may remember that you again helped me with installing the Greek files in another thread and I thank you for that help. Since then, I made the following two changes to the template:

I changed the template width from 750px to 850px in file:
/includes/templates/classic/css/stylesheet.css and edited it back to its original value today.

I changed the header Search button size from 45px to 65px in file:
/includes/templates/template_default/sideboxes/tpl_search_header.php (to accommodate the larger button label in Greek) and edited it back to its original value today.

The above changes had been made on the server and the reason I changed them back to the original values is that I suspect from your reply that the files changed were what you call CORE files. I have read about the override system and must confess that it's something that I haven't understood yet. I'm not computer illiterate but the folders structure seems very strange, or at least unusual.

Before going on, I will mention that I have made many changes via the administration panel and have entered a test category and two test products but I guess that changes made from administration are not affecting the templates (except perhaps the sidebox settings which I can easily recreate).

Now I come to the serious questions, which are important to the way I proceed. Like the original poster, I too find the Classic Contemporary template quite attractive and would like to use it, customising it as much as possible. I'm quite good with HTML and have some basic knowledge of CSS but I'm also persistent and like the challenges. What has scared me after reading various posts in the forum is the possibility to do a lot of work and set up a store only to lose everything if I upgrade from 1.3.9d to a newer version in some time. This is the reason I want to be absolutely sure I'm doing the right thing.

What you call CORE files: do you mean the files in the various "classic" folders found all around the server or those in the template_default folder?

I have found 16 folders named "classic" in my server's expanded directories. I have read that, to create my own template, I need to create a folder named my_template (or whatever) whereever there is a "classic" folder. Your previous reply to "skaterschoice" was to rename the "classic" folders to "my_template" and then FTP the original "classic" folders back to the server. Having explained above what changes I had done (which are now undone), is it safe to copy all 16 "classic" folders to 16 "my_template" folders (including contents of course, not the folders only) and then edit the includes/templates/classic/template_info.php to provide the "my_template" info?

If that's correct, do I make all desired and future changes to .php or .css files within the "my_template" folders only and leave files in the "classic" folders intact? And does this mean that I will be safe during a future upgrade?

You may find my questions naive but I think that I will eventually find my way around and hopefully help others. Just to make everything clear, I attach an image of my file structure showing all the "classic" folders I found on the server. I haven't expanded the folders that do not have "classic" subfolders inside; that includes "admin". The red arrows point to the position of the new "my_template" folders as I understand it (which may not be correct, although I hope it is).

In any case, I owe you a pint next time I'm in the UK. I don't come frequently these days but I will sometime sooner rather than later. When I was working for RBS I used to visit London and other places on business frequently, but have only been back twice since I retired three years ago. I'm looking forward to the next visit!

Many thanks again for all your assistance (and patience) and I wish you a nice evening.