Product Finder: multiple category drop-downs

[torvista]

I (personally) cannot make the instructions in the readme any better than they are already, maybe a new user has to do that.
If you don't understand something please be specific which instruction you find unclear.

I expect your category structure does not match what the mod needs - which has been explained several times and detailed in post #19 of this thread and I'll repeat here..

This mod uses a category set-up like this

top-category -

sub-category level 1 -

subsub-category level 2 -

subsubsub-category level3 which contains the enabled product

Each subcategory is a drop-down.

Then you have to tell the mod which top-category to start from.

If you want the mod to work differently, then it is up to you to do it or pay for someone (not me) to do it: I did not write this, I just offered it to the community for free.

[Jerr]

Here is a diagram I created for myself to help me understand
the setup. The diagram is a thumbnail so just click on it to see the full picture.

I hope this helps

I scratched my head a bunch until the picture formed in my head.

jerr

[torvista]

Jerr, thanks for that image.
Did you fix the problems of the spanish category names not saving?

[Jerr]

Jerr, thanks for that image.
Did you fix the problems of the spanish category names not saving?

I hope that the diagram is understandable.

Not yet.

I am trying Apsona to see if that will solve my problem but its just creating another problem for me. That is the good old learning process. I have it installed but haven't figured out yet how I can import data with it.

Whats curious about the language problem is that if I enter the info, make, model and year manually it will be saved and appear in the drop downs but when I use EP it is skipped and then when I try to edit a category adding the 2nd language it wont save it. When I look in the MySql database, the entries I have made manually show language 1 and 2 but all of the entries made with EP only show language 1. There is a clue there somewhere, just wish I were more PHP and MySql literate.

Also I have installed your latest product finder update and I like the graphic. Looks good

jerr

[swamyg1]

Can anybody help me with my error? This module works with JS turned off, but with it turned on I'm getting the following error in firebug:

$ is not defined
$(document).ready(function(){

I do see this code rendering on the page:

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
$(document).ready(function(){
$("#cPath").change(modelList);
$("#select_model").change(yearList);
//$("#select_year").focus();
$("#select_year").change(function()
{
var baseDirectory=document.getElementById("basemodulepath").value;
var cPath1=$("#cPath").val();
var cPath2=$("#select_model").val();
var cPath3=$("#select_year").val();
window.location=(baseDirectory+"index.php?main_page=index&cPath="+cPath1+"_"+cPath2+"_"+cPath3);
}
);
});
var modelList=function model_list(){
var baseDirectory=document.getElementById("basemodulepath").value;
var cPath=document.getElementById("cPath").value;
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url:baseDirectory+"modellist.php",
data:"cPath="+cPath+"&my=1",
success: function(data){
// alert(data);
if(data!=""){
arrayVar=new Array();
arrayVar=data.split("|");
arrayVarId=new Array();
arrayVarId=arrayVar[0].split("^");
arrayVarName=new Array();
arrayVarName=arrayVar[1].split("^");
$('#select_model').html("");
$('#select_model').append("<option value=''>Please Select<\/option>");
for(i=1;i<arrayVarId.length-1;i++)
{
$('#select_model').append($("<option><\/option>").attr("value",arrayVarId[i]).text(arrayVarName[i]));
}
}
}
});
};
var yearList=function year_list(){
var baseDirectory=document.getElementById("basemodulepath").value;
var cPath=document.getElementById("select_model").value;
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url:baseDirectory+"modellist.php",
data:"cPath="+cPath+"&my=2",
success: function(data){
if(data!=""){
arrayVar=new Array();
arrayVar=data.split("|");
arrayVarId=new Array();
arrayVarId=arrayVar[0].split("^");
arrayVarName=new Array();
arrayVarName=arrayVar[1].split("^");
$('#select_year').html("");
$('#select_year').append("<option value=''>Please Select<\/option>");
for(i=1;i<arrayVarId.length-1;i++)
{
$('#select_year').append($("<option><\/option>").attr("value",arrayVarId[i]).text(arrayVarName[i]));
}
}
}
});
};
//--></script>

I'm not a Javascript pro, but I would really appreciate any insight!

Kind regards,

Gautama

[Liamv]

For some reason when we were looking to implement a Make Model Year drop down box filter on our web site I didn't find this thread. So perhaps we did this the hard way?

We have recently implemented a new feature on our web site that allows filtered searching by Make Year and Model via drop down boxes.

We developed our own ZenCart template (from an existing one) and then got a third party to add a Make Year Model drop down filter for us.

It seems to have the same functionality as the module in this thread but the administration and set up is very different. I am not sure whether what we have is better or worse - happy to answer any questions if anyone wants to compare the two - but I haven't played with the contribution mentioned previously in this thread.

It has been created by Zen4me.com for us (at a very reasonable cost) and we understand that now they have done the hard work of develping it from scratch for us that they are going to make it available to other customers as well at a cheaper price. We are happy and keen for other customers to also use this development as it will ensure that new features etc will be developed.

How it works.

You can visit www.FastBikeGear to see it in action.

Rather than have to assign every one of our thousands of products manually one by one to a Make Model Year Zen4me was able to import a spreadsheet that we gave them with the Make Model and Year Assignments for every product. (However the import process wasn't perfect and some products did not get assigned even though we had made assignments in the spread sheet - which is very frustrating)

On an ongoing basis, when you add a new product at the bottom of the page where you add the product description price etc you assign the product to one or more Make(s), Model(s) and Yeas(s) from a pre-established list of Make, Model and Years. This feature works really well and makes it fast and easy to administer.

Pre-establihed list of Make Model and Years. We were able to supply the developers with a Make Model Year spread sheet which they imported into the site for us. Through the Admin via tab called Extras we can add/edit new Make Model and Years as required on an ongoing basis.

It's early days yet (we have only be using it for a couple of weeks) and the code still needs some development to improve the administration functions.

Please feel free to ask me questions on this or contact via this thread or contact Donny at [email protected]

So as not to hijack this thread or get it off track I have started another thread here:

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...ake-Model-Year

[torvista]

So as not to hijack this thread or get it off track I have started another thread here:

Since some relevant questions have been asked in this other thread
http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...ake-Model-Year

about my use of this mod at www dot motorvista dot es, I have decided to answer them here as they are relevant to this thread, not the other one!

Steve it would seem that the way you are doing this is to create hidden categroies for each Make of bike and then create a subcategory for each model and then a further sub categor for each year of bike and then assign new products to the relevant year of bike category?

The Bike Make->Model->Year category structure is not hidden as such, its just only accessable through the drop down to save menu space.

My Top-level categories are:
1 - Manufacturers->where subcats are logical product families as makes sense to ME for ordering purposes, linking to an ERP etc. This is like a reference list for us, the admins. It is accessible but not really subdivided to help people find stuff specific to their bike. This is the master categories section for all products.

All products are then linked as required to 2) Products and 3) Your Bike->Model->Year categories.
--------

2 - Products->The traditional menu of types of products.
---------
3 - Your Bike->Accessible through the drop-down only.
---------

It would also seem that you could then use EZ pages to update this information?

No idea, never used EZ pages.

I have made enormous spreadsheets in Openoffice Calc (better charset handling than Excel) for each group of products where all the product information in both languages is built from the manufacturers (often sloppy) data, chunks of common texts and lots of IF and SUBSTITUTE statements, which I import with Apsona for initial creation and subsequent updates for price.

I also use boilerplate text a lot:
http://www.thatsoftwareguy.com/zenca...scription.html
which has recently become a mod for download.

A disadvantage with your solution might be if a product fits multiple products you need to copy it to multiple years which would be cumbersome through the admin.
and then when you drill down to a single product it is harder to see at a galnce what models and years the product is assigned to

We have a matrix/list at the bottom of each product description page in the admin which makes product assignments very fast and displays a complete list of all the MMY that a product is assigned to. However as yet we can not simply copy this list of assignments to another product.

Yes its immensely tedious to create a category tree of all the Bike Make->Model->Year categories and of course many products have to be multiple-linked/copied to many ->Year categories but I had Conor (CEON, RIP) improve the stock Zen Cart products-to-categories page to show all the defined categories for a product, in alphabetical order, filtered by a drop-down and add the functionality to copy all linked products from one category into another category, copy all a products category links to another product as described in this thread:
http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...Manager-Sorted
which is frankly, awsome!

So you can easily see at a glance for any product, to where it is linked, and it does the copying functionality you are missing.

With that, and Ajeh's Multiple product-copy mod
http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...Move-Delete%29

you are covered for almost any type of copying you wish to do.
I would love to see them both combined and integrated into the core, I couldn't manage my shop structure without them.

[Jerr]

Posting to update my test site link.
I moved to a free site because the company I was building the site for backed out of the deal.

I had to rebuild it so I am still fine tuning it.
http://zencartdemo.bugs3.com/zencart/

[raunharman]

Hello torvista,

This is one module I feel could solve my problem

On my website, http://204.93.193.150/~bhavikac/ is a city wise deals site.

The visitor first chooses the city he is in (Which he does from a single drop down menu) in the header. He is then taken to the specific page for that city where he should see the sub categories (gifts for her, gifts for him, anniversary gifts etc) available in that city. Under the sub categories, he will see the products.

Can I use the multi category drop down with some modifications for this website? I mean instead of having 3 drop downs, the 2nd drop down menu (based on the category chosen) is shown as a horizontal menu in the header bar.

Any help is welcome.

This mod provides three drop-down select boxes which are used to select products from subcat01 - subcat02 - subcat03 such as Make-Model-Year.

The second and third drop-down are populated dynamically (using jquery) as a result of the choice made in the previous box.

As supplied in this package, the drop drown is integrated into the header.

Why use this mod?

To replace a long static list in a sidebox.This mod was written for my site by a commercial developer as no equivalent was available as a community contribution.

This version 0.9 is offered to help those who wish to implement something similar. Since it is working for me I have not had to bugfix it and so I have no idea how it works and so cannot offer any support other than moral.

It is offered to the community "as is" in the hope that others pick it up and iron-out any non-Zen-standard-practices that may lurk within.

As it is, it works when dropped into a classic-copy vanilla 139e site.

I'll post again when it is available for download,
regards
Steve

[mikestaps]

willie bee -
i think I may have found your issue.... Do you have any SEO mods installed?
I installed the ceon SEO mod and the product finder no longer works... I'm going to install some of the other SEO mods and see if the issue is duplicated.