Problem with Product Display/Categories

[SHOPJNSQ]

Hello,

We've been having a recurring problem with the display of our products. If I go into an WOMEN>BAGS>PURSES and click the first bag that is displayed, you'll notice it actually opens in the shop by designer category. (http://www.shopjenesaisquoi.com/en/w...27/purses-119/). This items master category is in PURSES, not SHOP BY DESIGNER so we were immediately concerned that this was an issue in other categories and for other products.

This is particularly problematic because once someone clicks on that bag, for example, and wish to click NEXT to go to what they THINK is the next bag, they're actually taken to a dress.

Sure enough, this is effecting other categories as well. Another example: http://www.shopjenesaisquoi.com/en/w...58/watches-76/
This link takes you to watches in WOMEN. If you click on the FIRST watch (Chronograph Black Master watch), you end up here: http://www.shopjenesaisquoi.com/en/l...ster-watch-132 which is in MEN.

I've spoken with our developers JSWeb, zencart specialists, about this and they say there is no solution, that it is likely attributed to the Friendly URL SEO plugin that they installed months and months ago. However, we weren't experiencing the problem immediately after the SEO plugin was installed, it was months later. For us, saying there is no solution is not acceptable - we fear we have lost many clients who have noticed this "bug" and left the site.

Do you have any recommendations or idea what might be causing this and how it can be fixed? If it was because of an update that JSWeb may have made, I understand that it's very difficult and time consuming to spot errors but we cannot allow our site to function this way!

Thank you in advance for your help,

Lindsey of Je Ne Sais Quoi
www.shopjenesaisquoi.com

[Ajeh]

What happens if you turn off the SEO/rewrites on your site?

What happens if you switch to the Classic Template to test this?

Could you also all of the answer the questions that you see when you click Reply to this thread?

[SHOPJNSQ]

Hi there,

Well, I asked your question to our developers and they claim that it's not as simple as turning the SEO module on and off so there is not way to test the problem by turning off the plugin temporarily. Do you think this is true?

He's basically saying either we remove the plugin completely or we leave it in and continue having these problems. I feel as though they have made an error somewhere and can't be bothered to go looking for the source of the problem and fix it because it could be quite time consuming.

What do you think?

THank you!

[TwoWayRadio]

I had similar issues myself.

Are you using CEON URI mapping? If so are you copying products when creating them or moving them between categories? We found that we had to go into each product (edit) and check the auto generate CEON URL checkbox to regenerate the URI mapping. This also has to be done on all categories above the product first, working your way down from the top level regenerating URI mappings for all categories/subcategories until you get to the product itself.

[SHOPJNSQ]

I will ask our developers about this! I know we have a URI mapping system in place but I'll find out about this.

In your opinion, should they be washing their hands of this and claiming there is no solution?

[conor]

Hi,

Are you using CEON URI mapping?

I don't think he is.. Ceon URI Mapping doesn't add IDs to the URIs and it has full support for maintaining the "context" of the user on the site (which is why it appends the cPath parameter when viewing a linked product).

If so are you copying products when creating them or moving them between categories? We found that we had to go into each product (edit) and check the auto generate CEON URL checkbox to regenerate the URI mapping.

If you duplicate a product you are creating an entirely new product, which is why it needs a "new" URI generated.

This also has to be done on all categories above the product first, working your way down from the top level regenerating URI mappings for all categories/subcategories until you get to the product itself.

That's not right. when you move or duplicate a product, nothing has to be done for the category/subcategories it is moved/added to, they will all still have their previous mappings and don't need updated.

Only the new, duplicated product's URI needs to be generated.

The software automatically regenerates the URI for a product which is being moved so nothing needs to be done when moving a product.

If yours isn't regenerating the URI when moving a product, then you need to re-install the software as you have missed updating the likes of the admin/includes/modules/move_product_confirm.php file.

Hope that helps!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[SHOPJNSQ]

Hi Conor,

Thanks for your message. I relayed your suggestion to our developers and this is what they said.... I'm really not quite sure what the best strategy is.

"I'm more than happy to UNISTALL -> REINSTALL URi Mapping for you BUT (and I need your confirmation) we would be dropping all URLS from your database to refresh it, and it would mean starting to add them manually yourself

That said we have a tool that will AUTO populate them for you (saving loads of time/effort) but as I'm not sure how to added them originally, this may mean some URLS change.

Positive:
- Remove SEO completely to test to see if navigation works
- If so, reinstall SEO module a fresh

Negative
- The removal of the SEO may not correct the navigation
- The SEO would need to be reinstalled and may change URLS"

What do you think about this? Is there something they're missing or not considering?

Any advice would be welcomed!

[conor]

Hi,

What do you think about this? Is there something they're missing or not considering?

Any advice would be welcomed!

If you move from the old SEO module you had to Ceon URI Mapping you will lose all the previous links on your site which differ from the new URIs. All these links would break in Google, so if you have a significant search result placement in Google etc. then this would be a terrible idea.

The solution may be to get someone to write some code to scan your database and record the current URIs being used for ALL products and categories, then to populate the Ceon URI Mapping database with these URIs, marking them as "historical URIs", you'd then not lose any search engine placement as you'd have no broken links.

The cheaper solution is simply to continue to use your current SEO software or maybe get someone to tweak it for you so it works with Zen Cart's "context", fixing the problem you're having in the first place.

All the best..

Conor
ceon