Getting Main Page To Open With Category Plus Other Stuff

[dmcco]

I'd like to list the products in a certain category (ID=2) on the main page, under text and/or images defined as usual in includes/languages/english/html_includes/custom/define_main_page.php. This would seem to be straightforward.

However, when in Layout Settings I set "Main Page - Opens with Category" to the category ID, the text/images disappear. They reappear if I set "Main Page - Opens with Category" to zero (or blank). So I can get one or the other, but not both. Is this normal?

Obviously I have "Categories - Always Show on Main Page" set to 1. Version is 1.3.9h.

[Ajeh]

There are 3 index templates for:

1 Normal index when no categories are displayed:
tpl_index_default.php

2 Index for when there are Categories displayed, such as you click on categories_id 3 and it has subcategories:
tpl_index_categories.php

3 Index for when you are on a Category with just Products for the Product Lising to display:
tpl_index_product_listing.php

The first two, show the Define page for the:
define_main_page.php

The last one does not ...

You could customize the third one to know when it is on the Home page with the variable:
$this_is_home_page

and add the Define page to it to display only when on the Home Page but not when on the Category navigation for the Product Listing ...

[dmcco]

Thank you for a very quick reply. I've now added the following code at the top of includes/templates/custom/templates/tpl_index_product_list.php (and it seems to work):

<?php if (DEFINE_MAIN_PAGE_STATUS >= 1 and DEFINE_MAIN_PAGE_STATUS <= 2 and $this_is_home_page) { ?>
<?php
?>
<div id="indexDefaultMainContent" class="content"><?php require($define_page); ?></div>
<?php } ?>

I copied it from tpl_index_default.php and added your suggestion of "if $this_is_home_page".

I hope that I've understood you correctly and that I haven't upset anything else by making this modification!

[Ajeh]

Glad that this is now working for you ... thanks for posting the solution you used to display the define on the tpl_index_product_listing.php when that is being used as your Home page ...

[dmcco]

I should let you know that I've now decided to display featured products on the main page instead, and therefore the modification I made will not be getting a proper test.

It may even be causing a problem, because though the featured products are showing on the main page, the Featured Listing in the Admin does not now seem to control how they display.

[dmcco]

Well, it wasn't the problem. I've reversed the modification I made to tpl_index_product_listing.php, but the Featured Listing in the Admin is still failing to controlling the featured products display on the main page.

[ShockRaver]

this solution helpt me 2... thank you