sidebox module for logged in users only

[amat78]

I am modifying a store to only be available to employees at a company. The purpose is for the employee to be able to order company work clothes only available to them, not to the public. I need to be able to suppress side boxes, unless the employee is logged in as a customer. I have found this tutorial: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=279 which states:
1. Locate the module for the sidebox (or boxes) that you want to treat like this. You'll find them in includes/modules/sideboxes.

2. Create over-ride files for them by copying them to includes/modules/sideboxes/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME.

3. Open the over-ride file and find a couple of lines that look similar to:

// test if box should display
$show_featured= true;

These were taken from the featured_products products sidebox and the variable name for your box will probably differ slightly. Then change them to:

// test if box should display
if (!$_SESSION['customer_id']) {
$show_featured= false;
} else {
$show_featured= true;
}

I am trying to modify the catagories sidebox but I cant find any thing similar to step 3 in categories.php.
I am using zen-cart-v1.3.9
Here is the code for sideboxes/custom/categories.php:

<?php
/**
 * categories sidebox - prepares content for the main categories sidebox
 *
 * @package templateSystem
 * @copyright Copyright 2003-2005 Zen Cart Development Team
 * @copyright Portions Copyright 2003 osCommerce
 * @license http://www.zen-cart.com/license/2_0.txt GNU Public License V2.0
 * @version $Id: categories.php 2718 2005-12-28 06:42:39Z drbyte $
 */
	$main_category_tree = new category_tree;
    $row = 0;
    $box_categories_array = array();

// don't build a tree when no categories
    $check_categories = $db->Execute("select categories_id from " . TABLE_CATEGORIES . " where categories_status=1 limit 1");
    if ($check_categories->RecordCount() > 0) {
      $box_categories_array = $main_category_tree->zen_category_tree();
    }

    require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_categories.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'sideboxes'). '/tpl_categories.php');

    $title = BOX_HEADING_CATEGORIES;
    $title_link = false;

    require($template->get_template_dir($column_box_default, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'common') . '/' . $column_box_default);
?>

I tried adding this to the top, but with no success:

if (!$_SESSION['customer_id']) {
$show_categories_array= false;
} else {
$show_categories_array= true;
}

Thanks for your time.

[Soniccc]

i) create the following file: login.css

ii) copy the following code to login.css

#navColumnOne {display:none;}
#navColumnTwo {display:none;}
#navBreadCrumb {display:none;}

iii) upload login.css to includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css

iv) in Admin --> Configuration --> Customer Details --> set Customer Shop Status - View Shop and Prices to 1.

Voila!

[Ajeh]

The way the IF statement works in the Featured Sidebox is that there is an IF surrounding the code in the featured.php file ...

That IF has the code:

  if ($show_featured == true) {

above that code you can add:

// test if box should display
if (!$_SESSION['customer_id']) {
$show_featured= false;
} else {
$show_featured= true;
}

that sets the variable:
$show_featured

to true or false based on the test for the whether the customer is logged in or not based on:

if (!$_SESSION['customer_id']) {

You can do the same thing in any other sidebox, but you have to have two things:

1 customize the code for the test, such as:

// test if box should display
if (!$_SESSION['customer_id']) {
$show_categories= false;
} else {
$show_categories= true;
}

2 add the IF to use the results:

  if ($show_categories == true) {

around the code and do not forget the closing bracket on the IF at the bottom of the file ...

[amat78]

Thank you for all your help. I used Soniccc's solution and it worked perfectly.