Display Model Number on Category Page

[briandoakes]

looking at all of the files that control our site's look.. they are ALL under the folder template_default which based on what you are saying are the CORE files. correct?

[schoolboy]

Yeah thats what I meant.. a fresh install on a local or separate server... NOT on our live site.. something where I can look at it and understand how it works then try to implement on our development site first and then maybe our live site.

Well... there may be some value in doing this to learn core functionality... but I think it would be more advantageous to get your head round your developer's customisations.

As I said, a fresh install will not give you any indication where changes have been made in the CODE...

[rstevenson]

So in theory, if i installed a fresh version of 1.39 somewhere and then looked at the code that generates the Model Number and tried to bring that into this existing mess, in theory it should work properly? Or is there more to it you think?

In theory, that would work -- IF you can find and fit back into the customized files what was taken out. But in the long run you simply must get the customizations put into the proper override folders. There are two main reasons for doing so. As mentioned, having a clean stock classic template is a useful tool for debugging problems. Also, if your customizations are in the classic template files, they will all be overwritten when next you do an upgrade -- which I think you'll agree would be a Very Bad Thing.

Whether you want to tackle the clean up of your template now or just deal with the model number issue is up to you. But at some point, you'll have to do it all.

Rob

[schoolboy]

looking at all of the files that control our site's look.. they are ALL under the folder template_default which based on what you are saying are the CORE files. correct?

Yes... your developer has modified CORE files...

This makes finding changes that much harder... and my idea of changing CLASSIC to CUSTOM will have no value - because he has not used "CLASSIC" as the over-ride folder system...

... he's done changes to the CORE files themselves...

[briandoakes]

@Schoolboy, correct, but I wont be able to get my head around my developer's code if im not even able to tell what he removed in the first place, ya know? Like to give you an example, on the links I gave before, there used to be just a "ADD TO CART" button, but looking at the code, I was able to figure out how to add the "MORE INFO" button.. once Im able to understand how something works Im able to easily make changes...

@rstevenson. Thanks... In theory, I think when we upgrade to the newest version of ZenCart, I am going to do it 100% the right way, unfortunately at this point, Im stuck dealing with someone else's headache.

[briandoakes]

@schoolboy, so basically Im screwed at this point, because even if I wanted to load the classic template in and change the existing one to a custom template, Ill lose it once I load the classic in since thats where our developer wrote our template?

[schoolboy]

OK...

In ONE sense, there is some hope...


Because he has modified CORE stuff, when you do your FILE COMPARISONS, you will find it a little easier, because you can instruct WINMERGE to make direct comparisons to the DIRECTORY LEVEL, without having to instruct it to look in any CUSTOM folders. (There aren't any).

WINMERGE will then show you a LIST of changed files in HIS template_default folders, compared with the ORIGINAL template_default folders.

Ironically... this will help you get those files into a CUSTOM system more easily...

[schoolboy]

@schoolboy, so basically Im screwed at this point, because even if I wanted to load the classic template in and change the existing one to a custom template, Ill lose it once I load the classic in since thats where our developer wrote our template?

NO... DON'T DO THIS...

Your site's "Classic" (default) structure has been used for CUSTOM dev work...

If you try to load a new "CLASSIC" structure to the live site, you will destroy all the work that has been done...

[briandoakes]

agreed... the good news is.. I am actually planning on doing a site redesign soon, which means hiring a developer who knows what he's doing and will be able to organize it properly. On one hand this has all be a great learning experience for me, because Ive had to look at ZenCart code and PHP and figure out how to make things happen functionally when Im not even a developer. When I saw the simple way to add Product ID, i figure "this would be easy to get the model # to show up" unfortunately I was mistaken. LOL

And when we do our site redesign, it's going to be all CSS.

[schoolboy]

What you need to do right now is get the entire site's FOLDER STRUCTURE (and their files) FTP'd to your local machine.

Once there, you can start a more ordered process of correcting issues.

Don't tamper with LIVE stuff... You need to do your analysis and corrections OFF-LINE...