How do I turn off admin notifications?

[magz]

Hi - I was happily installing plugins and changing things in admin, then I check my email and get 48 messages with subject line "ALERT: Your Admin settings have been changed in your online store." Of course I deleted them all without reading. I can see how this will be a useful security measure AFTER the website is all set up and launched, but how can I turn this off DURING the setup (and then back on when I'm ready to launch)?
Thank you!
Magz

[picandnix]

Hi Magz
not the answer you're looking for but a sensible answer none the less
http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...ff-Admin-Alert

[magz]

Yup, picandnix, you're right, not what I was looking for... BUT the annoyance reached the level that gave me the determination to find the very special file that controls this. Commented out 3 lines of code in it - email alerts gone, and so far nothing appears broken. (I'm probably not supposed to say what special file that is, but if *I* could figure it out, any Zenner can...)

[gilby]

Hi - I was happily installing plugins and changing things in admin, then I check my email and get 48 messages with subject line "ALERT: Your Admin settings have been changed in your online store." Of course I deleted them all without reading. I can see how this will be a useful security measure AFTER the website is all set up and launched, but how can I turn this off DURING the setup (and then back on when I'm ready to launch)?
Thank you!
Magz

Also not the answer the answer you want, but....

If there was an easy admin switch...
then anyone who wanted to maliciously change a payment module for example would also use this "easy" switch to prevent the store owner knowing.
Having to have enough knowledge to change code will prevent the less knowledgeable people from easily circumventing this security method.

Because of this I don't think you will ever see the code required posted here.
Posting it defeats the whole point of this code.

Also how many who do this will also "forget" to turn it back "on"

btw: How easy is it to delete 48 messages?
Only a few keystrokes

[DivaVocals]

btw: How easy is it to delete 48 messages?
Only a few keystrokes

I totally agree!!!

[Axeman]

I have noticed that the link provided only gave a brief 'you shouldn't do it!' response when people actually want an answer. I will provide the answer for you, BUT I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU REPLACE THE CODE AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED SETTING UP YOUR STORE. You can remove the following from admin/modules.php

$msg = sprintf(TEXT_EMAIL_MESSAGE_ADMIN_MODULE_INSTALLED, preg_replace('/[^\d\w]/', '*', $_POST['module']), $admname);
zen_mail(STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS, TEXT_EMAIL_SUBJECT_ADMIN_SETTINGS_CHANGED, $msg, STORE_NAME, EMAIL_FROM, array('EMAIL_MESSAGE_HTML'=>$msg), 'admin_settings_changed');

It is found in three places and they can be safely removed. I have done this for the time being as I need to duplicate shipping and payment options and while I am I do not want my store email to be cluttered with trash. I will be replacing them once I have completed adapting the site to the way that I want it to work.

For those that will criticise and say that people wil forget to turn the function back on, if there was a switch where you can turn this feature off while you configure the store, you could make it so that there is a prominent warning that these notifications are not active. That way no one can forget to switch it on again. That would be very useful.

I have just upgraded my store from 1.3.9 to 1.5.1. I have to say that there are some very nice additions. That being said, there are some annoying and sometimes very distracting features that can make running your store a bit of a drag. I will be working on removing or working round the very few things I do not like, such as this constant logging out after 15 minutes and so on (which I have resolved without removing the feature or installing any addons). Overall, very good template Zen Cart team!!!

[Design75]

If you really do not want those messages during construction of your site, just set the "send email" switch in the admin to false. This way you do not have to edit code, and you will have you warning at the top of the admin telling you no emails are being send

[DivaVocals]

I have noticed that the link provided only gave a brief 'you shouldn't do it!' response when people actually want an answer.

You are right.. Design75's post above IMHO is the RIGHT answer which requires NO hacking of the core code..

If you really do not want those messages during construction of your site, just set the "send email" switch in the admin to false. This way you do not have to edit code, and you will have you warning at the top of the admin telling you no emails are being send

For those that will criticise and say that people wil forget to turn the function back on, if there was a switch where you can turn this feature off while you configure the store, you could make it so that there is a prominent warning that these notifications are not active. That way no one can forget to switch it on again. That would be very useful.

We say this because people WILL forget.. and the "switch" to turn it off along with "prominent warning that these notifications are not active" is already in the admin.. (see Design75's post quoted above)

That being said, there are some annoying and sometimes very distracting features that can make running your store a bit of a drag. I will be working on removing or working round the very few things I do not like, such as this constant logging out after 15 minutes and so on (which I have resolved without removing the feature or installing any addons).

All done for PCI compliance and store security..

[Axeman]

Design75 and DivaVocals you are both correct.

However, I have a site which is partially live while I am trying to sort things out. I had no choice in upgrading the site as my hosting would not support the php coding (according to my hosting company). I need to send emails and I do not want to receive junk from the site as I work on it. My circumstances are maybe a little different than most as I am working on multiple shipping and payment options which require thorough testing, but I have found this has worked for me. As the site is live I need to receive emails from customers and send them as quickly as possible in order to make sure that I do not lose business. That is why I send emails through my site as I have a built in email client that uses the zc email coding to send. Some people just don't want the emails in which case this can be a solution although, as stated in my post, I would always recomend replacing the code and keeping the alerts.

As for people forgetting to turn on the security alerts, making a promninent statement that the emails are not turned on would make sure that people don't forget if it is prominent and intrusive enough when a user first lands on the admin index page.

Not everyone needs to be PCI compliant if they don't take credit cards and so taking out parts that do not apply would be ok. Security is not breached by bypassing the re-login process if you have good security software, are the only person in the business and you run it from home. In this case there is no need for this feature and it is easily bypassed without removing the code. Placing the admin index page on a 1 minute refresh gets over the problem without any stay alive mods (although I do use this mod for working on other pages as this can be very useful).

I am not going to encourage people to make modifications that are going to cause security issues. In fact quite the opposite. If I needed to become PCI compliant then I would never remove security without replacing it when the site becomes live. I just don't need it so there is no harm in it. I do think that when someone asks a question they should be answered in a way that gives them what they are looking for. I also think that anyone who advises should warn of the pitfalls involved. Thats what I will do if I can help people.