Dynamic Meta Tag Problems

[thechoyboy]

I have been unable to get the metatags to show up dynamically at our shop. The title tag is always "PokerSavvy" regardless of what page one is on:
http://www.pokersavvy.com/__shop/.

I am using zencart 1.2.6. I have found the a meta-tags.php is two different locations:

Includes/languages/english/metatags.php
includes/modules/meta-tags.php.

Those files look untouched since it still has the 'TITLE' defined as Zen Cart!

I would like to solve this problem without updating if possible. Thanks!

[thechoyboy]

More stuff~!

I've found that the current tags are located in the:
Includes/templates/templates_default/common
In both the html_header.php and then tpl_header.php

The tags are generated using standard html such as <title>pokersavvy </title>

How can I have those replaced with the dynamically generated title/taglines/product descriptions? Please note that I did not design this site so I don't know what the zc files should look at default.

Thanks again!

[Kim]

Who customized your site? They did not follow the override system for using Zen Cart.

[thechoyboy]

I unfortunately don't know. I'm in intern and I'm just trying to make things work. I downloaded the files from 1.3 and was able to piece together enough to make it run by echoing the META_TAG_DESCRIPTION and META_TAG_TITLE variables in the appropriate tags and by using the developingtools to search where to change the other vars.

This brings me to a related problem that I just ran into. Is it possible to increase the number of characters define to the META_TAG_DESCRIPTION? It truncates it a earlier than I would like.

Thanks for the speedy reply btw!

[DrByte]

If you're using v1.2.6, then you can probably have a safe start by using the original file from v1.2.6 or 1.2.7:
/includes/templates/template_default/common/html_header.php

It has all the dynamic code in it for pulling the appropriate metatag details from the languages/english/YOURTEMPLATE/meta_tags.php language file and from the product/category details in your database (as they are generated from the modules/meta_tags.php file)

[thechoyboy]

I ended up using a litte of the code from 1.3, I dont' know where to find the older versions intact. Regardless it seems to work except I still don't know how to control what the META_TAG_DESCRIPTION grabs - I only want it to get the product or category description. I'd also like to increase the amount of characters it grabs.

If some of our code as been overwritten in a non-standard manor, will we likely run into trouble if/when we update to the newest zen-cart? I'm sorry I don't know how much of the code has been edited. Thanks again.

~Erik, the PokerSavvy Intern

[DrByte]

If some of our code as been overwritten in a non-standard manor, will we likely run into trouble if/when we update to the newest zen-cart? I'm sorry I don't know how much of the code has been edited.

Upgrading will always run into at least some small edits that have to be merged or rebuilt in the new version.
In going from v1.2 to 1.3 you will have to do a lot of that anyway.
Fastest way to identify how many components have been edited, is to download the original code for the version you're using, and a copy of your site. Then compare them using a text-diff tool like WinMerge.sf.net and identify the differences. You'll start with that when doing an upgrade anyway.

[DrByte]

I dont' know where to find the older versions intact.

Same place as you grab the 1.3 code ... but on the navigation menu, click the obscure "Files" link ... which will show you all files released by Zen Cart.

[DrByte]

I still don't know how to control what the META_TAG_DESCRIPTION grabs - I only want it to get the product or category description. I'd also like to increase the amount of characters it grabs.

It's all driven on a page-by-page basis via the /includes/modules/YOURTEMPLATE/meta_tags.php script.

[thechoyboy]

Thanks a lot of the information! I really appreciate it.