Product type - how to apply?

[cosmocanuck]

Hi!

I'm trying to create a slightly different layout for products in a new category I've just created (called "Coming Soon").

To that end, I created a "Coming Soon" Product Type. I've also duplicated

"tpl_product_info_display.php"

in my custom template directory and renamed it to

"tpl_product_comingsoon_info_display.php"

Then under Product Types I have the Handler Page set to "product_comingsoon".

Finally, under the Coming Soon CATEGORY, I set the "Restrict to Product Type" popup to "Product-Coming Soon".

I'm assuming/deducing that this is the way to go about it... but I still don't see my custom category layout... and I don't even know how to identify a new product as falling under the "Coming Soon" product category! Is that the part that I'm missing?

Help.... thanks!

adam

[bunyip]

I'm assuming/deducing that this is the way to go about it... but I still don't see my custom category layout... and I don't even know how to identify a new product as falling under the "Coming Soon" product category! Is that the part that I'm missing?

When entering a new product, be sure to select the 'coming soon' type from the pulldown menu next to the New Product button.
The other step you failed to do was to duplicate the modules/pages/product_info folder and name it modules/pages/product_comingsoon_info
You can then add any specific sql queries (should you need them) into the main_template_vars_product_type.php file in that new folder

[cosmocanuck]

Thanks! I guess I had things a bit more figured out than I'd thought - I do indeed have a product added under the "Coming Soon" category.

However, I now realize that I may not need an explicit category at all - there is already a category of this type, Upcoming Items, built into ZC - based on the "Date Available" field. I'm thinking that I should just use this feature to categorize and display "Coming Soon" items.

Would I just set the Date Available to something quite distant, like 2010, and place them in one of the regular categories, i.e. Men's Hats, Ladies' Casual, etc.? If I do that, would they not appear on the site until either that date arrived, or (more likely) until I removed the date from the item's info?

Thanks....
adam