Slideshowpro SSP ?

[mac8mypc]

I searched for this a while back and found a couple people asking for it, so I thought I would post this.

I created a php script for the xml output to work with slideshowpro. It pulls the product title and links to the item when you click on the slideshow. Just input your mysql info and point the flash file to this php script and you should be good to go.

I made it pull a random 20 items, but you could easily modify the SQL to grab the featured products, specials, etc...

here's the code.

<?php
echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"iso-8859-1\"?>
";
?>
    <gallery>
      <album id='1' title='Album Title'>
<?php
    
    // connect to db
    $data = mysql_connect("localhost", "username", "password");
    $db = mysql_select_db("database_name", $data);
    
    // get our product ID's and titles
    $sql = "
        SELECT zc_products.products_id, zc_products.products_image, zc_products_description.products_name
        FROM zc_products, zc_products_description
        WHERE zc_products.products_status = 1 
        AND zc_products.products_id = zc_products_description.products_id 
        ORDER BY RAND()
        LIMIT 0, 20
    ";
    $get_p = mysql_query($sql, $data);
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($get_p)) {
?>
        <img src="images/<?php echo $row['products_image'] ?>" title="<?php echo $row['products_name'] ?>" caption="<?php echo $row['products_name'] ?>" link="index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=<?php echo $row['products_id'] ?>" target="_self"/>
<?php
    }
?>    
      </album>
    </gallery>

I tried to keep it simple, so if anyone has modifications feel free to contribute!

[stickytree]

i'm gonna try this now i've manually done an ajax slideshow on my site but it's a pain in the ######## to do, if this works you theman !!!!

i'll report back soon,,,

[Jeffey]

Hey!, I was fooling around with this some time back as well but couldn't get the SQL to tie back to my Zen (1.3.8a).

Any chance you could provide a few more basic details regarding setting this up? Don't think it's over my head but can't quite figure out how to put everything together. I'm fine being treated like a dummy too......you wouldn't be the first!

I've got a separate SQL database right now for SSP though I guess I could populate it with the Zen SQL data if that is what's needed.

I use SSP director for interface right now. My images have item numbers associated with them but since it was an existing database, these numbers do not match the Zen product ID (used easy populate). In other words, I upload the images and the names of these images are my item number. Initially I was trying to go through the advanced search using the images filename (item #) to take the viewer to the Zen Cart but it didn't work.

I don't remember exactly why but pretty sure I asked about it in the forum back then, obviously never got it to work.

Let me know if you need any more information about my setup.

[Jeffey]

Some details came back.
Since my products already existed and there were thousands of them I tried to maintain using my image names which were the product numbers as well. Essentially I just mirrored my image directory to SSP to get all the images and went from there.

Some of my product numbers had zeros in the them (eg. 00024) and it was these products where the link to Zen via advanced search wouldn't work properly. Of course these numbers are in my Zen SQL database.

So for me it is kind of a requirement to utilize my existing database and setup or it would end up being too much work for the payoff of having it.

[mac8mypc]

I wrote my script to be as simple as possible. It pulls the image names from the zen cart database and uses the images already associated with the products. The only catch is, you have to know some SQL to make it work exactly how you want to.

I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but I would definitely ditch director and find a way that doesn't require you to manage duplicate data.

[Jeffey]

Thanks for the quick reply, I figured it might be a little confusing, sorry about that.

I guess I wanted to know the (very) basics like what to do/where to put your quoted script. I do have some basic SQL experience and I've replaced and added stuff before so I know the basic operations.

It also sounded like you might have found a way to deal directly with the already existing data and your right I would like to avoid that which is one of the reasons that I stopped dead some months ago since my updates involve a couple of steps already.

I just want a picture gallery like that on Zen!! I've already got lightbox images but want a page that just has all of the pictures so people can browse. Every add-on that I've looked at fails to do what I would expect lots would like.

Thanks again for your help, any pointers appreciated but not expected.

[Jeffey]

What else, a little more clarification (or lack of!).

Do you copy and paste the code into a file and name it something then upload somewhere?

What exactly does it produce on the page? Just a selection of random pictures based on the number you put in (in this case 20)?

Basically, how is everything pulled together between Zen and SSP?

Again, no response expected but here if you feel generous again!

Regardless, thanks for the reply.

[zankye]

I was able with the code above to make it work.
The only difference was the prefix for the tables that was zen_ instead of zc_.

[Jeffey]

Don't know if your responding to my posts or not but I, too, got the one above to work but it isn't what I'm looking for.

I've all but given up at this point for the time being at least.

With the help of another author (flash_slideshow_gallery_1.2) I got that one to work and that was the closest yet to what I would like.

It pulled all of the product images directly but wouldn't fit all the images inside the flash (in this case) window and all the product images would need to be resized which would be too much upkeep for me when new products were posted.
Plus this one forced images with "previous" and "next". rather than scrolling through with control to stop, etc..

There was another one that scrolled but the load time was too long (I've got 6000+ unique products!).

In a perfect world, my gallery/slideshow would:
1. Pull all images from the images folder without any further processing. flash_slideshow_gallery_1.2 seemed to do this (albeit with improper sizing) very quickly.
2. Scroll all of those pictures with control with the customer to stop/start.
3. Link to the products page so customers can click on things they like.
4. Of course it has to be pretty fast so there isn't a long load time delay.

I have a Filemaker database that has all of my products/meta data in it so I am able to easily export various fields and coding for cutting and pasting like in flash_slideshow_gallery_1.2 and others but that is about all of the effort I would be able to keep up with on a regular basis.

Oh well, it's a nicety but not a necessity so I can be patient. I'm sure I'll run across something eventually.

[zankye]

Here's a link of a working version of slideshow pro with external captions and zen cart.
http://www.divajewels.ca