Redesigning my site into a frame ... can I launch paypal in a new window?

[dhaven]

Hi, I'm going to be arranging my site to be in a frame but would like customers to see the htts of paypal, so was wondering if someone could tell me how I can launch paypal in a new window after clicking the 'confirm the order' button in the payment process.

thanks

[Merlinpa1969]

This has been talked about many times and I dont think anyone has been able to pull it off,
since there is no way for paypal to call back to the IPN handler and then forward to checkout_success,

this is because there is no checkout_success page to return to,

since your only calling an index.html page

also remember that search engins dont really like frames and to the best of my knowledgs wont spider them

[dhaven]

thanks for that. Is that also the case with iframes?

[Merlinpa1969]

putting iframes into ZC is easy,
putting zc into iframes is not

same reason,
you the IPN will need to be called back to a real site with the checkout_success and the ipm Handler pages,

the iframe is only an html page

Just curious, but why would you want to use frames?

[dhaven]

iframes was regarding the search engine.

Let me see if i can explain my plan

A client has asked for a site that will show several designers (manufacturers) collectively. each designer would have their own section (category) which they could show independantly on their own sites in a new window. Visitors to one designers site would not be able to easily go to another designers site (but would be able to browse designers on the main site)

So, I decided (I'm sure there is an easier way but I'm still rusty!) to have the front page of my clients main site (zen) with the header and an iframe showing the rest of the site i.e. designers sections.

make sense?

[schoolboy]

A client has asked for a site that will show several designers (manufacturers) collectively. each designer would have their own section (category) which they could show independantly on their own sites in a new window. Visitors to one designers site would not be able to easily go to another designers site (but would be able to browse designers on the main site)

You may be creating a HUGE headache for yourself, that is technically VERY challenging to accomplish with zencart and frames.

In reality, people are only ever "one click" away from another website, so it seems a bit pointless trying to limit the access of data of one designer, from that of another.

I would just put the whole lot into a standard zencart and let my customers choose which designer to go for.

If you want CONTENT that is resident in zencart, to be SELECTIVELY displayed on a remote website, then it may be possible to configure an i-frame on the REMOTE website that calls, for example, the content of a specific category ID in your zencart site. (I may be off-beam here as I avoid frames and iframes like the plague - more hassle than they're worth).

[dhaven]

schoolboy, you explained it exactly as I'm doing it! all designers will be on one site (zencart) and will have their own section (category). Only when a visitor visits the designers website independently do they only see pages from the designer.

The iframe was for the zencart main page (index) so that I could scale down the pages to exclude the header nav and sidebars (to prevent visitors skipping between designers on their own sites).

Only trouble I'm having now is the paypal showing in an iframe so no https

thanks for your time

[Kim]

So the whole reason for using the iFrame was to remove navigation after the index page? You can do that with the Zen Cart templates and NOT break the checkout.

[dhaven]

the main zencart site (with all the designers) will have nav all the way through on every page. Only when category pages are shown on external websites will the nav not be shown.

e.g. if i visit designer 1, i could visit their sales page in a window from the main zencart site. I would then be able to browse their products and check out (without seeing links to other parts of the site (ie other designers)).

or

if i visit the main site (with all the designers together) I can browse designers or product/service categories as normal.

hope that clears it up

[schoolboy]

If you do as Kim suggests, then what you could try to do on your REMOTE sites (those of each individual designer) is place a simple hyperlink to the relevant zencart section for each designer.

You will not achieve a checkout option using iframes (or any other system) for the unavoidable fact mentioned earlier. The IPN needs to come back to the ORIGINAL site and it's checkout_success page. Break this chain, and paypal has no idea (in a world of 20 trillion webpages) where the $%$£$ to go!