Ceon URI Mapping (SEO)

[conor]

Hi Bryan,

so is this the correct way ?

That's generally right. Obviously you've misplaced the closing bracket in the following:

if ($_GET['main_page'] == 'contact_us') && CONTACT_US_VALIDATION == 'true' { 

Should be

if ($_GET['main_page'] == 'contact_us' && CONTACT_US_VALIDATION == 'true') { 

I took a look at the code and probably will release a new version of that module. It uses some silly core file modifications which aren't necessary if an observer is used. Actually the override core code just loads the functions file which is already preloaded by the extra_functions functionality of Zen Cart so it's not actually necessary at all. Funny how people hack things together sometimes without asking "why?" :)

All the best...

Conor
ceon

[bn17311]

thanks for help, will watch out for module

thanks
bryan

[Gertzy]

Hello Connor,
great sofware.!

I am using 3.8 with 1.3.9h... Working on my site.. A small problem and a few questions...

The problem - I have created some EZ-Pages. One particular page is for articles. Inside that articles page, is just a bunch of links, and those links are to other EZ-Pages with those particular articles... I have each of the EZ-Pages with URI set auto... The first page URI is perfect.... All the links on the page inside that main page are different from what I expected... ie.. The link shows the URI autogenerated name, but, also at the end of each URL are this "-z-25.html?chapter=0".. (Obviously a different number per article...)... Is that right?

I looked into the database and I see that each time I generate a product, there are 5 entries for that product in the database.. for...

product_info
product_reviews
product_reviews_info
product_reviews_write
tell_a_friend

For my site, I dont even enable product reviews. Is there anything in config I could set to maybe tell the software not to make certain things like reviews..? It feels to me like the table is going to get rather large for me as I have 2500 products to be added... I could always regularly run a script to clear those entries out of the table and keep the table significantly smaller.?

One possible enhancement I thought of but not sure if possible, was to add one of them red/green buttons on the category/product listing in admin, for that button to show if that particular product has an assigned URI or not... would sort of make it easier to realise if something is missing...

I see that you have recently got a new version 4 on its way, which is great news. One thing I have seen is that there is a mentioned tool called "URI Mappings Manager". I was wondering if that tool is available yet? I see on your website that there is just an option to express an interest and I understand that it might be a payable option, but, was just wondering if that is availble soon or is it a long way off?

On my site, I have, as I mentioned, 2500+ products, and, all of these products are linked into 3 categories (Sometimes 4).. So for instance... a category called "football teams"... and also in another category called "Football Shirts"... And also "premier League Kits".... When the URI is created, it chooses the "Master Category".. I have a requirement that each of the same product with the 3 categories, has 3 URI's... Is that possible? I have noticed that if I go to that product in the shop at one of the other categories, it puts category numbers at the end of the link..

I have spent quite a lot of hours reading this thread and how annoying is it to keep seeing the same .htaccess questions. I guess this thread is a bit long now and people are not prepared to read so many pages..!! Hoping there is gonna be a new thread for the 4.0 version..

Many Thanks
Gertzy

[conor]

Hi,

great sofware.!

Glad you like it!

The problem - I have created some EZ-Pages. One particular page is for articles. Inside that articles page, is just a bunch of links, and those links are to other EZ-Pages with those particular articles... I have each of the EZ-Pages with URI set auto... The first page URI is perfect.... All the links on the page inside that main page are different from what I expected... ie.. The link shows the URI autogenerated name, but, also at the end of each URL are this "-z-25.html?chapter=0".. (Obviously a different number per article...)... Is that right?

Zen Cart controls the addition of the chapter parameter, it's nothing to do with Ceon URI Mapping. I don't know how to get rid of it. However the pages use canonical URIs so it's something you can ignore if you can't sort it, it looks ugly but isn't a problem.

Is there anything in config I could set to maybe tell the software not to make certain things like reviews..? It feels to me like the table is going to get rather large for me as I have 2500 products to be added... I could always regularly run a script to clear those entries out of the table and keep the table significantly smaller.?

Lol that's one of the very features I've added to v4.0.0.

I see that you have recently got a new version 4 on its way, which is great news.

Yes, several hundred hours' of work later, I'm planning to release it this evening.

One thing I have seen is that there is a mentioned tool called "URI Mappings Manager".

I'm not allowed to comment on that here, sorry.

When the URI is created, it chooses the "Master Category".. I have a requirement that each of the same product with the 3 categories, has 3 URI's... Is that possible?

No, a product can only have one URI. If a product is to have 3 URIs then it is 3 products, not one.

So don't copy the product (don't link it), duplicate it, creating a new product.

I have noticed that if I go to that product in the shop at one of the other categories, it puts category numbers at the end of the link..

Please read the FAQ about that.

I have spent quite a lot of hours reading this thread and how annoying is it to keep seeing the same .htaccess questions. I guess this thread is a bit long now and people are not prepared to read so many pages..!! Hoping there is gonna be a new thread for the 4.0 version..

You find it annoying? Imagine being me! :)

When 4.0.0 is released this thread will be closed.

4.0.0 is a complete rewrite so most of this thread is irrelevant to it.

I'm sure that's good news for everyone! :)

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[Gertzy]

Thank you Connor, much appreciated.!!

[conor]

Hi,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the release of Ceon URI Mapping v4.0.0.

This is a COMPLETE rewrite of the software.

All issues listed in this thread have been fixed in the new version and there are many new features and much easier to follow documentation.

As of now, all support for versions 2.x-3.x has been withdrawn.

Everyone should upgrade to v4.0.0 immediately.

Once on v4.0.0, any subsequent updates (if any are ever necessary) will be simple as the code in the core files has been abstracted so that the core files shouldn't need modifying again, like they do when updating between 3.x versions or 3.x and v4.0.0 so please take the time to upgrade now, you'll be glad you did!



This thread is now closed.

A new thread has been started.


Enjoy the new version!



Here's the complete list of changes... it's rather long as you can see, but it's easy to upgrade....

[ADDED] Installation check and example rewrite rule functionality added.
Once the Config Utility has been successfully installed, and the database & configuration installed or brought up to date, the user can access the installation check/example rewrite rule functionality from the config utility. This smart and useful addition to the software will analyse the store's configuration files and warn the user if there are any mistakes in the files which they need to correct, and will even provide full information about what they should do. It will also check all the core files that must be modified for Ceon URI Mapping to work optimally, and warn the user if any of the modifications are missing or out of date, again giving information on what the user should do!
A quick glance at this new admin page should help the user identify and fix any problems with the installation quickly and easily!
Finally, the check will analyse the store's filesystem and build an example rewrite rule for the store, along with instructions on how to get the rule working. Adding the rewrite rule should now just be a simple matter of copying and pasting the rule built by this new functionality!

[ADDED] Compatibility with IIS ISAPI_Rewrite 3 and IIS URL Rewrite added, in part by updating the sample rewrite rules. The example rules now use the “QSA” flag instead of appending the query string with “?%”. The updated rules remain compatible with all Apache versions, on any platform.

[ADDED] Checks added throughout rewritten software to prevent any URI mappings being added that clash with an existing (current) URI mapping.
A setting has been added that let's the store choose whether they'd rather be notified about any such clashes, or (for products only at this time) whether they would rather the software automatically appends a number to the end of the mapping to make it unique and therefore stop it from clashing with the existing URI mapping.

[ADDED] Checks added throughout rewritten software to prevent any duplicate historical URI mappings being created in the database.

[ADDED] Messages are now displayed in the message stack whenever a URI mapping is added, updated or converted to a historical URI. Gives assurance that the desired change(s) was/were made, especially since any auto-generated/entered/updated URI mapping is displayed within the respective success message.
Any newly added/updated mapping is clickable within this message, so the user can see it working straight away in a new browser tab/window.

[ADDED] New settings added to allow the store to specify which “pages related to a product” should have their URIs auto-managed by the software.
There are four page types which can be auto-managed: “Products Reviews”, “Product Review Info”, “Write a Review” and “Tell A Friend”.
If a store doesn't use a particular page type, disabling its auto-management will mean that the URI mapping database isn't populated unnecessarily, making it smaller and therefore slightly more efficient/quicker.
The page types which are to be auto-managed can be enabled/disabled in a new section in the config utility. The URI parts which are to be appended for the auto-managed URIs are now entered in another new section in the config utility, instead of being defined in language defines, as was the case previously, making it considerably easier to specify the desired URI parts.
Also, as noted in a bugfix entry below, previous versions of the module didn't support multiple languages properly.

[ADDED] Functionality added to the module to “normalise” the effects of using a rewrite rule. Previously, with some server configurations, the use of a rewrite rule would result in the $PHP_SELF variable value having a useless value. The new code attempts to circumvent this problem and provide a meaningful value for the variable.

[ADDED] Ceon URI Mapping functionality implemented in product move and copy functionality for four more product types: document_general, document_product, product_free_shipping and product_music. Previously the Ceon URI mapping functionality for these product types was only available when adding or updating a product.

[ADDED] Sample modified core files for Zen Cart 1.3.9g and 1.3.9h added to the distribution.

[ADDED] Sample modified files for third party module “Multilanguage EZ-Pages” module added to the distribution.

[ADDED] Support for Ceon Model Code and automatic version checking functionality added.

[UPDATED] Module restructured into using a class-based structure. A base class provides shared functionality. Subclasses can then be created which differ in how they run.
The “standard” class is designed for maximum compatibility and flexibility, while remaining as lightweight and nimble as possible.
Alternative versions can be created which are specific to certain server setups, skipping unnecessary configuration checks and/or using more efficient code to map URIs, for maximum speed.

[UPDATED] URI mappings now have any trailing slashes stripped. URIs can no longer end in a trailing slash. Auto-upgrade functionality will automatically remove trailing slashes for any URI existing mappings.

[UPDATED] Excluded Files functionality removed as the new, improved Ceon URI Mapping instantiation code can determine whether or not Ceon URI Mapping should attempt to analyse and map the current URI. This means the module should be 100% compatible with all other Zen Cart modules capable of working with static URIs, without the store having to adjust anything at all!

[UPDATED] An alternate URI can now be as little as one character in length. Previously it could only be two characters or greater in length. This allows redirecting of URIs directly to the home page (/).

[UPDATED] The canonical tag is no longer added using an auto-loaded JavaScript file. For Zen Cart 1.3.9 it is now added by using Zen Cart's built-in canonical output functionality (overriding the code to use the Ceon URI Mapping canonical URI). For earlier versions of Zen Cart a small core file modification is now needed to the template file common/html_header.php, to bring it up to date and make it compatible with the canonical URI functionality of the module.

[UPDATED] Extra core file override (init_sessions.php) included for Zen Cart 1.3.9 as it doesn't set the cookie path to the root of the site, which is what is required for sites that use static URIs. The override prevents the propogation of the session ID (zenid=xxxx) in the URI beyond the second page visited, when the visitor accepts cookies. The first page visited will still have the session ID at the end of all links as that is an unavoidable aspect of how Zen Cart must work when no cookie has been supplied (i.e. a fresh visit to the site). Override is not needed for versions of Zen Cart before 1.3.9 as those versions set the session cookie relative to the site's root.

[UPDATED] The words “a” and “an” are no longer part of the default list of words to be removed from a URI when auto-generation is taking place.

[UPDATED] zen_href_link() modifications for Ceon URI Mapping updated to use new class instead of procedural code. Number of modifications to html_output.php has been reduced from 4 to 1, making this core file's modification easier to make.

[UPDATED] Ceon URI Mapping will no longer attempt to redirect from a static URI when the static URI is a historical URI, or the language is being changed, and a form is being POSTed. Nor will it attempt to redirect if it detects a form being POSTed to a dynamic URI that has a current URI mapping, as could happen if the form didn't include the “action” parameter that was previously being checked against. Avoids problems with modules that don't use zen_href_link() properly.

[UPDATED] Core admin file modifications changed to simply instantiate classes and call methods. This is a great improvement as it means that the Ceon URI Mapping code blocks in the modified core files are much simpler, each change now being just a few commands surrounded by the marker comments. This should make the core file modifications much easier to make. Also, since the actual code has been abstracted to classes, it will be much easier to update the software as the core files themselves probably won't need to be changed, the class files can simply be overwritten instead.

[UPDATED] Ceon URI Mapping admin functality is no longer loaded for all Zen Cart admin pages. The files containing the classes are loaded only when needed, as opposed to the previous method of having the functions loaded for every Zen Cart admin page. Avoids needlessly using system resources in sections of the admin that don't use the Ceon URI Mapping functionality.

[UPDATED] Auto-upgrade functionality now checks if the current database user has the necessary ALTER TABLE privileges.

[UPDATED] Code to remove duplicate mappings updated to match against the base product URI, rather than building a unique URI to check against, for each of the 4 product-related page types, and one to check against product URIs with a trailing slash. Reduces the number of queries for this functionality from 6 to 2. Remaining two queries have also been cut down in scope, increasing their efficiency.

[UPDATED] Some admin functionality changed from using the Ceon String class to standard PHP functions as the specific functionality is only ever going to handle ASCII strings, which the PHP functions can handle more quickly/efficiently.

[BUGFIX] 303 and 307 redirects were using the wrong redirection code (both were using 302).

[BUGFIX] Plus (+) symbols weren't being escaped in the regular expressions which handle the list of words to be removed from auto-generated URIs. Using a plus symbol therefore broke these expressions, meaning that the Remove Words functionality didn't work as expected.

[BUGFIX] The list of words to be removed from auto-generated URIs wasn't being encoded properly for being output on the configuration page, breaking the encoding of certain characters.

[BUGFIX] The URIs being auto-generated for “pages related to a product” only ever used the defines for the language being used in the admin, even if the store had multiple languages. This meant that, for languages other than the one being used in the admin, the product part of the URI would be in the correct language but the URI part for the related page would be in the wrong language!

[BUGFIX] Ceon URI Mapping broke the Zen Cart functionality to automatically change the currency to the language's default currency whenever the language was changed. A new override file has been added for init_currencies so that the default language currency functionality works perfectly with static URIs.

[ADDED] New FAQs added to describe what to do whenever the use of the module causes images not to load, layout issues to occur (e.g. because of unloaded CSS files) or other Zen Cart modules (including those with AJAX functionality (e.g. JavaScript menus)) to stop working.

[ADDED] New FAQ added about how to deal with 404 errors being displayed.

[ADDED] New FAQ added about problems with particular file types being “blocked” whenever the rewrite rule is added.

[ADDED] Information added to the documentation on how to configure the Google Sitemap (XML) module to work properly with Ceon URI Mapping.

[REMOVED] Documentation and FAQ about excluded files functionality removed as the functionality is no longer necessary!

[BUGFIX] Documentation updated so that the dynamic functionality works when the documentation is being accessed from a local disk using Google Chrome.


All the best...

Conor
ceon

[pb4]

I have set up URI- mapping which works fine apart from now and then I notice the link has something like this on the end of it...

?zenid=bo4algksgkplmfp6d66lmg2qr4

If I take it off, the pages still works fine...

whats that about?

Thanks

[countrycharm]

I have set up URI- mapping which works fine apart from now and then I notice the link has something like this on the end of it...

?zenid=bo4algksgkplmfp6d66lmg2qr4

If I take it off, the pages still works fine...

whats that about?

Thanks

This version is no longer supported. If you have questions you need to upgrade to version 4 of the module and ask your question over here.

[conor]

Hi,

Welcome back Randy, hope you are doing well! :)

This version is no longer supported. If you have questions you need to upgrade to version 4 of the module and ask your question over here.

Yes, and once you upgrade to v4.0.2, read the FAQs, your question is answered there.

Al the best..

Conor
ceon

[pb4]

Randy? did you mean me?

I'll look into the upgrade...was this a problem with the old version then?