Display Categories In Separate Boxes

[torvista]

Hi,
regarding the
Display Categories In Separate Boxes v1.0
add-on from here
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...oducts_id=1231

it appears to be incomplete as in

\includes\templates\TEMPLATE\sideboxes\tpl_separate_category_sidebox.php

there is no code to display the retrieved category information.

regards
Steve

[CoolCarPartsOnline]

Did you install the mod following the instructions??? Technically you don't need the files in the template folder to operate any mod. They are there to style the mods and make them load inside your template. The module folder loads the sidebox.

[torvista]

Hi,
thanks for the quick reply.

I copied the three files to their respective locations as per the instructions but when displayed in the shop, the new sidebox is empty, irrespective of the category c.parent_id number.

Looking at other sideboxes, the actual content is loaded into the $content variable by the file here
\includes\templates\TEMPLATE\sideboxes\tpl_ANY_sidebox.php
and then I assume passed onto the main page code.

But in the case of this mod
\includes\templates\TEMPLATE\sideboxes\tpl_separate_category_sidebox.php

nothing is loaded into $content apart from the start and end div tags, and so that is what is displayed.

Maybe I am missing the point of this mod.
I assumed it was a way to separate the master (or sub) categories into separate boxes, maintaining the sublayer links.

regards
Steve

[gjh42]

This mod is built to display a single category of your choosing in a separate sidebox. I haven't checked to see if it will display that category's subs.

It will not remove the category from the regular categories sidebox.

[gjh42]

On inspection, it looks like it will display the subcategories of a chosen category in the sidebox.
It also displays them in <li> tags, without a containing set of <ul> tags anywhere.

[CoolCarPartsOnline]

The mod will only display sub-categories of a master category in the box. They will be displayed in a <li> which can be styled easily to give a more elegant look to your tree.

You can hide the category using the Zen Cart admin, or manually code it into the categories sidebox.

[gjh42]

The <li>s need to be inside a set of <ul> tags to avoid an HTML error.

[torvista]

Hi,
1) The point I was making at the start of this thread is that the code in the template file:

$content = '';
$content .= '<div id="' . str_replace('_', '-', $box_id . 'Content') . '" class="sideBoxContent">';
$content .= '</div>'; 

will not display anything until the last line is changed to

$content .= $add_content .'</div>'; 

2) The generated list lacks an UL, so in

\includes\modules\sideboxes\TEMPLATE\separate_category_sidebox.php

change this

    $add_content ='';
    
    while (!$categories_ap->EOF)  {
        $id = $categories_ap->fields['categories_id'];
        $name = $categories_ap->fields['categories_name'];
          $add_content .= '<li><a href="index.php?main_page=index&cPath='.$id.'" class="category-top">'.$name.'</a></li>' . "\n";
        
        $categories_ap->MoveNext();
    } 

to this:

    $add_content ='<ul class="separatesideboxlist">';
    while (!$categories_ap->EOF)  {
        $id = $categories_ap->fields['categories_id'];
        $name = $categories_ap->fields['categories_name'];
          $add_content .= '<li><a href="index.php?main_page=index&amp;cPath='.$id.'">'.$name.'</a></li>' . "\n";
    
        $categories_ap->MoveNext();
    }
    $add_content .= '</ul>'; 

3) The query that gets the category information does not account for languages or table prefixes (I think), so change

$categories_query_ap = "select c.categories_id, cd.categories_name, c.parent_id, c.categories_image from categories c, categories_description cd where c.categories_id = cd.categories_id and c.categories_status = 1 and c.parent_id = 76 order by sort_order, cd.categories_name"; 

to

$categories_query_ap = "select c.categories_id, cd.categories_name, c.parent_id, c.categories_image from " . TABLE_CATEGORIES . " c, " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . " cd " . 
"where c.categories_id = cd.categories_id 
and c.categories_status = 1 
and c.parent_id = 2 //select master category 
and cd.language_id = '" . (int)$_SESSION['languages_id']  . "'" ." order by sort_order, cd.categories_name"; 

Otherwise it works as advertised, showing a non-expanding list of the subcategories of a master category, which is fine by me

regards
Steve

[gjh42]

My apologies, I didn't go through the first posts thoroughly to get the full import (I think I had just awakened... more or less:).
It looks like you have fixed all of the problems with the mod; you might want to package it and submit an update so others can get the correct functionality from it.

[tez1104]

Hi All,

I have been searching for a sidebox with this functionality for so long and so relieved to find this thread!

I've followed all the instructions in the read me file and also the modifications to the files in this thread, but the seperate categories sidebox still doesn't display the category that I want.

Referring to the readme file:

---------------
This sidebox will display the content of Any Category you choose in a separate sidebox. To define the Category you wish to display open the file: includes/modules/sideboxes/Your_Template around line 20 find:
and c.parent_id = 76 Change the 76 to the master_category_id from your site.
---------------

How do I find out the: master_category_id ?

also is it possible to have multiple categories in this new seperate box?

Thanks All