News Box Manager v2.0.0 [Support Thread]

[bonheddwr]

Hi, where exactly is the information for the News items stored? I need to change the Article Date(s): on a few of the news items. I cannot do this via backend, so I tried searching the database but no luck. It's probably 'news_last_modified' that I need to change for the articles, but where is this info stored? Thanks.

[lat9]

A news article has two components:
1. The non-language components, like dates and status, are stored in the box_news table
2. The language-specific component(s), i.e. an article's title and content, are stored in the box_news_contents table (using the article's ID and the associated language ID as the "key").

The "Article Date(s)" section on the storefront displays an article's start_date (and, if defined, the associated end_date) ... so those values should be changeable via the admin panel.

[bonheddwr]

Thank you. On my site the value in news_added_date was used. I've edited those dates to the correct opnes now in the database and all is fine. Thanks again.

[giuly]

Thanks for this great plugin, I needed it!!!

[PudzPud]

Sorry cant delete post but problem solved

[lat9]

I've created a GitHub issue (https://github.com/lat9/news_box_manager/issues/5) for your request to add meta-tag support (great idea, by the way). I'll post back when the change has been made.

I've just submitted v2.2.0 of the News Box Manager to the Zen Cart plugins for review. That version now has the capability to define article-specific meta-tags and also corrects the database values stored for the various date fields (required for more recent versions of MySQL).

I'll post back here once it's approved.

[honda-crunch]

Hi,
Just tried installing the latest version 2.2.0 with the added metadata.
Installation was very simple, just had to edit my tpl_index_default file. However, there apears to be a problem with the auto install. The result was; that after you have created a news article then press update, you get a white page with an error message at the top of the page.

After searching the logs, I found that the installer (in my case) didn't add the meta tag columns to the (box_news_content) database table.

I made many backups, exported a sql of the table then added the missing headers. Part the of sql now looks like the version below. The original stopped at 'news_content` text NOT NULL':

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `box_news_content`;
CREATE TABLE `box_news_content` (
`box_news_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`languages_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
`news_title` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`news_content` text NOT NULL,
`news_metatags_title` text NOT NULL,
`news_metatags_keywords` text NOT NULL,
`news_metatags_description` text NOT NULL
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

The application now works perfectly. Just wondered if all other users are having the same problem.
I'm not a professional programmer and have limited knowlege on server databases.

If it helps, I'm running on zen-cart 1.5.5f

[lat9]

Thanks for the report, I'll give that a look a bit later.

Update: It's an issue with an original-install, not an upgrade.

[lat9]

GitHub issue created: https://github.com/lat9/news_box_manager/issues/7

[honda-crunch]

Thanks for looking into the issue so soon.
I did a bit of tinkering myself. As mine was a first install, I obviously didn't know how you intended to install the extra fields.

According to your supplied instructions, it looks like the user doesn't need to add the metatags especially if you're lazy like me! I found that my first effort crashed if I didn't add them.

After my attemp at fixing the problem, I found that I didn't need the extra 'NOT NULL's in the script. It now looks like this:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `box_news_content`;
CREATE TABLE `box_news_content` (
`box_news_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`languages_id` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
`news_title` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`news_content` text NOT NULL,
`news_metatags_title` text,
`news_metatags_keywords` text,
`news_metatags_description` text
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

I can now save the news letter with or with out them.

I'm only using it on my test site at the moment so am looking forward to your next fixed release. It's a great app!