Postal mass mailing discount certificates.

[Ajeh]

When I go to your site I click on an image and that takes me to an HTML page which then redirects me to a site ...

That HTML redirect is not acceptable to search engines ...

[djsmyers]

That was the only way I could get an animated gif to display so the user knew something was going on while a extremely large database table loads over 200,000 products in the 7 shops. I tried to put all under one roof and found the wait time (even on cable) just unbearable as well as the organization to choppy. Now I have a problem with the gif running (another thread) while index.php loads. Somehow, I will get index.php to show it's loading status. But that's for another place (thread). I am sure there are a bunch of folk looking to do the same thing. I think it must be accomplished with js. I have about a month to get this whole shabang ironed out and in production. Not a problem.

Back to this thread......

For some reason, no matter what I do I am unable to get referral at sign up.

I figured that by adding a few lines of code I will be able to set customers.customers_group_pricing based on the certificate number input. (Although I am still farming around the directories looking for that particular routine to add the lines into) [Of course this is a simplified explaination] The coupons and coupons_description tables can be populated via xls, dbf, csv, mdb, or what ever. My tool of choice for MySQL databases is Navicat and my IDE of choice for PHP is PHP Designer 2007 - Professional.

[djsmyers]

I figured out that I had to have referrals turned on shame on me....

Well, this is what I got so far. I think I have a little problem with the date check (atleast it runs without error just not right YET)

****************************************************
CODE SNIPIT *****************************************
****************************************************
includes/modules/create_account.php
(my line numbers may be different than yours, I have incorporated the
at line 27
$group_pricing_catagory = 0; //sets a default to catagory 0

Starting at line 295
if ($customers_referral != '') {
$certificate_query = "SELECT distinct coupon_code, coupon_expire_date, coupon_amount
FROM " . TABLE_COUPONS . "
WHERE upper(coupon_code) = upper(:check_code)";
$certificate_query = $db->bindVars($certificate_query, ':check_code', $customers_referral, 'string');
$check_cert = $db->Execute($certificate_query);
//an exact match must be found or the certificate is not valid
if ($check_cert->RecordCount() == 1) {
//lets determine if the coupon code is within date frame
if (strtotime($check_cert->fields['coupon_expire_date']) > time()) ) {
//based upon the value of the coupon the group is assigned
switch ((int)$check_cert->fields['coupon_amount']) {
case 10:
$group_pricing_catagory = 1;
break;
case 15:
$group_pricing_catagory = 2;
break;
case 20:
$group_pricing_catagory = 3;
break;
case 25:
$group_pricing_catagory = 4;
break;
case 30:
$group_pricing_catagory = 5;
break;
}
} else {
$error = true;
$messageStack->add('create_account', ENTRY_COUPON_INVALID);
}
} else {
$error = true;
$messageStack->add('create_account', ENTRY_COUPON_INVALID);
}
}

at line 352
'customers_group_pricing' => $group_pricing_catagory


includes/languages/english.php
define('ENTRY_COUPON_INVALID', 'The redemption code you entered is not valid, try again (if it continues to fail leave it blank)')

***************************************************
***************************************************

[djsmyers]

I've attached my code adjustments. Solving this situation would not have been possible had Linda not got me started in the right direction. What has been done is to prepopulate the coupons table with the numbers that will be printed. For tracking purposes I decided on a 12 character alphanumeric sequence. The first 5 will identify the client and the actual discount (for varification.) When a customer enters the referral number the group discount will be applied to that customer. (Being that each will be valid for a minimum of 6 months, I have a little grace period before I need to check the term end date for the customer, this will give me some time to complete other aspects of this project.) Keep in mind that my line numbers may different that the released product, I've added the CAPTCHA Anti-Robot Registration module. Once again, thank you Linda.

[xlr82quik]

Hello, I also had something similar in mind, hopefuly someone can help me. This is my first post on ZenCart forums.

I have a client list of about 1500 wholesale customers and I want to email them to register on my new ZenCart website, I want to email them a code so they can enter the code into the registration form and with this code they will automaticaly go into a group called "wholesalers" so they will get a percentage dicount on all items (I will of course set up the group before sending the email).

I have another client list as well so I will be doing this with 2 different codes and 2 different groups.

[djsmyers]

Believe me, it's an eye opener to get what you need done. There is really no easy way to go about it short of making some code changes. Unless of course you want to set each one up individually (you got planty of skin on your finger tips?) What I ended up doing was making the code changes (as mentioned above) in a core file (not recommended if you want to be able to do core updates later). [[ It seams that others may be wanting to do the same type group discounts, so I'll begin working on an mod for this task without changing the core. ]] Anyways, the easiest way is to make the core adjustment and then

Admin -> Configuration -> Customer Details -> Customers Referal Status = 2
Admin -> Gift Certificate/Coupons -> Coupon Admin -> Insert
Coupon Name = Wholesale Group
Coupon Amount = 30%
Uses per Coupon = 0
Uses per Customer = 1

Bear in mind, if your percentages are different, then you must also make the change in the case statement. Until a mod is done there really is no easy way to do what you and I need.

[djsmyers]

I forgot to mention (forgive me,) the discount code that was generated (or the one you made up) is placed into the document you plan on sending for the invites to your customers. Of couse, there would be no way of determining if that particular customer used the code short of doing a nightly sit down and "approve" each new customer. (Admin -> Configuration -> Customer Approval Status = 1 or 2 (my recommendation is 2)). I populated the coupons table with a sequental number for the number of certifs that will be mailed. I set each one to be used only 1 time and by only 1 person. Testing demonstrated that it works, however, it won't be until the middle of March before I know if it works in mass. (I pray so).

If no one else has said so, let me be the first to welcome you to Zen Cart. I am a user just like you and am not on the support team. But then that's what open source is all about, everyone pitches in to make it better (or worse if you listen to me ) Good luck and welcome aboard.