Wordpress On ZC [Support Thread]

[loosefast]

<?php
// Include posts
define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('/MY_ABSOLUTE_PATH/blog/wp-load.php');
query_posts('showposts=5');
?><?php while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?></p>
<h3><a target="_blank" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>

will this work?

[DivaVocals]

DivaVocals, I'm going to single you out for a moment. You proposed the Numinix + Sideboxes solution (and a good one it is) for quite some time. You are vocal in your ridicule of WOZ, often siting this alternative; however you are one of the few who truly have this (both Numinix AND sideboxes) as an option. I appreciate that you spent money developing sideboxes for use with your customers, but until the rest of us have a solution for sideboxes with Numinix, your cries of "there is no need to use WOZ" will not fully be heard. I apologize for that last run-on sentence.

and you are singling me out for what purpose??

you are ABSOLUTELY entitled to your opinion.. you are also entitled to ignore me and encourage others to do the same if you wish.. Just don't paraphrase and misquote me though..

Here's my consistent message: WOZ doesn't work.. WOZ is poorly supported, and WOZ doesn't use the WordPress loop codex properly which is part of the reason it has issues.. The Numinix solution on the other hand does work and for people who are NOT coders, who want a WORKING blog embedding solution, I will absolutely continue to share that tidbit of information with the community.. (and BTW.. some of those cries ARE being heard..)

BTW, (since we're quoting and paraphrasing me and all) I also suggested that folks asking for support on the Numinix blog embedding solution post those questions on a separate thread.. One community member has done just that.. (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184126) You might consider posting your question in that thread or in the Blank Sidebox support thread.. Also as I'm learned more about how to use the WordPress loop, I found the WordPress forums an infinite source of information..

[schoolboy]

Here's my consistent message: WOZ doesn't work.. WOZ is poorly supported, and WOZ doesn't use the WordPress loop codex properly which is part of the reason it has issues.. The Numinix solution on the other hand does work and for people who are NOT coders, who want a WORKING blog embedding solution, I will absolutely continue to share that tidbit of information with the community.. (and BTW.. some of those cries ARE being heard..)

Excellent response... We tried for a LONG time (and invested some money in the process) in trying to get WOZ properly functional - but it seems to be fundamentally flawed and basically that means building it again from the ground up...

... but why bother when Numinix has a better solution?

We are building an increasing number of NON-ecomm sites on the zencart platform - and we are constantly surprised at the flexibility within the software.

We also build WordPress sites, and our policy (for business reasons) is to keep blogs separate from eComm sites - they serve different purposes.

We tend to use the blogs as "harvester" sites - attracting attention - and we point the visitors to the ecomm site.

It's an "All Roads Must Lead To Rome" philosophy... The only way you want a visitor to leave your eComm site is through the checkout system - not via blog links!

[loosefast]

our policy (for business reasons) is to keep blogs separate from eComm sites - they serve different purposes.

We tend to use the blogs as "harvester" sites - attracting attention - and we point the visitors to the ecomm site.

It's an "All Roads Must Lead To Rome" philosophy... The only way you want a visitor to leave your eComm site is through the checkout system - not via blog links!

The main attraction of the WOZ mod, not that I'm denying it's shortcomings, was that the visitor would stay on the same site, within view of the products and the posts throughout their visit experience. It's too bad it didn't work, but the concept is still an attractive one.

When you link between a Zen site and a WordPress site, the visitor IS leaving one of your sites, the link structure changes, and in many cases, the templates change and it's just a bit jarring.

[DivaVocals]

Excellent response... We tried for a LONG time (and invested some money in the process) in trying to get WOZ properly functional - but it seems to be fundamentally flawed and basically that means building it again from the ground up...

I am flattered since you are one of those Zen Cart "heros" I look to for wisdom..

And you hit the nail on the head.. No disrespect to Hira at all, but WHY oh WHY would any shop owner who DOES NOT WANT TO LOSE CUSTOMERS use an add-on that is FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED.

My message has always been to FIND A SOLUTION THAT WORKS, and consider paying an expert to get you all the way to where you REALLY wanna be if you can't do it yourself (like having WordPress sideboxes in Zen Cart).. Why keep putting lipstick on this pig???

If it was JUST a matter of WOZ being half functional I woulda fixed it for myself, contributed back the fix to the community and kept it moving a LONG TIME AGO..

The fact is WOZ doesn't work and now that I'm older, wiser, and been picking at this thing long enough I know why.. I know why it interferes with other mods (especially SEO mods), and I know why it stopped working a few WordPress versions back. It needs a RE-WRITE to work the way it was intended to. In it's current state there is no quick fix for WOZ, it needs a DO OVER.. Which brings me to your next point..

... but why bother when Numinix has a better solution?

And that has ALWAYS been the reason why I have nudged folks towards this solution..

We are building an increasing number of NON-ecomm sites on the zencart platform - and we are constantly surprised at the flexibility within the software.

We also build WordPress sites, and our policy (for business reasons) is to keep blogs separate from eComm sites - they serve different purposes.

I couldn't agree more.. In fact I daresay most folks look for blog embedding solutions as a way to avoid having to style the blog to look like the store.. (after all if the blog is "inside the store" no need to create a blog template now is there..)

Styling WordPress to look like the Zen Cart store is somewhat second nature now that I've done a few, and I actually find that it's better for the blog to have a "slightly" independent look/feel so it's clear to the visitor when they are in the store versus the blog.. Currently I'm experimenting with what I call a "wrapping" technique whereby I use the WordPress loop codex to wrap the blog template around Zen Cart (effectively creating a "Zen Cart inside WordPress" effect..) This way the blog and store share the same look and feel and still remain independent entities..

With the blog and store sharing a common template this allows me to do all kinds of cool things including using WP plugins within Zen Cart (like the very cool NextGen Gallery)

Now I'm no programmer, but I did a LOT of research and testing and figured out on my own how to do a lot of this stuff on my own.. BUT I would have gladly paid a professional to get me to where I wanted to be..

We tend to use the blogs as "harvester" sites - attracting attention - and we point the visitors to the ecomm site.

On many of my e-commerce sites this too is the primary purpose of the blog, but I also use WordPress as a CMS solution for clients who's site requires more CMS capabilities than what's offered in Zen Cart. My homeshool clients for example will be using WordPress as their main site, but Zen Cart will manage their events registrations (RSVPS as well as fee collections for paid events), membership subscription management (collection of membership fees), as well as merchandise, and free and paid downloads. WordPress will manage their massive content, images, as well as providing them options to create "members only parts of the site.

It's an "All Roads Must Lead To Rome" philosophy... The only way you want a visitor to leave your eComm site is through the checkout system - not via blog links!

Amen.. Nothing like a bad experience with ANY part of your site to make a visitor run never to return..

[loosefast]

Currently I'm experimenting with what I call a "wrapping" technique whereby I use the WordPress loop codex to wrap the blog template around Zen Cart (effectively creating a "Zen Cart inside WordPress" effect..) This way the blog and store share the same look and feel and still remain independent entities..
With the blog and store sharing a common template this allows me to do all kinds of cool things including using WP plugins within Zen Cart (like the very cool NextGen Gallery)

This sounds very intriguing!

[joeyrocket]

SUCCESS!

To those of you looking for a sidebox solution that works with Numinix, install the blank sideboxes mod and add the wordpress loop to the end of includes/modules/sideboxes/blank_sidebox.php (alternatively: includes/modules/sideboxes/MY_TEMPLATE/blank_sidebox.php). The code will look like this:

<?php
  $show_blank_sidebox = true;

  if ($show_blank_sidebox == true) {
      require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_blank_sidebox.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'sideboxes'). '/tpl_blank_sidebox.php');
      $title =  BOX_HEADING_BLANK_SIDEBOX;
      $title_link = false;
      require($template->get_template_dir($column_box_default, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'common') . '/' . $column_box_default);
 }
?>
<?php define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('/MY_ABSOLUTE_PATH/blog/wp-load.php');
query_posts('showposts=5');
?>

<?php while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" style=""><?php the_title(); ?></a><br>
<?php endwhile; ?>

I left an empty style tag in there, because I found that I needed to do some selective styling to get this to blend with my other sideboxes. I am sure that there are more elegant solutions, but this one works.

[DivaVocals]

And why not (as I suggested) post this in the proper place for this since this is NOT a support thread for the Numinix blog embedding solution and should NOT be turned into one..

BTW, (since we're quoting and paraphrasing me and all) I also suggested that folks asking for support on the Numinix blog embedding solution post those questions on a separate thread.. One community member has done just that.. (http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184126) You might consider posting your question in that thread

SUCCESS!

To those of you looking for a sidebox solution that works with Numinix, install the blank sideboxes mod and add the wordpress loop to the end of includes/modules/sideboxes/blank_sidebox.php (alternatively: includes/modules/sideboxes/MY_TEMPLATE/blank_sidebox.php). The code will look like this:

<?php
  $show_blank_sidebox = true;

  if ($show_blank_sidebox == true) {
      require($template->get_template_dir('tpl_blank_sidebox.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'sideboxes'). '/tpl_blank_sidebox.php');
      $title =  BOX_HEADING_BLANK_SIDEBOX;
      $title_link = false;
      require($template->get_template_dir($column_box_default, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'common') . '/' . $column_box_default);
 }
?>
<?php define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('/MY_ABSOLUTE_PATH/blog/wp-load.php');
query_posts('showposts=5');
?>

<?php while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" style=""><?php the_title(); ?></a><br>
<?php endwhile; ?>

I left an empty style tag in there, because I found that I needed to do some selective styling to get this to blend with my other sideboxes. I am sure that there are more elegant solutions, but this one works.

[DivaVocals]

***deleted***

[loosefast]

For anyone searching on combining Zen Cart and WordPress this thread will be one of their first stops on the way. And if they don't take the time to read all 179 pages (for some silly reason), they might think "Well, this appears to be an in depth discussion, this might be a solid choice like one of the excellent contributions from Ceon.I'll install it and then hit the forum thread if I get hung up"

The problem with WOZ is that for some very limited purposes, it does work.

As long as you don't use any the other conflicting Zen mods (or maybe I should say ANY other mods) mentioned in the course of this thread, you can have a Zen Cart that displays content from your WordPress blog.

Visitors can add items to their cart, look at some posts, while they are at the same one site, same one navigation, same one template, and the checkout is displayed throughout. This is the experience that WOZ promised.

Unfortunately, for real world situations, where your Zen and WordPress are upgraded, you add other modules to your Zen installation as you need the additional function, the WOZ mod will drive you out of your mind and it will have to be dumped.

So, WOZ does not work.

It would be great if Zen store owners could download something from the Free Software Add Ons that does this. However, if they search on "wordpress" there, they will see two contributions - WordPress On ZenCart and WordPress On ZenCart - Sideboxes Only Edition v1.0. There are no other Add Ons that combine Zen And WordPress.

Some of us still have hope that this mod, or the concept behind it, will be taken on by a contributor that could benefit from all the feedback and discussion on this thread and 'fix WOZ' so to speak.