Creating an add-on "product type book" for ZC 1.5

[adb34]

This is a very good plugin. I have installed it as I am going to start selling e-books, so, several of the drop downs will be changed. you have answered the question I had before I ask it. Did you build this?

[mesnitu]

No, Phillou did.
But I use it heavily ( with some changes)

[adb34]

Forgot to ask; does this work with v1.5.6a?

[mesnitu]

Nope. I'm working on a update to 156. I don't know the intentions of Phillou, but meanwhile I'm doing it and adding some features that I use in the bookstore that I work.
However, probably is not going to work with zc155 ( I think it will, but still not sure).

Those changes are being made in git. You are welcome to test them ( knowing that it's still in development), so if you need to have your site online yesterday, probably is best to stay with 155.
The admin installation / update is more or less ready ( to test further).
But unfortunately I'll have to updated ep4bookx also, and CEON url rewrite ( that I have with this module).
So I guess, I'm a bit demoralized.

[Design75]

Nope. I'm working on a update to 156. I don't know the intentions of Phillou, but meanwhile I'm doing it and adding some features that I use in the bookstore that I work.
However, probably is not going to work with zc155 ( I think it will, but still not sure).

Those changes are being made in git. You are welcome to test them ( knowing that it's still in development), so if you need to have your site online yesterday, probably is best to stay with 155.
The admin installation / update is more or less ready ( to test further).
But unfortunately I'll have to updated ep4bookx also, and CEON url rewrite ( that I have with this module).
So I guess, I'm a bit demoralized.

I can help you for the next couple of days. checkout my dev branch on GitHub for updates, and I will be making PRs

[mesnitu]

Well, that would be nice
I already did a lot of stuff, but mainly the final purpose is:

The installation ( more or less already made):
Adds "native" support for CEON ( optional)
This generates a clean url for authors, genres, etc... ( for the first filter only ). However it depends on CEON update for zc156
I have this code made, but not yet in git.
Adds dynamic metatags ( optional )
Basically it gets the authors, genres, etc information, and adds to the <meta> tags ( when filtering), using canonical.
It also can build metainfo on products page IF metatags are not defined ( zencart way). This is because, honestly I will never, never, edit thousand of metatags manually.
Adds support for utf8mb4
replicating the zc156 installation.

Adds a way to check git releases on bookx, EP4, and epbookx ( still need to check if it's a good idea)

Adds a new table for books families:
Families can have multiple publishers.
Adds a new table for book search
I reduce the search time this way
On the installation, some changes are made to some indexes.

Families: They are imported from a csv file.
The main idea, is not to have another extra field, but to apply discounts based on families.
A example: A publisher released a new book. By law ( at least here in Portugal), one can't apply a discount greater than 10% over a period of time.
This could be done using the publishing date.
However, the bookstore may also have acquired some older books from the same publisher, ( the publisher does not control them anymore) that are now theirs. So they can apply a bigger discount.
This is useful, when importing with EP4 , since it apply's the discounts on the fly, but it can be made on inserting a product.
So in sum, one exports families from a software ( like sage) and imports to bookx_families.
Families can also have a "flag" to always have a online stock.
Even if a product belongs to a families, one can flag a product to ignore that discount. ( still needs review, because on import using ep4bookx, it will overwrite that "flag")

Authors:
One can now import a image from a url
The same for products ( not yet done)
I think this are the more important.

Made a lot of changes to use bootstrap and fit into the zencart design:
On authors, and products.

To be done:
Support the German language ( I think they use a different zencart version with a language table ), but I need to add the same changes to the configuration table
Review the front-store.
Add authors, genres, etc, directly on products page. ( right now, they must be created first), this is very useful when editing on admin.

I think the functions could be a file, and not separated by admin vs front-store, since some are very useful in front-store also

And some other minor stuff.

I'm stuck on the main observer, because the observer (on prodcut listing), try's to catch the css button to overwrite them with bookx_button.
However this is very fragile, because layouts can change... ok...right... I'm not on my machine right now. Latter I'll post a code example.

Well, that's the main idea. A lot was made.

[Design75]

Great, Maybe you can post these as issues on github, in the repo, so we can check them when work progresses

Well, that would be nice
I already did a lot of stuff, but mainly the final purpose is:

The installation ( more or less already made):
Adds "native" support for CEON ( optional)
This generates a clean url for authors, genres, etc... ( for the first filter only ). However it depends on CEON update for zc156
I have this code made, but not yet in git.
Adds dynamic metatags ( optional )
Basically it gets the authors, genres, etc information, and adds to the <meta> tags ( when filtering), using canonical.
It also can build metainfo on products page IF metatags are not defined ( zencart way). This is because, honestly I will never, never, edit thousand of metatags manually.
Adds support for utf8mb4
replicating the zc156 installation.

Adds a way to check git releases on bookx, EP4, and epbookx ( still need to check if it's a good idea)

Adds a new table for books families:
Families can have multiple publishers.
Adds a new table for book search
I reduce the search time this way
On the installation, some changes are made to some indexes.

Families: They are imported from a csv file.
The main idea, is not to have another extra field, but to apply discounts based on families.
A example: A publisher released a new book. By law ( at least here in Portugal), one can't apply a discount greater than 10% over a period of time.
This could be done using the publishing date.
However, the bookstore may also have acquired some older books from the same publisher, ( the publisher does not control them anymore) that are now theirs. So they can apply a bigger discount.
This is useful, when importing with EP4 , since it apply's the discounts on the fly, but it can be made on inserting a product.
So in sum, one exports families from a software ( like sage) and imports to bookx_families.
Families can also have a "flag" to always have a online stock.
Even if a product belongs to a families, one can flag a product to ignore that discount. ( still needs review, because on import using ep4bookx, it will overwrite that "flag")

Authors:
One can now import a image from a url
The same for products ( not yet done)
I think this are the more important.

Made a lot of changes to use bootstrap and fit into the zencart design:
On authors, and products.

To be done:
Support the German language ( I think they use a different zencart version with a language table ), but I need to add the same changes to the configuration table
Review the front-store.
Add authors, genres, etc, directly on products page. ( right now, they must be created first), this is very useful when editing on admin.

I think the functions could be a file, and not separated by admin vs front-store, since some are very useful in front-store also

And some other minor stuff.

I'm stuck on the main observer, because the observer (on prodcut listing), try's to catch the css button to overwrite them with bookx_button.
However this is very fragile, because layouts can change... ok...right... I'm not on my machine right now. Latter I'll post a code example.

Well, that's the main idea. A lot was made.

[adb34]

I will wait for this to work. My site is in a bit of a rush, however, I am having issues with the installation of v1.5.5f.

[mesnitu]

I will wait for this to work. My site is in a bit of a rush, however, I am having issues with the installation of v1.5.5f.

The installation of zc or the bookx module in zc ?

[pititis]

Hello,

I'm unable to use simple or advanced_search. I have more than 100K books. It takes forever (and 100% CPU.) Server here is a new Xeon with 8 Gb Ram and SSD disk

Commenting the lines $extra_from and $extra_where in the function insert_book_attributes_into_search_query fix the issue (obviously) returning the search queries in no more than 1.4-1.6 seconds (0.5 when cached)

Sorry I'm not a mysql guy. Any clue please?


Cheers