Define Pages Generator addon - Support

[banswidthjunkie]

About
Define Pages Generator isn't exactly a zencart module, you would probably call it a meta-module, it is a small Windows application that makes it really easy to make new "define pages."

All you need to do is specify the name you want to give your page, the name of your current template and a directory to build the directory / file structure in and it does the rest. This directory structure can then be copied over to a zencart installation to make the define page accessible.


Motivation
Making a new define page seems to be a really fiddly task. However these pages are pretty useful, since unlike ezpages they don't get stored in the database, so they are easier to develop (ie you can use Dreamweaver). With a few simple tweeks, it is quite straight forward to give them a menu structure (ie pretend to nest one inside the other so the breadcrumb shows home::parent::child::....) and you can use php inside the pages which I don't think you can do with ezpages.


Acknowledgements
The code it generates is based on the "About Us" module, which seems to be the main resource for working out how to build a new define page.


Download
The Application can be downloaded from: http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=804


Important
NOTE: It only runs under Windows and although I am a Linux user there is little likelihood of me porting it over. You need to have the .NET 2.0 framework to run it, you can get this from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

If you have a question about how to use the application, or you find a bug please let me know.

[rainthebat]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This tool is a fabulous little gem for creating these pages, it really gets to be a pain to create and keep track of them the other way.

[banswidthjunkie]

Cheers. I'm currently working on a mod that allows you to create menu structures from define pages, so you can make it look like they are nested inside each other. For example putting all the information pages inside a main information page. I think that it works, but at the moment it requires a very small bit of programming to use. I think that this is better than hacking up an admin page, but maybe not so user friendly. If I have some free time i will polish this up and release it.

[yellow1912]

This will come very handy. Great tool. Thank you.

[yellow1912]

Hi banswidthjunkie,

I used the mod the first time yesterday. I must say that it saves me lots of time and headache. Great contribution. Please keep up the good work.

Regards,
yellow1912

[yellow1912]

1 idea: Can you include the option to make sidebox for that page as well?
Regards
yellow1912

[banswidthjunkie]

What do you mean by a sidebox for the page? a sidebox that displays a link to the page?

If you can give me the template code, then I can implement it.

[yellow1912]

Here is the blank sidebox code:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=174

Basically, when I create a new page called about_us for example, I may also want to create a sidebox called about_us as well.

[bettysue]

All I can say is thank you X a zillion for this mod!

One of the last stores I did wanted so many add-on pages that I had to re-create the about-us mod about 15 times, that's a lot of renaming inside and out. I can't even remember the last time I've used an ez page for anything.

Clients just like seeing those physical pages they can edit after we leave.

Am looking forward to your sidebox add-on as well.

Thank you for the hours of time saving!!

betty

[banswidthjunkie]

My pleasure Betty, I'm waging a personal war on cut and paste :)