Product Type Book (by moku)

[donaldmo]

Yes!
I just followed your instruction and the problem was solved. Even there is no option for "PRODUCT Attribute Price Prefix - Default" ,
but this problem is gone, now my extra attribute price looks neat! now it looks , for example, ( +$5.00) and this is what I want!
Thank you very much Hareslade !

[LilleyPadGifts]

I'm reading thru this thread but was hoping someone might be able to save me some time (been at work on this and my other sites for a week and the mind is going).
I actually have 2 sites that I'm hoping to use this on, but I need to know if it DOES or DOESN'T work with Easy Populate?
So far, I seem to have read a bit of both.

IF it does work, can someone tell me which should be installed first? This add-on OR the Easy Populate add-on?
I have EP installed already, but can reinstall a copy of my site prior to that install if it works better to do this one first.

Also, since one of the my 5 sites is for comics, is it easy enough to change fields, like the Author for example, to another name (Volume, Publish Date, Series #...)? OR can you turn off that field and use one of the custom fields for those ?

If anyone can offer any info on these questions it would be greatly appreciated by me and my family who don't seem to recognize me anymore unless I'm sitting infront of the computer scratching my head
Thanks so much!

[LilleyPadGifts]

PLEASE HELP!

I installed following instructions and when I go to apply the sql patch I receive :

Error

SQL query:
# DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
#-- --------------------------------------------------------
#-- DEFAULTS
#-- --------------------------------------------------------
#-- -------------
#-- Product Type:
#-- -------------
DELETE FROM product_types WHERE type_handler = 'product_book';


MySQL said:
#1146 - Table 'jnothing_zc1.product_types' doesn't exist


what did I do wrong???

[hareslade]

Hi Lilley etc
I don't think easy populate is compatible because it can't create the extra book data required
Its a technical prob, to do with the difference between creating a book in admin, and trying to do it 'remotely'

Various people have had a go at easypopulate, they may reply if they see this

----
sql complaining about 'jnothing_zc1.product_types' I assume your prefix (for all tables) is 'jnothing_zc1'
Its possibly saying the product_types table is missing, which is strange as its a zencart core table

Suggest you use your cpanel to check out the database tables prefixes, that means using phpmyadmin
Check what prefix they actually have, if its not 'jnothing_zc1' then you have a prob

Maybe you have several separate zc test sites, with different databases / table prefixes and they got mixed up during using backups . Not quite sure I understand any more than you do :) but I have an excuse because I've been working on joomla lately.
---
Regarding changing field display text labels yes that can be done by changing defines
for instance search the book fileset for 'Author', it'll be defined in /languages/english /somewhere

However, sometimes a particular field has a specifically set up display, for instance Authors are a special case, as you'll see from the way several authors can exist for a book and there is a special sidebox etc for searches,.

If you get to know the book filest and dabble in understanding basic php, find the display template via /includes/templates/(classic)/tpl_product_book_info_display.php thats where the fields are displayed

You can turn them on and off in admin as a lay person, use admin's product types, book, edit layout. There are lots of switches there.

zencart mods do tend to get you sat at the computer :) theres quite a lot of book setup info in the book fileset readme's

[LilleyPadGifts]

Thanks so much for replying.
Your first sentence says it all tho ... if it won't work with Easy Populate, then it won't work for me.
I have over 30,000 comics (just product for this store only!) and I enter them into a online database (ComicBookRealm.com) so that I can check cover pics to see that I have the correct book and info. I'm not a collector or know that much about comics, tho I have learned some stuff in the past few years since I obtained this large lot, but this gives me a way to check that all of my info is correct. My plan to make life so much easier was to download the exported file from there with all of the info and make a few changes to order and such to match up to the EP file and in one tap of a key, have a pile/box of 100+ books added with their correct info and all we have to do is scan and upload the pictures. Was supposed to be the easiest of my 5-7 stores .
I guess I will just have to figure out a way to get the info needed to match up to the Description field in EP and upload it from there. Guess I will have to get personal with Excel ...lol.. and see what it has to offer as far as the easiest way to get info from several fields merged into one field. I'm sure something is possible...was just hoping for the easiest.
I'm open to suggestions if anyone has anything to offer.
Thanks so much!
Lalla
P.S. I still might be able to use this for my Romance Novel store that I'm moving over to Zen from osC. Probably won't be using EP there because that is the site my Mom will be focusing on....have about the same amount of books, but at 81 she doesn't need the hassle EP can cause .
Thanks again!

[hareslade]

Yeah you'll have to do it data-manually per book in zc admin probably

To be precise, EP can only upload title and other 'normal' fields as in an ordinary zc product, so you might if lucky, be able to upload just title, description, manufacturer (publisher) and price etc, but the extra data tables that book uses such as author, and publish dates etc .......those tables' data needs inserting by hand in zc admin so to speak.

To make EP work for books is so far defeating everyone, because the extra book data needs to know the new book's zencart i.d , and EP can't do two-stage partial uploads for each book. In other words, it doesn't know what i.d zencart will give the next book, so it can't generate the extra data.

I found EP rather unfriendly, it refuses to say why things don't work.. thats the limitation of a browser file upload system.

I'd really like to see EP converted for book data upload, or a bespoke php solution ...fraid its too big a job for me just now, but someone might go nuts and spend a month or 6 developing it (offers, anyone?)

[LilleyPadGifts]

If I'm not mistaken, osC has found a way to allow for both, but the whole package of creation there is harder then Zen so I don't even want to think about it. It might help someone in the future to check into it tho...especially if they are familuar with how both osC and Zen work and their differences.
I, however, don't have that kinda time or mind to even attempt it.
I've posted about excel and maybe someone will be able to help me there with just merging some info together and having it show in the fields that work with EP.
Thanks so much again!
Lalla

[LilleyPadGifts]

Ok, got the EP to work with a edited Excel file and was able to use a text editor to find tricks to get info merged together in the places that I needed it merged (since I can't make additional fields).

But

Can I still use the part of this add-on to create the Combined Search box ?
Or is that out for same reasons the rest of the add-on is out?

Thanks!

Ok, just reread the install file and it says that this is to add the Combined Search box for those fields added with this add-on... which I can not use because I really need Easy Populate to work ... so is there another thread that explains how to do that with in other ways?

[LilleyPadGifts]

Well, I'm back.
I have installed this on another of my sites for romance novels but I can't seem to figure out the fields and get them to work correctly.
For example, under Author, I can NOT stop and add a author everytime I add a book, so I normally use the first letter of the author's last name. This isn't working. Should I be putting that under Subtitle (By Nora Roberts) and then use the Author list to choose "R"? If so, how does a customer browse thru Author's by the letter R ?
Also, I need a field that is used for Series since some books are continued storylines but different authors and customers like to search for ones in the series that they are missing?
I just can't seem to wrap my brain around how some of this works.
Thanks!

[LilleyPadGifts]

I've been reading and re-reading and found that I needed to turn on the Author box, which I did... but ... it looks like it will only work "correctly" if I list the complete author's names. I see that I can "add" the name as I enter a book, but it takes you away from the product editing/insert page and doesn't take you back. It just seems insane to add every single author's name to a list instead of just sorting into categories by last name initial... but if I use the Author box for that you don't see who wrote the darn book all you see is a letter!
I must be looking at this in a totally wrong way.
My old site was a osC site so I am probably just confused because of the change over...well...atleast that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
Still haven't found a field to use for Series.