Product Type Book (by moku)

[Pink]

I have:
zc 1.3.8a
ML_ZC1_3_8_EXTENDED_BOOK_TYPE_V_4_LANGS_ISS2
ceon_uri_mapping_seo_3-2-4
multisite_module_0-4-2

My problem: When I do a search for "authors", then no result is displayed. I looked at the sql in the "book_authors_filter.php" and found out, that there is no result displayed because the table "books_to_authors" is empty!

How do I geht some data into this table? I do have authors, I do have books, and of course, I filled the author(s)-field when I added the book. Is this not enought?

[johnk]

I have never used the Author Field to enter author's names when adding a book. I did try it once, but seem to recall not being redirected back to the Book Entry screen. In other words, form memory, when you enter an author that way, you are taken to a special page where you enter all the Author details. If that's not happening, therein lies the problem.

The easiest way to enter Authors, is to go to Extras (next to Tools) and select Authors from there. Try to enter a few a
Authors at a time to save jumping to and thro. Then when you enter a book, you simply select the Author's mane from the drop down list. It works perfectly that way.

John

[Pink]

I have never used the Author Field to enter author's names when adding a book....

The easiest way to enter Authors, is to go to Extras (next to Tools) and select Authors from there. ...

Then when you enter a book, you simply select the Author's mane from the drop down list. It works perfectly that way.

Oh, got it. I did it this way, but as I just had added one author, I didn't SELECT the author in the "add book" dialog. So that's why I got the problem. With two authors, it's more obviouse that one of them has to be selected.

Thanks for getting me to it.

By the way: Do you have any ideas where to get out the extra author info (photo, description, website of author) in the shop? I just get the author name at book display. But no link, no description, no photo for the author.

[johnk]

Have a look at this page on my site. I use Zen Cart as a catalogue only. Look at the top right of my site. I've changes Authors to read Contributors. As you can see "Canon" is listed as a contributor.

Go to (Tools/Layout Boxes Controller) and set the following side boxes to be displayed:

sideboxes/book_authors displays an Author's dropdown (first item on the top right of my page)

sideboxes_authors_info (second item)

The information will appear wherever you select in the left or right columns.

Hope that helps.

P.S. This is a fantastic contribution. When you select an Author from the list, all the products (books) by that Author are displayed automatically.

If you click a book at random, the Author's details will be displayed for that book. As some shoppers may not notice this, you could add a line like: "See Author's Biography in side bar (top right)".

[sashafiero]

First of all, many thanks for all the hard work that hareslade has put into this fantastic addition. I was actually pretty astonished to see that such a thing as Zen Cart didn't already have all this book functionality!

Also, many thanks to johnk, who seems to have been very helpful while hareslade is out and about, floating around for fun. ;)

I've read the instructions in the files, read the forum from about page 40 on up, and gotten the thing installed in a basically fresh copy of Zen Cart 1.3.8a. I haven't put in any addons, only messed with the layout to make it match how the client wants their site to look. (I did use the override system properly, not editing the original files.)

I realized that the upload of /admin/includes/stylesheet.css has overwritten a lot of perhaps newer admin styles, because my admin section became extremely plain and unstyled. What I tried to do was pick out what was marked as "added by jph" in the new stylesheet, and add it to the original one, and uploaded it. Voila, the admin page looks like it did before, but the Pick A Date Available little popup calendar is gone!

Here is what I found to put into the admin stylesheet, perhaps there is something more I am missing.

/* added by jph */
/* language colours */
td.maincolor1, tr.maincolor1{background-color:#FFFFCC;}
td.maincolor2, tr.maincolor2{background-color:#CCFF99;}
td.maincolor3, tr.maincolor3{background-color:#CCCCFF;}
td.maincolor4, tr.maincolor4{background-color:#FFCCFF;}
td.maincolor5, tr.maincolor5{background-color:#FFFFCC;}
td.maincolor6, tr.maincolor6{background-color:#99FFFF;}
/* warns is set to copy dropdown values across */
td.warncolor, tr.warncolor{background-color:#CC0033;
}

Thanks and appreciation in advance to whomever can help me! I am fairly familiar with CSS, and half half a handle on php, but this is my first experience with Zen Cart, and despite a bit of a challenge, I'm really liking it.

[schoolboy]

I was actually pretty astonished to see that such a thing as Zen Cart didn't already have all this book functionality!

I don't think it's very astonishing... a tiny handful (me included) of people who use zencart would ever need this highly-specific functionality.

Zencart "standard" must be kept "generic". It has to be (in most respects) a one-size-fits-all package.

The fact that such modules are available is more a testament to the clever folk who write such add-ons, and that ZC offers a robust platform upon which such customizations can be built in the first place.

[sashafiero]

Ah, yes, this is a very good point. We can't expect them to include every type of thing people sell out there! :)

And you're right, it does speak well for ZC that it IS possible to customize it so well.

[johnk]

It's an interesting comment Schoolboy, but why then does Zen Cart include music, record companies and the like? Surely there would be no more demand for a music shop than a book shop? Both are excellent on-line marketing opportunities.

Having said that, PJH has put an enormous amount of work into this module, although he is always quick to to thank Moku who we should not forget for the foundations.

sashafiero, when you say the Admin section got a little plain, I'm not quite sure of what you mean there. The overall admin section isn't affected, but Product Book admin page could do with a makeover. I actually did this a year or so ago and got it looking very snazzy. Unfortunately I managed to delete the entire store which was only running on a Wamp server at home. I'll probably get around to it again one day, but I hardly use any of the features in my Catalogue.

I also have to give a personal vote of thanks to Paul who answered al my emails and helped my through a few problems a year or so back.

[schoolboy]

I am just a "sample of one" so my observations are probably more anecdotal than factual, but over the last 6 years I have built about 120 Zencart webshops for people all over the world.

Of these, about 35% have been to sell music - usually CD's and MP3 downloads - sometimes just music, other times alongside other products. So that's more than a third of all stores I have built that have required a "product - music" capability.

In the last 6 years I have only ever set up 3 bookshops, and of those only 2 requested the "product - book" module - even though I indicated its availability to the third owner.

So, in my experience, TEN TIMES the number of sites I have built have required the music product features, compared to sites that required the book product features.

I do agree it is a fantastic module - and I have thought about "cloning" it to suit things like car parts and accessories...

[johnk]

When I started using this module it drove me mad having to select Product-Book from a dropdown list before adding a new title.

I actually changed the database so that product-book was the default, but then I discovered an easier way.

Just edit the highest level category you can. Right at the bottom of the page you will see:

Restrict Product Type to "Product General".

Just click the little arrow next to "Product General" and select "Product Book".

You can then make the change to include or ignore sub-categories.

it works like a charm!