selling e-books

You have an Option Name and that is an Option Type ... what is the Option Type set to?

It should be a Radiobutton or a Dropdown ...

And then, you should have matching Option Value(s) for this ...

Stick with this thread please... less confusing for ajeh/myself..
pdf files are documents,but you are selling them as downloads.

OK. Now i am really confused. Should i be setting ebooks up as pdf documents or as downloads? The idea is to allow download, either by redirect or streaming, after adding to cart and payment. Shouldn't the pdf's be in the download folder for that purpose? My option name is download(dropdown) and my option value is pdf(download).:unsure:

I followed instruction in FAQ's re: How do i add downloads to products? make products downloadable?

I have been looking at similar problems to mine and I am wondering if i have the download set right. If i have an ebook called 'book a' should it be put in the download folder as 'book a.pdf', 'book a.zip' or 'book a.zip.pdf'? I tried it as .zip originally and got a red dot so i changed it to.pdf and got a green do. Still confused.:dontgetit

You have pdf file named book1.pdf
Add it to zip file,using 7zip or winzip.
Name it book1.zip
Upload book1.zip to download folder..
Now configure your product for download
as per
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=71

Is adding pdf to zip file the same as compressing it and calling it book1.zip? I compressed pdf and called it book1.zip, uploaded, changed attributes accordingly and now message says 'duplicate attribute - attribute not added -download:zip. Just looked at my down load folder and book1 is showing as book1.zip.zip.

ok I have downloaded 7Zip from the web and used it to add 'book1.pdf. So now the file is showing correctly in my download folder as 'book1.zip but I am STILL getting the same message about duplicate attribute and a red dot in attribute controller.

I might just poke my nose in here, since one of my sites sells e-books.
I decided to have a play with the settings on my cart to see if I could reproduce that "invalid selection" error you were having.

If I set the attribute to "display only," then when I try and add that product to my cart, I get the "invalid selection" error. Obviously this is not a "display only" attribute, so it not be set as such. But perhaps this is your problem?

So go to
admin=>catalog=>attributes controller and choose any of your products.
You should see the option name "downloads" and beside it the option value "zip."
To the right you will see a row of icons, if you hover your mouse over them you will see what the icons are for. "display only", "free", "default" etc.

The "display only" setting should be false, so it should show with a big red cross through it. By clicking on the icon, you can toggle the value from true to false.

When you have done that, try putting the product in your cart and see if the error still shows.

Good luck

ok I have altered that and i still get a red dot against the filename but it seems that i can add to cart and continue shopping so now i will try it with other products and see what happens.:D

this seems to be working.:smile::D:clap:

I am still getting a red dot against one of my file names yet I am able to add it cart. Should i be bothered about the red dot? :unsure:

pensaro1:

I am still getting a red dot against one of my file names yet I am able to add it cart. Should i be bothered about the red dot?
What happens with that product when you make a test
purchase...

Red dot means ... boom!!! No download after purchase as no file matches the filename on the attribute ... :eek:

Ball is back in your court, misty ... :cool:

pensaro1

Post the filename you have entered in the filename field of the download attribute for one of your products.

if you also post the location of that file on your webhosts file system (relative to the root drectory ofyour webshop), probably we can get that green light showing.

J

OK. The file name is 'TWICE UPON A TIME.zip', with caps and spaces as shown. Path is Pensaro.com/store/download. It is the only one of 5 with a red dot. Haven't set up payment module yet as i am trying to sort out the other stuff first. :dontgetit. P.S What about the colored attribute flags, how should they be set?

Just leave the attribute flags as they are for now. The defaults should be ok for you.

Spaces are bad in filenames. I think you should change the file name by replacing the spaces with underscores, like this,
TWICE_UPON_A_TIME.zip

You should change it in two places. On the file itself and in the products download attribute filename field. If that doesn't work, you should look closely at the ones that work and the one that doesn't work, to find what is different.

Lets deal with the payment module when we get to it.

Justin
PS Incidentally if you are the author of these books, which I would guess you are, did you think about selling them on Amazon? That would be much simpler and you would not have to work so hard to advertise your site and get traffic.

I will try the underscore instead of spaces but one of the other products has spaces in the name and that seems to work. As for amazon i admit i have been tempted to find some other way to sell but i have come so far, spending time and energy and even a bit of money so i am not quite ready to give up yet.

I have just tried the change and still red dot so i am going to put it back. The spaces didn't affect the other product. I am tempted to delete the product and re start it.

OK, re Amazon and getting your set up. I certainly understand that feeling.
Hmm that red dot is an issue all right, you don't need to delete that product just yet though,

I would make a new product, shall we say parallel product, and leave the old one intact, for now. It might not be the filename, but it is hard to think of what else it might be.

Incidentally I know the story of Tutanekai and HInemoa. Are you from those parts?

J