Can I set up Free instant downloads?

Alright heres a few issues when I got downloadable free "products":

1. There still a line showing units in stock, which ofcource is totally not obvious for downloads:
   [IMG]http://imghost.in/images/b4dhzalidn297k08k2a.jpg[/IMG]

2. What do I have to do to make a "Download this" instead of add to my cart button...I browsed a few posts but never found a good solution for instant downloads...when I mean instant, it IS instant(Skipping all the bs like the shipping page, or the checkout and giving users what they want on the spot)

Id apprecitate for help!

And another line to rimove is:
[IMG]http://imghost.in/images/xzjzp3uzwr6qm8kyim1.jpg[/IMG]

How?!

PS: Forgot to tell, that user must still be able to chose which of the files to download and then click the "Download this" button?

Hello?Hello?Hello?

There is no built-in means of serving sellable products without going through checkout.
So, if you want to bypass the whole checkout process, you'll have to put your own direct html URL link to the download file into your product description.

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_do_and_dont

DrByte:

There is no built-in means of serving sellable products without going through checkout.
So, if you want to bypass the whole checkout process, you'll have to put your own direct html URL link to the download file into your product description.

What do you mean sellable, its free!?:smile:I think there is no reason to bother users with checkout and stuff:smile:
...suppose I put a link then what? I will have to hide more unused features i. e. add cart button and who knows what else...:wacko:

If you create your product as Document-General instead of Product-General, then there will not be any add-to-cart button because Document-General products are not sellable items. They're intended as informational pages such as documents. Thus you can embed your own link into the product description, which your visitor can click on to download.

"Product Types" are discussed in Chapter 13 of the "eStart Your Web Store With Zen Cart" user manual: https://www.zen-cart.com/book

DrByte:

If you create your product as Document-General instead of Product-General, then there will not be any add-to-cart button because Document-General products are not sellable items. They're intended as informational pages such as documents. Thus you can embed your own link into the product description, which your visitor can click on to download.

"Product Types" are discussed in Chapter 13 of the "eStart Your Web Store With Zen Cart" user manual: https://www.zen-cart.com/book

I c, but it will be still counted as product, right? And you will be able to see downloads count this way?:D
....Well alright to bad there isnt a solution that fits perfectly..so Ill just go with the Document type thingy:D

MegamanX:

I c, but it will be still counted as product, right? And you will be able to see downloads count this way?
No, if you are only putting directly-clickable download links in your product descriptions, those downloads will not be tracked by Zen Cart.
If you want to track counts, you'll have to add some sort of custom download facility.
As I said before, the built-in functionality of download tracking and security only works on sellable products, and customers must go through checkout (even if it is free) in order to use that functionality.

Hi Dr.
I have satisfied these conditions except where "x'd". I have posted a free download product but the download link doesn't appear anywhere in zencart 1.3.8a nor in the email notification of a successful "purchase":

1.Downloads are NOT Virtual Products so use:
Product is Virtual: No, Shipping Address Required
2.Downloads are NOT Always Free Shipping so use:
Always Free Shipping: No, Normal Shipping Rules
3.Downloads in an order by itself will never see the checkout_shipping page ... if you do then your Product is setup wrong for Downloads
4.If not on a Windows server, meaning Linux/Unix, /pub should be 777 and Redirect should be ON
If you cannot use Redirect ON, ask your hosting site why they cannot follow the symbolic link between the /download and /pub directories
xxx 5.If on a Windows server, /pub does NOT need to be writable/777 as you do not use this directory; and Redirect is OFF as you cannot use Redirect
6.Download filenames should not use special characters, spaces and the like
xxx 7.Download files should be Zipped for best results and browser compatibility
8.Download files should be loaded to the /download directory
9.On the Admin->Catalog->Attributes Controller you should see a green dot next to the filename of the Download itself

I have gone so far as to delete the products and categories and create new ones. I do see the green dot in the attributes controller.

Here's a link to the sole product currently loaded in zen cart:
http://videofeedback.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=4

Ignore the header image, that was for a possible contract, the website is all about video and internet TV and the header image is to be updated with new.
-C

Found the issue, I didn't know about the pending payment on the order. Have changed that but now the download isn't coming forth. Probably a directory permissions issue.

Thank You.
-C

SteveZodiac:

Found the issue, I didn't know about the pending payment on the order. Have changed that but now the download isn't coming forth. Probably a directory permissions issue.

Thank You.
-C

Now I see the download has loaded itself into a blank webpage but is playing. And I see that if I go back one page to where the download button is I can right click on the download button and choose save as.

I'm going to try and load a webpage in the downloads directory and see what happens.