No custom folder need to add One ?

Hi all, i am new to zencart and looking for some advice

I have inherited the zencart website its updated to 1.3.9dand it has the classic green template... minor changes, eg header image , royalmail shipping modules, new button set, uk counties, this is what i am aware of or the changes i can visibly see,

here is were the fun starts cause there is no custom folder, so could some tell me what custom folders and files i need to install so i wont lose the changes if i need to upgrade in the future
( yes i have used the search function and read the tutorial on creating custom folders) but i dont understand what files i need to put in them.

any help in resolving this matter would be great as i dont want to start again from scratch

regards
dave

I'm assuming this is the tutorial you read.

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142

If you've done that (created some custom template folders and selected that template in admin) you'll need to copy any edited files into the proper custom folder.

You're in something of a jam, since you don't know what files the previous owner edited, but generally I would copy all the files in the 'classic' folders to their 'custom' counterparts.

@stevesh
thanks for the reply,
yes thats the guide i followed , i also installed the folder structure that is mapped out here http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_62&products_id=298

like you say i don't know what files have been altered so which files do i put in my custom folders ?

do i need to move every single file that is in the classic folders into the custom folders ? inc images ?

sorry if i sound thick but i have never experienced an over ride system before

regards
dave

Since you don't know what the previous administration changed, but the site works the way you want it to, I would find all the 'classic' folders and move all the files in each to the corresponding 'custom' folder. Two minutes using your FTP program.

hi, thanks again for your speedy reply , just to make things clear in includes/llanguage/english i have folders and files like so

/custom (my new folder i made)
->/extra_definitions (folder)
->/html_includes (folder)
->images (folder)
->/moduals (folder)
account.php ( file)
account_edit.php (file)
account_history.php ( file)
etc (file)
etc (file)
etc (file)

do i copy all the folders and files and drop them direct into my custom folder

so it would show all the folders and files inside my custom folder

regards
dave

I can't think of a circumstance where you would have folders in an override folder, so, no.

For example, you will have a includes/languages/custom folder, and an includes/languages/english/custom folder.

But you would have an includes/languages/english/html_includes/custom folder, not includes/languages/english/custom/html_includes

You really can't go wrong by creating a 'custom' folder everywhere you find a 'classic' folder and at the same level.

Hi Mate,
i not quite getting this for example i have a folder
includes/templates/classic

inside the classic folder is another 2 folders css/images

now in the css folder is
css_read_me.txt
print_stylesheet..css
stylesheet.css
stylesheet_css_buttons.css

now in the image folder is
header_bg.jpg
tile_back.gif

do i just take all the files from the css and image folder and put them inside the custom folder and not in folder like this

includes/templates/custom/css/images folders

so i would have a folder structure showing

includes/templates/custom and inside the custom folder the following files

css_read_me.txt
print_stylesheet..css
stylesheet.css
stylesheet_css_buttons.css
header_bg.jpg
tile_back.gif

is this correct ?

regards
dave

also the template is using custom buttons they are located in
includes/template/template_default//english

do i just put all the buttons in the

includes/template/custom

regards
dave

No, stick to the tutorial https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142 for a custom template.

includes
   /templates
       /CUSTOM
          /common
          /css
             stylesheet.css
          /images
          /sideboxes
          /templates
       template_info.php

What custom folders (overrides) are for is to allow you to edit core/main files without them being wiped out in a future upgrade. For example, if you edit includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php these changes would be wiped out from uploading a fresh meta_tags.php in a future full-upgrade. If the coding of these files is changed in an update then it will be easy to compare.

As stevesh said, just add override folders everywhere you see "classic"

The only exception to this would be includes/templates where it's not really an override folder but rather your actual custom template.

3601965:

also the template is using custom buttons they are located in
includes/template/template_default//english

do i just put all the buttons in the

includes/template/custom

regards
dave

If they're in template_default then they will still be read. If you have anything custom-edited (like your buttons) then move it to your custom template folder using same file structure.

Kenichi:

No, stick to the tutorial https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142 for a custom template.

includes
/templates
/CUSTOM
/common
/css
stylesheet.css
/images
/sideboxes
/templates
template_info.php

> 
> What custom folders (overrides) are for is to allow you to edit core/main files without them being wiped out in a future upgrade. For example, if you edit includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php these changes would be wiped out from uploading a fresh meta_tags.php in a future full-upgrade. If the coding of these files is changed in an update then it will be easy to compare.
> 
> As stevesh said, just add override folders everywhere you see "classic"
> 
> The *only* exception to this would be includes/templates where it's not really an override folder but rather your actual custom template.

Am just not getting this 
stevesh stated

I can't think of a circumstance where you would have folders in an override folder, so, no.

For example, you will have a includes/languages/custom folder, and an includes/languages/english/custom folder.

But you would have an includes/languages/english/html_includes/custom folder, not includes/languages/english/custom/html_includes

and your telling me to use the file structure as 

includes
   /templates
       /CUSTOM
          /common
          /css
             stylesheet.css
          /images
          /sideboxes
          /templates
       template_info.php

so inside the custom folder are FOLDERS

/commom     FOLDER
/css              FOLDER
/images         FOLDER
/sideboxes     FOLDER
/templates     FOLDER

sorry for this but am just confused as i dont know what files have been updated ,i know for sure metatags has

regards
dave

No, sorry for the confusion, that's the format for your custom template (Notice the indentation in the code, each indent was meant to represent the next subdirectory)

i.e. you will have

includes/templates/YOUR-TEMPLATE-FOLDER(CUSTOM)/common
includes/templates/YOUR-TEMPLATE-FOLDER(CUSTOM)/css
includes/templates/YOUR-TEMPLATE-FOLDER(CUSTOM)/images
includes/templates/YOUR-TEMPLATE-FOLDER(CUSTOM)/sideboxes
includes/templates/YOUR-TEMPLATE-FOLDER(CUSTOM)/templates

Don't try to think of your template as an override. includes/templates/custom is your own unique template that your site will be using.

Notice the template "classic" (includes/templates/classic) see how it has many folders too?

OVERRIDES are other folders with the same name as your custom template folder. Just like stevesh explained, you could add your CUSTOM(your template name) folders everywhere "classic" is.

***** includes/templates/classic is the original template. All folders in other locations called "classic" are its overrides.

***** you are making your own template and want to duplicate this. includes/templates/YOUR-TEMPLATE-NAME(custom) will be your template and all other folders called YOUR-TEMPLATE-NAME(custom) will be your overrides.

so i would need to make a folder

includes/template/custom

and in the custom folder it would have the sub directory

includes/template/custom
/css
/images

in the css folder i would have the stylesheet.css

in the images folder i would have my modded header_bg.jpg

is this correct ?

in includes/language/english/html_includes/classic there are a load of files in this folder define_checkout_success.php etc, now i dont know if any of these files have been modified , so would i just make a custom folder like the path below

includes/language/english/html_includes/custom and copy all the files from the classic folder to my custom folder

as i am not sure what files have been modified

hope you understand what i am trying to say

regards
dave

so i would need to make a folder

includes/template/custom

and in the custom folder it would have the sub directory

includes/template/custom
/css
/images

in the css folder i would have the stylesheet.css

in the images folder i would have my modded header_bg.jpg

is this correct ?

in includes/language/english/html_includes/classic there are a load of files in this folder define_checkout_success.php etc, now i dont know if any of these files have been modified , so would i just make a custom folder like the path below

includes/language/english/html_includes/custom and copy all the files from the classic folder to my custom folder

as i am not sure what files have been modified

hope you understand what i am trying to say

regards
dave

Correct.

And yes, it would be a good idea to have those files, they are most likely changed since they include your contact us, shipping policies, privacy statement, etc

Might have misunderstood what you said, you will only have the subdirectories css and images in there, not another includes>templates>custom>includes>templates>custom

so if i want to use new buttons for example i would stick them in my

includes/templates/custom
/buttons
/english

is this correct

regards
dave

You'd just stick them in a folder called "buttons" with sub-directory "english" your custom template.

Ex.

includes/templates/custom/buttons/english

:smile:

@Kenichi

now i think i understand, i will make a start on my custom folders and let you know how it goes shortly

thanks for all your help

regards
dave

i have the big royalmail installed

in the read me it states the following

1)find your zen-cart folder
2) copy the files from big_royalmail_v2.3/images/icons/ to YOUR_ZC_FOLDER/images/icons/
3) copy the files from big_royalmail_v2.3/includes/modules/shipping/ to YOUR_ZC_FOLDER/includes/modules/shipping/
4) copy the files from big_royalmail_v2.3/includes/languages/english/modules/shipping/ to YOUR_ZC_FOLDER/includes/languages/english/modules/shipping/

could you tell me the correct file path to my custom folders to put the modified files already installed - is it this below

includes/modules/shipping/custom/

regards
dave