'Product - General' has disappeared!! Certain Disaster?

Greetings

URL: h t t p : / / b o d y b y b a m b o o . c o m

as a note we began using zencart about three weeks ago, version 1.3.9d and yes i have done searches in the forum - no joy.

Not sure at what point this happened because we recently hired someone to do the database population for categories/products in our new excursion into ZC, but today i noticed that 'Product - General' is no longer the default nor one of the drop down choices in the admin panel for adding products. It has disappeared. Everything is going in as product type 'test', a holdover from following one or other tutorial we used in learning the system. Our products, clothing, are appropriate for the "Product - General' product type.

At first I was very alarmed until I realized that up to this point our lumbering fumbling toward setting up this shop has been more or less fraught with the typical danger, frustration and then a modicum of success. It is basically working.

My question is:
I have a sneaking suspicion from somewhere that there is some special voodoo associated with using 'Product - General' as a product type that we are missing out on in some underlying layer that will jump up and shoot us in the foot. I have even seen that string in several of the php files in the course of tweaking the overrides.

What consequences might face us in not changing this situation?

ADVthanxANCE

the Zen Homeboy

zenHomeboy:

.....because we recently hired someone to do the database population for categories/products in our new excursion into ZC, but today i noticed....

Did you ask the person you hired if they have changed anything in the file system and if so, what did they change??

Well, we here are all new at zen cart, and she is more or less computer-naive wrt what you're asking. She sits at an admin screen, creates categories, and enters products and their prices, etc, uploads their images.

I was remiss in not pointing her attention to the product type dropdown, but I suspect that by the time she started working the 'Product - General' was gone.

Can any of the more knowledgeable people on the forum
a. explain what it means not to have this product type appear as an option ie. what's missing where?

b. say whether there's some negative effect that can present itself now or down the road

c. tell us is there something that has to be fixed and if so, where to start?

Can someone please lend a hand here?

thank you.

Could you go to the Catalog ... Product Types ...

What do you see listed there?

Here's what are listed under Admin -> Catalog -> Product Types:

test
Product - Music
Document - General
Document - Product
Product - Free Shipping

as I might have mentioned 'test' was created I believe in the dim first days of walking thru a tutorial, maybe in Goh Koon Hoek's book.

Click the EDIT button on the one that reads test ...

Look at the URL ... do you see:
ptID=1

in it?

If not, stop ...

If so, go to phpMyAdmin and browse the table:
product_type

Is test set as type_id 1?

If so, check the table:
product_type_layout

Browse the table and look at the ones for:
product_type_id

that are set to 1 ...

Do they all contain somewhere in he configuration_key:
PRODUCT_INFO

If so, go back to the table:
product_type

Delete the record marked as type_id 1

Then run the SQL command:

INSERT INTO product_types VALUES (1, 'Product - General', 'product', '1', 'Y', '', now(), now());

Click the EDIT button on the one that reads test ...

Look at the URL ... do you see: ptID=1 in it?

yes

If not, stop ...

If so, go to phpMyAdmin and browse the table: product_type

Is test set as type_id 1?

yes

If so, check the table: product_type_layout

Browse the table and look at the ones for: product_type_id that are set to 1 ...
Do they all contain somewhere in he configuration_key: PRODUCT_INFO

there are 18 of them ... all but the last three do.

The following DO NOT:

DEFAULT_PRODUCT_TAX_CLASS_ID

DEFAULT_PRODUCT_PRODUCTS_VIRTUAL

DEFAULT_PRODUCT_PRODUCTS_IS_ALWAYS_FREE_SHIPPING

So, I don't know how to proceed from here. Is there something in your instructions that needs to modified ?

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to look at my problem and guide me toward help with it.

If so, go back to the table:
product_type

Delete the record marked as type_id 1

Then run the SQL command:

There should be 31 records in the product_type_layout for the product_type_id = 1 ...

You can double check the count with the SQL:

SELECT * FROM product_type_layout WHERE product_type_id =1;

and see what the Total is ...

Can you do a search on the products table where products_type = 1 ... how many products are using it?

The SQL for this is:

SELECT * FROM products WHERE products_type =1;

You are right - there are 31 records. Blame it on my very limited experience and knowledge of SQL ...

It looks like there are 61 products ( basically all our input) using product_type 1.

and also, of course if there are actually 31 records (rather than the 18 I could see originally) not all of them contain the PRODUCT_INFO string that you asked me about in your prior post.

That is why I gave you the SQL commands to be sure ... :smile:

Backup your database and then do the delete of the test product type and run the insert sql for the Product General ... does the miracle occur? :unsure:

is the insert the command in your earlier post that i didn't run?

If so, go back to the table:
product_type

Delete the record marked as type_id 1

Just to be sure ... I am browsing product_types table and I see five
records and I am to delete the one whose value (type_id) is '1'.

not sure of this - would my command be:

DELETE WHERE type_id == '1'; ???

well, I looked around for the CORRECT sql statement to do the delete, executed it, and then ran the insert statement, holding my breath.

I'm still holding my breath ... But in my admin screen I now see the Product General type is present and set to id 1 and my products don't seem to have disappeared. !!!!!!!!!!

Here we go ... I may be selling timeshares in Iceland by next week.

I wish to thank you once again for taking the time and patience with my problem. and with me.

zen Homeboy

Good job ... looks like you have things back on track ... remember us when you are rich and famous ... :smile:

Are the time shares in Iceland worth much? :cool:

I don't know if they're worth much today, but with the climate changes maybe there's some new beach-front properties coming up.

HEY!! Wait a minute!
A New product type for Zen Cart - TIMESHARES !!

Hmmmm ... I WILL remember you when i'm rich and famous!

Now there's a thought ... :cool:

Good luck with your shop! :lamo: