Ceon Back In Stock Notifications 3.0.0

Hi Ashely,

Ashely:

Many thanks for your fast response as always.

No problem, glad you are sorted now!

Ashely:

I have another question. I tried to put a "Notify me" button on the product listing page. It worked ok by opening a new page (<a href="' . zen_href_link(FILENAME_BACK_IN_STOCK_NOTIFICATION_SUBSCRIBE, zen_get_all_get_params(array('action', 'products_id')) . 'products_id='. (int)$product_id .'POST') . '" target="_blank">)

This is wrong:

$product_id .'POST'

IT works because Zen Cart filters out the "POST", but basically, change that to get rid of the additional text ".'POST'":

$product_id

Ashely:

Is there any way to fix this? I think I should add some codes but not sure where and what exactly to add. Could you help?

Sorry but the one thing I don't support for free is custom coding unless I can give an instant answer and on this occasion I can't remember offhand what you need to add, possibly an observer, I'm sure you understand.

Have a nice weekend!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

Hi Conor,

Thanks for your previous response and help.

I encountered a new problem. In my customers' "Back in Stock Notification" section, the links of those items are totally incorrect. That is, by clicking the link, the customer is just led to a different product.

What could be wrong then?

Another question is regarding to the admin menu. Since I just upgraded my zencart store to 1.5.0, I did simply copy all the files from my test site to the live store. But after that, I found I could no longer find the "Back in Stock Notifications" link under the "Catalog" menu in admin. How can I bring back the link? Or must I removed the files and then re-install it?

Thanks very much again for your time and patience!

Will look forward to your reply.

Best Regards,
Ashely

Hi,

Ashely:

Thanks for your previous response and help.

Glad you're sorted.

Ashely:

I encountered a new problem. In my customers' "Back in Stock Notification" section, the links of those items are totally incorrect. That is, by clicking the link, the customer is just led to a different product.

What could be wrong then?

The links to the products should be correct.. the only way they wouldn't be is if the product IDs have changed since the subscriptions were created.

Which would mean that this isn't a problem with BISN but with your database.

Sorry, I can't help you with that here. Check the product IDs for the products and the subscrptions.

Ashely:

Another question is regarding to the admin menu. Since I just upgraded my zencart store to 1.5.0, I did simply copy all the files from my test site to the live store. But after that, I found I could no longer find the "Back in Stock Notifications" link under the "Catalog" menu in admin. How can I bring back the link? Or must I removed the files and then re-install it?

That's not the way to upgrade Zen Cart really, nevertheless all you need to do for this is run the 1.5.0 installation code. You can do that by copying the following file from the BISN zip to your store, then when you go to the admin it will automatically add the link in:

admin/includes/functions/extra_functions/back_in_stock_notifications_admin_page_reg.php

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

conor:

Hi,

Glad you like the software.. I'm working on v4 at the minute (with support for products with attributes via the forthcoming Ceon Product Variants module), hopefully it can be released soon.

The functionality you are asking for is already part of the software. You must have missed the step where you modify functions_general.php

Follow the installation instructions again (specifically the step "Updated Core File"), and you should be able to get things working so that the product listings link to the subscription form when a product (which has no attributes) is out of stock.

All the best..

Conor
ceon

Will the next version include the ability to delete subscriptions? I've been doing it through phpMyAdmin up until now.

Hi,

laydback:

Will the next version include the ability to delete subscriptions? I've been doing it through phpMyAdmin up until now.

It will actually, as a very nice person is donating a bit towards its development and he asked for that very feature.

Lucky for you then!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

Is there a way to hack this add-on to display the subscriber's email address in the email that is sent when they sign up? Otherwise, to dig up the email you have to go all the way into the admin section and search for it. If the email address was right there at the bottom of the email (perhaps with useranme, time, ip, for office use, etc) it would be helpful.

Hi,

pricediscrimination:

If the email address was right there at the bottom of the email (perhaps with useranme, time, ip, for office use, etc) it would be helpful.

The "extra info" Zen Cart adds to its other standard e-mails?

I don't see why I shouldn't add that into version 4. Will do.

Don't ask when v4 is out, I don't comment, time is tight at the minute, support from people here very weak, and it'll be out when I have time to finish and release it; maybe, hopefully, later this month.

All the best..

Conor
ceon

conor:

Hi,

The "extra info" Zen Cart adds to its other standard e-mails?

I don't see why I shouldn't add that into version 4. Will do.

Don't ask when v4 is out, I don't comment, time is tight at the minute, support from people here very weak, and it'll be out when I have time to finish and release it; maybe, hopefully, later this month.

All the best..

Conor
ceon

Ohhh when will that be out??

jk :P :P :P Thank you so much!

I thought I would post up something that I have done that I found helpful to use with this mod.

I update my inventory often, but don't always remember to check the Back In Stock page to send users emails.

Using the information found in this thread:

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?114279-Admin-auto-login-for-a-cron-job

This is for 1.5, but in the referenced thread, you can deduce what you need to do for earlier versions.

Create a new admin profile and grant it ONLY access to the 'Ceon Back in Stock Notifications' page.

Create a new admin user and assign it to the newly created profile.

Take note of the system assigned user number!

Edit your admin/includes/init_includes/init_admin_auth.php file

Add the following (in red):

if (!defined('IS_ADMIN_FLAG')) die('Illegal Access');

if (!isset($_SESSION['admin_id']) && defined('CRON_ADMIN_USER_ID') && (int)CRON_ADMIN_USER_ID != 0) {
$_SESSION['admin_id'] = CRON_ADMIN_USER_ID;
}

Now edit ceon's BIN file (admin/back_in_stock_notifications.php)

Right at the top where it says 'don't touch!',

add (in red) Change the # to be what YOUR newly created user id NUMBER is:

define('CEON_BACK_IN_STOCK_NOTIFICATIONS_VERSION', '3.2.0');
define('CRON_ADMIN_USER_ID', '#');
require('includes/application_top.php');

Now schedule a cron job every few hours/days/whatever to send the emails, if any are needing to be sent.

Adjust the below to suit your site.

Cron job:

wget --no-check-certificate 'https://www.MYDOMAIN.com/admin-XXXXXXXXXXXXX/back_in_stock_notifications.php?action=send&option=4'

Enjoy.

I am running version 1.3.9 H I have products with attributes stock,. Will this be compatible?

Hi,

WiccanWitch420:

I am running version 1.3.9 H I have products with attributes stock,. Will this be compatible?

The software will work for any product without attributes. For products with attributes, only the stock of the "main" product is tracked, the stock of the attributes is not, so notifications can't be sent out for them.

All the best..

Conor
[ceon

](http://ceon.net/software/business/zen-cart)

Hi Conor,

Another amazing add on, well done!

I think I may have broken it though :huh:

I had a test customer setup which I used to add a product notification so I could see the layout of the form and extra text on my product info page. Once I had played with the formatting of the page I then deleted the test customer. Now when I go into the admin it shows that I still have a product with a back in stock notification against it which I cannot get rid of.

I tried sending the notification email in the hope that would clear it however I just get a HTTP 500 Internal Server Error.

Is there a way I can delete this record from the database? If so where would I find it?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Hi,

OLCS:

Another amazing add on, well done!

Glad that you like it and that it may be useful for your store! Clearly it's not the best-written module though, there's a lot that's quite basic in it, that should be done much better. :)

OLCS:

I think I may have broken it though :huh:

I'm not sure entirely, but, well, it doesn't have functionality to delete subscriptions when a customer is deleted, and various other functionality like that that ideally it should have.

Quite simply, we've never deleted a customer, and no-one else who maybe has done so, has ever asked for the software to also delete subscriptions for customers that have been deleted. Adding such support would be easy but obviously as the admin has no notification system, the core file that handles the customer deletion would have to be modified.

Or, if there's a simple way to check that a customer doesn't exist, at the time when e-mails are sent, the subscription could be deleted then regardless... currently they are deleted after being sent though so this is why I say above "not sure entirely".. certainly a 500 error is "not right".

I've just been notified that Ceon Cardsave Direct, Ceon PaymentSense Direct and Ceon Iridium Direct are all incompatible with PHP 5.4 (due to passing an object by reference) so I'm busy sorting those out.

I'll check into this issue for BISN version 4, when I get time to work on it.

OLCS:

Is there a way I can delete this record from the database? If so where would I find it?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

In the meantime use PHPMyAdmin and search by product_id in the back_in_stock_notification_subscriptions table, then just delete that subscription by hand.

Not the nicest way to do things, but the module is fairly basic (although definitely useful and usable as attested by the increased sales on people's stores :) ).

Have a good evening.

All the best...

Conor
ceon

Hi Conor,

Thanks for the response, and thanks for coming back to me so quickly.

Clearly it's not the best-written module though, there's a lot that's quite basic in it, that should be done much better. :)

You are way too harsh on yourself, it works really well, and if I wasn't a doughnut I wouldn't have had this problem :) Your solution worked though so am all ok again now, thank you.

I've just been notified that Ceon Cardsave Direct, Ceon PaymentSense Direct and Ceon Iridium Direct are all incompatible with PHP 5.4 (due to passing an object by reference) so I'm busy sorting those out.

Sounds like a busy time you have ahead of you, quite understandable you don't have the time to sort out little 'niggles'.

Have a good evening

Thank you. You too!

Hi,

OLCS:

Thanks for the response, and thanks for coming back to me so quickly.

No problem, I'll always reply when able.

OLCS:

You are way too harsh on yourself, it works really well, and if I wasn't a doughnut I wouldn't have had this problem :) Your solution worked though so am all ok again now, thank you.

Thanks for the nice comments, but my views on software certainly mean that BISN isn't great at all.. its functionality is decent enough though and it makes a difference so that'll do for now. :)

Glad things are working now. Not sure why a 500 error would have appeared.. we'll see if I encounter it when looking into your issue further for version 4.

OLCS:

Sounds like a busy time you have ahead of you, quite understandable you don't have the time to sort out little 'niggles'.

Ahead of me, lol, if I'd ever any time all these things would work well (although in a completely different form.. complete tangent... anyway..)

OLCS:

Thank you. You too!

Will do. :)

All the best...

Conor
ceon

Is there anything I could do to make it work? Or would it be worthwhile for me to install and use for all products, since most of the time when I restock I will get the different attrributes in at the same time? Do you know of a mod that is more compatible with the stock by attributes>? Any ideas? I have 1300 products, and about 400 of them have attributes (clothing sizes) Do you have a demo site with this installed or any screen shots of how this mod works, etc? Let me know. thanks.

Hi,

WiccanWitch420:

Is there anything I could do to make it work? Or would it be worthwhile for me to install and use for all products, since most of the time when I restock I will get the different attrributes in at the same time? Do you know of a mod that is more compatible with the stock by attributes>?

This is the only Back In Stock module for Zen Cart as far as I know.

Ceon has never used Stock by Attributes on any site as we wrote our own software for that for a client that had wanted "Product Variants" functionality sometime back in 2007. I've added support for it into v4 of BISN.

So I'm afraid we'll never be adding support for the Stock by Attributes module. Others are of course free to and to send us the code and I'll include it in a future version of BISN. Given the effort that might require I'm not surprised no one has done that as yet.

WiccanWitch420:

Any ideas? I have 1300 products, and about 400 of them have attributes (clothing sizes) Do you have a demo site with this installed or any screen shots of how this mod works, etc? Let me know. thanks.

lol it's not too hard to find the Ceon website.. just like most other users here I tend to add a link in my "sig", it's the bit that's under my name. :)

Have a nice weekend.

All the best..

Conor
ceon

I see that you have the stock by variants. What would it entail for me to move my system to stock by variants and use your restock notification mod too? All of my clothing products right now use stock by attributes, here is an example http://www.mysticcrypt.com/plus-size-anastasia-top-in-black-and-royal-blue-p-1746.html

Hi,

WiccanWitch420:

I see that you have the stock by variants. What would it entail for me to move my system to stock by variants and use your restock notification mod too? All of my clothing products right now use stock by attributes, here is an example http://www.mysticcrypt.com/plus-size-anastasia-top-in-black-and-royal-blue-p-1746.html

Sorry, this isn't the right place to talk about this.. the Ceon Product Variants software is separate from Ceon Back In Stock Notifications. No thread exists for it here yet, not least because the software isn't finished/released!

You can contact Ceon through our website if you like.

All the best..

Conor
ceon

Hello, I'm in the process of installing this mod and am coming across a problem I haven't seen addressed here.

I've loaded all the mod's files into my local (test) version of the shop, and I visited Catalog > Ceon BISN in the admin to activate the module.

Now I visit an out-of-stock product in the shop, and lo and behold, there's a nice form for me to sign up for notifications. Great! I sign up and get the confirmation email, but when I click on the link to go to the account_back_in_stock_notifications page, I see "Warning: an error occurred, please refresh the page and try again." This usually seems to crop up on a database error, but there's nothing in my myDEBUG cache. Nothing in phpErrorLog either. I check the database and I find the table called back_in_stock_notifications_subscriptions, with my subscription in it. I try deactivating and reactivating the mod, then revisiting Catalog > Ceon BISN but I still get the same error. The subscription shows up fine in the admin.

I've triple-checked that all the files are in place, and I'm not sure where this error originates. I'd welcome any insight.

Thanks so much!
erin.