Ultimate SEO v3 (and v2.200) [Support Thread]

Depending on your version of zen cart - the config file may https where it is not obvious - so what version are you on?

dharrison:

Hi

We use Ultimate URLS on our website https://sitstandforbusiness.com How can I force https:// URLs? can I do it via Ultimate URLs.

I have ssl as true in both configure files but it keesp reverting back to http://

Please help.
Debbie, what version of Zen Cart and what version of USU are you using? As @delia indicated, if you're trying for "SSL all the time", then you'll not only need to set ENABLE_SSL to 'true', but also ensure that both HTTP_SERVER and HTTPS_SERVER (in the configure.php files) are both prefixed with 'https://'.

Running ZC 1.5.5d, php 5.6 due to old scripts that need to keep running. My site is https://www.tattingcorner.com but it is not currently running this plugin due to the issue described in the next paragraph.

Installed latest version of this plugin (3.0.2) and once turned on, the URL's looked great. Until a customer entered a category and used the filter option to screen the results they wanted to see. It filters fine, but once you add a product to the cart, it does not bring you back to the filtered page - it just displays the category description. I like the plugin, but unless there's a fix to this I won't be going forward with it. Anyone have any thoughts? It seems to be a feature, but it sure doesn't work as a feature.

Thanks,

Lisa

CraftCorner:

Running ZC 1.5.5d, php 5.6 due to old scripts that need to keep running. My site is www.tattingcorner.com but it is not currently running this plugin due to the issue described in the next paragraph.

Installed latest version of this plugin (3.0.2) and once turned on, the URL's looked great. Until a customer entered a category and used the filter option to screen the results they wanted to see. It filters fine, but once you add a product to the cart, it does not bring you back to the filtered page - it just displays the category description. I like the plugin, but unless there's a fix to this I won't be going forward with it. Anyone have any thoughts? It seems to be a feature, but it sure doesn't work as a feature.

Thanks,

Lisa
Did you copy (or merge) the .htaccess file that's included in the plugin's zip-file?

lat9:

Did you copy (or merge) the .htaccess file that's included in the plugin's zip-file?

Good question, and one I'll have to ask my webmaster. I'll ask and find out.

lat9:

Did you copy (or merge) the .htaccess file that's included in the plugin's zip-file?

He says, he did, otherwise the plugin wouldn't have worked.

CraftCorner:

He says, he did, otherwise the plugin wouldn't have worked.
I'm not able to reproduce your issue. Are there other plugins (or customizations) installed on the site or other modifications to the site's .htaccess?

lat9:

I'm not able to reproduce your issue. Are there other plugins (or customizations) installed on the site or other modifications to the site's .htaccess?

It is possible. I will ask.

lat9:

I'm not able to reproduce your issue. Are there other plugins (or customizations) installed on the site or other modifications to the site's .htaccess?

Ah. My webadmin tells me that my filter is custom/homegrown, as it uses a non-ZenCart field in the products table. He says the issue seems to be the handling (i.e., re-processing) of URL variable values, particularly values with spaces. He sees one potential workaround as changing my code to eliminate the spaces. However, I prefer the spaces in the filter values. For example, I have one brand of thread that has multiple sizes. So my filter values for that category are Lizbeth 3, Lizbeth 10, Lizbeth 20, Lizbeth 40, Lizbeth 80, Lizbeth Twirlz 10, and Lizbeth Twirlz 20. This makes it very easy for my customers to select the thread size they want.

Any thoughts on how to get the plugin to work without changing my code to remove those spaces?

Lisa

CraftCorner:

Ah. My webadmin tells me that my filter is custom/homegrown, as it uses a non-ZenCart field in the products table. He says the issue seems to be the handling (i.e., re-processing) of URL variable values, particularly values with spaces. He sees one potential workaround as changing my code to eliminate the spaces. However, I prefer the spaces in the filter values. For example, I have one brand of thread that has multiple sizes. So my filter values for that category are Lizbeth 3, Lizbeth 10, Lizbeth 20, Lizbeth 40, Lizbeth 80, Lizbeth Twirlz 10, and Lizbeth Twirlz 20. This makes it very easy for my customers to select the thread size they want.

Any thoughts on how to get the plugin to work without changing my code to remove those spaces?

Lisa

Clarification: he explained to me later that he would have to rewrite the code to change the filter options so that they had no spaces (like Lizbeth+3) then have them transform back to having spaces after the URL action took place.

This would be a good deal of time and energy. Is there a way to deal with the situation in the plugin itself?

Lisa, ask your webadmin to make sure that the 'tagSelection' form's 'action' link is created using the zen_href_link function rather than hard-coding. If that function's not used, USU won't be involved in that link-generation.

lat9:

Lisa, ask your webadmin to make sure that the 'tagSelection' form's 'action' link is created using the zen_href_link function rather than hard-coding. If that function's not used, USU won't be involved in that link-generation.

He's going to look into it tonight. Thank you!!!

lat9:

Lisa, ask your webadmin to make sure that the 'tagSelection' form's 'action' link is created using the zen_href_link function rather than hard-coding. If that function's not used, USU won't be involved in that link-generation.

He did look at this and it wasn't the culprit. He tried a fix, but on the reload of the page after adding items to the shopping cart, the variable doesn't survive the reload and actually reloads the entire product category again (so the filter would have to be reapplied). I just don't think there's a solution to this issue...

Hello Cindy,

When USU had some canonical problems with v1.5.5f I was forced to change to CEON URI Mapping (regrettably) - CEON is problematical (for me at least) and I would dearly love to go back to USU.

How best can I redirect CEON generated URL's to USU generated URL's once I have made the changeover - I realize USU can't do it so will it need to be a list of redirects in .htaccess or is there a more efficient way to do it? if it is a list in .htaccess will this slow the website down noticeably?

cheers,
Mike

shags38:

Hello Cindy,

When USU had some canonical problems with v1.5.5f I was forced to change to CEON URI Mapping (regrettably) - CEON is problematical (for me at least) and I would dearly love to go back to USU.

How best can I redirect CEON generated URL's to USU generated URL's once I have made the changeover - I realize USU can't do it so will it need to be a list of redirects in .htaccess or is there a more efficient way to do it? if it is a list in .htaccess will this slow the website down noticeably?

cheers,
Mike
Mike, my suggestion would be to handle it 'programmatically', using a storefront initialization script that works off a redirect_from to redirect_to list. That way, it doesn't 'hog up' your .htaccess (eventually, the redirects will be few and far between).

lat9:

Mike, my suggestion would be to handle it 'programmatically', using a storefront initialization script that works off a redirect_from to redirect_to list. That way, it doesn't 'hog up' your .htaccess (eventually, the redirects will be few and far between).

Many thanks for your prompt response Cindy. That is a great idea however creating a script is beyond my capability ... having said that I agree with your comment that redirects will reduce over time - it's just the initial ranking hit that concerns me, albeit I have been there before :smile: - redirecting critical pages like categories etc should cover most of the traffic - for individual products the old url would likely go to the page not found on the site so at least it is landing on the site which means the 'link juice' would be maintained ... correct?

Once again thank you very much for your assistance.

cheers,
Mike

I've just submitted v3.0.3 of USU to the Zen Cart moderators for review; I'll post back here when it's available for download (https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=132).

 This release contains changes associated with the following GitHub issues:

#25: Remove hard-coded category indicator from categories URL.
#27: Correct issues with $_GET array parameters.
#28: Correct attributed-product-in-cart link back to product page (attribute restoration).
#29: Don't add 'manufacturers_id' parameter to any product-info type page.
#30: Update various queries, using integer values, for future-proofing.

Unfortunately :censored:, there's a potential for a mySQL fatal error using v3.0.3 if your store's setting for Format of alternate URLs is *parent *or the setting for Display categories as directories is short.

You'll see logs similar to

[08-Nov-2019 15:37:05 America/New_York] Request URI: /zc155fusu/beacH-vrb-exTra/configuration.php?gID=31&cID=585&action=save, IP address: ::1
#1  trigger_error() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php:171]
#2  queryFactory->show_error() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php:143]
#3  queryFactory->set_error() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php:218]
#4  queryFactory->Execute() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\usu.php:1256]
#5  usu->generate_categories_cache() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\usu.php:84]
#6  usu->__construct() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\beacH-vrb-exTra\includes\classes\observers\UsuAdminObserver.php:29]
#7  UsuAdminObserver->__construct() called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\autoload_func.php:79]
#8  require(C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\autoload_func.php) called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\beacH-vrb-exTra\includes\application_top.php:171]
#9  require(C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\beacH-vrb-exTra\includes\application_top.php) called at [C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\beacH-vrb-exTra\configuration.php:10]
--> PHP Fatal error: 1054:Unknown column 'c.parent_id' in 'on clause' :: SELECT c.categories_id AS id, c.parent_id, cd.categories_name AS cName, cd2.categories_name as pName
                       FROM categories AS c, categories_description AS cd
                            LEFT JOIN categories_description AS cd2
                                ON c.parent_id = cd2.categories_id 
                               AND cd2.language_id = 1
                      WHERE c.categories_id = cd.categories_id
                        AND cd.language_id = 1 ==> (as called by) C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\usu.php on line 1256 <== in C:\xampp\htdocs\zc155fusu\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php on line 171.

I've got the update staged on GitHub, changing /includes/classes/usu.php, starting at line 1241, from

            if (USU_FORMAT == 'parent' || USU_CATEGORY_DIR == 'short') {
                $sql = 
                    "SELECT c.categories_id AS id, c.parent_id, cd.categories_name AS cName, cd2.categories_name as pName
                       FROM " . TABLE_CATEGORIES . " AS c[B], " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . " AS cd[/B]
                            LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . " AS cd2
                                ON c.parent_id = cd2.categories_id 
                               AND cd2.language_id = {$this->languages_id}
                      WHERE c.categories_id = cd.categories_id
                        AND cd.language_id = {$this->languages_id}";
            } else {
                $sql = 
                    "SELECT categories_id AS id, categories_name AS cName
                       FROM " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . "
                      WHERE language_id = {$this->languages_id}";
            }

to

            if (USU_FORMAT == 'parent' || USU_CATEGORY_DIR == 'short') {
                $sql = 
                    "SELECT c.categories_id AS id, c.parent_id, cd.categories_name AS cName, cd2.categories_name as pName
                       FROM " . TABLE_CATEGORIES . " AS c
                            LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . " AS cd2
                                ON c.parent_id = cd2.categories_id 
                               AND cd2.language_id = {$this->languages_id}[B], " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . " AS cd[/B]
                      WHERE c.categories_id = cd.categories_id
                        AND cd.language_id = {$this->languages_id}";
            } else {
                $sql = 
                    "SELECT categories_id AS id, categories_name AS cName
                       FROM " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . "
                      WHERE language_id = {$this->languages_id}";
            }

I've just submitted v3.0.4 to correct the following issues introduced in v3.0.3 and will post back when it's available for download.

 This release contains changes for the following issues, introduced in v3.0.3:

#31. (a) Faulty query results in fatal MySQL error.
#31. (b) Restore use of ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG when creating storefront links from the admin.

lat9:

I've just submitted v3.0.3 of USU to the Zen Cart moderators for review; I'll post back here when it's available for download (https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=132).

 This release contains changes associated with the following GitHub issues:

#25: Remove hard-coded category indicator from categories URL.
#27: Correct issues with $_GET array parameters.
#28: Correct attributed-product-in-cart link back to product page (attribute restoration).
#29: Don't add 'manufacturers_id' parameter to any product-info type page.
#30: Update various queries, using integer values, for future-proofing.

lat9:

I've just submitted v3.0.4 to correct the following issues introduced in v3.0.3 and will post back when it's available for download.

 This release contains changes for the following issues, introduced in v3.0.3:

#31. (a) Faulty query results in fatal MySQL error.
#31. (b) Restore use of ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG when creating storefront links from the admin.
v3.0.4 is now available for download: https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=132

As noted above, v3.0.3 should be bypassed due to the errors I introduced; all v3.0.3 updates are present (and corrected, if needed) in v3.0.4.