Flexible Product Listing [support]

This is a modification to the standard Zen Cart product listing page (incorporating the ability to use the Column Grid layout) which allows great flexibility in arranging the product elements in the listing.

• In the standard "rows" mode, listing elements can be moved to sit in another cell, minimizing the number of columns in the display.
• In "columns" mode, each element has a CSS class which can be used to style or position it, after the admin sort order is set.
• It is pre-configured for a popular layout (price & add button below description), and can be changed as desired.

It is currently based on Column Layout Grid v2.3.1, which also includes admin and customer display options. Details are in the readme files included in the package.

It is also compatible with Listing Subheadings from Plugins, which allows you to add headings above desired items inside category or product listings, and optionally display grid-style listings in vertical columns, e.g.
A D G
B E H
C F I

(FPL is required to apply Listing Subheadings to product listings.)

Flexible Product Listing should be available from Plugins shortly.

gjh42:

This is a modification to the standard Zen Cart product listing page (incorporating the ability to use the Column Grid layout) which allows great flexibility in arranging the product elements in the listing.

• In the standard "rows" mode, listing elements can be moved to sit in another cell, minimizing the number of columns in the display.
• In "columns" mode, each element has a CSS class which can be used to style or position it, after the admin sort order is set.
• It is pre-configured for a popular layout (price & add button below description), and can be changed as desired.

It is currently based on Column Layout Grid v2.3.1, which also includes admin and customer display options. Details are in the readme files included in the package.

It is also compatible with Listing Subheadings from Plugins, which allows you to add headings above desired items inside category or product listings, and optionally display grid-style listings in vertical columns, e.g.
A D G
B E H
C F I

(FPL is required to apply Listing Subheadings to product listings.)

Flexible Product Listing should be available from Plugins shortly.

Hey Glenn, is there a place where I can see this plugin in action??

I don't know of a public site that has it in use now. If anyone using it would post a link to see their implementation, I would appreciate it.

It generally doesn't change the layout or style by default from what you get with Column Layout Grid; it mostly just gives more handles for you to style individual elements with. Playing with it is by far the best way to see what it does.

The main feature that is different from the basic Column Grid is that in rows mode you can group stock item elements like price or model number in a cell with the preceding element, saving space in the layout if that makes sense for your design.

gjh42:

I don't know of a public site that has it in use now. If anyone using it would post a link to see their implementation, I would appreciate it.

It generally doesn't change the layout or style by default from what you get with Column Layout Grid; it mostly just gives more handles for you to style individual elements with. Playing with it is by far the best way to see what it does.

The main feature that is different from the basic Column Grid is that in rows mode you can group stock item elements like price or model number in a cell with the preceding element, saving space in the layout if that makes sense for your design.

Got it.. I totally planned to play with it, but wanted to see it in action before I did so just to confirm some of my assumptions first.. Thanks for the response..

Hi Glenn

I've got your add-on installed and working nicely. Thanks for the mod! Need some more tweaks when I come around to the rest of the look & feel but concentrating on installing and getting all the desired add-ons playing nice together first. Anyway, to get to the point of the post....

Do you know if Single Listing Template does/can play nice with your Flexible Product Listing? Or, can you suggest an alternative to achieve the same result.

Thanks in advance.
GAM

SNAF in Plugins is a melding of Single Listing Template and the beta version of Flexible Product Listing (as far as I know). It is not a beta mod, but fully tested by its author niccol. I don't think it has yet been updated to incorporate the latest features of Column Grid/FPL, but look at the description to be sure.

Thanks for responding Glenn

I've been reading through the readme's and skimming/searching through various threads for some clarification and am now very confused/muddled. I was looking at SNAF and thought it was built on the core Column Layout Grid add-on and wasn't sure whether the differences between CLG and FPL would make something break or just too difficult to get working together.

I don't want to go backwards in regards to your FPL, so I will try to research with compares between the files of SNAF and FPL and see whether I can merge them together.

Cheers
GAM

Looking over the SNAF thread, I realize that it never had FPL code incorporated... it must have been someone else who talked about using that as a base. I can't say much about merging them as I haven't studied the SNAF code to know how it handles things. I ought to do that I suppose, but now is not a good time; I have actual current mod projects that I can't get to enough because of real life work these days.

Thanks for your time Glenn. Totally understand and appreciate your responses given your circumstances.

I did a compare of the files in both mods and they're very different. I'll either remove FPL and go with SNAF (based on core CLG) or just stick with FPL for now. Re-building my site and trying to concentrate on what I can get going successfully and relatively easily now but will be coming back address to some of these other 'wants' later. ;-)

Take it easy
GAM

I see this in read me, 'It is also compatible with Listing Subheadings, which allows you to add headings above desired items inside category or product listings,', but i cant see how to incorporate listing sub headings, cant find the settings, can anyone advise?

thanks

matt

Listing Subheadings is a separate mod in Plugins. "Compatible with" means that they will work together when both are installed, not that Listing Subheadings can just be turned on from FPL.

ah, i see, thanks

Hi, I just installed this mod, and I'm not sure if everything was done properly.
First: I have two languages, and one of the languages shows <product name> <product description> <image>...
The other language shows <product name> <image>... No way I can get the product description to display.

In my admin/configuration/product list there is no setting for the description, so I can not choose whether I want it displayed or not and where in that case. I do want the description, in both languages, and I want them under the <image>.

Problem 2: I see there is no <div> defined that spans only all the [centerBoxContentsProducts]. I'm designing a fluid layout, so I want the actual number of [centerBoxContentsProducts] to vary as per the viewport width.

How to do that I know, it's a matter of CSS, but it requires a <div></div> around all the [centerBoxContentsProducts]. Where do I put that code?

Problem 2 I have solved now. I found the location to place the div:

line 29 and down

... >display_links(MAX_DISPLAY_PAGE_LINKS, zen_get_all_get_params(array('page', 'info', 'x', 'y', 'main_page'))); ?></div>
<br class="clearBoth" />
<?php
}
?>
[B]<div id="centerBoxContentsProductsWrapper">[/B]
<?php
/**
 * load the list_box_content template to display the products
 */
if ($product_listing_layout_styl

and at about line 52:

...<?php if ( ($listing_split->number_of_rows > 0) && ((PREV_NEXT_BAR_LOCATION == '2') || (PREV_NEXT_BAR_LOCATION == '3')) ) {
?>
[B]</div>[/B]
<div id="produ....

Leaves the first question open...

I do want the description, in both languages, and I want them under the <image>. This is unfortunately not possible without custom coding, as the name and description are processed at one time, with no opportunity to process the image betwen them. You might be able to move elements to the visual layout you want with clever CSS; I would have to see your site live to advise on this. It might have to depend on images being a fixed height or allowing for a fixed maximum height.

I have no idea why your second language is not showing the descriptions. The layout should be language independent. I don't have any second languages installed to test this function.

OK, I'm a noob, but the css isn't working for me, it doesn't appear to be included for files. Tried to stick it in everywhere but doesn't seem to be changing anything. So feel like helping a noob out? lol

I can't help without seeing your site live and knowing exactly what it is that you want to do. FPL furnishes the structure and hooks to do styling on, it doesn't include new styling by itself; that is totally up to the individual as to what they want to accomplish.

It's here, http://vacpartsplusstore.com/catalog/index.php ... What I want is to just take control of the product list structure with the enclosed stylesheet_flexible_product_listing.css file. I uploaded everything to right place and it didn't work, tried to include it in every other file that came in the zip, but no matter where I put it, or what I change, it doesn't seem to work, I didn't see it as included in any files that were in the zip either. So like said sorry to noob out on this one...

The stock FPL stylesheet is in place and active on your site. It does very little by default, merely waiting for you to add or edit rules for your particular styling needs. It doesn't appear that you have customized anything in it.

So what is it you want to do with the listing elements?

Actually I was just trying to pad the contents to give them some breathing space. simple... usually... lol