How to hide warnings from store front?

I would only like the warnings to appear on the admin side and not the store front. How do I turn off warnings for the store front only?

Which warnings, exactly ?

The warning is "Warning Your database appears to need patching to a higher level. See Admin->Tools->Server Information to review patch levels.". These types of warning should only display for the admin and I want to set the store up such that they will not show on the store front but only on the admin side or for the admin IP or login.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Zen Cart considers some warnings important enough to place them everywhere they might be needed. Since you have not answered the posting tips, I'll make some assumptions.
First of all, it appears you have upgraded without following the steps. Specifically updating the database to the current level. If you do not do this, you are subject to the cart not working. Thus, the reason the warning is in the cart.
Secondly, if you're concerned about a customer seeing this warning, you might be updating a live site.
Both are not advised.

You check the cart's operation right after upgrading, adding a mod, creating a new category/product or etc. right? Wouldn't you want to know immediately that would make the cart not operate.
What you are wanting to do is like turning off the overheat warning on your CPU.
I'd just fix the problem. Only takes seconds. http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?140-how-do-i-upgrade-my-site steps 8 thru 10

No, I did give you the warning for 1. For 2 I don't want my customer's seeing warnings it is not professional. So, if you don't have an answer to my question, then please don't respond. I am perfectly happy making upgrades but I DO NOT want my customers informing me that my database needs patching. If you cannot understand that, then you do not understand customer service.

If you can help me, then I would greatly apreciate it. If you think that warnings are needed for customers to see then please don't respond. If you understand my concern, then please direct me as to how I can resolve the issue so that I can still see the warnings and correct them as needed but my customers will not.

Thank you for your courtesy.

I am trying to help.

Your database is not current and your cart may not work correctly until you update the database.

If you are really concerned about a customer seeing the warning, take the two minutes to upgrade the database and they will not see it again. Until, of course, you fail to follow all the steps in another upgrade.

tifischer:

No, I did give you the warning for 1. For 2 I don't want my customer's seeing warnings it is not professional. So, if you don't have an answer to my question, then please don't respond. I am perfectly happy making upgrades but I DO NOT want my customers informing me that my database needs patching. If you cannot understand that, then you do not understand customer service.

If you can help me, then I would greatly apreciate it. If you think that warnings are needed for customers to see then please don't respond. If you understand my concern, then please direct me as to how I can resolve the issue so that I can still see the warnings and correct them as needed but my customers will not.

Thank you for your courtesy.To my knowledge there is NO switch to turn this off.
You could hack the code to remove this type of warning but this will take many, many times longer than just "fixing" the problem. As dbltoe says its a 2 minute fix.

tifischer:

The warning is "Warning Your database appears to need patching to a higher level. See Admin->Tools->Server Information to review patch levels.". **These types of warning should only display for the admin **and I want to set the store up such that they will not show on the store front but only on the admin side or for the admin IP or login.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Perhaps the messages should display for the admin only, but as gilby pointed out it's a pretty big undertaking to remove them and IHMO all that effort would only be putting a bandaid on a bullet wound since it doesn't solve your REAL underlying issue.. The fact that these messages display on the front-end should NOT be your primary concern right now IMHO.. The message indicates a pretty serious issue with your store that you need to address. (this is what gilby and dbletoe have BOTH been trying to say)

As both gilby and dbltoe (both VERY knowledgable members of this forum) have pointed out this is something you can fix relatively quickly. The fact that this warning displays is as dbltoe has pointed indicative that you have upgraded your site without following all of the upgrade steps, the least of which is to not perform the upgrade on your live site until you have tested things first on a test/development/clone of your site as the upgrade instructions suggest.

Fix the database issue and this warning goes away, and honestly the problem is solved. The ONLY reason to see this warning is in the event of an incompete upgrade. You can avoid this situation from happening in the future by following the recommended upgrade path for Zen Cart.

dbltoe:

Zen Cart considers some warnings important enough to place them everywhere they might be needed. Since you have not answered the posting tips, I'll make some assumptions.
First of all, it appears you have upgraded without following the steps. Specifically updating the database to the current level. If you do not do this, you are subject to the cart not working. Thus, the reason the warning is in the cart.
Secondly, if you're concerned about a customer seeing this warning, **you might be updating a live site.
Both are not advised.

**You check the cart's operation right after upgrading, adding a mod, creating a new category/product or etc. right? Wouldn't you want to know immediately that would make the cart not operate.
What you are wanting to do is like turning off the overheat warning on your CPU.
I'd just fix the problem. Only takes seconds. http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?140-how-do-i-upgrade-my-site steps 8 thru 10

dbltoe:

I am trying to help.

**Your database is not current and your cart may not work correctly until you update the database.

**If you are really concerned about a customer seeing the warning, take the two minutes to upgrade the database and they will not see it again. Until, of course, you fail to follow all the steps in another upgrade.

gilby:

To my knowledge there is NO switch to turn this off.
You could hack the code to remove this type of warning but this will take many, many times longer than just "fixing" the problem. As dbltoe says its a 2 minute fix.

tifischer:

I don't want my customer's seeing warnings it is not professional

Agreed, and the solution is actually very simple. You need to fix the actual problem(s) and the warnings will go away.

Apologies if you don't find this an acceptable answer, but it is really the only correct response a person can give.

Cheers
Rod

Yes my primary concern is my customer as all good companies should be. If you knew anything about customer service you would know that it is bad customer service to display warnings that the customer does not understand. I do not want my customers having anxiety hangups about warnings that they do not understand.

As an IT professional you also may understand that there are task lists and that I have to follow. If a warning is not first on my task list then I might not get to it immediately but I still cannot have my customer's viewing such warnings especially if there are not critical errors associated with that particular warning. If the Zencart does not allow an administer to freely manage his necessary tasks and keep his or her customer as their top priority then I will of course need to modify the code accordingly. America business standard is the customer is our first priority. I don't blame the customer for their concerns because personally I do not want to see or be concerned with whatever warnings are happening on the backend of someone's business or software...I want a fluid user friendly experience while maintaining the software as necessary so I expect to provide that for my customer's as well...meaning live by The Golden Rule.

Thank you for your helpful suggestions.

tifischer:

Yes my primary concern is my customer as all good companies should be. If you knew anything about customer service you would know that it is bad customer service to display warnings that the customer does not understand. I do not want my customers having anxiety hangups about warnings that they do not understand.

As an IT professional you also may understand that there are task lists and that I have to follow. If a warning is not first on my task list then I might not get to it immediately but I still cannot have my customer's viewing such warnings especially if there are not critical errors associated with that particular warning. If the Zencart does not allow an administer to freely manage his necessary tasks and keep his or her customer as their top priority then I will of course need to modify the code accordingly. America business standard is the customer is our first priority. I don't blame the customer for their concerns because personally I do not want to see or be concerned with whatever warnings are happening on the backend of someone's business or software...I want a fluid user friendly experience while maintaining the software as necessary so I expect to provide that for my customer's as well...meaning live by The Golden Rule.

Thank you for your helpful suggestions.Hmmm.. Just for the record.
I view "customer service" differently here in Australia :smile:

tifischer:

Yes my primary concern is my customer as all good companies should be. If you knew anything about customer service you would know that it is bad customer service to display warnings that the customer does not understand. I do not want my customers having anxiety hangups about warnings that they do not understand.

As an IT professional you also may understand that there are task lists and that I have to follow. If a warning is not first on my task list then I might not get to it immediately but I still cannot have my customer's viewing such warnings especially if there are not critical errors associated with that particular warning. If the Zencart does not allow an administer to freely manage his necessary tasks and keep his or her customer as their top priority then I will of course need to modify the code accordingly. America business standard is the customer is our first priority. I don't blame the customer for their concerns because personally I do not want to see or be concerned with whatever warnings are happening on the backend of someone's business or software...I want a fluid user friendly experience while maintaining the software as necessary so I expect to provide that for my customer's as well...meaning live by The Golden Rule.

Thank you for your helpful suggestions.

I think you are missing the point we all are making.. This is not BAD customer service.. there is an issue with your store.. This warning:
"Warning Your database appears to need patching to a higher level. See Admin->Tools->Server Information to review patch levels."

IS a CRITICAL error, and if it's not FIRST on your task list, we are suggesting it should be.. The answer to your original inquiry is to correct this error and the issue goes away.. Three of the more knowledgeable minds on this forum have ALL given you the same answer to your original query.. to repeat what Rod said:
"Apologies if you don't find this an acceptable answer, but it is really the only correct response a person can give."

I can imagine how it might be annoying to come to a support forum and receive advice rather than a specific answer to your question, but I think what's puzzling those of us reading this thread is your reluctance to just upgrade your database, which you could have done in the time it took you to write post #10, and which would render your original question moot.

stevesh:

I can imagine how it might be annoying to come to a support forum and receive advice rather than a specific answer to your question, but I think what's puzzling those of us reading this thread is your reluctance to just upgrade your database, which you could have done in the time it took you to write post #10, and which would render your original question moot.nods in agreement :yes:

My thoughts exactly!!

Okay, Let's all agree that "You can lead a horse to water but, you can't make him take the bird out of the bush." "Ziva David"

What you are wanting to do is against the practices of 99.999 percent of the Zen Cart community. You are the ONLY person I have ever known who would beat a horse to death rather than feed it.

That said, here's some info that may be of help. It's going to be somewhat generic as you have yet to answer any of the posting tip questions that tell us information we need to know.

I hesitate to do this and will add a disclaimer right here that I would NEVER do this on a customer's site. IMHO, any warning is vital to ensuring the customer's site is functioning correctly and should be first on the priority list after any upgrade, change, modification, deletion, addition, etc. But, we just like to check our work before moving on.

As an IT professional, I'm sure you know how to use search but, it's pretty obvious that you are new to Zen Cart so... Here's some info that may help and educate you on one of the really nice features of Zen Cart.

In your_admin directory (Which I hope you have renamed something other than admin), there's a drop-down menu with the heading of Tools. Under that menu item is the selection Developers Tool Kit.

When the Developers Tool Kit is open, the last option is Look-up in all files.

When Zen Cart sends out something like Warning:, Notice:, etc. it does so with variables that are set in a define statement. Generally the Warning:, Notice:, etc. is hard-coded into the PHP while the actual message is what is contained in the define statement as a variable. In this case, you would enter "Your database appears" (without the quotes) into the Key or Name: field of the form.

Under All Files Look-ups:, select All Files - Catalog since the burr under your blanket is the cart.

File Type and Case Sensitive can be left alone.

Click on the search button.

If there are two files that are shown, you have at least had the forethought to create a custom template. If only one appears, you have created another can of worms in a future upgrade, but that's fodder for another thread when you start having those problems.

If there are two files, then you would open the file that is associated with your_template. If only one, you would open that file (and maybe look at custom templates later?).

Again, as an IT professional, I'm sure you're aware that the file should not be opened in Dreamweaver, Word, FrontPage, or any other editor that adds proprietary code to the resulting file. NotePad is good but, if you can afford it, UltraEdit is great.

Also, as an IT professional, you know that a define in PHP can sometimes be made to "go away" simply by properly removing the define from the define statement.

Once all this is done, you MAY have the warning disappear. I'm not going to setup an incorrectly upgraded test site to see if it works.

IF it doesn't work, then you well know (as all IT professionals do) that you can add a display:none to the stylesheet to prevent the entire warning from ever showing up.

Being an IT Professional, I'm sure you have Firefox with the Firebug add-on or something similar for viewing the stylesheet on line.

Again, these are two methods that I DO NOT RECOMMEND BE USED by anyone, IT professional or not to remove any warning. They ARE excellent ways to find and adjust items in Zen Cart that are not known to all IT Professionals.

PS
I would like a survey of all IT professionals who have "task lists to follow" that have ever really been able to follow them. And, more importantly, who (other than you) would not abandon any task list to ensure that the product is functioning correctly.

PPS
You need to step back a bit and realize that some of us old timers (in more ways than one) are only trying to steer you in the right direction. Most of us have tried the "I know this, so I don't have to try to learn the way this is done in Zen Cart." You've found yourself in a foreign country and want every bartender to speak English. When you get in the mindset of "asking for a beer" (programming) you need to learn the "local language". Best of Luck with your new language.

Do note that with that error message, your shopping cart is not safe to run for your customers due to being half way between upgraded and not upgraded or having a database out of sync with its code ...

One way to avoid this whole issue is to, in the future, work with a "development site" which would be a copy of your database and your files in a subdirectory so that you can confirm all is working before the final stages of an upgrade so that the only steps would be:

1 set Live Site Down for Maintenance

2 copy Live Database to Development Database and to 1 more upgrade/configuration to ensure all steps needed to update are in a list for you to quickly update your Live database

3 move all Live files/directories to an "Old Site" directory, such as /old_v139h (or whatever your old site was)

4 copy/move all "Development site" files to your original directory/root of your domain

5 Backup your Live site database in case of issues

6 run the /zc_install on your Live site and compelte any other upgrade/configuration changes to your database

7 test Live Site that all is working for customer/admin

8 Backup your new Live site database for safe keeping

9 turn off Down for Maintenance on your Live Site

this would save you from the "embarrassment" of having any error messages and causing distress to your customers ... :lookaroun

dbltoe:

Okay, Let's all agree that "You can lead a horse to water but, you can't make him take the bird out of the bush." "Ziva David"

What you are wanting to do is against the practices of 99.999 percent of the Zen Cart community. You are the ONLY person I have ever known who would beat a horse to death rather than feed it.

That said, here's some info that may be of help. It's going to be somewhat generic as you have yet to answer any of the posting tip questions that tell us information we need to know.

I hesitate to do this and will add a disclaimer right here that I would NEVER do this on a customer's site. IMHO, any warning is vital to ensuring the customer's site is functioning correctly and should be first on the priority list after any upgrade, change, modification, deletion, addition, etc. But, we just like to check our work before moving on.

As an IT professional, I'm sure you know how to use search but, it's pretty obvious that you are new to Zen Cart so... Here's some info that may help and educate you on one of the really nice features of Zen Cart.

In your_admin directory (Which I hope you have renamed something other than admin), there's a drop-down menu with the heading of Tools. Under that menu item is the selection Developers Tool Kit.

When the Developers Tool Kit is open, the last option is Look-up in all files.

When Zen Cart sends out something like Warning:, Notice:, etc. it does so with variables that are set in a define statement. Generally the Warning:, Notice:, etc. is hard-coded into the PHP while the actual message is what is contained in the define statement as a variable. In this case, you would enter "Your database appears" (without the quotes) into the Key or Name: field of the form.

Under All Files Look-ups:, select All Files - Catalog since the burr under your blanket is the cart.

File Type and Case Sensitive can be left alone.

Click on the search button.

If there are two files that are shown, you have at least had the forethought to create a custom template. If only one appears, you have created another can of worms in a future upgrade, but that's fodder for another thread when you start having those problems.

If there are two files, then you would open the file that is associated with your_template. If only one, you would open that file (and maybe look at custom templates later?).

Again, as an IT professional, I'm sure you're aware that the file should not be opened in Dreamweaver, Word, FrontPage, or any other editor that adds proprietary code to the resulting file. NotePad is good but, if you can afford it, UltraEdit is great.

Also, as an IT professional, you know that a define in PHP can sometimes be made to "go away" simply by properly removing the define from the define statement.

Once all this is done, you MAY have the warning disappear. I'm not going to setup an incorrectly upgraded test site to see if it works.

IF it doesn't work, then you well know (as all IT professionals do) that you can add a display:none to the stylesheet to prevent the entire warning from ever showing up.

Being an IT Professional, I'm sure you have Firefox with the Firebug add-on or something similar for viewing the stylesheet on line.

Again, these are two methods that I DO NOT RECOMMEND BE USED by anyone, IT professional or not to remove any warning. They ARE excellent ways to find and adjust items in Zen Cart that are not known to all IT Professionals.

PS
I would like a survey of all IT professionals who have "task lists to follow" that have ever really been able to follow them. And, more importantly, who (other than you) would not abandon any task list to ensure that the product is functioning correctly.

PPS
You need to step back a bit and realize that some of us old timers (in more ways than one) are only trying to steer you in the right direction. Most of us have tried the "I know this, so I don't have to try to learn the way this is done in Zen Cart." You've found yourself in a foreign country and want every bartender to speak English. When you get in the mindset of "asking for a beer" (programming) you need to learn the "local language". Best of Luck with your new language.

snickers Well stated sir!!! Now this IT Professional needs to go to lunch and share this story with her fellow IT Professionals..

It is not a critical error. The website works fine...that is probably why it is called "warning" and not "fatal" or "critical". Also, I use this database with a brand new install of zencart and there is no warning...meaning I don't believe there is anything wrong with the database at all. However my customer does not run php 5.3 on their server so I cannot use a brand new install of zencart at the moment...although, I am working on getting a new server up and running for them so that is an option in the future.

So, you see by American standard practice it is bad customer service to display errors to the customer that are for the administrator, especially when there are no critical problems.

tifischer:

It is not a critical error. The website works fine...that is probably why it is called "warning" and not "fatal" or "critical". Also, I use this database with a brand new install of zencart and there is no warning...meaning I don't believe there is anything wrong with the database at all. However my customer does not run php 5.3 on their server so I cannot use a brand new install of zencart at the moment...although, I am working on getting a new server up and running for them so that is an option in the future.

So, you see by American standard practice it is bad customer service to display errors to the customer that are for the administrator, especially when there are no critical problems.

Ahhh I get it.. So when one of the four Zen Cart developers pops in here and says:

Ajeh:

Do note that with that error message, your shopping cart is not safe to run for your customers due to being half way between upgraded and not upgraded or having a database out of sync with its code ...

You are saying she is incorrect??

Okay I get it now.. So instead of fixing the issue (which has been suggested by all who posted here), your immediate fix is to CONCEAL the error message from your client (because it's more PROFESSIONAL to hide the message from your customer than to fix the underlying cause), and because "a warning is not first on my task list", you will address it later.. Gotcha.. Well dbletoe gave some guidelines on how to do this.. hopefully you found what you needed..

Carry on..

tifischer:

It is not a critical error. The website works fine...that is probably why it is called "warning" and not "fatal" or "critical". Also, I use this database with a brand new install of zencart and there is no warning...meaning I don't believe there is anything wrong with the database at all.

Wrong on both counts.

If there was really no critical problem, then the error message would not appear.

You SHOULD ALWAYS TREAT THAT MESSAGE AS CRITICAL. That's why it displays on the storefront. And it should NEVER be ignored.

How exactly are you 100% certain that there isn't something bad happening in the background, corrupting your customers transaction data or your order history data, while you're ignoring the error message that's telling you the database (its structure, upon which all the rest of the code depends) is out-of-date? If you know for certain that there's absolutely nothing wrong, please explain ALL the steps you used to come to that concrete conclusion. I'm waiting anxiously for your answer. Really.