Smart Characters And Timeouts

The lack of formatting of content is typically caused by either of two issues. A discrepancy in SSL (mixed content) or missing css files. I guess a third reason could be that the browser has cached information that needs to be cleared. That though tends to happen only after successfully being able to reach the admin screen which appears to only recently been successful.

The fix for the first issue is to ensure that the admin/includes/configure.php has the settings for https: or http: as offered for your domain.

Regarding your recent post about making changes, would need more information. Attempting to change what, what mydebug log(s) are generated when trying, what is seen on screen when trying, etc...

I'll look at the configure.php files and see what they say. I don't think we have https:// so I'll make sure everything says http://

There are no Edit buttons whatsoever. They simply don't exist. There's no way to open an existing listing at all. The only options beside each listing are M, C, and A. I don't think a log file is going to show anything amiss because the category and subcategory pages do open, but the ability to open and modify the individual listings has totally disappeared.

BTW, one of the reasons I did this upgrade was to reset the timeouts so it wouldn't constantly log me out in the middle of something. That I was able to change...but it doesn't appear that the changes actually took effect. I stepped away from my desk for a bit and when I came back, it had logged me out again.

This is what the admin-xx\includes\configure.php file has to say:

/**
 * Enter the domain for your storefront URL.
 * Enter a separate SSL URL in HTTPS_CATALOG_SERVER if your store supports SSL.
 */
define('HTTP_CATALOG_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
define('HTTPS_CATALOG_SERVER', 'https://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

/**
 * Do you use SSL for your customers login/checkout on the storefront? If so, enter 'true'. Else 'false'.
 */
define('ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG', 'false');

/**
 * These DIR_WS_xxxx values refer to the name of any subdirectory in which your store is located.
 * These values get added to the HTTP_CATALOG_SERVER and HTTPS_CATALOG_SERVER values to form the complete URLs to your storefront.
 * They should always start and end with a slash ... ie: '/' or '/foldername/'
 */
define('DIR_WS_CATALOG', '/studio/');
define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG', '/studio/');

/**
 * This is the complete physical path to your store's files.  eg: /var/www/vhost/accountname/public_html/store/
 * Should have a closing / on it.
 */
define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/home2/boruma/public_html/earcandyaudiobooks.com/studio/');

Should I change all the instances of HTTPS to HTTP for this and the other configure.php file? In some cases, that will make two identical commands right next to each other.

Missing the important one: HTTP_SERVER

The others, no they don't need to be changed (for a properly configured server).

As to the "buttons", try zooming out while on the screen of concern. Depending on your browser you may be able to choose the level of zoom. But, if your screen is basically white with the menu text all unformatted, then it is not a surprise that there are issues with other selections/options.

Now, also one other thing that got changed was that clicking on a row of a listing that has products doesn't dig into the product like it used to (correction applied because browsers did not properly support accessing a product), there is the products_id that can be clicked or the circle e if present.

I would take a look at the current issues but you removed me already. I don't recall there being issues with the main menu in the admin when I was in there.

I thought I copied that section, too. Yes, it's there.

/**
 * Enter the domain for your store
 * HTTP_SERVER is your Main webserver: eg-http://www.yourdomain.com
 * HTTPS_SERVER is your Secure/SSL webserver: eg-https://www.yourdomain.com
 */
define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

/**

If I change

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

to

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

won't that cause problems because the two lines are now identical?

I dropped the page zoom all the way down to 25%. No change.

This is how my listings display:

210	Preview           Audiobook Title		$3.95	0	Product is Linked    Status - Enabled	0	
M
C
A

There is no E, either inside a circle or without one as the M, C, and A are...they're strictly text letters, not in circles of any color. There's no X, no image handler icon, no $ icon, and no metatag icon. Just those three letters to the right of the listings. (And by the way, everything on the page is far-left-aligned, not just the unformatted text links.

I knew I shouldn't have removed you yet. :-/ I'm happy to give you access again if you want.

Email me the credentials, you have the email address

DK_Scully:

I thought I copied that section, too. Yes, it's there.

/**

• Enter the domain for your store
• HTTP_SERVER is your Main webserver: eg-http://www.yourdomain.com
• HTTPS_SERVER is your Secure/SSL webserver: eg-https://www.yourdomain.com
  */
  define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
  define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

/**

> 
> If I change
> 
> ```php
define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

to

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');
define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://earcandyaudiobooks.com');

> 
> won't that cause problems because the two lines are now identical?
> 
> I dropped the page zoom all the way down to 25%.  No change.
> 
> This is how my listings display:
> 
> ```html
210	Preview           Audiobook Title		$3.95	0	Product is Linked    Status - Enabled	0	
M
C
A

There is no E, either inside a circle or without one as the M, C, and A are...they're strictly text letters, not in circles of any color. There's no X, no image handler icon, no $ icon, and no metatag icon. Just those three letters to the right of the listings. (And by the way, everything on the page is far-left-aligned, not just the unformatted text links.

Don't seem to be able to tell to what version the upgrade was, but if it was to 1.5.5 or newer, then the admin/includes/configure.php would only be expected to contain a HTTP_SERVER define and not HTTPS_SERVER unless some other software just had to have it...

Yeah, all the left justified text has to do with the css. Barco57 ought to be able to identify the issue. If it is good for him when logging into your admin, then it is likely a browser issue. (BTW, could try a different browser to see if the problem exists there...)

As to the two server entries being made the same, not it doesn't cause a problem other than if it were desired to actually have https: in the Web address. Speaking of, once logged into the admin, does every page on the browser identify as https:// or not? Ehh, again, barco57 should be able to identify.

This chef's out for now. :)

MC, you were right! It works fine (I can't say I really like the new look of it, but I expect I'll get used to it in time) in Firefox. Now why on earth would Firefox display it correctly when Chrome won't?? Is there a way to fix this? I used to use Firefox constantly, but then about half the websites I use on a regular basis stopped displaying properly...tons of unexpected permission errors...so I switched to Chrome. I haven't used Firefox in ages, and would rather not have to use multiple browsers.

Clearing the cache/sessions is expected resolve that issue.

Btw, as far as the session issue within the ZC admin, it would help to identify what has been altered/current settings thought to have been set to permit not having to login after a period of time.

I did clear my Chrome cache, but it didn't help. The entire interface is still messed up.

The timer thing was my own stupid fault...I didn't see the field that says "ignore the timer" a few lines above where you can set the number of seconds. Once I spotted that and set it to 0, the timer issue went away, too.

Thank you again for your help!!!!

I have two more questions, and I most sincerely hope they're the last ones I'll have to ask about this shopping cart!

I thought version 1.5.6 was supposed to correct "smart" characters like ellipses, m-dashes, quotes, etc. so they show up as ..., a long dash, and regular quotation marks. Instead, ... is still displaying on the audiobook listing pages as … and m-dashes are displaying as —. I haven't tested the quotes yet, but those may also still be having problems. How can I fix that so they display properly?

Also, I need to find out how to properly add audiobook files into the attributes controller. It's easy enough with e-books...you just list the file names for the azw3, epub, mobi, and pdf, and associate the correct file type with each suffix. But e-books are only a single document. Audiobooks are made up of multiple files...the opening credits, various chapters if it's long or the single body file if it's short, possibly a teaser for other books, and ending credits. When we have to upload to various other sites, we have to follow this format:

001_book_title_opening_credits.mp3
002_book_title_chapter_1.mp3
003_book_title_chapter_2.mp3
004_book_title_chapter_3.mp3
005_book_title_chapter_4.mp3
006_book_title_closing_credits.mp3

If I select Audiobook, which is the only attribute available on this site, and then make entries for each of those files as laid out above, and a person clicks Buy Now, will it download all of those files sequentially to their tablet without their needing to do anything special? That's how it works on Amazon, Audible, iTunes, etc. People click the Buy button, and all the files download seamlessly as if it was only one large file. I need to learn how to do that on this site.

As always, I appreciate your advice and help!!

Jo

I tested quotes, and they're displaying wrong, too. " is showing up as “ on Firefox and Chrome. :-/

The smart quotes issue is the whole reason why I upgraded. Can someone please tell me why it's still displaying wrong even after the upgrade? Thank you!

Hello? Did my last two queries get lost in a freak wormhole in hyperspace? ;-)

DK_Scully:

I have two more questions, and I most sincerely hope they're the last ones I'll have to ask about this shopping cart!

I thought version 1.5.6 was supposed to correct "smart" characters like ellipses, m-dashes, quotes, etc. so they show up as ..., a long dash, and regular quotation marks. Instead, ... is still displaying on the audiobook listing pages as … and m-dashes are displaying as —. I haven't tested the quotes yet, but those may also still be having problems. How can I fix that so they display properly?

Also, I need to find out how to properly add audiobook files into the attributes controller. It's easy enough with e-books...you just list the file names for the azw3, epub, mobi, and pdf, and associate the correct file type with each suffix. But e-books are only a single document. Audiobooks are made up of multiple files...the opening credits, various chapters if it's long or the single body file if it's short, possibly a teaser for other books, and ending credits. When we have to upload to various other sites, we have to follow this format:

001_book_title_opening_credits.mp3
002_book_title_chapter_1.mp3
003_book_title_chapter_2.mp3
004_book_title_chapter_3.mp3
005_book_title_chapter_4.mp3
006_book_title_closing_credits.mp3

If I select Audiobook, which is the only attribute available on this site, and then make entries for each of those files as laid out above, and a person clicks Buy Now, will it download all of those files sequentially to their tablet without their needing to do anything special? That's how it works on Amazon, Audible, iTunes, etc. People click the Buy button, and all the files download seamlessly as if it was only one large file. I need to learn how to do that on this site.

As always, I appreciate your advice and help!!

Jo
I don't have a clear answer for the first issue. Some searching indicated that the content stored using those characters may need to be encompassed in XML type tags with identification of using the win-1252 type encoding. My past experience has been not to use those characters for the result described.

For the second issue, all of the files can be made to be available for download to the customer by making a single purchase, but to make the download occur for all of the files by selecting some download option, would appear to require some additional coding/process. Otherwise, the files will be present in the customer's account where they would download each one at a time. Of course if they were zipped or somehow merged into a single file then that issue would be avoided, but there is indication in Internet posts that some devices do not support processing zip files.

MC:

Thanks very much for looking into this for me!

We have several Zen shopping carts in use. Our other carts can handle these characters without a problem. I'm trying to copy the information directly from four other carts into this new one (one is using version 1.5.3 and the other three are using version 1.5.4.), because the listing information is the same...this site is just devoted to audiobooks whereas the others deal with e-books. What works on each of the other carts is not working on this one...even though this new one is using the newest version of ZenCart (1.5.6c). And I can tell you for certain we never did anything special with XML type tags or win-1252 type encoding on the other carts, because I'm the one who'd have had to do it.

Unfortunately zip files aren't going to work. When a reader downloads an audiobook, they expect to be able to listen to it immediately, not have to mess with it somehow...just the way they can download an e-book and read it immediately. I loathe the thought of having to manually combine all those files into one huge file for every single audiobook we process...apart from the fact that it's going to be far too much manual work when this site takes off, the downloads are going to take forever and a day. So it looks like the extra coding will be necessary. Where can I find out what that's going to take (though I don't have a hope I'll actually understand how to do it)?

So does anyone have any idea why four other shopping carts are behaving properly, but this newest one isn't?

I suspect there is an issue with charset, the language files and configs probably have utf8 and the database isn't utf8, so there is a clash that causes issues

Okay, but we didn't mess with those things in any of the other carts, and we definitely haven't messed with it in this one. Upgrading should have fixed the problem since it did with the other carts, but it didn't. So how do I fix it myself?