Plugin gift_certificate_addon - install.Sql issues ZC 1.57b

Thanks Doc, I honestly did not stumble across the resources you pointed out. It's a very large site here, with a ton of information scattered all about and I'm still learning it as I'm trying to learn the cart. In just under 3 weeks total time with Zencart and the mass of information available in this forum, I'm actually proud of my progress and very pleased with all the software. Once my mind catches up with the in depth details and intricities I'm sure I'll look back with a chuckle.

I am working on digesting the new found info you posted, I think it might just answer a few things and move on to the next issues in my learning curve.

A couple questions regarding Gift Certificates priced by Attributes

Unfortunately I find myself back here bugging you good folks with a couple of what are probably simple-to-solve questions regarding ZC 1.5.7b basic Gift Voucher questions. I've done my due-diligence for 4 hours now searching the forums and crawling thru the docs, finding mostly 14 year old closed threads that almost address them, just not comprehensively and then, understandably for older versions. Hopefully after 14 years somebody smarter than me has realized there needs to be a way around the issues and have a solution.

I have set up Gift Certificates for several amounts, (although I'd like to have the buyer enter their own amounts, that doesn't seem possible) and have them priced by attributes, but as seems to be an ongoing issue for several users, they display with them priced at the lowest denomination of $10 in a couple of places. This is undesirable as it may give a customer the impression we only offer $10 GV's until they actually select a true amount from the drop-down in the cart. Some customers actually may become confused by this if they feel they just paid $25 for a $10 certificate, not understanding it's the denomination they selected and not the denomination displayed on the product image. In the cart is a perfect blurb that states "Starting at $10" I'd be happy if the Display price would include "Starting at" instead of just Display price will include lowest group attributes prices, and happier if the price did not display at all. It's ok if they select Gift Certificates from the sidebar, they get the "Starting At" message.

So far it seems the problem text shows up under the "New Products" sections only, but I really haven't dug much deeper to see if it is also elsewhere, and I thought I came across something somewhere where one could turn off showing the product under new products, (which may be an option) but haven't been able to find those references again to follow up on it.

Next, in the "Product Information" above "Ask A Question" the Model is fine, but I'd like to not display the Qty in stock.

Both of these issue I think I have come across info on before, but now I just can't find it and after burning my brain trying, I thought I'd take the leap and appeal to you folks for help.

Mods To This Cart

Plugin Manager     modules     Y     Plugin Manager
ZX Point of Sale     configuration     Y     ZX Point of Sale
One-Page Checkout Settings     configuration     Y     One-Page Checkout Settings
Gift Certificate Dashboard     gv     Y     Gift Certificate Dashboard
Mod List     tools     Y     Mod List
New Database Tables

    zen3i_addon_gv_orders
    zen3i_addon_gv_redemptions
    zen3i_coinpayments
    zen3i_coinpayments_session
    zen3i_pos_orders
    zen3i_square_payments
    zen3i_zen3i_upgrade_exceptions

New Modules

    Payment: posinstorepayment.php coinpayments.php layaway.php
    Shipping: posinstore.php ups.php fedexwebservices.php usps.php
    Order Total: No additional modules

TheGrimReaper:

I have set up Gift Certificates for several amounts, (although I'd like to have the buyer enter their own amounts, that doesn't seem possible) and have them priced by attributes, but as seems to be an ongoing issue for several users, they display with them priced at the lowest denomination of $10 in a couple of places. This is undesirable as it may give a customer the impression we only offer $10 GV's until they actually select a true amount from the drop-down in the cart. Some customers actually may become confused by this if they feel they just paid $25 for a $10 certificate, not understanding it's the denomination they selected and not the denomination displayed on the product image. In the cart is a perfect blurb that states "Starting at $10" I'd be happy if the Display price would include "Starting at" instead of just Display price will include lowest group attributes prices, and happier if the price did not display at all. It's ok if they select Gift Certificates from the sidebar, they get the "Starting At" message.
But, if you setup the Gift Certificate (further GV) to be priced by attributes, it shouldn't be confusing anywhere other than the listing pages (which don't include the "starting at" text). The GV main image should be generic, meaning without the number on the image just to avoid confusion. Once you get to the product page, it will show you the options and will include the selected attribute in the cart page as well as checkout so you know you've selected the $50 option and that's why you're paying $50... So, the only "issue" I'm seeing is that it doesn't say "Starting at..." on the listing pages or sideboxes or centerboxes...

You might consider this plugin if you want to change the main image based on selection and show the value of the GV with a matching image, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle.

Next, in the "Product Information" above "Ask A Question" the Model is fine, but I'd like to not display the Qty in stock.
Admin->Catalog->Product Types->Product General->Layout Settings->Show Quantity in Stock->0

TheGrimReaper:

I have set up Gift Certificates for several amounts, (although I'd like to have the buyer enter their own amounts, that doesn't seem possible)

Forgot about this...
It's actually possible, although not the prettiest solution... You can setup a GV worth $1 (and maybe set minimum qty to 5 so people don't buy $1 vouchers), and then in the description say that the customer can use the quantity field to decide the amount they want to purchase. For example, if you want $78 worth of GV, just enter 78 in the quantity field...

balihr:

Forgot about this...
It's actually possible, although not the prettiest solution... You can setup a GV worth $1 (and maybe set minimum qty to 5 so people don't buy $1 vouchers), and then in the description say that the customer can use the quantity field to decide the amount they want to purchase. For example, if you want $78 worth of GV, just enter 78 in the quantity field...

LOL! Yup, that's a dirty way alright, but ingenious. I see the logic would work exactly as I want, I just need to ponder the implementation to determine if it's that important. You're awesome for continuing to think about it. Reminds me of me. Thanks and kudos.

balihr:

But, if you setup the Gift Certificate (further GV) to be priced by attributes, it shouldn't be confusing anywhere other than the listing pages (which don't include the "starting at" text). The GV main image should be generic, meaning without the number on the image just to avoid confusion. Once you get to the product page, it will show you the options and will include the selected attribute in the cart page as well as checkout so you know you've selected the $50 option and that's why you're paying $50... So, the only "issue" I'm seeing is that it doesn't say "Starting at..." on the listing pages or sideboxes or centerboxes...

You might consider this plugin if you want to change the main image based on selection and show the value of the GV with a matching image, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle.

Admin->Catalog->Product Types->Product General->Layout Settings->Show Quantity in Stock->0

Yes sir! I actually found it and turned it off - then discovered your post when I came to update my post with that very same solution for the masses that follow.

balihr:

... So, the only "issue" I'm seeing is that it doesn't say "Starting at..." on the listing pages or sideboxes or centerboxes...

Yup, that's about it. I HAD to take a nap to reboot my brain, while it was rebooting 2 thoughts passed thru my neurological pathways, one is to create an image with a "Starting at $10" and use that as the product image. The other was to simply create a product called "Gift Certificates Starting at $10" and assign the attributes to that. I think either way would work, albeit another "dirty" solution. Any thoughts are welcome. If none, not a problem-Thank you.

Hi folks, I thought I could figure out why this is happening, alas I haven't been able to, been trying now a couple of days and it's time again to you hit ya'll up to see if anybody has any thoughts.

This was working fine for awhile, I was able to create and send a GV email thru and as Admin, the fictional customer received the email and was able to redeem them normally etc, the pages all displayed properly and the certs went into the sent section as expected. Life was looking pretty good. Then we did some customization on the appearance, nothing major, just colors changes- did no additional modifications or installed any new modules. Then it quit. Try and try again didn't work out. The second day I worked on the issue I removed the module and cleaned up the database and did a re-install, re-config from scratch and nothing changed Everything is fine up to a point, admin can create the email, put that same customer as the recipient, fill out all the necessary information, click submit, get to the send page normally, but wend the "Send" button is clicked it goes to a blank page and the email does not get sent, the recipient does not receive it and everything's dead in the water except it still registers in the Gift Certificates Sent area. Now there's 8 non-redeemed certificates in the sent folder, right above the last successful one on, ironically the 13th.

I would like to figure this out, but I need help. I also have to get rid of those 8 in the sent somehow.

Thoughts, ideas, how-to's all welcome. The second day I worked on the issue I removed the module and cleaned up the database and did a re-instal, reconfig from scratch and nothing changed

Mods To This Cart
New Admin Pages
Page Name Menu Key
Display
Link
Category catalog N Category
Plugin Manager modules Y Plugin Manager
ZX Point of Sale configuration Y ZX Point of Sale
One-Page Checkout Settings configuration Y One-Page Checkout Settings
Gift Certificate Dashboard gv Y Gift Certificate Dashboard
Mod List tools Y Mod List
New Database Tables

zen3i_addon_gv_orders
zen3i_addon_gv_redemptions
zen3i_coinpayments
zen3i_coinpayments_session
zen3i_pos_orders
zen3i_square_payments
zen3i_zen3i_upgrade_exceptions

New Modules

Payment: posinstorepayment.php coinpayments.php
Shipping: posinstore.php ups.php fedexwebservices.php usps.php
Order Total: No additional modules

Missing Admin Configuration Pages
This is caused by migrating pre 1.5.0 mods which have entries in Admin->Configuration, without creating admin_pages entries for them.

No missing admin pages found.

Just out of curiosity, I tried just a send mail form Admin/Tools/Send Mail ...... it does the same thing. So, somehow I broke my ability to send mail from Admin in general and this probably isn't the right forum and I'll probably be chastised for posting in the wrong place again. Ye-gads!

Customers can't send thru the cart either, I logged in as my test customer that I tried to send a gv to and used one of the redemption codes he was assigned.....It accepted the code and placed the balance in the account, from which I tried (as him) to send a GV to a non registered email and got the blank page and no email received at the second address. Nothing shows in queue (if it's even supposed to) ...... yeah, I keep experimenting.

Day 5 on this issue starts in a couple of hours.

Additional Information

-----Server Info------
Apache Version 2.4.46
PHP Version 5.4.45
MySQL Version 5.6.41-84.1
Architecture x86_64
Operating System linux
Shared IP Address 198.57.244.38
Path to Sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail
Path to Perl /usr/bin/perl
Perl Version 5.10.1
Kernel Version 4.19.150-76.ELK.el6.x86_64

Before you ask, I have tried Sendmail, PHP and SMTP, though Sendmail is probably the right one for this server.

Blank pages are always a result of server errors. The errors are not shown on-screen for security reasons so hackers can't get information with which to compromise your site. This means you need to go digging into the logs to understand what's wrong. The /logs/ directory contains the logged errors.

What's the error that's happening when you trigger the blank page?

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/troubleshooting/blank_page/#working-with-debug-logs

DrByte:

Blank pages are always a result of server errors. The errors are not shown on-screen for security reasons so hackers can't get information with which to compromise your site. This means you need to go digging into the logs to understand what's wrong. The /logs/ directory contains the logged errors.

What's the error that's happening when you trigger the blank page?

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/troubleshooting/blank_page/#working-with-debug-logs

I assume you're talking about the logs folder on the server. The logs directory is there in the root with 700 permission and it's empty. I looked at another site I have that's running ZC and it's logs directory has entries, same permissions.

Maybe I should save what I can, remove this installation of ZC and start all over. I obviously did something inadvertently that hosed something to where it doesn't even make it to the log. I'm pretty good at breaking stuff.

Perhaps as a quick test before you nuke your current progress - try setting the folder's permissions to 755 or 777 and then do whatever you need to do to get to the blank page.
Also, one more thing that can help you narrow it down - try disabling the email system and repeat the process. If it works with emails disabled, at least you know it's caused by the email system (although no emails will be sent out)...

balihr:

Perhaps as a quick test before you nuke your current progress - try setting the folder's permissions to 755 or 777 and then do whatever you need to do to get to the blank page.
Also, one more thing that can help you narrow it down - try disabling the email system and repeat the process. If it works with emails disabled, at least you know it's caused by the email system (although no emails will be sent out)...

Well my friend, I nuked it before I read you. I had thought of going 777 but I just wasn't happy overall with the way things were acting. Completely removed everything, shop and database, but not before saving my styles, policy blurbs, images, product descriptions and a printout of the site map (to recreate it easier and not have to rethink all of it). I contacted the host and got the settings personally and didn't rely on their written words , even though they matched, I decided to overthink intentionally just because I reckon I'm comfortable doing so. Then I reinstalled from scratch nd the very first thing I did was setup SMTPAUTH and confirmed it works exactly as expected....I wasn't disappointed. I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what I hosed, and it wasn't a server problem unless somehow I broke the server from something I did on my end, but.......
It works perfectly now. Using smtpauth, not sendmail, not smtp. I'm happy as a drunk sailor now. With he amount of time I spent trying to figure out what form of stupidity I took to break it, I'll have it all completely rebuilt in 1/5th of the time. I learned a lot from you and the good DrByte so I probably won't have to bug ya'll again until I'm past all of that the 3 of us have already accomplished.

Thank You to both of you, balihr and Dr B. You are valuable resources and posses talents I could only dream of having. I'm putting the coffee pot and the dough in the nut oil for ya.

Till then, ya'll stay healthy. P.S- Yes Dr, I'm keeping all the Countries this time too. Something more that I can over-think on a bit.

The ../admin/includes/configure.php file

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

Needs to have ssl by adding the 's'

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'https://www.THIS_SITE.com');

In order to have the page detect the ssl, otherwise you will get a blank page.

I had to set it manually to get it to work right. Seems it only appears to be a server problem not processing the pages when the server is actually doing an outstanding job of processing the ssl. And since it's the admin configure.php, the admin side of things was choking.

TheGrimReaper:

The ../admin/includes/configure.php file

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

Needs to have ssl by adding the 's'

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'https://www.THIS_SITE.com');

In order to have the page detect the ssl, otherwise you will get a blank page.

I had to set it manually to get it to work right. Seems it only appears to be a server problem not processing the pages when the server is actually doing an outstanding job of processing the ssl. And since it's the admin configure.php, the admin side of things was choking.
Yes, since all websites should be using https nowadays, there's no longer any need to provide for separate http vs https settings. Always use https when specifying your website URL.
There are some legacy places in Zen Cart where HTTPS_SERVER and HTTP_SERVER both exist. Just be sure to always provide an https:// URL in any case.

Related: https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/first_steps/yes_you_need_ssl/

balihr:

Forgot about this...
It's actually possible, although not the prettiest solution... You can setup a GV worth $1 (and maybe set minimum qty to 5 so people don't buy $1 vouchers), and then in the description say that the customer can use the quantity field to decide the amount they want to purchase. For example, if you want $78 worth of GV, just enter 78 in the quantity field...

What I ended up doing was creating several more prices, starting with the original $10, I added $11, $12, $13, $14, etc thru $20 to end up with denominations that can be combined to equal any possible dollar amount. I also setup major price points to help reduce the number of combinations with $25, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000. This covers any amounts the customer may want and reduces the number of certificates they need to purchase to equal their amount. Seems to work very well as they all fit on a DT screen without scrolling down the dropdown.

This post is for informational purposes and just describes my experience with the gift_certificate_addon module ( https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2174 )

I thought it would be nice to have the dashboard for GV's offered by the above referenced module - Using ZC157b. Other modules installed at the time are not relevant as on the 7th reinstall of ZC I tried the add on module first with the fresh foundation and it still causes all email to break and returns a blank page, meaning at the very least, it doesn't work well with 157b.

Maybe others have been able to make it work, but I tried 7 times with a fresh install each time, while systematically reducing all other plug-ins one at a time until I verified it was this module itself causing the problems.

My advice to folks wanting to try it, is to try it as the very first thing before any other modules. But I think you may need to have some kind of shipment and payment setup and make sure you have the zip code for your store set in admin shipping/packaging.

That addon replaces the email logic with majorly outdated code. Same with core coupon and gv logic. Definitely not compatible beyond v1.5.5