Things every New Zenner needs to know

Robert:

What you are looking for is a Add-On called Easy Populate. It uses a tab delimited file you can create with your favorite spreadsheet.

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34970 <-- it is referenced here

Additionally, to run it, you will need to turn the php option "register_globals=ON" for it to work. I would not recommend leaving it on after the upload. You only need it for Easy Populate.

Aaron

Rob905:

As a very new Zen Cart user and going through these forums, I seem to get the impression that the only way to modify anything in the cart is by doing so in the raw code. That is fine, Dreamweaver will help with that.
What I haven't been able to find yet is an easy way to start adding items to the cart and to get an idea what it's going to take to add 3000+ items and what it will look like.
Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks
Robert

Robert,

Be patient with yourself... The "book" to use is 'e-Start Your Web Store with ZEN CART - Buy it - use it and use the forums... Remember please this is open source and it takes much work on your part to make things happen... but always remember, most of the folks here on the forum are gracious, compassionate, and willing to help... I have been working and playing in here for only a year, but I found that most successes occur with your own sweat and the sweat of others...

We all have opinions based upon our success here - and most opinions are based on some very diligent volunteers...

jund

jund:

Robert,

Be patient with yourself... The "book" to use is 'e-Start Your Web Store with ZEN CART - Buy it - use it and use the forums... Remember please this is open source and it takes much work on your part to make things happen... but always remember, most of the folks here on the forum are gracious, compassionate, and willing to help... I have been working and playing in here for only a year, but I found that most successes occur with your own sweat and the sweat of others...

We all have opinions based upon our success here - and most opinions are based on some very diligent volunteers...

jund

I don't doubt that this is a great cart. But having used a commercial cart for about 3 years now, which has a CP to maintain the cart and messing arround with osC a few times, also a CP interface, It is going to be hard to find time to work on a project such as this, with the number of items I have to put in the cart. I was just thinking it's time for a fresh look for my store and this one seems to fit the bill. I was looking to make the switch as quickly as possible. It was never my intent to slam or offend anyone or this project, I'm impressed with the look of the cart from what I've seen.

I appreciate the help.

Thanks
Robert

I seem to get the impression that the only way to modify anything in the cart is by doing so in the raw code.

Exactly what gives you this impression? Practically everything has some sort of Admin control.

ZC does provide good admin control, but there are things that needed improvements: for example: site's meta tag and keywords should be editable on admin panel. Good thing is ZC developers are very active (unlike osc), so we will get there some time in the future.

Robert,
Thank you for having the courage to get right back into the thick of it (smile). You do NOT have to apologize to anyone... you did not slam anyone. This does have a CP... it is called Admin. Mentioned by another ZENNER was one of the contributions. There are many contributions... and when you start putting the really great ones into service, they make the process a lot smoother.
jund

Kim:

Exactly what gives you this impression? Practically everything has some sort of Admin control.

I got that impression because every help that I clicked on for changing things that I wanted to change seemed to refer to a certain file and then to look for a certain part of the code that needed changing.
How do I log into the control panel for Zen?

jund:

Robert,
Thank you for having the courage to get right back into the thick of it (smile). You do NOT have to apologize to anyone... you did not slam anyone. This does have a CP... it is called Admin. Mentioned by another ZENNER was one of the contributions. There are many contributions... and when you start putting the really great ones into service, they make the process a lot smoother.
jund

Cool, thanks.
I'm looking forward to spending more time on getting this cart up and running.

Robert

Rob905:

How do I log into the control panel for Zen?

What is the URL (address) of you site?
Your admin will be the URL/admin
e.g., http://yoursiteurl/admin - unless you renamed your admin - which is a good idea...
jund

**#1 - Best Suggestion - For New Users -

ALWAYS install the program WITH the demo products and then play with the program for a while BEFORE beginning to customize it in any way.

There are a ton of examples in the Demo products along with some tips and tricks of how to set things up properly. **

Also - get the book and read the FAQs.

I would suggest that this point be more strongly emphasized and explained in the install process.

As is, there is pretty much just an option to install demo products or not. If I had known how useful they were, I would have installed them the first time I set up a development install. (Our first - live - install was done by our host before I knew anything about carts.)

jund:

What is the URL (address) of you site?
Your admin will be the URL/admin
e.g., http://yoursiteurl/admin - unless you renamed your admin - which is a good idea...
jund

I get an SQL error. :(

Rob905:

I get an SQL error. :(

Please provide site URL.
jund

jund:

Please provide site URL.
jund

I think that part of my issue is the way the cart is installed by my ISP
I just have to select the cart I want to add using the Easy Install Apps on my ISP CP and it installs it but doesn't ask any questions.

So what I'm in the process of doing now is disable the Easy Apps on my server and upload the ZC using Dreamweaver. This way I can run the zen_install and get a better idea of what program is about and hopefully not have to ask so many questions and be able to properly define the main variables that are required to run the cart.

Thanks so far to everyone that has responded so far.:smartalec:

Robert E

Can anyone give me a step by step guild to installing the admin profile. I've fallowed the installation instructions and have started over 20 times. HELP!

:huh:
Dave

daver1510:

Can anyone give me a step by step guild to installing the admin profile. I've fallowed the installation instructions and have started over 20 times. HELP!

:huh:
Dave

It would be nice to have but I think the only thing that's available is the manual for $44+
I've just spent another 2 hours getting the install to run and just keep getting the screen showing me all the errors.
I don't have enough fingernails left to continue this project so I'm giving up.
It shouldn't be that hard to install a cart, my current cart was running withing the hour so I guess I'll have to stick with that one. :-(

Thanks again folks.
Robert E

Rob905:

I get an SQL error.Um ... what error ? Details might point out what exactly is wrong.

jund:

Please provide site URL.

It's very hard to give you specific help when you don't answer the questions asked so that there's something to go on.

It sounds like your host's easy-install isn't doing you any favors -- esp if it's leaving you with SQL errors after installation.
There's no point throwing in the towel and saying the thing doesn't work when you haven't figured out what's wrong. If everyone who ever used the software had the very same problem, then throwing hands up would make logical sense. But, asking how to get into the admin, being given an answer, and then saying it brings up an error** but not sharing the error message** ... is ... well ... futile.

If you've already given up, then I wish you the best of success in whatever other route you take. Just remember to try to help the folks trying to help you as you go along.

DrByte:

Um ... what error ? Details might point out what exactly is wrong.

It's very hard to give you specific help when you don't answer the questions asked so that there's something to go on.

It sounds like your host's easy-install isn't doing you any favors -- esp if it's leaving you with SQL errors after installation.
There's no point throwing in the towel and saying the thing doesn't work when you haven't figured out what's wrong. If everyone who ever used the software had the very same problem, then throwing hands up would make logical sense. But, asking how to get into the admin, being given an answer, and then saying it brings up an error** but not sharing the error message** ... is ... well ... futile.

If you've already given up, then I wish you the best of success in whatever other route you take. Just remember to try to help the folks trying to help you as you go along.

I have even tried to install the program from file I downloaded after removing the "Easy Install" verson from the server. I tried to follow the instructions that came with the program and found that files that should be renamed apparently had already been done. I looked at the screen that is made by the install program for quite a while last nite trying to figure out what I needed to do before I could finally click on that install button, but I just could not get rid of that big stop sign at the top that indicated there was a file missing although it was definattley there.
Since I don't have enough PHP programming knowledge I rely on the instructions that come with the program and the installer that is provided. In this particular case I'm just getting lost in all the places to go get the info I need and I don't have that kind of patience. Sorry.

I am still struggling with the banners on the site.

It does not seem very obvious to me how to turn these off and on, or how to swap out the demo banners for ones I might like.

2neat

2neat:

I am still struggling with the banners on the site.

It does not seem very obvious to me how to turn these off and on, or how to swap out the demo banners for ones I might like.

2neat

Banners are controlled in the admin: Admin->Tools->Banner Manager
You can alter settings, add/remove banners, select images, etc.

If you're having specific problems beyond "where do I do this", I would suggest posting a new discussion on it over in the Banners area: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=30