Main Page Message... *Poof*

This seems way basic but it has me stumped. Grrr....

At some point my welcome message (as defined in define_main_page.php) decided to stop showing up. I'm sure its something I did in messing with things... is a heavily customized zen cart, but I'm afraid I'm more of a designer than a programmer.

The site is http://oregonmercantile.com

I'm hoping is really simple, and not due to deleting a line of code (which could well be the case). Any ideas?

Both products are in the Top Level Category ... categories_id = 0

You should put them in their own category

Then, you can set the Always Show Category to ON and set to this Category ... and you would see the welcome and the category ...

Okay, that would explain about when it dissapeared. I made the assumtion there was no need for a category since there would be so few products, but okay I can do a category.

BUT

Under products/categories the wiki says there is a "new category" button. I see no such thing! So I'm kinda stuck. Do I need to delete the two testing products I have in there now? :huh:

You don't see it because you added a Product and no Categories ...

Categories hold Products or Categories but never both ...

The buttons appear and disappear based on if there is a Product or Category in the Category ...

You have Products in Category 0 which is the top level ... so you never see the New Category ...

It also sounds like you may not have v1.3.0.2 running ...

I thought I put in a nice Stop! Don't do that! warning in the Top Level Category so you would not get into this situation ... :unsure:

What version of Zen Cart are you running?

I just installed it a few days ago, so it is ver. 1.3.0.2, php 4.4.1, mySQL 4.1.19.

Yeah there are big red letters. :mellow:

Can I just jet a category into the database manually or something?

Okay ... here is the trick to fixing this ...

Using phpMyAdmin ...

Go to the products_to_categories table and change the categories_id from 0 to 1 on these products ...

Next, when you go back to the Admin ... Catalog ... Categories/Products ... the products should vanish and both buttons show ...

Create you Category ...

This should be categories_id 1 but check for sure ...

Then make the products_to_categories categories_id match that categories_id ... as in if not 1 change it to match whatever you just made ...

Now go back to the Admin ... Catalog ... Categories/Products ... and you should see the Products appear in the new Category ...

Next, if you don't want to use the Categories ... in the Configuration ... Layout Settings ... there is the:

Categories - Always Show on Main Page
Always Show Categories on Main Page
0= off
1= on
Default category can be set to Top Level or a Specific Top Level

Turn that on ... and the setting below to what categories_id to use ...

See if that is what you are trying to accomplish ...

That worked great. Thanks much. But I still have my original problem because when Categories-always show on main page is on, the message goes away again. Heres what I got:

Customer Greeting - Always Show on Main Page 1
Categories - Always Show on Main Page 1
Main Page - Opens With Category 1

While I'm eating your attention, is the Customer Greeting and my index page text associated? Cause it seems when you get one, you get both.

So you were saying the category and the Greeting can co-exist?

I see what you are trying to do now ... I think ... :unsure:

The problem is ... you want to open to a Category with Products ...

At that level, the welcome turns off ...

You could force it to show ... but it would take some customization to the code to determin where are you and when on the "main page" ...

Usually, you would have categories etc. and the Category it opens to would have SubCategories and the message would then show, when trying to use this feature ...

But you are saying to open right to a Category with products and you get the listing ...

When the listing shows, the message does not ...

This doesn't mean it cannot be done ... it just means you cannot do it the simple way based on your lack of Categories and using the built in switches ... you would need some additional tweaking to the code for this to work ...

LOL, I see. So maybe its time for another "hack". I could just put the welcome message right into the body code, right? Or perhaps call the define_main_page.php with a new line of code. I might be able to figure that out, though it would be fantastic if you have a suggestionon on that.

Are you planning on a site with 1 subdirectory and 2 products?

Or are you planning on more than that?

There are a 101 ways to display a couple products on your main page ...

What is the reality of your Categories and Products going to be like?

I think I see where you're going with this.

I imagine one category, 5-20 products max. They're each unique so there will hopefully be pretty good turnover. Point being each rug is its own product.

Eventually there will be other products (needing other categories), but we're probably 6 months to a year out on that.

To be honest, I struggle with how to apply the category system to how I want the site to work (in my head) but I think you're figuring that out.

In my mind, a visitor comes to the index, and sees a short introductory message and maybe up to 6 products. If there are more it would be nice to have them on another page. I'm going for a pretty clean simplistic look in terms of the actual zen stuff.

Try this ...

Turn off the Always show ...

Mark 1 of the Products as Featured in the Catalog ... Featured Products ...

See what that looks like ...

Also, install a test directory with a test database with the demo products ...

You need:

1 untouched Zen Cart to see and play with

2 a gang of Categories and Category depths

3 a gang of Products in the gang of Categories at different depths to see how this all works ...

You design concept looks really good ... :smile:

But you need to really understand the underlying coding features etc. that are built in and then manipulate them to make a dynamic store ... :cool:

Also peek in the Review forum to see numerous sites being shown off ... it is amazing what can be done with Zen Cart and a little thought and understanding ... good news ... you already know how to design ...

Ajeh:

Try this ...

Turn off the Always show ...

Mark 1 of the Products as Featured in the Catalog ... Featured Products ...

See what that looks like ...

Okay, did that... but then it changes how the items are displayed. I liked the alternating rows and all that. I think I'll just drop an include in the body code somewhere to make my message happen.

Ajeh:

Also, install a test directory with a test database with the demo products ...

So basically make a sandbox and play a while? Thats certianly a possibility. If all goes well with this I want to start pitching zen cart to clients, but I will want to be more familiar with it.

Ajeh:

You design concept looks really good ... :smile:

Thankyou. I got the idea from a couch pillow! Sort of a rich look with maybe a hint of East India Trade Company thrown in.

Ajeh:

But you need to really understand the underlying coding features etc. that are built in and then manipulate them to make a dynamic store ... :cool:

I agree. I've been all over the wiki (though it tends to leave me wanting) and the forum... trying to put all the pieces together. When will Zen Cart get big enough to merit an O'Reilly book? :wink2:

Yeah but I'm more of a code wringer than a programmer, so its a struggle. But a worthwhile one, I think.

Anyway... off to dig around for whatever page does the index calls. Arg, and kill the category name and title, and the page title. :wacko: Such is tweaking.

Nice thing about centerboxes ... and customizing them to look the way you want them too ...

Just a few tweaks here and there ... how hard can it be? :smartass:

Riiiiiiiight.

Thats why your the sword toting elf and I'm the lemur. :blink:

It is safer to walk softly and have that sword rather than a silly ol' stick ... :eek:

Ahem, for one thing, I am carried. And I have a crown, a very nice crown (is it up there?).

Okay, how'd I reduce to this? Oh thats right, I'm bored fighting with language and template files. But I must press on.

It didn't like me dropping an include in tpl_main_page.php. I mean it includes, but it seems to be on the wrong side of a div. Could it be that its already defined in an array, or could be? I suppose I could run the array printing code the phpfreaks gave me.