Newsletter Center V. 0.8 BETA

Hey Y'ALL;

I haven't seen much action going on in this thread for awhile and I was wondering is the code still going to be released for testing or is it ready? I am still (highly) awaiting to be able to fully integrate into phplist. Still doing things the old fashioned way :D

If it is going to be quite longer, do you by chance have an ETA when you may be releasing the code?

thanks...

0be1

Hello All,

Anyone that has followed this whatsoever (which there are only a few i would bet) knows that code was expected to be released a while ago. Well, needless to say, i wound up being away from home for a month and this project fell in priority pretty hard. HOWEVER, it's moving back up pretty quickly as i really need all of the functionality on one of my sites. Keep in mind that this is a major overhaul of the existing code that was started. The project was abandoned by the creators (i believe) because the code they wrote was a bit overly complicated for itself and hard to edit.

So here's roughly where i am:

• Successfully moved all config stuff to initSystem so ZC settings for PHPlist can be set via Admin. People will still have to configure the actual phplist install (in the lists directory) manually...at least for now - i will expand on this down the road perhaps.
• When you edit a customer's details in the Admin, that is fully functional now, and will update the list accordingly.
• I have moved away from using the actual newsletter_center page (for now... and maybe forever), because i think it is slightly over-coded. I'm going with the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach on this.
• I have been utilizing the phplist class because there are a number of good functions already created in there.
• For customers logged in: Updating their contact into (gender, email address..) will reflect in phplist. This worked 100% from previous code.
• The link to update their newsletter preferences now uses the original zen-cart page, but when they update their preference it will post to phplist and unsubscribe them (or subscribe them) to the list defined for ZC.
• Fixed some code on the Admin side for updating the email address, gender, or subscription status.Right now i'm working on the really hairy part, which is dealing with existing email addresses that have been signed up for the mailing list. I'm working through the logic of dealing with people who are signed up for the list, are not a customer, and want to become one with the same email address.

Still to do:- Re-write sidebox code

• Write unsubscribe page
• New customer subscription
• Figure out how to trigger PHPList to automatically generate its subscription confirmation email from zen cart.Anyone that would like to help with this, please let me know! It's a lot of code to work through yet, but it's coming along well so far.

Hang in there!! :smile:

Hello there,

I would like to help. I am no code expert, but if I can help in anyway please let me know. PHPList is becoming an essential tool for our site, and integration is definitely an asset.

Please let me know how I can help.

:smile:

HeathenMagic:

Hello there,

I would like to help. I am no code expert, but if I can help in anyway please let me know. PHPList is becoming an essential tool for our site, and integration is definitely an asset.

Please let me know how I can help.

:smile:

HeathenMagic,

Glad to hear that you're interested! :D

I took a quick glance at the site you have listed in your signature and noticed you already have a newsletter mod of sorts installed - which mod are you using there? And does that interact directly with the phplist database?

By the way - on your log-in/register page for the Gem Tree site, your site is throwing php errors ;)

Hello Mrmeech,

I have this installed:-

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=download_contrib&contrib_id=106&update_id=13

And it lets users sign up to the newsletter. In the admin, you get the option to send to the customer newsletters subscribers (standard functionaltiy), plus just the newsletter subscribers. I guess with PHPlist, the entries pass over to the PHPlist database. At the minute, I export / import using a mod in the downloads section.

Thanks for letting me know about the bug. Its been driving me crazy. I know it has something to do with googlecheckout, and also the shipping methods I have defined. Its at the bottom of a list of bugs I have been meaning to sort out. lol. What a crazy week.

Well I can help out for sure. I am learning a bit about code, but I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near an expert. Or testing maybe? Please let me know. I do know there is a problem with installs of PHPList if installed from Fantastico, which I found out after hours. Might only be on certain servers though, might not be useful to you. But I have that sorted it, and it is more responsive than the last install. I have just pm'd you also.

All the Best

Heathenmagic

HeathenMagic:

Hello Mrmeech,

I have this installed:-

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=download_contrib&contrib_id=106&update_id=13

And it lets users sign up to the newsletter. In the admin, you get the option to send to the customer newsletters subscribers (standard functionaltiy), plus just the newsletter subscribers. I guess with PHPlist, the entries pass over to the PHPlist database. At the minute, I export / import using a mod in the downloads section.

...I do know there is a problem with installs of PHPList if installed from Fantastico, which I found out after hours. Might only be on certain servers though, might not be useful to you. But I have that sorted it, and it is more responsive than the last install.

HeathenMagic,

Got your PM - thanks!

I actually checked out newsletter subscribe earlier this week and found that it gave me errors if someone was already signed up for the mailing list and then tried to create an account, or vice versa, and this is a feature that it advertised it could handle. Anyway...

What problem have you come across with Fantastico PHPList installs? It's always helpful to know what's going on out there. It's basically inevitable that SOMEONE else will come to me on the support thread in the same boat.

-mrmeech

Well with the Fantastico install, some of the functionality seemed a bit off, and eventually, I received some MYSQL errors which stopped messages going out. Thats with Bluehost anyhow, other hosts have Fantastico too so it might cause a disruption with PHPList integration. Which is why I mentioned it really, in case anybody has that setup and gets problems with this mod or PHPList in general.

But on our host, it is handled by Simple Scripts now and that works 100%. With the Newsletter Subscribe mod, I think that issue is there. I haven't really checked it out but I tested it briefly and it seemed ok. I have modded some checkout pages, so that scenario might happen as you mentioned.

With PHPList, I have an attribute setup for forenames. So a newsletter template setup correctly would start off, "Dear Joe...........". I guess that uses the same logic as the fields you mentioned, such as Gender and Email address. And making a call to the database fields to send to the PHPList database fields. From the original release of the Newsletter Center mod, I gather theres a lot of connecting to each database.

I saw that you have four areas, one of them the rewrite sidebox. I was just thinking, I don't know if you have to give the user TEXT and HTML options by law. Most sites I subscribe to just offer HTML. I thought HTML would suffice, but you might already have got it covered. Just based on my use of the Newsletter Subscribe - which has the two options in the sidebox.

Heathenmagic

I am currently using PHPList manually as with HeathenMagic. Just wondering if the code is in a usable state at the moment. It is something I am very keen to see working.

I would offer to help but I am no coder

Thanks

redmonds

redmonds:

I am currently using PHPList manually as with HeathenMagic. Just wondering if the code is in a usable state at the moment. It is something I am very keen to see working.

I would offer to help but I am no coder

Thanks

redmonds

Are you talking about the code that i'm working on? If so, you don't want to jump the gun on installing something like this because if i don't work out all of the possibilities (ie: someone signs up for the newsletter only, then goes to make an account, or vice versa) you are very likely to have a broken website.

When it gets to a test phase i will let you guys know right away, i promise. :smile:

Hi Mr Meech,

I've also been following this thread with great interest and am also keen to see your mod progress. Can I help at all? Coding, debugging, testing or making a donation? If any of these just let me know - [email protected].

ARRSE:

Hi Mr Meech,

I've also been following this thread with great interest and am also keen to see your mod progress. Can I help at all? Coding, debugging, testing or making a donation?

Great!

How well versed are you in PHP and with Zen Cart?

I'm a Java developer rather than PHP, but 'dabble' in PHP as we run quite a few PHP based sites. We've used a heavily modified Zen-Cart now a good few years now - some mods my own.

What I can do best perhaps is get specific coding jobs done - so if you can give me fairly precise needs, I'll look at it them, get it straight in my own head, then open it up for work if beyond me (time or PHP skill) - possibly on rent-a-coder. I'm quite happy to finance that within reason.

Maybe the best thing is to try and package a few problems for me and I'll try one way or another. If it proves that it's just an added complication or pain for you, then we won't have lost anything I suppose!

Hey Everyone -

This project has (unfortunately) turned into a stop and go project, and i REALLY want to finish it up this time around. Life is unscripted, and a few unexpected things have happened, but I'm ready to roll on this again and am curious to know how many of you are still interested in seeing this completed. A few of you have expressed interest in helping run the code through it's paces - are you guys still alive out there and interested?

Hello MrMeech,

Take your time, sounds like you have a lot on your plate. I am still very much interested in this. Please let me know what I can do, I will be happy to assist. Or if you want me to be a tester, let me know all the same.

All the best,

Heathenmagic

I am still very interested! My wife uses Newsletter Center 0.8 with her digital scrapbooking store, and we've been eagerly awaiting your update. :blush:

I too am very interested in this. Keep me in the loop. This will be my first newsletter (july) without our service. I'm winging it with DrByte's suggestion "group mail."

ME, ME, ME
I cannot program a lick, but will help with beta testing on various sized lists.

JOhn ><>

Alright - The (small) tribe has spoken!

(...now i have to figure out where i left off, which is easier said than done..)

I'll keep you guys posted - And keep your eyes out for info on a new Thread. I don't really think "Newsletter Center" is descriptive enough for people looking for PHPList Newsletter solutions with Zen Cart. I'll fire that up when we get into running this beast through its paces. :smile:

Please make sure you post the new thread to this thread so we get notification.

THANKS for all your hard work!
JOhn ><>

Also still interested Mr Meech, but I needed a quick solution so have made a simple script that gives me a very basic ZC / PHPList 'integration'. I hope I won't use this long and it will just be a temporary measure on the way to using your full mod.

It may be too basic for the needs of many, and I'm not fully convinced it keeps enough PHPList features to be worthwhile! If those in a rush would like to help test / polish / further develop, I've posted everything here:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?p=584996#post584996

Bear in mind that I'm new to PHPList so I'm hoping some experienced eyes might notice any gaping holes - users must also be in the X table or this happens for example!