Sub-Categories and Products in the same Category

I have been attempting to duplicate a category hierarchy in Zen Cart similar to what I achieved in a proprietary cart provided by my current hosting provider. (You can view the category hierarchy which I call the "Globe Selection Assistant" at http://www.worldglobeu.com, you will find it on the left side of the page.)

The category hierarchy is designed to give the customer increasingly specific selection options that will present them with smaller and smaller numbers of choices of globes so they can quickly and easily get to an offering of only those globes that possess the specific features they are looking for.

The difficulty I have run into with Zen Cart is spelled out in the e-Start Your Web Store with Zen Cart book. On page 156 it states > Warning

Note that you can break the rule of each category holding either categories or products only. This is possible when moving categories and also when you are in a disabled category. Nevertheless, do not mix products and categories under a parent category. This will cause Zen Cart to behave strangely.My question is; can I produce a category hierarchy similar to what I have on my current web site which displays both the sub-category selection options as well as the products assigned to the current category or sub-category being displayed? You can see where I have "violated" this rule on my test site which is located at http://interfacenetwork.biz/zcart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1. As you can see I have both products and sub-categories appearing on the page. I managed this feat by moving categories around before getting the book and finding out that it was not a good idea to do so.

Can anyone tell me what the problems are with this approach or if there is a better way to accomplish what I am trying to do?

Thanks in advance,

**** EDITED *** Never ever post in a forum, email, newsletter etc. the zenid or zenAdminID or you will be doomed!!** :eek:

Pricing errors ...

Search errors ...

Incorrect navigation ...

Children crying ... dogs barking ... crowds scream ... :eek:

Linda:

Thank you for your response... and I assume I can thank you also for correcting my post to remove the objectionable content. I guess I must have included my zennid or zenAdminID in the URL I posted. I am inexperienced enough that I I didn't even realize that the zenid or zenAdminID was part of the URL.:oops:

Ajeh:

Pricing errors ...

Search errors ...

Incorrect navigation ...

Children crying ... dogs barking ... crowds scream ... :eek:

Back to my original question, I understand then that there is no way to create a category hierarchy in Zen Cart similar to what I have on my current site which shows both sub-categories and products on the same page. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance,

That is the bottom line ...

Unless you want errors and bad data ...

Categories hold Products ...

Categories hold Categories ...

Never both in the same Category ...

NOTE: the /css directory is an auto-loading directory ... this means it loads all of the stylesheet files it sees ...

Your site is loading:
includes/templates/wgu/css/stylesheet-ORIGINAL.css

Do you want that loaded? Or did you try to rename it while making changes?

Either save it on your computer or rename it like:
OLD_stylesheet-ORIGINAL.css_OFF

Linda:

Thanks for the information. I certainly did not recognize the effect leaving the original file in the directory could have.

Also, thanks for confirming the functionality of the categories/products. I am not sure how to organize the navigation and presentation of the products within the way Zen Cart works. I will give it some thought but may not be able to use Zen Cart for this particular application.

After 2 months of trying to find the best shopping cart solution Zen Cart was my preference. I sure would hate to loose all the time I have spent trying to learn to customize and use Zen Cart. Maybe I can figure out how to make it work or perhaps it will work for a future project.

Thanks again,