MultiSite Module Support Thread

divaboutiques:

Hello Zenners-

Where do you do in the admin to switch to different sites, i'm trying to find the different file in admin and can't locate them.

It is not made from admin but from config files. You have to create one config file for each sites. You can specify some admin settings by using the constant that refers to it in the config file of a site, it is breefly explained in the instructions

Gerome:

You have to duplicate the whole folder of your shop.
Also, you have to think of changing the site location from the config file of each shop ...
define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '.....

I am new to zencart and php, By "duplicate the whole folder of your shop", do you mean if I have zencart installed under htdocs/zen-cart-v1.3.7, then I copy folder "zen-cart-v1.3.7" to htdocs/shop2 ? and shop2 is the second shop ? Thanks a lot.

Gerome:

You have to duplicate the whole folder of your shop.
Also, you have to think of changing the site location from the config file of each shop ...
define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '.....

Also, I found the step sequence of the instructions seems not correct, step 3 and step 4 got twice. Also, I think if a picture could be added to show the multisite folder structure (imaging have 2 or 3 shops), that will really be of much help for all the users...
Thanks for your great work and hope it could be better and better ... Then more people will tend to be donating ... :)

Also, I am now testing this module in my local env, is there any tips for it? Thanks again.

xzc:

I am new to zencart and php, By "duplicate the whole folder of your shop", do you mean if I have zencart installed under htdocs/zen-cart-v1.3.7, then I copy folder "zen-cart-v1.3.7" to htdocs/shop2 ? and shop2 is the second shop ? Thanks a lot.

Yea this is how is work. However, I adviced to do so, only if you can't change the target of one of your DNS.

I can see that you have a folder htdocs which means you might be using apache. You don't need to duplicate the zen-cart folder with apache since you can use virtual host in order to make two dns in the same folder.

for exemple:

the file index.php of you zencart shop should be accessed from https://www.site1.com/index.php and https://www.site2.com/index.php and then your multishop will work correctly

xzc:

Also, I am now testing this module in my local env, is there any tips for it? Thanks again.

find the file "hosts" in your windows directory (mine is in C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc but yours could be somewhere else) and add lines to it in order to make virtual domain names.

you should have this line:
127.0.0.1 localhost
you can add lines like that:
127.0.0.1 site1
127.0.0.1 site2
127.0.0.1 site3

And then you can test your shops.

Hope it helps.

Dear Gerome, really thanks so much for your kind reply. I am much clearer now...
While If I only have one domain (such as www.mysite.com), and if I have 3 shops such as shop1, shop2 and shop3, can I access them via shop1.mysite.com, shop2.mysite.com and shop3.mysite.com ?
How can this be accomplished via this module?
Thanks very much in advance.

BTW, I knew the following link is a contribution for osc, while now I much prefered to your MultiSite Module for zencart. And hope some ideas from the below could be of some help for improving your module. :)
http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1730
(Multi-Stores multiple shop system)

http://forums.oscommerce.com/index.php?showtopic=70365&st=0
(The thread for discussion of that)

Gerome:

find the file "hosts" in your windows directory (mine is in C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc but yours could be somewhere else) and add lines to it in order to make virtual domain names.

you should have this line:
127.0.0.1 localhost
you can add lines like that:
127.0.0.1 site1
127.0.0.1 site2
127.0.0.1 site3

And then you can test your shops.

Hope it helps.

As I said before, it depends of the configuration of your server...

With our server medea.co.uk, We have strickly nothing to configurate anything which is .medea.co.uk goes to there anyway.

For example:
http://rrr.medea.co.uk/
http://you.can.right.anything.you.want.here.medea.co.uk/

(That's only an example has there is no shops here)

It is working like that because we have a dedicated server. But I know that some people have much more issus with it. I made it working with a non dedicated host that "1and1" because there control panel allow to create two domain names in the that dispaly the same folder...

Then you make your shop3.mysite.com_config.php in includes/config_sites and follow the steps of the instructions...

Did you try the "Multi-Stores multiple shop system" with Zen-cart ? did you see any example of running shops that use this system ? Since you seem to know boss of the modules, do you know what are the advantages of "Multi-Stores multiple shop system" over "Multisite Module" ?

I had a quick look and it seems more complicated than Multisite, but it can only be because I know my module much better (obviously ...)

hi,
in order to get different banners for every site, I renamed the banners for every site to the filename exists in the images/banners of original site (with admin panel), so I will get different banners on different sites, BUT,
the problem is that each banner owns ONE Url address, so, the question:
How can I add url for every banner for every site, separately, and if possible using the better system without renaming original fime name of a banner to the banner filename of original site?
thanks

Dear Gerome, thanks again for your further help.
I just tried "Multi-Stores multiple shop system" with OSC, but that contribution seems really not good, it needs modify many places of the database structure (if got 200 shops, then it need add 200 more config different tables), while seems your module only need modify just ONE place by adding only one column, which is indeed very nice for me (other people should have the similar feeling as I got :) ).
I saw one example of that:
http://www.pyro-tection.com/

For the advantage of that contribution, what impressed me is that for different shops, it can have one admin, and the categories for shop1 and the categories for shop2 can be shared, if you want. Not sure if Multisite Module has that?
Some more details of it:

These modifications allow you to assign specific products and categories to multiple stores that you define in the administration panel. The products and categories
will not be able to be manipulated via the web-browsers address bar (like in most
other multi-shop implementations). Also, there is no "one store to rule them all".
You decide which categories you want displayed on which store-front. You decide
which products in that category you want displayed on which store-front. Shopping
carts are NOT shared between the sites.

Since it is based on OSC, so I don't think it is the same level as your Multisite Module. BUT I think it should be much stable, since it was developed for many years ...

BTW, Is there any road map for your module? By that way, I think users could get much more confidence of your module :)

Gerome:

As I said before, it depends of the configuration of your server...
......
Did you try the "Multi-Stores multiple shop system" with Zen-cart ? did you see any example of running shops that use this system ? Since you seem to know boss of the modules, do you know what are the advantages of "Multi-Stores multiple shop system" over "Multisite Module" ?

I had a quick look and it seems more complicated than Multisite, but it can only be because I know my module much better (obviously ...)

to the poster above. this system is dif. from the osc version. as with the osc version you must build each contribution to work with it. as with the zen version all mods that i have tested work with this because its not a seperate package. its just a template that is pointed so you have same database, same admin, etc. i have worked with many osc mods and zen mods and this multistore is actually one of the easiest and one of the better ones because it can be set up and run quickly. example are my beta sites.
https://www.shopyoungway.com
electronics.shopyoungway.com
perfume.shopyoungway.com
these have a total of 20 other mods wrapped into it and the multi store mod gerome created. the good thing about it is that you really don't need a road map because the mod is an "attachment" to zens functions. with the osc version you have to have all mods coded to work with it wich i found to be a pain. not sure if this answers your questions but hey thought i would throw that out.

shopyoungway:

to the poster above. this system is dif. from the osc version. as with the osc version you must build each contribution to work with it. as with the zen version all mods that i have tested work with this because its not a seperate package. its just a template that is pointed so you have same database, same admin, etc. i have worked with many osc mods and zen mods and this multistore is actually one of the easiest and one of the better ones because it can be set up and run quickly. example are my beta sites.
www.shopyoungway.com
electronics.shopyoungway.com
perfume.shopyoungway.com
these have a total of 20 other mods wrapped into it and the multi store mod gerome created. the good thing about it is that you really don't need a road map because the mod is an "attachment" to zens functions. with the osc version you have to have all mods coded to work with it wich i found to be a pain. not sure if this answers your questions but hey thought i would throw that out.

Great community, kind people here! Thanks all.

You can have same categories or different categories between your different shops too with Multisite Module.

I never really used OSC since I directly started with Zencart.

Do you think a road map would be neccesary for this module ?

If yes, could you give me a link to a road map of another module that is well made so I can have a model to make this one (since I don't really know what a road map should look like...)

Thanks,

Gerome.

Gerome, everyone always says "try on a test site first"...

This being beta... how "beta" is it really ? I want to go directly to production and am looking for your opinion.

yes even i have read this but i have actually gone full production and tested methodically. so it works straight out of the box so to speak. you can use it in production mode with no or little issues.

one quick note they say test it first to make sure it does not mess up your cart if you have any mods that may overwrite the files it does. especially the order.php file. its a big one. but if you look at one of my top posts here it will show that i have an extensive modded store and still works better then any other. hope this helps and happy selling

make a backup of your version, test the module with a test server and the version you have. If you don't have any issues this way, there is no reason why you wouldn't use it for production.

We use it for production since 3 weeks on a fully customized shops with no trouble.

Gerome:

You can have same categories or different categories between your different shops too with Multisite Module.

I never really used OSC since I directly started with Zencart.

Do you think a road map would be neccesary for this module ?

If yes, could you give me a link to a road map of another module that is well made so I can have a model to make this one (since I don't really know what a road map should look like...)

Thanks,

Gerome.

Currently seems the road map is not necessary, while as virtualahmad said, I am also a little concerning about the "beta" issue, this is also why I asked if there is any roadmap previously.

And now I have one more question here: Regarding the admin part, now it seems one admin and only one admin that manages all the shops, can the following be finished within this module?
admin1 can and only can manage shop1, admin2 can and only can manage shop2, etc ...
Besides all the admin1, admin2, etc, there is also a super administrator admin, that can manage all the shops ...
Now this module only have the super administrator and have no admin1, admin2, etc ...
I think this will be a necessary function for this module if go to production, which can ensure more high security ...

Thank you always .. :)

Yes, I see where you ar going. The module has been for a same admin to manage more than one shop (as it is what we do). If you want an admin to only manage one shop, it means that you won't have common categories in between shop anymore ? The admin configuration is set as "default for all site" when you override the configuration of one site in a config file; if you want to make it for more than one admin, this would have to change too. I never really take time to considerate this improvement, and I think we should get more opinions about the needs of users before starting to do anything like that.

Also, I mainly started to make this module because it was something that my company needed, however, we don't need to have a specific admin for each shop, this is why I didn't bother doing it...

Customer table is common for all sites, it might have to change and be specific to one site (adding a collomn site_name to the customer's table...)

Well, this won't be ready tomorrow...

I'm just getting started with ZenCart, and I really think this module is going to be exactly what I needed. I'm a little worried about the server config (we don't have a dedicated server, just a reseller account and child accounts) but I'm going to give it a try this afternoon. I just wanted to let you know that there is another person (who is willing to donate / pay for support) that thinks your module is awesome.

hi gerom
**category filter on sidebox, banner filter ? **
still two question:
1- filter function of multisite works perfect for category sidebox and header category tabs, but in category css flyout that uses url_generator in include/classes, all the categories are shown( so filtering doesn't work for that), I asked from authur of flyout and told me may be the author of cat. filter can do something with that, what do you think ?
2- I have already submitted this that is there any possibility to get banner manager be filtered between sites, concrete: every site shows different banner (config, but most important different url on attached to each banner) , please let me know if you don't get this last question
thanks