Categories Dressing

So we still have not been able to resolve this issue. The image seems to be fine. Just for whatever reason it is not being called or being read. We would really like to be able to get this resolved. But are out of ideas at this point.

You said you had someone else create the new images. What technology did they use? Was it different from that used for the original images? What happens if you create an image using a different program, or another instance of the same program?
The only other distinguishing fact about the non-working images seems to be that they were created recently, and applied to categories that were created recently. Has there been any change in your hosting circumstances? (This is a total WAG, as I can't imagine how such a change could have an effect on these elements.)

you might try reopening a COPY of one of the images that does work (temporarily rename the original for holding purposes), save that copy and test it on your site. Have you tried this? What happened (in as much detail as possible)?

I am not sure what program they used to do the images. But the original images were done by the same person. So that should not have been a factor. We even changed the original images from a .gif to .png and they still work just fine. It is only the new images that have this issue. They have not changed hosts at all. They do host on godaddy (ya never know) LOL
But i do agree with you that this is the strangest thing. It doesn't make any sense what so ever.

I have installed the Categories Dressing Mod and now have 2 category sideboxes. It put a sidebox named New Products on my left hand sidebox that I do not want on there. What I want to do now is remove that sidebox and adjust the 2 categories so that they show the respective products. One is Designs and the second one will be clipart. I want to separate the 2 categories. You can view my site at: https://www.fit2bstitched.com Does anyone know how I can do this?

Ok, I figured out how to turn off the New Products sidebox. Now I just need to learn how to separate my 2 categories.
Ellen

You could not get a New Products sidebox from installing Categories Dressing - there must have been something else you did at the same time to bring that up. You have it sorted now, anyway...

I see you have installed both the base Cat Dressing and the ch_categories option. You do not need or want both of them for your situation. Unless you want the expanded categories, you should delete the ch_categories files. There is not a one-click method for this; you will need to find and delete each of those files (and only those). If you might want that option, you could just turn off the chcategories sidebox in Tools > Layout Boxes Controller, and rename stylesheet_chcategories_dressing.css to stylesheet_chcategories_dressing.bak.

Read the instructions for creating category groups. You will want to make two groups, one starting with the first category in Designs and one starting with the first category in Clipart. Make new defines in categories_dressing_defines.php like this

define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_33','1|0|||Designs|1');//new list - text heading - style 1
define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_77','1|0|||Clipart|1');//new list - text heading - style 1
``` replacing 33 and 77 with the ids of the first categories in Designs and Clipart.

You currently have all of your categories arranged alphabetically, presumably with Design and Clipart intermixed. You will need to go into Catalog > Categories/Products and assign a sort order to each category. Make all of the Design categories lower numbers than the Clipart categories, and number them with gaps like 10, 20, 30, 40 so you can easily insert new categories later.

Once you have your groups, read the styling section of the readme, then post back and ask how to get the boxes.

I have adjusted the categories_dressing_defines.php page just as you told me. I read the styling section and checked my stylesheet. I did not find any reference to a.category-top, a.category-subs or a.category-products anywhere on the stylesheet. We have also renamed our folder the way you suggested.
Now how do I get the boxes?
Ellen

You now seem to have completely removed all of the Categories Dressing files... not sure what you actually did, but you need to have the mod's base /includes/ folder with its files installed. The base stylesheet_categories_dressing.css needs to be in place.

Once that is sorted out, you will want defines for either category 37 or 1 depending on whether Designs should start with NEW PRODUCTS or Animals, and for category 199 assuming that the second Animals is the first category of Clipart. So ```php
define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_37','1|0|||Designs|1');//new list - text heading - style 1
define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_199','1|0|||Clipart|1');//new list - text heading - style 1

Then in stylesheet_categories_dressing.css find the rule for .catBoxHeading1 and change it to match your desires: ```
.catBoxHeading1 { 
    font-family: georgia, serif;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-size: 1.4em;
    color: #335511; 
    background-color: #ff66ff;
    padding: 0.3em 0.4em;
    margin: 0;
    }
```Find the rule for ul#catGroup48 and add new rules for ul#catGroup37 and ul#catGroup199: ```
/*example for custom category group styling*/

ul#catGroup37, ul#catGroup199 {
    border: 1px solid #bd6699;
    background: #bbeeff; 
    margin-top: 1.5em;
    }
``` Again, adjust the colors etc. to suit yourself.

Add another pair of rules: ```
#categories {
    border: none; 
    background: transparent;
    }

#categories>h3 {display: none;}

Just a quick note on the problem we had with the mod not showing new images. /includes/functions/categories_dressing_functions.php was our problem the whole time. We had changed our images from a .gif to .png extension. Although we did change the call in the stylesheet apparently you need to also change it in that file as well. Here is the line
Find
$cat_name_display = zen_image(DIR_WS_TEMPLATE . 'buttons/' . $_SESSION['language'] . '/catimg' . $current_path . '.gif', '', '', '', 'title="' . $cat_name_display . '"');

Change to
$cat_name_display = zen_image(DIR_WS_TEMPLATE . 'buttons/' . $_SESSION['language'] . '/catimg' . $current_path . '.png', '', '', '', 'title="' . $cat_name_display . '"');

I had forgotten that v2.7.3 required that multiple edit... my development v2.8 uses a constant to hold the extension type, so it only needs to be set in one place in the defines file.

Ok, I'm so lost. I have tried to do what you said but things just don't want to work for me. I wish I knew more about this coding. I can't get rid of the Major headding/ Minor heading. It should read Clipart, but I can't find where to change that. The subjects are falling where they should either. I just don't know what to do anymore.
Ellen

The Major/Minor will disappear if you delete the define for 'CAT_BOX_HEADING_3'.
You did not add the defines for 'CAT_BOX_HEADING_37' and 'CAT_BOX_HEADING_199' as I directed you to do; instead, you have a define for 'CAT_BOX_HEADING_10'.

I guess I got lost with the first instructions you sent me. You told me to name them the numbers of our folders which were Designs starting with 10 and Clipart starting with 300. That's why they were named like that. I have adjusted per your recommendations now. I went through and deleted references to box 3 and I still have the Minor Heading. Not sure where else to look for that, which sheet I need to look at. Thank you so much for all the help you have given me. I'm so sorry to be such a pain. I started fresh this morning looking at your instructions and the php and css sheets. These are the only sheets I have installed for this mod as I didn't want the buttons. I'm a lot closer to what I wanted now than I was before, but still don't have the categories in the right boxes.
Thanks again,
Ellen

Maybe I have not made clear what numbers you are supposed to be using for the defines.
When you say 10 and 300, are those the sort orders you gave to the first categories in each set? The sort orders are irrelevant to us except for getting the categories in the right order.

The important numbers are the "cPath" (or category id for top cats). You can find this in Catalog > Categories/Products; looking at the list of categories, the cat id is on the left edge. You never said which categories are supposed to be the first ones in each group, so I had to assume it was NEW PRODUCTS for Designs and the second Animals for Clipart. These are categories 37 and 199, which is why I told you to make those specific defines.

You cannot get the Major/Minor headings without a define in categories_dressing_defines.php for CAT_BOX_HEADING_3. Find that line and delete it.

gjh42:

You cannot get the Major/Minor headings without a define in categories_dressing_defines.php for CAT_BOX_HEADING_3. Find that line and delete it.

This is all I have on the categories_dressing_defines.php page:

<?php /** * * @copyright Copyright 2009 Glenn Herbert * @copyright Portions Copyright 2003-2006 Zen Cart Development Team * @copyright Portions Copyright 2003 osCommerce * @license <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/> GNU Public License V3.0 * Categories Dressing v2.7.3 - Glenn Herbert (gjh42) - 20090505 * includes/languages/english/extra_definitions/your_template/categories_dressing_defines.php */ //example defines - copy & modify for each category desired define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_#','group|divider/class|[imgname]|[imgalt][|headcontent|headclass][|headcontent|headclass]...'); [define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_37','1|0|1||Designs|1');//new list - text heading - style 1 define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_199','1|0|1||Clipart|1');//new list - text heading - style 1 } // //display only the active top category and its subs, hide top cats, hide sub-subcats, or any combination. //only uncomment and set this define if you want to hide cats based on active tree or level // 'active|highest_level|deepest_level' //active: 0=all tops/1=full active tree only/2=active only (all tops when no cat selected)/ //3=full active tree, others per level/4=like 3, active branches only/5=like 1, no tops| //highest_level: 0=all levels/1=no topcats/etc.| //deepest_level: 1=only first subcats/2=first & second subcats/etc. // //define('CAT_BOX_ACTIVE_LEVEL', '0|1|1');//hide top cats //define('CAT_BOX_ACTIVE_LEVEL', '0|1|1');//show only active cats, to first subcat level ?>

Ellen

Very strange, because that is not the file that is controlling your menu display, at least not the only file. Somewhere there is a file with defines for categories 10 and 3. Are you sure about what files are in /includes/languages/english/extra_definitions/cherry_zen/ ?

I see you have gotten an extra "1" in the defines, which in that position would be read as an image filename and not work correctly. That might explain why the clipart heading is not working. The other define has a stray [ in front of it which is most likely disabling it completely. They should look exactly like this (copy & paste): ```php
define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_37','1|0|||Designs|1');//new list - text heading - style 1
define ('CAT_BOX_HEADING_199','1|0|||Clipart|1');//new list - text heading - style 1

You were right it looks to me like when I installed it the program copied it to other places. I have it right now and the site looks just like we wanted it to.
Thank You so much for your advise and patients with me!
Ellen

Hi Glenn.

Is it possible to have the categories listed into two columns?
Somthing like this?

Category one
subcat-1 subcat-4
subcat-2 subcat-5
subcat-3

Category two
subcat-1 subcat-4
subcat-2
subcat-3

Category three
subcat-1 subcat-4
subcat-2 subcat-5
subcat-3 subcat-6

Thank you

Yes, limelites has done it on at least one of his sites - you could look at the view source and the CSS to see how it is organized.
Essentially, you would make a new category group for the set of subcats you want in the second column, then give both groups widths just less than half of the total sidebox space. Probably the best way to put the second column beside the first is to give it position: absolute; and top: and left: properties to put it where you want it. Nothing else will be trying to occupy that space to the right of the first column, so everything should fit neatly.