How to find a text string

I had a similar problem with some words that Template Monster added to a shopping cart box. Spent hours and hours and hours searching every file to find these words, but they did not seem to be anywhere. Finally I downloaded a program called "xsearch" from the internet (it's free) which will search for certain words inside any folder that you specify (it searches the contents of each file).

For example, you could search for "St Vincent Place" in your main Zencart folder on your hardrive. It will then tell you which files these words are hiding inside.

My guess is that the words will be inside a file called tpl_tmfuncs.php in your themes/theme000/common folder. TM appears to have decided to add some extra variables without telling anybody, and they like to hide them in this file. On the other hand, I have also found cases where they randomly will hardcode things like this into certain php files. It is nearly impossible to predict. That's why this Xsearch tool is so great.

I have used it several time so far, and it finds the targetted text every time. Someone told me that I could also do the same this with Developers Toolkit in the tools menu of admin, but this method did not work for me (the toolkit could not find the specified words). Windows XP's search function is supposed to do the same thing, but it does not seem to work for me for some reason.

I have to give Jack from zen-cart.cn credit for telling me how to do this. He is the "zen guru" in China. :smile:

thomasw98:

I had a similar problem with some words that Template Monster added to a shopping cart box. Spent hours and hours and hours searching every file to find these words, but they did not seem to be anywhere. Finally I downloaded a program called "xsearch" from the internet (it's free) which will search for certain words inside any folder that you specify (it searches the contents of each file).

For example, you could search for "St Vincent Place" in your main Zencart folder on your hardrive. It will then tell you which files these words are hiding inside.

My guess is that the words will be inside a file called tpl_tmfuncs.php in your themes/theme000/common folder. TM appears to have decided to add some extra variables without telling anybody, and they like to hide them in this file. On the other hand, I have also found cases where they randomly will hardcode things like this into certain php files. It is nearly impossible to predict. That's why this Xsearch tool is so great.

I have used it several time so far, and it finds the targetted text every time. Someone told me that I could also do the same this with Developers Toolkit in the tools menu of admin, but this method did not work for me (the toolkit could not find the specified words). Windows XP's search function is supposed to do the same thing, but it does not seem to work for me for some reason.

I have to give Jack from zen-cart.cn credit for telling me how to do this. He is the "zen guru" in China. :smile:

A lot of developers tools have what you said XSearch does. Like for instance, Dreamweaver allows you to search within your current site, a specific folder, etc ...

The developer's tool kit searches files for exact string matches, so if you entered a space on accident or left out a _ it won't return what your looking for. Make sure to leave out ; as they're not everywhere an instance of that text would be.

even better

look in your admin in your browser,
go to tools -> developers toolkit....

This is already built in

Merlinpa1969:

even better

look in your admin in your browser,
go to tools -> developers toolkit....

This is already built in

Merlin did ya read the posts? :shocking:

For example, you could search for "St Vincent Place" in your main Zencart folder on your hardrive. It will then tell you which files these words are hiding inside. sure did

and like I said rather than adding something new take a look in the
admin -> tools -> developers toolkit

zen cart already has the ability to do this,

but this is getting off topic,

this thread needs to be left open to communicate directly with TM about getting their collective $h1t together.

Merlinpa1969:

this thread needs to be left open to communicate directly with TM about getting their collective $h1t together.

:clap::clap::clap:

Ok, but what you've stated was mentioned above.

testuser:

The developer's tool kit searches files for exact string matches, so if you entered a space on accident or left out a _ it won't return what your looking for. Make sure to leave out ; as they're not everywhere an instance of that text would be.

A lot of developers tools have what you said XSearch does. Like for instance, Dreamweaver allows you to search within your current site, a specific folder, etc ...

The developer's tool kit searches files for exact string matches, so if you entered a space on accident or left out a _ it won't return what your looking for. Make sure to leave out ; as they're not everywhere an instance of that text would be.

looks like you are talking about dreamweaver,
no mention of this in ZC in your post at all,

but like I said this is way off topic for this post,

lets hangout and wait for fellis or TM to show up and say that they have a working template to test,

It was mentioned in the previous post to the one I quoted. And I haven't seen fellis on in a couple of days (at least IM's).

Off topic posts moved.

As I mentioned earlier, I tried using the developer's tool kit, but it could not find the words i was looking for. As tester said, I may have typed the words wrong. On the other hand, I think the wording in the developer's toolkit is a bit obscure and overly technical for someone like me to understand. So I still prefer the Xsearch software.

I don't use any special Dreamweaver-type developer software either. I use a simple html editor called HTML-Kit to modify the php files. I have also read in these forums that other users are even using notepad. So we do not have access to the typical tools that you professional developers have....nor do we have the brainpower to figure them out! :laugh: (Actually I do have the Dreamweaver software but never bothered to install it!)

Why am I babbling about this topic here? Because I really was near the point of trashing the Template Monster template that I paid for, until I learned how to find all the annoying hidden hardcodes using Xsearch. So it really was a good tool that "saved" the template for me.

thomasw98:

As I mentioned earlier, I tried using the developer's tool kit, but it could not find the words i was looking for. As tester said, I may have typed the words wrong. On the other hand, I think the wording in the developer's toolkit is a bit obscure and overly technical for someone like me to understand. So I still prefer the Xsearch software.

I don't use any special Dreamweaver-type developer software either. I use a simple html editor called HTML-Kit to modify the php files. I have also read in these forums that other users are even using notepad. So we do not have access to the typical tools that you professional developers have....nor do we have the brainpower to figure them out! :laugh: (Actually I do have the Dreamweaver software but never bothered to install it!)

Why am I babbling about this topic here? Because I really was near the point of trashing the Template Monster template that I paid for, until I learned how to find all the annoying hidden hardcodes using Xsearch. So it really was a good tool that "saved" the template for me.

Well TM said they were getting away from hard-coding! Guess that's not happening anytime soon, yet people still purchase their templates. It'll never stop in either direction!

I was also unable to locate a specific string of text using the dev/tools, not sure why dev/tools was unable to locate any of the text but here is the link for the mentioned xtools http://www.easexp.com/ Hope this help some of you with similar issue.

cheers