[help] wrong category showing on top of product

Hi,

running 1.3.7
i have some strange behavior occuring

product#1 (correct display)

if you navigate to :

http://www.secretgardenflowers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=331_513_517&products_id=3842

Home :: FASHION ACCESSORIES :: Wallets , Belts , LuggageTags :: Scooter Design Selection :: Scooter Business Card

it shows Scooter Design Selection as the parent category which is the master category

product#2

if you navigate to:

http://www.secretgardenflowers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=331_513_524&products_id=3868

Home :: FASHION ACCESSORIES :: Wallets , Belts , LuggageTags :: Lira Design Collection :: Lira Coin / Change Purse ~ available in 5 colors

it shows the right category in the breadcrumb but the parent category (no image displayed) is listed as Wallet Selection ( browse all )

i don't understand this because the master category is **Lira Design Collection **

any idea what is causing this - does linking products mess with the parent category?

If linked this is most probably the issue

Linking products by itself doesn't mess with the master category, but it is possible that the master got reset without you realizing what was happening.

I still don't think the info page should show a different category than the one by which you reached it. Do the Scooter products link to the "browse" subs?

Look at the product editing page for the coin purse, and see what it says is the master category (at the top).

A lot of work was done in v1.3.8a to manage the categories for the displays and navigation ,,,

You might try setting up a test site with a test database and load a copy of your live site database into it and see if this flows better for you ...

Ajeh:

A lot of work was done in v1.3.8a to manage the categories for the displays and navigation ,,,

You might try setting up a test site with a test database and load a copy of your live site database into it and see if this flows better for you ...

that is my plan soon - but is this a known issue with 1.3.7?

i just don't understand why 2 products with simliar congiurations (links, master etc) would have different behaviors relating to parent category

gjh42:

Linking products by itself doesn't mess with the master category, but it is possible that the master got reset without you realizing what was happening.

I still don't think the info page should show a different category than the one by which you reached it. Do the Scooter products link to the "browse" subs?

Look at the product editing page for the coin purse, and see what it says is the master category (at the top).

when i edit both products they have the same master category
also they both link to the same secondary category

How can they have the same master category if they are in different categories (Scooter... and Lira...)? "Master category" doesn't mean the top category they are organized under, it means the category listed in the database as the "master" - shows at the top of the product editing page with a dropdown box if there are linked cats. Can you post screenshots of that area?

gjh42:

How can they have the same master category if they are in different categories (Scooter... and Lira...)? "Master category" doesn't mean the top category they are organized under, it means the category listed in the database as the "master" - shows at the top of the product editing page with a dropdown box if there are linked cats. Can you post screenshots of that area?

sorry for the confusion - i forgot i listed products in 2 different categories as examples

i understand how the master categories work and are set - it has to be something with the product being linked to another category

i rechecked each product and they have the correct master category on product edit

ie

http://www.secretgardenflowers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=331_513_517&products_id=3842

has a master of scooter design collection

http://www.secretgardenflowers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=331_513_524&products_id=3868

has a master category of lira design

the scooter product displays the right parent category, lira does not

there is no difference in what they are linked to
ie both are linked to :

wallet selection
accessory selection

something very strange is going on

• all the products in lira have this issue
• all the products in scooter are fine

has anyone seen this behavior before

note the breadcrub is fine - it is the image above the product is displaying the linked category rather than the master

Yep, definitely weird... and far beyond my knowledge to sort out. If it is a real problem for you or your customers, you might want to turn off the category display until you upgrade to v1.3.8a.

gjh42:

Yep, definitely weird... and far beyond my knowledge to sort out. If it is a real problem for you or your customers, you might want to turn off the category display until you upgrade to v1.3.8a.

its not a huge issue

Linda / Aleh - was anything with this code a bug fix in 1.3.8 or 1.3.8a from 1.3.7?

Such a shame that it seems you cannot do a "reverse lookup" that will correctly tell you what parent lineage a linked product has.

I think this has to do with the fact the the linked product has exactly the same ID as its original.

I realise they did this to simplify things and maybe reduce extra DB calls, but it means that only Categories will ever know what their child products are, and never the other way round (a product of ID 6 will never know the exact category it was chosen from).

Maybe the only quick solution is to store the cPath in the shopping cart? It's either that or give linked products a unique ID.

Give a linked product a unique id and it's no longer linked.

It's not that the linked product has the same id as its original, it IS the original, just tied to an additional category.
Storing the cPath would be an effective way of keeping track of this if you need to know it.