Kent's Blog » Zencart

Additional images – Using Different Images for a Product

Kent — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:35:08 +0000

There are probably various occasions when you want to display multiple images for a product. For example, a zoomin of a specific product detail like the neck-line of a dress or to provide several views (plan, elevation, etc) of a machine. Refer to the following screen shot to get an idea of how different images for a single product can be displayed.

Before you add any additional images to your product, you need to understand how Zen Cart recognizes and handles additional images for a product.

Understanding How Additional Images are Recognized

Zen Cart uses a base name to distinguish the main picture of a product from other additional pictures of the same product. For example, the main picture of a laptop will usually be the front view. The side and back views might make up the other pictures for the laptop. In this case, the image names could be named as follows:

laptop.jpg
laptop_backview.jpg
laptop_sideview.jpg

Typically, an underscore is used to represent additional product images linked to a base name. You could easily have used “laptopa.jpg”, “laptop123.jpg”, “laptoplaptop.jpg”, etc. However, the latter naming schemes are difficult to comprehend and can lead to a maintenance nightmare if you have many products using images with similar names.

For simplicity’s sake, we shall assume that all additional product images referred to in this book use the underscore as the separator to distinguish them from the base name of the product’s main picture. Thus, from the list of sample laptop pictures listed above, the base picture is the one without an underscore (i.e. laptop.jpg). The base picture is usually uploaded when you create a new product in the Admin Console. For the other pictures, they will need to be manually sent to the server via FTP

Adding Additional Images to a Product

Before you can show additional images for your products, you need to enable this feature for your particular product type:

1. Click on Catalog > Product Types to access the Product Types screen.
2. Choose the product type for which you want to have multiple images displayed and click on the edit layout
button on the side-panel.
3. Make sure that the Show Product Additional Images field is enabled.

To add an additional image to a product:

1. Make sure your additional image contains an underscore (i.e. “_”) after the base name of the main product image you have already uploaded. For example, if a product’s main image is “aaa.jpg”, then the base name is simply “aaa”. A possible name for the product’s additional image might be “aaa_side.jpg”. Recall that the underscore is the naming convention we are using for this book to identify the additional images of a product.

2. Upload the additional image via FTP to the same directory where the base product image is located on the server.

To change the layout for the additional product images of a product:

1. Click on Configuration > Images to access the Images screen

2. Specify the required value in the Product Info – Number of Additional Images per Row field.

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No Login For Zencart Checkout(No Registration)

Kent — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:04:59 +0000

I buy thing from all kinds of B2C shopping mall in china, like amazon.cn, 360buy, dangdang.com, also C2C like taobao.

they all have something in common, they all need an account to register, and then login.

We’re making our own shopping mall, and usual we have the account login and registration, but mike said US people don’t likw to register a account, they want to pay fast and directly, save time, and so did andrew. So we decide to carry out the surgery for our shopping cart system, luckily it’s zencart.

Integrated Checkout Without Account

When a visitor adds something to their cart and proceeds to checkout, they are greeted with three options. They can sign in to their existing account, they can create a new account, or they can proceed through checkout without an account. They are only given this third option if they have something in their cart. After entering their billing information they are sent to checkout_shipping. If they somehow manage to enter the COWOA sequence without something in their cart, then after they enter their billing information they are directed to their empty cart.

There is a COWOA Support Thread here

Download COWOA for Zencart 1.3.8

I have actually used this function for our own and it is working great. So if you are using ZenCart, and need this type of functionality then use this. It will work great for you! Just make sure to follow the instructions carefully!

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Zencart Taxable Goods Bulk Setting

Kent — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:19:10 +0000

It’s about the US tax stuff.

I installed the Easy Populate, and seems it doesn’t support taxable good stuff bulk import to the zencart.

and I see the source code for the taxable option in the product management cpanel, and the value is 1, so I find the database table and update it with the commend below:

UPDATE `zen_products` SET `products_tax_class_id`=1 WHERE `products_tax_class_id`=”

the zen_ maybe needed to be changed to match the prefix on your tables.

If you don’t konw how to login the phpmyadmin, you can also go to the cpanel of the zencart, go to the tools, insert SQL Patches, and use the below commend:

UPDATE products SET products_tax_class_id=1;

and you can also set the Tax Rates in your zencart now.

Though it’s only for US demand, if you are in china, you don’t need that, haha

How to add the live chat in zencart

Kent — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:34:37 +0000

Live chat is so popular in US, that almost evry e-commerce need one to communicate with the customer.

There are so many way to add the live chat, but here I get two better ways I think for you.

One is to buy a live chat program, just get the code and put them in the foot of your template.

The other way is to add a live chat sidebox in zencart.

I have a plugins which developed based on the Live_Help, in this plugin you can add the chat from yahoo, QQ, MSN, skype, and also MSN.

But in personal I don’t like QQ, yahoo and skype to show up, it seems not so professional for my site, so I add the MSN, but the MSN live chat doesn’t support firefox, when you try the code of msn, it’s broken acturally

msnim:chat?contact=i@dswei.com this code for msn does not work

So I change the code of Live Help, and make a new style of Gtalk.

Yea, that’s better

Any questions you can leave a comment

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An easy way to add a sidebox for zencart

Kent — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:29:04 +0000

Last time we talked about how to add a sidexbox using some php code, but it seems still a little hard for some people, so today I’ll introduct another way to add a sidebox for zencart.

First download the free addon from zencart which named Blank Sidebox, you can download here.

It’s so easy that you just upload everything, and it’s done.

the only thing you need to change is in the file of the template folder, tpl_blank_sidebox.php.

change it to be what you want, and it’s done.

One thing to mention is taking care of your code, even one more blank is missing and you zencart will get problems

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zen cart blank sidebox

How to Add a Sidebox to Zen Cart

Kent — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:09:21 +0000

A Zen Cart sidebox is what displays various items in the side columns of your Zen Cart store.There are already so many sideboxes in zencart, like category, like user reviews, like search, but sometimes we need more functions to customize, so we have to add the new sidebox to zencart.

but as you konw, zen cart is php developed, it’s not easy to find the way to add it in the control panel for a zen cart new learner as me, so I prepare you a tutorial way to add a new sidebox, here you go.

1, Create Sidebox Template:Add a new file to the server in the following directory: zen-cart-root/includes/templates/template-name/sideboxes/. You should name the file something relating to the contents of the sidebox. In this example we will be adding a welcome message sidebox so we might name the file tpl_welcome.php. The contents of the file will include what you want to display in the box and will be in a $content variable. Below is an example of the contents of the file if you wanted it to just display a message like “Welcome to my store”.



/**
* Side Box Template
*
*/ 
$content = 'Welcome to my store.'; 
?>

2,Create Sidebox:Now we want to add the actual sidebox which goes into the following directory: /zen-cart-root/includes/modules/sideboxes. Again name the file something relating to the contents of the sidebox which in this case will be welcome.php. The contents of this file will look something like the below so just modify the variables that relate to your template.

/**

* welcome sidebox - used to display a welcome message in a sidebox

*/// test if box should display

$show_welcome = true;if ($show_welcome == true) {require($template->get_template_dir(‘tpl_welcome.php’,DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,’sideboxes’). ‘/tpl_welcome.php’);

$title = BOX_HEADING_WELCOME;

$title_link = false;

require($template->get_template_dir($column_box_default, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,‘common’) . ‘/’ . $column_box_default);

}

3, Add Language Variables:You now need to modify the english.php language file to add the definitions for any text variables you have used in either file. In this example we have added a new variable called BOX_HEADING_WELCOME. So for this example you would add the below to english.php.

// welcome box text in sideboxes/welcome.php

define(‘BOX_HEADING_WELCOME’, ‘Welcome Message’);

Note above that BOX_HEADING_WELCOME is the name of the variable used and “Welcome Message” is the text that is displayed anywhere that the variable is used.

4, Enable Sidebox:Now visit the Zen Cart admin system in your browser to turn the sidebox on. Once you have logged into the admin hover over Tools and select “Layout Boxes Controller” from the drop down. You will see the new sidebox in the list which in this example is sideboxes/welcome.php. Click on the new box twice and in the upper right of the window you will see fields that you can edit. Type the correct number is the sort order field to display the box, select the radio button next to on in “Left/Right Column Status”, and then click the Update button. Your new sidebox is now enabled on your site.

5, Verify Sidebox:Now visit your Zen Cart store in a browser and the sidebox should show.

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Zencart Develop Situation in China

Kent — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:32:54 +0000

In china zen-cart develops not so good as the ecshop and shopex, though zen-cart is the best shopping cart in the world.

Not only the shopping cart itself, but maybe some culture and the user habit. I’m sure if you try the zen-cart once, you”ll fall in love with this great shopping cart.

The main problem I think is the marketing of zen-cart, the zen-cart chinese version holder Jack now living in the Canada, and he is busy working, and does not have enough time to modify and to market the zen-cart shopping cart in china.

Another problem is the zen-cart technology basic, it’s good for shopping cart, but most of the webmasters are still not so good at programming, if one day zen-cart is going to be like the wordpress, I’m sure everybody will like it.

Also the payment method is the problem, it’s hard for chinese people to buy and pay for the products, so most of the zen-cart applications are export websites in the export companies.

One of the famous shopping cart in china is the lightinthebox.com, and this website is developed by zencart, you see?

Zen-cart Administrator’s User Manual Ebook

Kent — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:09:23 +0000

Last month, I was trying to study a ebook of e-Start Your Web Store with zen-cart

I just wanted to learn the zen-cart and share my happy of being with it, but unfortunately I failed, because of some copyright things maybe, it’s the situation of GLOBAL e-commerce.

so today I’m trying to study a new kind of ebook, only for study and learn.

I’m not sure whether it is legal, but yea, just waiting for some copyright guys maybe.

you can go to buy the zen-cart ebook in www.cucumbermedia.com

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e-Start Your Web Store with zen-cart ebook

Kent — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 07:52:58 +0000

A Hands-On Guide For Entrepreneurs & Businesses

This book serves to address two major concerns for store owners who are using Zen Cart to run their online stores.

Firstly, it goes into detail on how to set up a Zen Cart store on a reader’s local computer.
With this approach, store owners can familiarize themselves with the software before they start searching for a web
hosting provider and putting their store on the Internet.
Another advantage is that the local installation of Zen Cart is able to act as a test bed for store owners to try out

different ideas before they actually implement those ideas on their ‘live’ online store on the Internet.
Secondly, this book acts as a form of structured documentation for Zen Cart.

Now, anyone can start learning how to use this powerful piece of software in a structured manner and see how the
different pieces fit together. This !proactive!– aroach is in stark contrast to the !reactive!– apprch that current
users employ: asking questions in the forums, reading the Wiki or browsing the FAQs on Zen Cart’s site.

Ultimately, store owners can save themselves the time, effort and headaches of sifting through the forums to look for
answers to most of their problems. The developers of Zen Cart can then have more time to continue enhancing this
wonderful software and not repeatedly answering the same questions that keep popping up ever so often on the
forums.

How To Use This Book

This book covers Zen Cart version 1.3.7.1 which is the latest version at the time this book goes to print.
This book is divided into 5 parts. If you are reading this book for the first time, you should go through the book in
sequence from Part 1 to Part 5. After that, you can jump around the different chapters to accomplish a specific task.

What is Zen Cart

Zen Cart (http://www.zen-cart.com) is a piece of shopping cart software that allows you to create an online, e-
commerce store for selling your goods and services. It is written in PHP and requires a MySQL database to work.
You can use Zen Cart to create an online store to sell physical goods like shoes, pianos or digital goods like gift
certificates, music downloads, etc. You can even sell services like insurance policies, IT support plans, etc.

The developers of Zen Cart have adopted the line, !The Art of E-Commerce!–, as their goal when developng the
software. Hence, you will find that the software is designed to cater specifically to the requirements of store owners
and shoppers first. Store owners do not need an IT degree to set up and administer their web sites, and shoppers can
navigate the online store and check out their items easily. Programmers are also not forgotten, as the code for Zen
Cart is well-structured and well-designed for easy maintenance and custom logic.

Zen Cart comes absolutely free with many e-commerce features available out-of-the-box. Therefore, you do not have
to invest a lot of money to establish an online, robust and professional e-commerce presence. All you need is to pay
the web hosting fees and possibly some web design fees if you want to give your online store a more polished look.

The source code for Zen Cart is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). In essence, this license
gives anyone the right to modify the source code to suit their needs. However, derivative works that modify the
source code have to adhere to certain restrictions if they are to be re-distributed.

And if you want this ebook[e-Start Your Web Store ], please go to buy this ebook in the website below http://www.cucumbermedia.com/

thank you

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Most Popular Zen-cart Modules and Some Skills

Kent — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:12:40 +0000

I collect 5 best Zen-cart modules for structure and also for the seo, but it is for the board version 1.38

1.Install Ultimate SEO URLs, Purpose: make the URL search engine friendly
download：http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=231

2.Tabbed Products Pro, Purpose: optimize the categories and products page, also the meta tag
download：http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=924

3.Simple SEO URL module, Purpose: change the URL path, use the channel
download：http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=1013

4. Optimize RSS Feed module, Purpose: RSS submit for any page
download：http://www.zen-cart.cn/modules/wfdownloads/visit.php?cid=2&lid=217

5. EZ pages rel=nofollow attribute module, module: nofollow control the page index and crawl
download：http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=944

Other skills about the Optimization

Changes the dynamic URLs to static pages with SEO friendly URLs
Generates well-structured URLs in relation to catalogue content
Verifies and validates each URL
If the user/visitor makes any mistake in the URL, it is redirected to the correct URL – no HTTP 404/Not Found error or content penalty occur. E.g.:
www.example.com/your-wrong-category-name-1/ your-wrong-subcategory-name-1/your-wrong-product-name-1.html to www.example.com/your-category-name-1/your-subcategory-name-1/ your-product-name-1.html
Supports safe changes of URLs
If any page receives new URL due to change in the content, all older URLs still work and the web browser or crawler is redirected through HTTP 301 Moved Permanently to the new URL. E.g.:
www.example.com/your-category-name-1/ to www.example.com/your-new-category-name-1/
Supports redirections from ALL original ZenCart URLs
E.g.: www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&cPath=2_5 to www.example.com/category-name-2/subcategory-name-5/
Prevents possible duplicate content penalties – no duplicate content available on the different URLs
E.g.: www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=product_info&pro ducts_id=1 and www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=product_info&cPath=1_4&pro ducts_id=1 will be www.example.com/category-name-1/subcategory-name-1/ product-name-1.html
…and more – Magic SEO URL for ZenCart fix many duplicate content penalties such as:
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=product_info&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=product_info&manu facturers_id=1&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=product_reviews&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=products_new&act ion=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&cPath=1_4&sort=2a&act ion=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&cPath=1_4&sort=2d&act ion=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&cPath=1_4&sort=3a&act ion=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&cPath=1_4&sort=3d&act ion=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&manu facturers_id=1&sort=2a&action=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&manu facturers_id=1&sort=2d&action=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&manu facturers_id=1&sort=3a&action=buy_now&products_id=1
www.example.com/index.php?mainpage=index&manu facturers_id=1&sort=3d&action=buy_now&products_id=1
and much more!
Prevents possible duplicate content penalties of Notify (add/remove) links
Prevents home page content penalties
www.example.com/?, www.example.com/index.php and www.example.com/index.php? will be www.example.com only!
(also incorrect backward links are redirected to www.example.com)
Multi language mode and single language mode
If your ZenCart based shopping cart is using several languages, Magic SEO URL for ZenCart splits your shopping cart to virtual directories containing language code. Otherwise there is no any splitting to language code directories.
Supports unlimited Products Types
Properly handles settings of Product Types in ZenCart administration (Catalog – Product Types).
Makes all relative URLs absolute
Search Engines will spider your shopping cart easier.
Properly Sessions IDs handling
Sessions IDs (zenid parameter in URLs) are removed when one of 120 worldwide webcrawlers is detected. Also, if the webcrawler finds backward link with Session ID, it is redirected to the URL without this parameter.
Possibility to set Maximum number of words in one URI’s level
Others are omitted in URIs.
Possibility to set Minimum word’s length
Shorter words are excluded from URIs.
Various versions for different encodings (ISO/CP), UTF-8 supported.
High speed without negative effects to server load or web server response due to two level cache and RegEx optimizations
Does not add any SQL queries – fancy data for SEO friendly URLs are cached in the system memory during script execution and are also stored to the special files for future usage to save database server resources.
All Rewrite Rules are optimized for maximum speed.
Does not break any installed Add-ons, Modules or Templates/Themes
No modifications to ZenCart files required
You add only one line of code for installation.