{"id":5149,"date":"2004-03-13T23:37:42","date_gmt":"2004-03-14T07:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/blog\/2004\/03\/13\/5149\/"},"modified":"2004-03-13T23:37:42","modified_gmt":"2004-03-14T07:37:42","slug":"modify-your-zen-cart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/?p=5149","title":{"rendered":"Modify your Zen Cart"},"content":{"rendered":"

I installed Zen Cart<\/a> on a client’s machine…<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. installation was a breeze<\/lI>
    \n
  2. the problem is it is very easily ideifiable as a Zen Cart… which is bad for a professional site. Everything should look home-grown<\/li>\n
  3. The client has an existing site which doesn’t really fit with the Zen Cart presentation style. So I have to do a little conversion<\/li>\n
  4. There is basically NO DOCUMENTATION so I’m having to look through the source code to figure out how to implement these changes<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \nHere’s my notes on making the switch!<\/p>\n

    \n

    Overview for every page<\/h2>\n

    As is evident from looking at the URLs of any part of the catalog, the “main” page is just index.php<\/b>, regardless of what the content of the page is. For any particular page it loads, it has a default file it uses for the entire site, which may be overridden by a locally defined file. <\/p>\n

    Most of these are PHP code only:<\/p>\n

    \n

      \n
    1. includes\/application_top.php<\/b> – this location is one of the only file paths hard-coded into the PHP code. Its companion does NOT use the “includes” name directly but rather a constant define “DIR_WS_INCLUDES”<\/li>\n
    2. includes\/modules\/pages\/[PAGE_NAME]\/header_php*<\/b> – defines some of the product-specific queries and settings for variables defined in application_top.php<\/b>. You can make other files which will get loaded too, if they start with the phrase header_php<\/b><\/li>\n
    3. main_template_vars.php<\/b>:
      \n

      Define Template Variables picked up from includes\/templates\/[NAME OF TEMPLATE]\/common\/main_template_vars.php<\/b><\/nobr> unless a file exists in the includes\/modules\/pages\/[PAGE_NAME]\/<\/b><\/nobr> directory to overide. Allowing different pages to have different overall templates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n

    4. tpl_main_page.php<\/b>:
      \n

      Define the template that will govern the overall page layout, can be done on a page by page basis or using a default template. The default template installed will be a standard 3 column lauout. This template also loads the page body code from a page named in the variable $body_code. <\/p>\n

      (This refers to includes\/templates\/template_default\/common\/tpl_main_page.php<\/b> for the entire site or
      \nincludes\/templates\/template_default\/[PAGE_NAME]\/tpl_main_page.php<\/b> for a specific page )<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \n…anyway, that’s how it associates the “main_page” attribute with a PHP page in one of those two locations. That content page will determine the contents between the two columns and above the “center” elements such as “new products”.\n<\/li>\n

    5. includes\/application_bottom.php<\/b> – Actually uses a constant define “DIR_WS_INCLUDES” so watch out!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \nThe page ALSO has a main location-<\/p>\n

        \n
      • includes\/languages\/english\/[TEMPLATE_NAME]\/[PAGE_NAME]<\/b> – or more generally includes\/languages\/[LANGUAGE]\/[TEMPLATE_NAME]\/[PAGE_NAME]<\/b> – defines:\n
          \n
        1. the navbar and heading titles <\/li>\n
        2. THE CONTENT!!! Whew! At Last! it’s stored in the variable TEXT_INFORMATION<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          \n<\/p>\n

          Including the Static Pages<\/h2>\n
            \n
          • In the demo store there are some mostly-static main content pages under “Information” and “More Information”. Focussing on “More Information.”<\/li>\n
          • I have a includes\/languages\/english\/[NEW_PAGE_NAME].php<\/b> . My first inclination was to assume that this is where the bulk of the information for the page should live.<\/li>\n
          • I see files for the "classic" template like languages\/english\/classic\/[NEW_PAGE_NAME].php<\/b> . I'm thinking this is for styling the same page in different formats for different template. Are these pages required? If I make a template called BLAH in includes\/templates\/BLAH<\/b> do I absolutely need to make files for all my content pages in languages\/english\/BLAH\/[NEW_PAGE_NAME].php<\/b> ?<\/li>\n
          • how about includes\/modules\/pages\/[NEW_PAGE_NAME]<\/b>? It looks like there is only a small file, header_php.php<\/b>, there. Do I absolutely need something there? what is that area for, besides putting this small file there?<\/li>\n
          • I also see a great deal of material in includes\/templates\/template_default\/templates\/tpl_[NEW_PAGE_NAME]_default.php<\/b>. This looks to be the default templates for every module, and therefore every content page, so that I need not define a languages\/english\/BLAH\/[NEW_PAGE_NAME].php<\/b> for my BLAH template.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            \n

            So, in summary:<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. add includes\/languages\/english\/[NEW_PAGE].php<\/b> for your main content<\/lI>\n
            2. add includes\/languages\/english\/[TEMPLATE]\/[NEW_PAGE].php<\/b> if you want your page content to be different in that particular template than the default you just defined<\/lI>\n
            3. add includes\/templates\/template_default\/templates\/tpl_[NEW_PAGE]_default.php<\/b> for your template (not the content)<\/lI>\n
            4. add includes\/modules\/pages\/[NEW_PAGE]\/header_php.php<\/b>, possibly for your variable settings<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              <\/p>\n

              Top Header<\/h2>\n
                \n
              • The header is defined in includes\/templates\/template_default\/common\/tpl_header.php<\/b><\/nobr><\/li>\n
              • Default has\n
                  \n
                1. Home<\/lI>\n
                2. Log In\/Out<\/li>\n
                3. My Account<\/li>\n
                4. Cart (if cart nonempty)<\/li>\n
                5. Checkout (if cart nonempty)<\/li>\n

                  \n

                6. Logo banner<\/li>\n
                7. Error Message (if any)<\/li>\n
                8. Info Message (if any)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  These messages are defined in
                  \n                  includes\/languages\/english\/classic\/header.php<\/b><\/nobr>\n<\/li>\n

                9. so to get the “buy your candy today!” and countdown message we could:\n
                    \n
                  1. add another field to the top- might be a little busy!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    <\/lI><\/p>\n

                  2. Need to add top of logo as first element on left- others can slide to right?<\/li>\n
                  3. Or, possibly have cart navigation etc BELOW the original banner art<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    Bottom Footer<\/h2>\n
                      \n
                    • includes\/modules\/footer.php<\/b> defines a few variables…<\/li>\n
                    • …which are then displayed by includes\/templates\/template_default\/common\/tpl_footer.php<\/b><\/nobr><\/li>\n
                    • Default footer has\n
                        \n
                      1. Bottom Nav Bar with “Home”<\/lI>\n
                      2. IP address of client ?!<\/li>\n
                      3. whatever was defined in footer.php<\/b>, in our case the copyright notice<\/li>\n
                      4. the END OF THE BIG TABLE !!<\/li>\n
                      5. Advertising banners<\/li>\n
                      6. the parse time<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                      7. We should probably put the bottom navigation links in here<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        Information Panels<\/h2>\n

                        Including the new pages:<\/p>\n

                          \n
                        • include\/filenames.php<\/b> – defined FILENAME_[NEW_PAGE_NAME] for each page<\/li>\n
                        • include\/languages\/english.php<\/b> – defined BOX_INFORMATION_[NEW_PAGE_NAME]<\/li>\n
                        • include\/modules\/sideboxes\/more_information.php<\/b> – added each page to the array using both the above variables<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                          \n

                            \n
                          • includes\/modules\/sideboxes\/information.php<\/b><\/nobr><\/li>\n
                          • includes\/modules\/sideboxes\/more_information.php<\/b><\/nobr> is by default empty- make sure you add new items AFTER the closing brace of the conditional there!<\/li>\n

                          • both explicitly stack BOX_INFORMATION*<\/b> variables together into an array and pass on to templates<\/li>\n
                          • BOX_INFORMATION*<\/b> variables defined in both\n
                              \n
                            • includes\/languages\/english.php<\/li>\n

                            • admin\/includes\/languages\/english.php<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                            • includes\/templates\/template_default\/sideboxes\/tpl_information.php<\/b><\/nobr> – can also replace template_default with other template names<\/li>\n
                            • includes\/templates\/template_default\/common\/tpl_box_default.php<\/b><\/nobr> – can also replace template_default with other template names<\/li>\n

                            • Must contain pages from old site:<\/p>\n
                                \n
                              1. Custom info<\/li>\n

                              2. Visit us<\/li>\n

                              3. About the store<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                Other Notes<\/h2>\n
                                  \n
                                • to change the titles of the pages:\n
                                    \n
                                  • admin\/includes\/languages\/english.php<\/li>\n
                                  • includes\/languages\/english.php<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                  • categories box for Zen Cart is at
                                    \n                                    includes\/modules\/sideboxes\/categories.php<\/b><\/nobr><\/p>\n
                                      \n
                                    • template at includes\/templates\/template_default\/sideboxes\/tpl_categories.php<\/b><\/nobr><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                    • category_row.php<\/b> seems to be only for index<\/b>, used by
                                      \n                                      includes\/templates\/[TEMPLATE_NAME]\/templates\/tpl_index_categories.php<\/b><\/nobr>…
                                      \nhowever note that this file is only currently included in the template_default<\/i> template<\/li>\n
                                    • can you control which pages have which boxes?\n
                                        \n
                                      • individual boxes code is in includes\/modules\/sideboxes\/*.php<\/b><\/li>\n
                                      • the side boxes use constants defined in includes\/languages\/[LANGUAGE].php<\/b><\/li>\n

                                      • the actual file which renders the boxes is ??<\/li>\n
                                      • if we can find out which file includes the boxes, we will know how it determines
                                        \nwhich boxes run in a given page\/template!<\/li>\n
                                      • under which circumstances does
                                        \nincludes\/modules\/sideboxes\/template_default\/[TEMPLATE_NAME]\/???<\/b> run?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                        The Plan<\/h2>\n

                                        Up to now our investigation has been totally speculative and non-invasive. Below we summarize all the changes and the notes:<\/p>\n

                                          \n
                                        1. put all the application-specific PHP routines in a single file, and have it included at the end of application_top.php<\/b>\n
                                            \n
                                          1. initially this will just define small functions which output store-specific strings<\/li>\n

                                          2. Database accessing functions will initially output dummy text<\/li>\n
                                          3. planned functions:\n
                                              \n
                                            1. getConnection()<\/b> gets a vanilla database connection<\/li>\n
                                            2. getSmallPromoText()<\/b> generates the short text-only version of the current promotion<\/li>\n
                                            3. makeHeaderPromo()<\/b> incorporates that short text into header HTML<\/li>\n
                                            4. getLargePromo()<\/b> generates HTML for the larger version of the promotion<\/li>\n
                                            5. getRandomSplash()<\/b> returns HTML for a random product image, for use in a splash image<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                            6. copy template fileset; rename and modify color scheme and look and feel\n
                                                \n
                                              • for example, templates\/blue_strip<\/b><\/nobr> is the main area for “blue_strip”<\/li>\n
                                              • see also languages\/blue_strip<\/b><\/nobr> for ???<\/li>\n
                                              • see also modules\/sideboxes\/template_default\/blue_strip<\/b><\/nobr> for ???<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n

                                              • change the header:<\/p>\n
                                                  \n
                                                1. integrate logo top into left side of header navigation<\/li>\n

                                                2. add call to action to navigation header (if there’s room!)<\/li>\n
                                                3. modify banner design to match non-ZenCart version<\/li>\n

                                                  <\/oL><\/li>\n

                                                4. change the footer:
                                                  \n
                                                    <\/p>\n
                                                  1. eliminate old content<\/li>\n
                                                  2. make bottom navigation links to major site areas<\/li>\n
                                                  3. add contact info (phone numbers) and bottom stripe<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                                  4. make templates for all static content – for each new mostly-static page create:\n
                                                      \n
                                                    1. includes\/modules\/pages\/[NAME OF PAGE]<\/b> to define the page-specific variables… which could be a 2-line header_php.php<\/b><\/li>\n
                                                    2. includes\/languages\/[LANGUAGE]\/[TEMPLATE NAME]\/[NAME OF PAGE]<\/b> which has the actual text of the center pane<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                                                    3. include links to static pages in “information” panel<\/li>\n
                                                    4. not sure if changing tpl_main_page.php<\/b> is even necessary!<\/li>\n
                                                    5. Make a combined “categories\/search” sidebox<\/lI>\n
                                                    6. Make a new “promotions” sidebox :\n
                                                        \n
                                                      1. uses routines defined in PHP included by application_top.php<\/b>, above<\/li>\n

                                                      2. links to the seasonal items, or the custom items<\/li>\n
                                                      3. possibly just hack this as a 0% sale<\/li>\n
                                                      4. If there is room, make a text-only version which says the next major holiday and
                                                        \ntext incorporating the number of days remaining… this is to be used in the navigation header<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                                        <\/lI><\/p>\n

                                                      5. add images for products and categories; populate\n
                                                          \n
                                                        • images should be proportioned to scale down to 100×80 <\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                                        • deploy store<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                                          I installed Zen Cart on a client’s machine… installation was a breeze the problem is it is very easily ideifiable as a Zen Cart… which is bad for a professional site. Everything should look home-grown The client has an existing site which doesn’t really fit with the Zen Cart presentation style. So I have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-looky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}