Text for Category

[Guest Denver Dave]

Once we click on a category and display the public product list for the category, the category image may be displayed if we have one, but I don't see a way to collect or display text for the category.

Since we are looking at using the category to define the basic product and will have many products for different sizes to allow us to track stock levels, it would be useful to give information about the general category (for example a certain type of shoe) and not have to repeat it on every one of the 12 products listed - size 1, size 2, size 3, through size 12.

Any ideas?

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found this mod - investigating:

http://www.cubecart.com/site/forums/index.php?showtopic=9032

[Guest tbladecki]

The topic that you found will correct this issue. If you take a look at my site I currently use the same MOD for my decriptions

[roban]

Here's a thought. Using paintshop pro (or your favorite image editor) create a jpeg for each category with only text. Make it 300 x 60 px and experiment with size, font, background colors, etc. Then upload to admin\view categories\edit\upload image

[Guest Denver Dave]

Thanks for the feedback - both good ideas.

I think I'll look at the mod so that it is easier to make text changes.

[Guest Denver Dave]

Looks like there may be an issue with the mod and displaying the higher level categories as links. See:

http://www.cubecart.com/site/forums/index....t=0entry50802

tbladecki - looks like you may have the same issue with the category paths not displaying, although your description seems to be there.

[Guest Denver Dave]

I've got the category description saving in the database as evidenced by being able to pull it up and edit the description again. However, it doesn't seem to want to display on the website when the category is displayed. Seems like I'm either not defining the macro correctly or not requesting it correctly. I'm not very familiar with how .tpl files work, what is the easiest way to trouble shoot this back?

[Guest tbladecki]

Post a copy of the code so that we can take a look at it. If everything else is written and posted correctly then this should be a simple fix.

[Guest Denver Dave]

Here is the code that effects the category path:

Before: $view_cat->assign("CURRENT_DIR",getCatDir($currentCat[0]['cat_name'],$currentCat[0]['cat_father_id'], $currentCat[0]['cat_id'], $link=TRUE));

gives:

Products in: /Candles/Aromatherapy/Bergamot Lime

with the first 2 levels being links

After:

$view_cat->assign("CURRENT_DIR",getCatDir($currentCat[0]['cat_name'],$currentCat[0]['cat_desc'],$currentCat[0]['cat_father_id'], $currentCat[0]['cat_id'], $link=TRUE));

gives:

Products in: /Bergamot Lime

does not show the two cateories above

Is the above code trying to assign a value for the "CURRENT_DIR" element of the $view_cat array using a getCatDir function? If so, what does the cat_desc have to do with this?

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Here are the directions from the .html file:

Find:

$view_cat->assign("CURRENT_DIR",getCatDir($currentCat[0]['cat_name'],$currentCat[0]['cat_father_id'], $currentCat[0]['cat_id'], $link=TRUE));

Replace it with:

$view_cat->assign("CURRENT_DIR",getCatDir($currentCat[0]['cat_name'],$currentCat[0]['cat_desc'],$currentCat[0]['cat_father_id'], $currentCat[0]['cat_id'], $link=TRUE));

[Guest Denver Dave]

Sorry, kind of talking to myself here. Trying to track down why the category text is not showing up. In viewCat.inc.php about line 194, I placed the following code:

//**** davehack category text

$view_cat->assign("TXT_CAT_DESC",$currentCat[0]['cat_desc']);

echo 'category description= ' . $currentCat[0]['cat_desc'] . '<br>';

with the following result on the web page which is correct:

category description= 100% soy wax, 100% essential oils, and fragrant oils create a cleaner burning candle.

Now I'm not sure how to test if the $view_cat array was populated properly.

I think I've added the {TXT_CAT_DESC} and I placed an html comment right before it which is present in the generated html which leads me to believe I modified the correct .tpl file:

<!-- davehack category text -->

I'm using the Killer skin - maybe that is making a difference?

Any suggestions how to track down where the category description is disappearing?

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Wait got categories to work. Depends where I put the {TXT_CAT_DESC} in the .tpl file. Parser must be using the comments:

<!-- BEGIN: view_cat -->

<div class="boxContent">

<span class="txtContentTitle">{TXT_CAT_TITLE}</span>

<br clear="all" />

{TXT_CAT_DESC}Description here<br>

<!-- BEGIN: sub_cats -->