Few Questions for V8

[pnagames]

i just download the beta version so i could experience the new features in there.

brilliant work guys. the marketing features are something that i cant wait (till the official release)

few questions for the best sellers and new products function. are those two for the whole store or would we able to specify best sellers / new products for any section that we want?

i am only asking because i have several categories that games are available e.g. pc,ps2,x-box and they have different prices when they are released.

so for my store it would make sense to have a best sellers and a new products part per section. (different products to appear in every section)

if that is not possible with the standard methods you have added would it be possible for me to use code to create them?

[RuralWeb]

It looks like the best sellers will only work for the store as a whole.

[RuralWeb]

Ive noticed also that the best sellers import uses the image defined in the product so if you use an image of say 250 pix width when it is imported into a nav bar of 150 pix then it breaks the template. It looks like it will only work with images about 100 pix width - most sites with single product page will easily exceed this.

[jont]

Mine are using the same default product image but are being re-sized on the fly.

Still not clickable though :(

[RuralWeb]

Must be a option for that I have not selected.

[jont]

It looks like the best sellers will only work for the store as a whole.

Page 10 of the BETA Features Guide suggests they can appear on every or "just on specific pages" which is great news :)

[RuralWeb]

What I ment was that I think that you cannot have different ones on different pages. You can specify on which pages they are placed in Actinic and DW using the DW extension.

[jont]

Aye - re-reading the manual and looking at in inside Actinic the use of the phrase "on specific pages" is actually limited to "homepage", "sections" or "homepage and sections" .... not exactly specific pages.

Probably need to assign new Act_Primaries (or v8 equivalents) to each section and hack the code accordingly

[jont]

... with a note "doesn't change anything in the default Executive theme" !!

[cdicken]

Probably need to assign new Act_Primaries (or v8 equivalents) to each section and hack the code accordinglyYou could edit the 'NewProductListSidebar' layout selector so that it appears in the 'Layout' tab of sections as well as the 'Layout' tab of 'Site Options'.

To do this:

1) Change to the 'Technical' or 'Contemporary' theme (as this does not work in Executive)
2) Go to 'Design | Library | Layouts' and find the 'New Products List' group
3) Double click on the 'NewProductListSidebar' layout selector
4) Under 'Place Of Setting', select 'Section'.
5) Click 'OK'.

You can now vary the appearance of the new products list on a section by section basis. Go to the 'Layout' tab of a section and vary the layout selected in the 'New Products List Layout (For Sidebars)' setting.

[pnagames]

You could edit the 'NewProductListSidebar' layout selector so that it appears in the 'Layout' tab of sections as well as the 'Layout' tab of 'Site Options'.

To do this:

1) Change to the 'Technical' or 'Contemporary' theme (as this does not work in Executive)
2) Go to 'Design | Library | Layouts' and find the 'New Products List' group
3) Double click on the 'NewProductListSidebar' layout selector
4) Under 'Place Of Setting', select 'Section'.
5) Click 'OK'.

You can now vary the appearance of the new products list on a section by section basis. Go to the 'Layout' tab of a section and vary the layout selected in the 'New Products List Layout (For Sidebars)' setting.

Chris thanks for this. i will try during the weekend.

when the v8 go officially live would we have to use the technical or conetmporary themes for the sidebar?

[cdicken]

when the v8 go officially live would we have to use the technical or conetmporary themes for the sidebar?Use whatever theme you like.

If you want to make the layout of the new products list in the executive theme editable via the user-interface then all you need to do is....

1) Change to the 'Design' tab.

2) Click on the 'New Products' heading above the new products list. This should take you into a layout called 'New Products List With Horizontal Dividers'.

3) You now need to go 'up one level' in the design. To do this, click on the icon in the toolbar below the layout code which looks like a yellow spiral with an up arrow.

4) You should then be selecting a purple 'layout selector' that says 'New Products List With Horizontal Dividers'. Right-click on this and select 'Edit Appearance' (check the attached screeenshot)

5) In the 'Edit Appearance' window, go to the 'Fixed Layout' setting, click in the drop down list and select 'No ()'

6) Click 'OK'.

The 'New Products List With Horizontal Dividers' is no longer 'fixed' in the design - and it can now vary according to what is selected in 'Settings | Site Options | Layout'.

[jont]

Ive noticed also that the best sellers import uses the image defined in the product so if you use an image of say 250 pix width when it is imported into a nav bar of 150 pix then it breaks the template. It looks like it will only work with images about 100 pix width - most sites with single product page will easily exceed this.

Malcolm - just noticed the selector Mini New Products Item actually resizes the images on the fly by setting the width="75" against the ProductImageFileName

[RuralWeb]

Thank jont - I will go back and try it again.

[MySweeper]

I assume, being in the U.S., that a beta 8.0 is not available.

I guess, I will assume too, that I cannot download the U.K. version.

Will the U.S. version be available at the same time the U.K. version is released?

[RuralWeb]

just noticed the selector Mini New Products Item actually resizes the images on the fly by setting the width="75" against the ProductImageFileName Got it working now but I notice that although it resizes the image dimensions it does not reduce the file size. If you are using one product per page then the image will be quite large in file size eg 30K so if you are using the new product/best seller side bar then you could end up with some heavy pages if you are not carefull.

[cdicken]

I assume, being in the U.S., that a beta 8.0 is not available.

I guess, I will assume too, that I cannot download the U.K. version.

Will the U.S. version be available at the same time the U.K. version is released?
Edit/Delete MessageThe US version normally is released a couple of weeks after the UK version. Please feel free to download and install the beta version. Although it is a UK version, it will install independently of your v7 version and won't affect it negatively.Got it working now but I notice that although it resizes the image dimensions it does not reduce the file size. If you are using one product per page then the image will be quite large in file size eg 30K so if you are using the new product/best seller side bar then you could end up with some heavy pages if you are not carefull.Good point. If you wanted to use the 'Thumbnail' field for the best sellers/new products, then click on the product name of an item in the new products/best sellers list then replace

<img src="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageFileName" />" width="75" />

with

<img src="<actinic:variable name="ProductThumbnailImageFileName" />" />

[RuralWeb]

Good point. If you wanted to use the 'Thumbnail' field for the best sellers/new products, then click on the product name of an item in the new products/best sellers list then replace I was thinking that may be an answer. If you have a large number of products and dont have thumbnails when you upgrade you will need to create (batch processing these would be strightforward) them prior to using best seller etc.

Would there be a way to populate the thumbnail field without going through every product. It may be worth putting a note in the user guide about this.

Or is there a clever bit of code that could not only resize the image but compress it as well.

[cdicken]

Would there be a way to populate the thumbnail field without going through every product. It may be worth putting a note in the user guide about thisThe really crude way would be to go into the ActinicCatalog.mdb file and copy and paste the product image column in the Products table over the thumbnail column.

I think Norman is looking at an automatic image resizer using PHP here (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=22153) - although I might have misunderstood.

[RuralWeb]

I think Norman is looking at an automatic image resizer using PHP here - although I might have misunderstood. I think that is just to shorten the long product description so it fits into the side bar. BUT I am sure a man of normans skills will sort it - it would be nice if there was a solution to do both then you need not worry about what you put in the product tab.

[jont]

<img src="<actinic:variable name="ProductThumbnailImageFileName" />" />

Using the Blockif functions how would this be setup to only show a thumbnail image if one is specified against the product and be removed if no thumbnail image is available thereby preventing the empty image placeholder?

[jont]

Sorted :

Design | Library | Conditions > right click over "site" create new condition

Label as IsThumbnailAvailable and enter the text dscriptions

Condition : = ProductThumbnailImageFileName == true

Create a new condition around the <img> code as previous post

use : IsThumbnailAvailable > 0

[NormanRouxel]

Re Automatic image resizer. That's easy to do. The PHP that's embedded into the Actinic App has the necessary GD image manipulation library available.

I can use that to process an image file and creat a new file containing a smaller image.

What I dont (yet) know how to do is to add this new image filename to the list of files that Actinic will then automatically upload.

If anyone has any input on this it would be very useful.

[jont]

Norman did you see Chris' post #11 http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=22153

[cdicken]

Hi John

You could also use

ProductThumbnailImageFileName != ""

Which means 'only show this code if the 'Thumbnail' field has been filled in'

[jont]

Thanks Chris - databases are whole new venture (I still use Lotus Approach 97!!!) ... I was on the right tracks just going the scenic route :)