Crash Course Contribution adding

[jenkins_atl]

Can someone please give me and all other noobies a crash course in adding contributions to thier site! Ive tried to add drop down menus(cool menu, easy menu) and have destroyed my companies site numerous times! Can someone please help us out!

[♥toyicebear]

1. do not add contributions to a live site, always have a test site handy.

 

 

2. always make backup of original files, before you add a new contrib...

 

If you break something just add your backup files and your site is the same as before.

 

3. Do not use the buildt in filemanager in osCommerce to edit files, it does garble the files..(Due to be fixed in ms3)

 

Download the files via ftp and edit them localy in a text editor for instance this excelent and free one... phpdesigner

 

Othervise just follow the instructions included with the contrib, and always..i stress always backup your database and files before adding the contrib......

 

If it does not work out, then forget it and just restore your site back to your old working order.....

 

 

If you can not get it to work, but still feel an urging need for this particular contrib or special functions.... find someone to do it for you in exchange for a small helpers fee......

 

 

B)

Edited April 7, 2005 by toyicebear

[Jack_mcs]

Contributions are written by different people so the approach is not always the same. Generally speaking though, they will come with files with the changes already in them. You can only use these files if you have not installed another contribution which altered them. Sometimes you won't know so the best approach is to never use the files unless the shop is a new one.

 

If you can't use the files, then you need to go through each file and edit it manually. Some contributions provide instructions on how to do this and some do not. If they do not, then you have to compare each of the supplied files with yours to find the changes needed.

 

In short, you need to read the instructions for each contribution since they will all be different. To avoid breaking your shop, build a test shop to install contributions into before applying them to your main shop. It is very easy to make a mistake while installing a contribution so, as you have learned, it is a bad idea to try to install them into a live shop.

 

Jack