Advanced Custimization of certain OSC pages (products_new.php example)

[CLRH2O]

Hello everyone :)

 

I'm working toward the ending stages of development on my label site's OSC install.

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerecordings

 

I've been able to (as you can tell) customize the vast majority of the OSC system - however some pages still elude me.

 

In particular is the "products_new.php" page. What I'm trying to do is have the background of these pages contain my own custom background images and area side and top/bottom images. If you look at the register / logon page you can see what I've done and want to add to the products_new.php document:

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerecordings/login.php

 

As you can see that page has four edge images (left, right, top and bottom) and a static background image of the blue gradient ramp which resides behind all the "MAIN" content generated by OSC for the log in and registration info. That page is working correctly.

 

Now look at my products_new.php page:

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...roducts_new.php

 

As you can tell that does not look the same - it's missing the 5 images which tie in that php's look to the rest of my site. In place of what I want is a stark black background. But here's the rub....I've already added in the HTML code to the products_new.php document in exactly the same fashion as I've added it to the other php documents that have needed it such the login.php example I provided above - but for some reason my additions refuse to display when called to a web browser.

 

Here is a screen shot of the additions I've made which add the images and framing/style I want:

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...w_addedcode.jpg

 

I've searched throughout the entire OSC installation and found two "products_new.php" documents. One in root and another in the includes/languages/english folder. This second file includes only the "define" code which is used in the other document of the same name to pull the code from OSC's mysql database relevant to each page's need:

 

<?php

 

define('NAVBAR_TITLE', 'New Products');

define('HEADING_TITLE', 'New Products');

 

define('TEXT_DATE_ADDED', 'Date Added:');

define('TEXT_MANUFACTURER', 'Manufacturer:');

define('TEXT_PRICE', 'Price:');

?>

 

Now - I know that I can actually edit what is contained within the ' ' marks for each define statement and even add HTML code if I wished. However I cant seem to wrap my head around how this method could ever work considering that the page content of "products_new.php changes on each new ?page= as you move through each of the pages of products.

 

There are also other pages that I have been unsuccessful in adding these style/images changes to - they are:

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...unt_success.php

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...ngs/account.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...ccount_edit.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...ddress_book.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...ook_process.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...nt_password.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...unt_history.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...newsletters.php

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...tifications.php

 

 

For now I'm not asking for help on any of those directly as I?d imagine that once I've figured out products_new.php I?d have the ammunition required to tackle those other ones as well.

 

Any one out there able to give a hand? I'm SERIOUSLY stumped and have been working on this problem for the better part of two weeks while also tying down other loose ends. Any help you can provide me is GREATLY APPRECIATED! :D

[kgt]

The code that displays the border in login.php:

 

<!-- start Default Content //-->
<form name="login" action="http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerecordings/login.php?action=process" method="post">
<TABLE WIDTH="590" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0">
<TR>

	<TD COLSPAN="3">
		<IMG SRC="images/register_login_top.jpg" WIDTH="590" HEIGHT="52"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
	<TD>
		<IMG SRC="images/new_releases_left.jpg" WIDTH="22" HEIGHT="468"></TD>
	<TD WIDTH="545" HEIGHT="468" valign=top background="images/new_releases_background.jpg">
<table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr>

	<td><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2">
	  <tr>
		<td class="main"  valign="top"><b>New Customer</b></td>

 

Doesn't seem to appear in products_new.php:

 

<!-- start Default Content //-->
<table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr>
	<td><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">

	  <tr>
		<td class="pageHeading">New Products</td>
		<td class="pageHeading" align="right"><img src="images/table_background_products_new.gif" border="0" alt="New Products" title=" New Products " width="57" height="40"></td>
	  </tr>
	</table></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
	<td><img src="images/pixel_trans.gif" border="0" alt="" width="100%" height="10"></td>

  </tr>
  <tr>

 

Are you sure you have correctly saved your new products_new.php file to your server? If you have already done login.php, then products_new.php should be a no-brainer...and yes, you are correct to edit the file in your webroot and not the one under languages/english.

[CLRH2O]

RIGHT?!

 

That's exactly what I'm saying is odd about all of this and what has really done my head in. I'm positive that my changes have been made to the live files as I'm using Dreamweaver to edit the LIVE site files on the remote server. There is absolutely no chance what so ever that the changes I've made to products_new.php are not on the remote server. Or for that matter to all the other files I'd listed which also have this problem.

 

I thought it was a no brainer as well.

 

In fact I've made these additions to about 15 other files throughout the site including (but not limited to) login.php, shopping_cart.php, checkout_shipping.php, checkout_shipping_address.php, checkout_payment.php, password_forgotten.php and others....and each one of these with same changes made to the other pages in exactly the same way result in NOTHING of my changes being displayed on screen (or in the source of what comes to a user's browser).

 

Could this in some way have to do with my use of STS 4 Plus? I don?t believe it is, as STS 4 Plus only uses two documents (in my implementation of it) to define the front page "index.php.html" and then the internal pages which uses the other two template file "product_info.php.html"

 

So, yes - the files are live and do contain the code I?ve shown in them. Knowing this what would cause OSC to ignore additions of code added to these particular files and not the others once they are parsed and sent to the browser?

[Wendy James]

This might sound stupid, but have you tried clearing your cache or closing your browser and going back to the site?

Also, you said you are using the template system. Are you sure you are editing the correct page?

 

I know I had a problem way back when when I thought I was editing the template files but was actually editing the main files which resulted in me not seeing any changes. I hate template systems. : )

[CLRH2O]

No suggestion or stone unturned is stupid... And yes, I clean my cache incessenly. This particule problem has been going on for weeks.

 

To add to my previous post reply, yes again - the files are live and do contain the code I?ve shown in them.

 

Knowing this, what would cause OSC to ignore additions of code added to these particular files and not the others once they are parsed and sent to the browser?

 

And lastly, the reason I mentioned the files in the includes/languages/english/modules folder is that - my front page:

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerecordings/index.php

 

has it's "$content" attribute for the "define="TEXT_MAIN" defined by me changing the index.php file contents from the includes/languages/english/modules location in this way:

 

http://www.theforcecollective.com/forcerec...t_addedcode.jpg

 

 

 

All of this made me think that possibly with the pages that are not taking my code additions and parsing them to the browser - that these particular pages for what ever reason need special code changes made in the same way that I had to redefine the $content attribute and it's dependent "TEXT_MAIN".

 

Still totally confused on this one - any more big thinkers out there?

[CLRH2O]

As for the STS files the way I use them I have only two STS files in use: "index.php.html and "product_info.php.html". They are both edited to my need in exactly the same way and have the "$content" tag placed in the main square area of my site where the page content loads.

 

This method requires me to edit each new php document that is called into the $content area by hand. Most work - and the listed ones including the "products_new.php" do not.

 

Truly confusing! :D

[CLRH2O]

What do you think about the possibility of creating completely discrete pages for each of the current pages that are not parsing the way I want them to? Sort of hard coding them? I'd REALLY like to avoid that because the entire point of using a content management and shopping cart system such as OSC is so that you can populate your database and have the content pages generated for the end user.

 

There must be some people on the board here that have done this level of deep custom work in terms of the interface of the OSC presentation who can shed some light.

 

:blink:

[kgt]

What do you think about the possibility of creating completely discrete pages for each of the current pages that are not parsing the way I want them to?

 

This would be utterly pointless to do. If products_new.php does not reflect the change, then

 

1. you have not actually uploaded the file

2. some kind of caching (either server or client/browser) is preventing you from seeing the changes

3. products_new.php is not the code that generates the New Products page for your site.

 

The first one is actually my guess, but it's hard to know for sure. Use another FTP program or your host's file manager (usually found via a control panel) to look at products_new.php and see if your code exists on the server.

[gscreations]

have you made sure that the code has been saved and uploaded correctly ?

what i usually do is type somewhere on the page a load of charaters eg:

 

put on your page somwhere <tr><td>aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa</td></tr>

 

save page offline, then upload, then look at the page to see if those aaa's appeared. Then you would know for sure the page is getting upload and displayed correctly, if it is then you know you have an error in your code somewhere that is preventing the images and styling from working.

 

If it isnt, we can try other things

[CLRH2O]

Yes, I have confirmed that it is indeed updating the files that are used to display to the browser (tested three different docs total in the way you described).

 

It is absolutely 10000% certain that my code is being uploaded to the server.

 

However - the file I've been editing - at least in the case of the products_new.php question (and this will no doubt lead helpfully to solving all the other pages as well) is not the WHOLE page - instead only a portion of the products_new.php that's shown to the browser:

 

I've added this and left it there to illustrate:

<tr><td>aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa</td></tr>

Just as you'd suggested.

 

So, knowing this - what next? If the document "products_new.php" with the huge amount of code in it is'nt the right file to edit for adding my page style and background images (in the fashion that does work for so many other pages) - then what file is it that needs to be edited?!

 

Oh, and BTW, all my paths for the links I have provided to assist in this thread have changed from the root being www.theforcecollective.com to www.forcerecordings.com - so if you need to see the images I posted either change their existing URLs (I have no idea why this board is set up to not let me edit my own posts or I'd have done this myself) or - use these links instead:

 

(starting from the first post and separated by line space thread to thread)

 

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecordings

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecordings/login.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...roducts_new.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...w_addedcode.jpg

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...unt_success.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecordings/account.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...ccount_edit.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...ddress_book.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...ook_process.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...nt_password.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...unt_history.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...newsletters.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...tifications.php

 

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecordings/index.php

http://www.forcerecordings.com/forcerecord...t_addedcode.jpg

[CLRH2O]

Just wanted to pop back in here and tell everyone that I've figured it all out myself. If there happens to be people who need information related to this thread feel free to message me directly via the board and I'll do my best to impart any of the knowledge I've had to figure out on my own to you.