Banner Ad Throughout Entire Site

[Jayson Wonder]

Hello All,

 

A quick question regarding the banner ad funtion included with osCommerce. First of all I love it as it is easy to manage and track statistics.

 

The situation is that had banners already in use on the website using a basic php random banner script. Now that I have installed osComernce I want the banners that already exist in the general site to to be the same as the osCommernce / shop banners. I want them both to be tracked and managed buy osCommerce for stats purpose and to allwo my customer the ability to manage the banners from the Admin panel.

 

So far on my own I have figured out that I have 2 options. Both of which I am strugling with.

 

Option 1 - HTML Banner Type:

Use the HTML type banner feature in the osCommnerce banner funtion. I just provide the code to link to the existing random banner ad on the site. This is fine but osCommerce only tracks the number of banner displays, not the clicks. I want all stats to be tracked. I currenty have this code as my HTML banner:

<a href="http://mysite.com/shop"><img src="http://mysite.com/scripts/banner.php" alt="My Banner Ads" / border="0"></a>

 

The help documentation says this:

HTML based banners do not automatically use the Banner URL value and rely on a link provided in the HTML block. Because of this, it may not be possible to track the banner-click statistic of a HTML based banner unless the link points to the banner entry itself, such as:

http://www.my-server.com/redirect.php?action=banner&goto={BANNER_ID}

(where {BANNER_ID} is replaced with the banner ID)

I am confused and do not know what I need to make this work. How can I make my HTML code work?

 

 

Option 2 - Call osCommerce Banner Funtion From Site Pages (prefered):

This is the best adn prefered option becasue I will be able to use Image style banners from osCommerce and track the stats on them each individually. Replace the banner code on my other site pages with code that calls the shop banner funtion. I currently have this code on teh pages outside of my shop:

<a href="http://mysite.com/shop"><img src="scripts/banner.php" alt="My Banner Ads" / border="0"></a>

 

How do I adapt this to call the banner funtion that osCommerce uses display the banner in the shop? All I can find is this in the footer.php file and do not know who to intergrate this in a regular HTML page:

<?php
 if ($banner = tep_banner_exists('dynamic', '468x50')) {
?>

 

Please, any help or advice is appreciated! Hope I never confuse everyone.