Links could be more useful

[Paddington Bear]

I have a number of CDs in a list. For each one, you can 'add to cart' or click on 'More' to see more details on that particular CD.

How can I set it so that they can click on the picture or the title to go to the same place that the 'More' takes them to?

One is controlled by the 'Link's tab, and one is controlled by the 'Extended Information' tab and they don't seem to allow crossover.

I tried adding the html from the 'More' text to the image HTML but it didn't work. Maybe I did that bit wrong. Any ideas?
(To see it, go here: http://www.ursulajames.com/acatalog/cds.html)

[TraceyG]

Hi Ursula,

Are you using the simple link or the advanced link?

[Paddington Bear]

I'm not Ursula, but that's okay!

I'm currently using the Advanced Link as it allows me to redirect to another page within the catalogue.

Unfortunately, it only allows me to do this using text. (I use the text "More..."). It doesn't allow me to do this using the image or the title from the same product. (Does it?)

Thanks,
Phil (FYI)

[TraceyG]

Sorry Phil (I'm obviously not quite with it today),

If you have been using the simple link then I know how to get that to work but the advanced links are a bit more complicated. Let me have a look at it for you and I'll get back when I have figured it out (or have asked development if I can't).

[Paddington Bear]

Standing by...

[TraceyG]

Hi Phil,

I'm sorry but development cannot see a way to do what you want. As I said before, if you were using the simple link then the way to do it would be:

1. Click on the 'Design Tab'
2. Click on the product image in the preview pane to display the code
3. Locate:

block if
<img src="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageFileName" />"
border="0"
width="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageWidth" />"
height="<actinic:variable name="ProductImageHeight" />"
alt="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" />" />
/block

4. Directly before this code enter:

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22FileURLNotEmpty%22%20%2f%3e" >
<a href="<actinic:variable name="ProductLinkInfo" />">
</actinic:block>

5. Directly after the original code enter:

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22FileURLNotEmpty%22%20%2f%3e" >
</a>
</actinic:block>

6. Enter a URL into the 'File/URL' field in the 'Links' tab (you will have to enter some text to make this field active).

What has happened here is that the hyperlink tags surrounding the information link text now surround the product image. Thus, when people click on the product image in the generated pages, it will take them to the location specified in the File/URL field. The 'block tags' mean that the hyperlink code will only display if there is something entered into the 'File/URL' field.

I'm afraid that the 'advanced links' are more complicated in the way they are constructed and I'm afraid that it just isn't possible to put the link into a layout.

[Paddington Bear]

Solution found

Okay, this is brilliant, and you are, by association, brilliant too.

I can do exactly what I need to do using this, and putting similar code around the product name allows me to make three items clickable: The image, the title and the link text.

There are two considerations (for anyone who wants to use this):

1. The text in the simple link seems to force a line break before it, giving:

blah blah blah.
More...

Whereas in the advanced link it doesnt, so you can have:

blah blah blah. More...

2. You need to specify the url for the page that you want to link to, rather than simply using the lookup list that the advanced link provides.

For a standard kind of setup, this may look like this: "SiteHTML\mypage.html" where mypage.html is the page name you give to the section with the product.

Note that if you haven't given the pages your own names, then they can end up with enormously long, Actinic generated names.

[Paddington Bear]

...and I've just found a fix for point 1. It's just a matter of finding the unwanted <br> in the HTML and removing it.

Job done. To see it in action, go here:

http://www.ursulajames.com/acatalog/cds.html

Clicking on the image, the title or the 'More...' text will all take you to the product page.