Product Separator problem

[magicalwonders]

Oh dear, I seem to have got myself into a bit of a tangle...

For some reason (which escapes me!) I did away with the Actinic product separator in favour of hard coding my own HR into the Act_productline templates, following Netquotevar: Next.

This seemed to work quite well until I tried applying different layouts to products within the same page. Although the other layouts include my code, the HR no longer shows when following a product with a different layout.

I thought I'd test this out with Actinics automated separator, but I can't remember how I disabled it, and so far have been unable to re-establish it!!

I've had a look through the various templates and found act_product separator, and suspect this is dragged into Act_productline template somehow?

Can anyone point me in the right direction.

I can't give you a url to look at, as my host is upgrading the server - and causing all sorts of issues in the process. Not a good day!!

Many thanks,

Myles

[RuralWeb]

Revert to a previous snapshot and start again

[magicalwonders]

Revert to a previous snapshot and start again

I don't have a snap shot going that far back unfortunately!

I have a copy of all the original templates, but I can't determine which one is bringing in the separator. I've compared templates, but can't see any difference.

Is there a Netquotevar that brings this in?

Myles

[fergusw]

Myles, Are you looking for
NETQUOTEVAR:INCLUDE Act_ProductSeparator.html
NETQUOTEVAR:ENDSEPARATOR

?

Here's a snippet from a standard Actinic Act_ProductLine1.html

<!-- ProductLine1 HTML begin -->
<!-- Insert HTML for the top of the individual product -->
NETQUOTEVAR:INCLUDE Act_ProductSeparator.html
NETQUOTEVAR:ENDSEPARATOR
NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTFORMBEGIN
.
.
.

[fergusw]

Incidentally, the standard content of a default V7 Act_ProductSeparator.html file is

<!-- ProductSeparator HTML begin -->
<!-- This template specifies the product separators -->

<TR><TD COLSPAN="3">NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEBEGINXML<HR SIZE="1" ALIGN="CENTER" WIDTH="100%">NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEENDXML</TD></TR>

<!-- This template specifies the product separators -->
<!-- ProductSeparator HTML end -->

[magicalwonders]

Hi Fergus,

My Act_Productline template shows:

NETQUOTEVAR: ENDSEPARATOR NETQUOTEVAR: PRODUCTFORMBEGIN
<!-- START each product lives in this table - alter below to rearrange items -->

I tried adding in NETQUOTEVAR: INCLUDE Act_ProductSeparator.html but this totally changed my layout, making a very messy page.

I spotted the Act_ProductSeparator.html file a bit too late, after I substituted my own code. Otherwise I should have just edited that and saved myself a bunch of stress.

I'm considering copying the templates I've worked on to another directory, regenerating a new clean layout, and gradually re-introduce my edited templates to see where it breaks.

Anyone got a better idea?

Myles

[fergusw]

Myles,
If you removed the original Actinic product separator to replace with your own hard coded <HR>, then perhaps what you want is to simply change the Act_ProductSeparator.html HTML content to a simple <HR> and nothing else.

If your current Act_ProductSeparator.html is anything like the standard, i.e. full of <TD COLSPAN="3"> etc then this would quote possible damage any customised product layout. Incorrectly nested <tr>'s and <td>'s are often the cause of broken layouts.

[TraceyHand]

agreed..I had to remove the <tr> and <td> tags from a product separator on Jesters because it was really messing up the pages/layout

Added a simple <hr> and it works fine!

[magicalwonders]

Hello Fergus,

I've managed to find an old Act_productLine template that I haven't previously messed with. I can see that is is NETQUOTEVAR: INCLUDE Act_ProductSeparator.html that is bringing in the HR. So I'm not sure why it didn't work when I included this.

full of <TD COLSPAN="3"> etc then this would quote possible damage any customised product layout.

That probably answers my question!

perhaps what you want is to simply change the Act_ProductSeparator.html HTML content to a simple <HR> and nothing else.

Yes, I think that's what I'll do.

Many thanks,

Myles

[magicalwonders]

Thanks Tracey,

Nice avatar btw!

Myles

[RuralWeb]

I don't have a snap shot going that far back unfortunately!

Once you get the site fixed then ensure you do reguar snapshots in case you break it again

[magicalwonders]

"........ensure you do reguar snapshots in case you break it again..."

Absolutely! I have been backing up daily, but then delete anything older than about a week. That still gives me six or seven snapshots on hand.

What happened here was that I didn't realise I'd broken anything as it all seemed to work nicely for a couple of weeks. It was only when trying to mix some different layouts I realised I was in trouble!

Got it all sorted now, as far as HR goes. My server is back in action, I can FTP once more, and the day is ending better than it started!

Thanks for the help.

Myles

[pinbrook]

some of the more neurotic members of this community take snapshots hourly and keep hundreds of them. If you've got the disk space to store snapshots then use it.

[magicalwonders]

some of the more neurotic members of this community take snapshots hourly and keep hundreds of them

Hundreds might be a bit OTT, but I certainly wouldn't want to have to start from scratch!

I've seen a few tales of woe on the forum where people have lost all their work due to computer failure, theft, virus etc.,

I'm going to upload a copy of Site1 to my website and password protect access.

Still not 100% It's always possible that my computer could go up in flames at the same time my webhost goes bust - but hey - that's life!

Myles