Sub Sections on Product page

[wduk]

Hello everybody,

I am currently working on a new site and have a couple of questions for you:

The site currently has 3 main sections accessible from the homepage.

Each section has some sub sections

therefore we are now:

Catalog > Main section > Sub Section > Product.

I wanted to display a list of all the products available in the Sub Section on the product page. Is it possible?

I also wanted to display this list on the Sub Section page itself but as a list on the side (text only) and still have the main body of the page being populated through the original Act_SectionLine (pic + text)
I called the NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLISTTOP but it has the same format as the Act_SectionLine page therefore it's either all pic+txt or txt only.

Is it possible to have both format on the page?

Thanks

Leo

[cdicken]

I wanted to display a list of all the products available in the Sub Section on the product page. Is it possible?

Could you clarify what you mean by the 'Product Page'.

Is it possible to have both format on the page?

If you look at the 'Clean Layouts', they have a top-level section list (your three main sections) in the side-bar and then the sub-sections appear in the main body of the page. The variable for these top-level section links is NETQUOTEVAR:TOPLEVELSECTIONSTOP and the template for these is controlled in 'Design | Options | Layouts'.

That gives you a second option for laying out sections, but it will probably not be what you need. There is no variable for including a list of actual products into the HTML.

[wduk]

If you look here (it's not my site but it was posted yesterday and it reflects what I wanted to achieve):

http://knit1.hazelhost.co.uk/shop/needlework.html

on the side you have all the sub-categories of the needlework category as a list and still get pics and description in the middle

Should I create each product individually into a sub section to have this?
(that was for the second question)

[cdicken]

In the site you mention, the 'Browse Needlework' links you mention are simply a list of the sub-sections that are within the current section. The designer has just used a very simple bulletted section list, rather than the larger section link templates that we are used to.

Sub section lists are included with NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLISTTOP

[wduk]

Sub section lists are included with NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLISTTOP

I know but if I modify the Act_SectionLine.html the products in the middle will also appear in a bulleted list

How can I display 2 wersion of the Act_SectionLine.html on the same page?

Leo

[cdicken]

True enough. If you are feeling au fait with JavaScript you can include the variable NETQUOTEVAR:CHILDSECTIONS_RAW in your overall layout template (under the line that says <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" SRC="actinicextras.js" TYPE="text/javascript"></SCRIPT> in it). This becomes an array of the sub-sections in the current section e.g.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" TYPE="text/javascript">
<!--
var child_sections = new CreateArray(5);
child_sections[1].sName = "Basic Products";
child_sections[1].sURL = "Basic%5fProducts%2ehtml";
child_sections[1].sImage = "section_image.gif";
child_sections[1].nSectionId = "2";
child_sections[1].nImageWidth = "24";
child_sections[1].nImageHeight = "24";
child_sections[2].sName = "Products with a Range of Options";
child_sections[2].sURL = "Products%5fWith%5fChoices%2ehtml";
child_sections[2].sImage = "section_image.gif";
child_sections[2].nSectionId = "3";
child_sections[2].nImageWidth = "24";
child_sections[2].nImageHeight = "24";
child_sections[3].sName = "Products with Optional Extras";
child_sections[3].sURL = "Products%5fwith%5fOptional%5fExtras%2ehtml";
child_sections[3].sImage = "";
child_sections[3].nSectionId = "5";
child_sections[3].nImageWidth = "0";
child_sections[3].nImageHeight = "0";
// -->
</SCRIPT>

Include code like this underneath it to lay it out as bulletts...

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE = JavaScript>
<!--
function BulletList(pItem)
{
var strIDs = '<ul>';
  {
  for (var i = 1; i <= pItem.length; i++)
    {
    strIDs += '<li><a href=' + pItem[i].sURL + '>'+ pItem[i].sName + '</a></li>';
    }
  }
strIDs += '</UL>'
return strIDs
}
-->
</SCRIPT>

and then place the following code where you want the list to appear in the sidebar..

<script language=Javascript1.2>
	document.write(BulletList(child_sections)) 
</script>

[wduk]

Again the only problem with this method is the spiderability of the links.

Will have a play around.

Thanks,

Leo