Automatically create Section images from 1st product with a jpg image.

[leehack]

If you add an image to a top level section, it cascades down to the sections within it automatically, maybe you can use that to your advantage.

[NormanRouxel]

This tweak is ideal and intended for SPP type sites.

Instead of having to find a Section image for every product you only need to supply product images.

Top and intermediate level Sections shouldn't be much concern as there will be far fewer of these than products.

[BodyBits]

The top image section is a good idea..I will start with this..but does not resolve really the problem, as I have products in 4 to 5 level down the tree, and I fear customers on large sites will get fed up clicking further down with the same image everytime..

Just a thought here ..could it be possible to use a blockif along these lines in order to fill up the section image tree going upside rather than downward ? like ...

<blockif>SectionLevelisgreaterthan1 AND SectionImageFilename == DefaultSectionImage then Use subsectionimage</block> ?

If feasable, can someone help putting this the right way, as I am still learning here ?

Thanks in advance..

[pinbrook]

to fill up the section image tree going upside rather than downward

surely that is what Norman's code does? if there was a simpler method i am sure Norman would have found it

[NormanRouxel]

as I have products in 4 to 5 level down the tree

That seems way too deep for me. Consider simplifying your Section structure, rather than writing very complex code.

[BodyBits]

I already thought of that Norman...and I have simplified as much as I can ..the problem is that body jewellery is so vast..and I wanted to keep Single Product per page, as it seems to be the way to go for SEO point of view (froogle, etc..)..

check it if you want at http://www.bijoux-piercing-france.com in French..(which have all the section pictures added manually)... I would like to add the same products to http://www.body-piercing-jewellery.net which is a english version of my sites.

Look into the tree of both sites, you will see what I mean..I had the choice to choose to organise either by piercing, by product material, jewelled or non jewelled, colours, etc...so many different things..it is endless..

So I am creating custom variable for everything, and will make a search page as useful as I can..

I have visited your site, and there are plugins that I might be interested in, but not sure how much work it would involve implementing them when you see the amount of products I have (and keep adding..)

[BodyBits]

Ooops sorry, forgot the index.html in the url http://www.body-piercing-jewellery.net/index.html

[BodyBits]

I had another try at cutting corners by trying to import top level section with their repective images..no luck!

Question if you don't mind guys: why the hell can't we import uppel level section images from a flat file ?

If you don't have a product reference and short description with a price, it is not possible!

Is there a way of filling the section images of the upper levels via import ?

I already tried external linking...no success, there are no SectionImage field in there..

Is it something to ask to Actinic for christmas ?

[BodyBits]

And I tried this too, following Gabs Tutorial with blockifs..:

<div class="product_list">
<div class="image_product"><a href="<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20AND%0d%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e" ><actinic:variable name="SectionPageName" /></actinic:block><actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29%20OR%0d%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29" ><actinic:variable name="SectionURL" /></actinic:block>" target="_self">
<img alt="<actinic:variable name="SectionName" encoding="strip"/>" src="<actinic:block type="EntireSectionList" ><actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SectionImageFileName%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22%22" ><actinic:block type="ProductList" ><actinic:variable name="ProductThumbnailImageFileName" /></actinic:block></actinic:block></actinic:block><actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SectionImageFileName%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" ><actinic:variable name="SectionImageFileName" /></actinic:block>" border="0" /></a></div>
<div><h3 class="product"><a href="<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20AND%0d%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e" ><actinic:variable name="SectionPageName" /></actinic:block><actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29%20OR%0d%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29" ><actinic:variable name="SectionURL" /></actinic:block>" target="_self"><actinic:variable name='SectionName'/></a></h3></div>
<p><actinic:variable name='SectionDescription'/></p>
</div>


Still not working...?!?*!

[NormanRouxel]

Patrick,

If you double post, post incomprehensible code (try putting it within [ C O D E ] tags), fail to describe what the problem is ("it's not working" is just plain lazy) and expect someone to debug for you, you're not likely to get much of a response.

[BodyBits]

Hi Norman,

sorry, I did not know how to do this..seen codes everywhere here, just did not figure out you had to put the code tags..

And I double post because it was relevant in both sections: here as we are trying to achieve the automatic image filling of the section images..and on the Gab post as I am playing with his tutorial and blockifs..

<div class="product_list">
			<div class="image_product"><a href="<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20AND%0d%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e" ><actinic:variable name="SectionPageName" /></actinic:block><actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29%20OR%0d%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29" ><actinic:variable name="SectionURL" /></actinic:block>" target="_self">
<img alt="<actinic:variable name="SectionName" encoding="strip"/>" src="<actinic:block type="EntireSectionList" ><actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SectionImageFileName%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22%22" ><actinic:block type="ProductList" ><actinic:variable name="ProductThumbnailImageFileName" /></actinic:block></actinic:block></actinic:block><actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22SectionImageFileName%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" ><actinic:variable name="SectionImageFileName" /></actinic:block>" border="0" /></a></div>
			<div><h3 class="product"><a href="<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20AND%0d%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e" ><actinic:variable name="SectionPageName" /></actinic:block><actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsLoginPageSuppressed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29%20OR%0d%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22UnregCustomersAreNotAllowed%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20false%29" ><actinic:variable name="SectionURL" /></actinic:block>" target="_self"><actinic:variable name='SectionName'/></a></h3></div>
			<p><actinic:variable name='SectionDescription'/></p>
		</div>

Still lost in space though...thanks for the reply..nothing worse than being left alone with interrogations..!

[NormanRouxel]

It's best not to ask people to help you by name. Others may assume that you're waiting for that particular person to respond and so they won't bother.

As for me, I feel that you're asking for more to be done for you than is possible for us volunteers so it won't be me that helps.

Let's hope that there's someone out there feeling very generous, highly skilled, and with a few hours to spare.

[BodyBits]

Norman,

Thanks for the other lesson, but I intended to call gab name as my question was related to his post.

As for you:
When you don't know how much work is involved to achieve something, you tend to ask.

I ask simply because I lack of knowledge in Actinic, and thought that perhaps, someone highly skilled will point to a quick solution to solve the problem. I have been with Actinic since version 4! But I have spent (hopefully) more time manufacturing jewellery, not becoming a developper, and from a version to the next, there has been a lot of changes that I did not follow on a day to day basis..

But I bought actinic in the first place as it was meant for people like me..simple to use for the newbie who wants a shop online without html knowledge, create your shop in 15minutes!...today, I am playing with blockifs in version 9.0.2, just because I want to use my thumbnails in the section images? I did not know it was that difficult task, I thought"surely there is a way of doing that simple task, I just don't know enough" !

It is for me difficult to guage what is complicated or not to achieve with actinic, as I find some complicated features are ready to use and on the other hand, some simple ones seem like a mountain to cross! Why don't we have available say 1stSubSectionImageFilename or
1stThumbnailImageFilename variables? Why can't we replace the defaultsection image with
1stSubsectionImageFilename or with any variable? Why can't we just simply import from a flat file the section images a part from the one which have a product ? We can't even link externally with a section image field! All questions that I am stumbling accross..

Of course, if a highly skilled person needs a few hours, I would not pretend they have to do it..me too..I don't work for nothing (or at least try)..I use Jan(mole end) plugins, Teclan's plugins, Andy's plugins, so I know how to put money when need to be..

From what I gathered in your hundreds of helpful posts, you are the guy to contact for any work with perl scripts(way off my league!), and I will surely contact you at some point, but for something a bit more serious than putting thumbnails to section images!

Anyway, thanks for your continued guidance. I take all this as a learning curve...

[NormanRouxel]

Patrick,

Sorry for seeming critical but I did say on my #29 above that you were asking more than was likely to be possible to be done for free on this topic. You then posted another 6 times. Plus the dreaded double-post.

Code is expensive. At a ridiculously cheap £5 per line my original bit of code that I posted (#1 above) is worth £350! If what you want requires only half as much work again we're still into significant costs.

[BodyBits]

Food for thoughts..

Here you go..I am learning again..god ! I did not know the prices..Nevertheless, I would pay happilly that if it was for something else than a simple expected facility that should be (this is my thought) built in with this software really..we have a field within the product for thumbnails, and we have very limited use for it!

I read your post on 29, but really looked hard to see if it was possible to do with blockifs, thinking that you are the perl guy, and that may be the answer might be outside perl....can I be blamed for trying?