product by brand (2 sections or using search results page)?

[bangers]

Need this confirmed really to put my mind at rest so replies from Actinic regulars only will put an end to my search.

Without creating duplicate products is there a better way of showing a group of products by brand (which normally fall into various sections of the site catalog) than using the search results page via a hard coded link that would look a bit like this: http://www.mysite.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss00...ame&PR=-1&TB=A ?

I've looked everywhere, the AUG KB & other search threads as I thought there would be a solution by now using another solution like a custom variable, custom search properties or a way of generating custom lists like the best sellers list.

My site uses the brand name in the title of every product which is why the search string would produce a list by brand but it is a bit clumsy and I wondered if there was a more search engine friendly method of achieving a better a result rather than a link that has to go through the cgi-bin.

Any help as always appreciated,
regards
bangers

[pinbrook]

i am pretty sure we did the search by brand at venus365 dot co dot uk with customvars

[bangers]

Thanks Jo,
Unless someone tell's me otherwise I think that is the way I will have to go.

I know many would like a solution to this ongoing flaw in the actinic setup, hopefully at some point actinic will develop a solution other than duplicate products which carries with it it's own problems so I try to avoid at all costs.

Thanks

Lee

[NormanRouxel]

See http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=31559 (posts 8 and 9) for a method of turning the search results into a full list of buyable product layouts.

[bangers]

Hi Norman,
Thanks for the help, I'll give it a go, I did see this post but didn't think it would be relevant as I thought it was just a way to get the cart button through to the search results I'll let you know how I get on and if forms the solution to my problem,
Cheers
lee

[bangers]

Just got this working using Gab's tutorial for creating lists by brands:
http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=35136

The great thing being that the list create without having to go through the cgi bin on the site so should do great with the search engines.

For my brands I created a list of choices (rather than Gab's instructions to type into a text field.)

I then created a new layout type and set to "popup".
Under this I created a new layout for every brand (with block if statements set to block if equal to "Brand choice").
I editted layout details and set the extended info page file name to one of my choice: brand1.html, brand2.html etc etc.

I then created a selector which I added in my search page so the popup pages would be created and uploaded to the site.

Finally I created a new brochure page for each brand and had the coresponding brand list appear in the inner layout of the page by calling a ssi within a fragment:

!!<<?php include('aquasphere-products.html'); ?>>!!

so a bit of an amalgamation of ideas but works perfectly to create a page for each brand without using duplicate products anywhere.
regards
Bangers

[completerookie]

Lee
Good to see Gabe's tutorials are already paying off and that you have a link across to other users to show them how you arrived at the solution.

[gabrielcrowe]

Inventive use, good example. If you expend on the technique, or come up with something, dont hesitate to mail me or post it someplace, so others can share.

[bangers]

Gab,
It really is great I will post an example here whenI have finished and the site is in a live state (at the moment it may confuse some as the site needs much work elsewhere).

It gives you so many options, for instance one of my "brands" has about 90% of the products in the catalog, rahter than list them all I have been selective with the products I assign to the group so the page doesn't become too unwieldy. Wouldn't have been able to do this through a search method.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted with further progress,
regards
bangers

[gabrielcrowe]

bangers you bitch! how on earth did you get an animated avatar.

i'm calling shenanigans!

I had to REMOVE the animation on my bloody avatar before i uplaoded it.

pfft;

[nileshpa]

Need further clarification

Lee (Bangers)

Its impressive what you have achieved and got rid of duplicates from the website. I'm building my first website and do want to prevent using any duplicates on the site.
Conceptually, I understand what you have done, but my lack of indepth knowledge of Actinic is preventimg me to fully implement this workaround. Therefore,can I ask if you could please expand on the following bits of the procedure.

Q1. "Under this I created a new layout for every brand (with block if statements set to block if equal to "Brand choice")."

Is "Brand Choice" , the user defined variable that is created holding the list of predefined choices. If so, assumming the layout is brand1.html, then what does your blockif statement look like.

Q2. "I then created a selector which I added in my search page so the popup pages would be created and uploaded to the site."

The Search page you set up, is this the same as what Gabrial did on his tutorial?

Q3. "Finally I created a new brochure page for each brand and had the coresponding brand list appear in the inner layout of the page by calling a ssi within a fragment: "

Where do you actually put te statement within the fragment

Thanks in advance for your help

Nilesh

[bangers]

If it is your first attempt at a site I'd worry about the rest of the site working first, don't run before you can walk. But here goes:

Is "Brand Choice" , the user defined variable that is created holding the list of predefined choices.

Yes.

If so, assumming the layout is brand1.html, then what does your blockif statement look like.

Important bit is:
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22Boxhedge%20Brands%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20yourbrandamehere" >your layout here</block>

here's my actual layout, I'm not going to explain it all as there are many more custom settings but you can pick out what you need:

<div id="brandlist">
<actinic:block type="EntireSectionList" >
<actinic:block type="ProductList" >
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22Boxhedge%20Brands%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20yourbrandamehere" >
<div class="searchlists"><actinic:variable name="BoxhedgeTags" />
<div class="searchimg"><a href="<actinic:variable name="SearchCGIURL" />?PRODREF=<actinic:variable Name="ProductID" />&amp;NOLOGIN=1
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsHostMode%22%20%2f%3e">&amp;SHOP=<actinic:variable name="ShopID" />
</actinic:block>"><img src="s_<actinic:variable name="ProductImageFileName" />"
alt="<actinic:variable name="ProductName" />"
width="150"
border="0"
/></a></div>
<br><a href="<actinic:variable name="SearchCGIURL" />?PRODREF=<actinic:variable Name="ProductID" />&amp;NOLOGIN=1
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsHostMode%22%20%2f%3e">&amp;SHOP=<actinic:variable name="ShopID" />
</actinic:block>"><actinic:variable name="ProductName" /></a>
<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22RRP%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
<span class="rrp">rrp - &pound;<actinic:variable name="RRP" /></span>
</actinic:block>
<span class="price">our price - &pound;<actinic:variable name="ProductPriceRaw" />
</span>
<br /><br />
</div>
</actinic:block>
</actinic:block>
</actinic:block>
</div>

The Search page you set up, is this the same as what Gabrial did on his tutorial?

Don't know what Gab did. The search page is just a normal search page. The reason I add reference to the selector on the search page is so that actinic will action the creation of the "popup" brand pages. The search page is a good page to choose as it is a one off unlike a product or section page which are infinite. You could add the selector to the home page I guess it's up to you.

Where do you actually put the statement within the fragment

In the text area. Mine looks like this:
!!<<?php include(your-popup-brand-pagename.html'); ?>>!!

Yours might use a standard shtml ssi..just change code accordingly.

regards
bangers

[nileshpa]

Lee (Bangers),

Many thanks for providing the info.
At present, I'm just going through it & getting the gist of what the workaround is doing and how it will fit together. Its still a big learning curve for me and therefore will only implement it when I'm quite comfortable with it.

Thanks & Kind Regards
Nilesh

[bangers]

working version

Just gone live with http://shop.swimmingwithoutstress.co.uk...finally!

working version of what I describe above. Just click on one of the brand logos at the top of the page to see the results.
regards
bangers

p.s Thanks again Gab

[RHibberd]

Please be patient!

Hi Lee

I'm trying to create a shop by brands list just like you've managed to do so elegantly but following your instructions I get two errors when I try to upload to the site.

When the upload is "generating marketing lists" I get two alert dialogue boxes stating "No error occurred" which is nice but possibly not quite true! Then when the upload is reviewing site files it tells me that two files don't have unique filenames and these are the two filesnames I've given when I created the new layout for each brand and set the extended info page filename to one of my choice, in this case bseen.html and bdri.html.

I'm obviously going wrong somewhere but i'm not sure where. I think it's probably on the search page because I don't really understand what I shoudl be adding there.

I created a selector and added the two new layouts as values then switched to design view and added each of the layouts to the search page. Is that right?

I'd really appreciate some guidance.

Many thanks

Ruth