Display Product marked with custom variable on homepage

[Eddyster]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong subforum.

I've done some searching on the issue, but I can't find a solution. Basically I want to display on the homepage the product marked 'true' (on a custom variable, 'front page product').

I followed the instructions here but Actinic just hangs for 5 minutes after updating or applying.

If you need any more info please let me know!

Thanks in advance
Edd

[Eddyster]

Update: Apparently the hang is something to do with 'entiresectionlist'. Forum search has been pretty unhelpful so far... can anyone shed light on the issue?

[leehack]

Best thing to do is detail what you have done, rather than expect people to go read some other thread to find that info out. If that thread details what you have done, then either add your own woes to that thread, thus not diluting the search that as you already point out is not great, or add the details into your thread. It's no wonder noone has bothered, too much hassle to try and help.

[fergusw]

As Lee says, without more information on exactly what you are trying to achieve then it makes it very difficult to answer.

A an example here's a stab at one possible interpretation of your request. It may or may not help.

Drop this into a custom fragment layout and select that fragment layout on a fragment on the home page.
This also assumes you have created a variable called 'ShowOnFrontPage'

<actinic:block type="EntireSectionList" >
    <actinic:block type="ProductList" >
            <actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22ShowOnFrontPage%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20true" >
            <actinic:variable name="ProductName" /> <br/>
        </actinic:block>    
    </actinic:block>
</actinic:block>

[Eddyster]

fergusw: Thanks for the helpful reply. What you've suggested is exactly what I've done, as per instructions detailed in Actinic's own knowledge database (which I linked to).

Please excuse the frustration in my posts.

You have correctly interpreted what I want to do - create a custom 'list' (of only one item) and display it on the front page. I have created a custom variable called 'front page product', and assigned it to one product in our database. I then inserted the code you have supplied (that supplied by the KB) into the front page, with the 'if' function limiting to front page product == true. Within this block I've placed the design I'm after (including product name etc).

However, with this code on the page, Actinic (v9.0.4) hangs/stalls for 20-30 seconds after clicking 'apply', 'preview' or even just selecting the front page in the content tree. There is no hang if I remove any one of the 'blocks' I previously created. All other pages behave as normal (minimal hang).

Surely the problem lies in the fact that the page is querying the entire product database: entire section list, then the entire product list for each section, then finally limiting by 'front page product'. Is there not a simple way to avoid this? The other product pages don't exhibit this hang (not that i've tried them with this code); are they using a different method?

Before I updated yesterday (in version 9.0.2) Actinic hung for 2 minutes or more each time.

Thanks again

Lee, I apologise for my initial clearly frustrated post. I was ignorant to the lack of sufficient information in my post. That said, I found your own response bitey and tactless.

[fergusw]

Surely the problem lies in the fact that the page is querying the entire product database: entire section list, then the entire product list for each section, then finally limiting by 'front page product'. Is there not a simple way to avoid this? The other product pages don't exhibit this hang (not that i've tried them with this code); are they using a different method?

You are correct in your assumption - because this is on the home page, and not a specific section page, Actinic has no reference to products it should be displaying. The only way it can access the products in the store is to loop through all the products.

A possible alternative would be to use New product or Best Sellers lists. If you already use these lists then you can extend their functionality and effectively split them i.e. Best Sellers 1~5 appear in usual best seller list, Best Sellers 6~10 appear in your own custom list. There are some forum posts/articles detailing how to do custom lists like this.
This gets around the main issue of propagation time and allows you to use Actinic's own interface for selecting the products to appear, instead of using custom variables at product level.
Hope this helps

[Eddyster]

Thanks for that - very helpful info.

If you happen to remember where the custom list tutorials are let me know; given my history with forum searching it'll probably turn messy quickly.

[fergusw]

Try this thread to point you in the right direction.

[Eddyster]

Sterling - job done.

Cheers again.