help needed - product image as html link

[nobby]

HI, I am new to this product and am currently trialing it.
I have imported products into the application with no problem.
However, I can only see an option to select a picture using the *browse* button to locate a file.

I need the product picture to be displayed from another website ( URL hyperlink) - dont confuse this with creating a clickable link but showing the product image from a link http://bla bla/image1.jpg

All my products have an id number and relate to my suppliers id no and thus image - http://bla bla /id no.jpg

If you see my meaning.
Any help appreciated. I dont want to download over 3000 images and manually add them to each product

[NormanRouxel]

You won't be able to use Actinic's Image entry fields for this. However there are several ways. Here's 2.

1) Create a Custom Property called (say) EXTIMAGE, now in your Product Template where you want that image to show put CUSTOMVAR:EXTIMAGE. Finally for each such product set the Custom Property to <img src="http://etc.etc.jpg">

2) This could work really well. You say that all your product have external images that match their product references. Then, in your Product Template where you want that image to show, put

<img src="http://externalsite.com/directory/NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE.jpg">

so that product reference xyz-17 will generate an image tag like

<img src="http://externalsite.com/directory/xyz-17.jpg">

Bingo! All your images appear as if by magic.

If you don't understand my references to Custom Properties and Product Templates then the Actinic Help will get you going.

[webyourbusiness]

actinic's not designed for this - so the way round this - at first look, isn't that simple...

however, this is how I'd do it...

1. alter the code for the product image template to hard-code the suppliers address APART from the image name
2. copy a single pixel image for each image name that you want to use
3. select as normal, even though it's a single pixel on the local hard drive
4. let Actinic replace 123.jpg with http://mysupplier.com/123.jpg because the url code is found in the template

alternative...

1. copy a single pixel image for each image name that you want to use
2. select as normal, even though it's a single pixel on the local hard drive
3. let Actinic replace 123.jpg with http://mysupplier.com/123.jpg because the url code is found in the template
4. maintain a list of images used and use .htaccess 301 redirect like this:

/acatalog .htaccess

redirect 301 /acatalog/123.jpg http://mysupplier.com/123.jpg

This would mean that requests to your server are redirected to your supplier.

Of course - this whole scenarios actually harms you in the search engines, as your content is not really your content...

regards

Greg Hewitt-Long

[webyourbusiness]

on the other hand...

1. use the single pixel image without a reference to your supplier...
2. upload your catalog
3. remove all the images
4. use a server side script on 404 error status to fetch the image from your supplier and output it
5. ftp the images down to your machine (at which point Actinic will certainly upload them again

Honestly - you seem to be making a bigger rod for your own back than biting the bullet and putting the images in place - can't you import them from a spreadsheet or something?

[webyourbusiness]

both norman and my first methods go horribly wrong if you hard-code http and use https on the whole site - don't use https for anything except checkout if you hard-code external URLs.

[NormanRouxel]

I rather like my second idea.

It's very easy to implement but:

Your sites images are at the mercy of your suppliers server.

As mentioned, if you try to make all your entire site secure (https) your customers will get the dreaded "This page contains secure and insecure items" warning on every page they look at.

[webyourbusiness]

I rather like my second idea.

It's very easy to implement but:

Your sites images are at the mercy of your suppliers server.

yep - not a great situation, but workable I guess... 404's won't show up in your logs, but your suppliers - so you have no method of knowing if the image goes missing.

As mentioned, if you try to make all your entire site secure (https) your customers will get the dreaded "This page contains secure and insecure items" warning on every page they look at.

You second method is rather similar to my first - apart from it fails if there are any product without images... it's less flexible than my first where no image being entered in the Actinic product details produces no image - however, my method is considerably more work.

[nobby]

Thanks

thanks guys
Can't wait t try it out, yes I understand the principles of what you are saying (understanding the logic) . I'll have a go this weekend.

As for pictures not showing at mercy of another site - in a way thats good for me as I am just setting up a drop-shipping store - ie me holding no stock, so when they are out of stock or they delete an item, it would be very easy for me to spot and thus A customer would probably not order it

[nobby]

ooOOOoo JUST A THOUGHT THOUGH!!!!

although all the above sounds feasible..
What happens when I want to put an item on with a site hosted picture.
There will then be a valid image selected using the browse for picture optin , then a URL in the code looking for a product ID that does not exist on the other domain.... hmmm


Also... in reply to a previous post **bite the bullet **
I have over 3000 product , both have 2 images per product. Can you imagine sitting downloading every image then clicking through 3000 products and assigning a picture to them all. Very long winded, would take weeks!

>>>> CONTD

<img src="http://externalsite.com/directory/NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE.jpg">


OK - - >> regarding the image referance above. This works fine if I insert this line into the productline layout but if i add this to the product image template it does not work - I am not sure which to add it to.


Anyway - I now have the problem of that if I add a product that does not have an external image and I actually stock the item...then what - the change will not dispaly the pictures I include will it but will look externall for the link. Bugger!

[webyourbusiness]

lol - if you are to input all those images manually, yes, it would take ages - however, I'd work smart, not long...

The following assumes you have SSH ability on your linux server (if you are NOT in this situation, perhaps find a 'doze alternative):

First - make a spreadsheet with all the product references in column A:A of a spreadsheet

second - enter the following into column B:B and copy/paste down all 3000 rows

="wget http://www.externalsite.com/folder/"&A:A&".jpg;"

This produces a list of wget commands to fetch the images from your external site, to your local web server

Copy this list to a text file -name it something like getexternalimages.txt - ftp it to your linux web host

ssh to the web host

type:

/bin/sh ./getexternalimages.txt

Your server will fetch all 3000 images

ftp them down to your machine

Create ANOTHER spreadsheet to update the product details with with the image... save as CSV - import into Actinic using flat-file input format.

This would be perhaps an hour, or two's work - not a week!

I think I could probably get it done in 20 minutes, but I'm familiar with my tools - the wgets are the longest portion, but I'd be working on my Actinic update spreadsheet while that ran...

hth

Greg

[NormanRouxel]

What happens when I want to put an item on with a site hosted picture.

Just use a different Product Template for remote and hosted items.

[webyourbusiness]

NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREF isn't parsed and replaced with the correct product reference in Act_ProductImage.html - that's limiting... it IS parse at the productline level... that's incredibly annoying...

I know Brian Johnson at Sure Solutions created a v6 Netquotevar dictionary - does anyone know if this has been updated for v7 at all?

[NormanRouxel]

You'd use my <img src="http://externalsite.com/directory/NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE.jpg"> in your alternative product template in place of NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTIMAGE (which you should comment out).

If you really need to get at a NETQUOTEVAR that isn't valid e.g. NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE into Act_ProductImage.html, then you'll have to use cumbersome JavaScript to set a temporary variable in the Product Template, and then document.write it in the other template. Make sure you set the variable before calling the offending template.

[webyourbusiness]

If you really need to get at a NETQUOTEVAR that isn't valid e.g. NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE into Act_ProductImage.html, then you'll have to use cumbersome JavaScript to set a temporary variable in the Product Template, and then document.write it in the other template. Make sure you set the variable before calling the offending template.

wouldn't it be nice to be able to use netquotevars just anywhere we needed them...?

It would certainly make building a lot more of our own functionality a MUCH easier task...

[NormanRouxel]

I wish I'd kept the quote from Actinic, a few years ago, where they said that they'd soon extend the scope of Netquotevars to all relevant templates.

Also a few extra ones like SID, SEQUENCE, etc would be great for customisation.