I am looking for a way to customize "product selection" to accommodate many products. Maybe breaking them down into product categories and sub-categories. Has anyone tried this or know how to go about this? Any help or ideas welcome! Thanks!
Gallery version = 2.3-RC1 core 1.2.36
API = Core 7.54, Module 3.9, Theme 2.6, Embed 1.4
PHP version = 5.2.5 cgi-fcgi
Webserver = Apache
Database = mysqlt 4.1.22-max-log, lock.system=flock
Toolkits = Gd, ArchiveUpload, Exif, Getid3, ImageMagick, LinkItemToolkit, Thumbnail, SquareThumb
Acceleration = none/0, none/0
Operating system = Linux linhost253.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net 2.4.21-53.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Nov 14 03:54:12 EST 2007 i686
Default theme = matrix
gettext = enabled
Locale = en_US
Browser = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Rows in GalleryAccessMap table = 285
Rows in GalleryAccessSubscriberMap table = 2054
Rows in GalleryUser table = 8
Rows in GalleryItem table = 2040
Rows in GalleryAlbumItem table = 69
Rows in GalleryCacheMap table = 0
Posted: Wed, 2009-11-11 05:06
Posts: 4342
Interesting idea - there would be no difficulty in doing this. You could write a module which adds a "category" (and a sub-category, and a sub-sub-category) choice next to each product (like the checkoutdownload module lets you set whether each product is downloadable or not) then customise a couple of templates (transactionContents.tpl, sessionContents.tpl from memory) to show the products in sections.
It would be possible to write it into the checkout module itself, but I'm reluctant to make the configuration of products (and the templates) any more complicated than they are at present, as I suspect that most people don't need such a feature. So my recommendation would be to set the category for each product via a separate page, which is very easy with an add-in module.
Posts: 9
Alec, thanks for your reply! You inspired me to try writing this module ("there would be no difficulty in doing this"). I started reading the "Gallery2:Module Development Tutorial", but the more I read, the more confused and overwhelmed I got. I can tweak HTML and CSS a little (very little), but a coder I am not. I am a builder (of houses) with a computer hobby that's trying to build a web site for my wife's new photography business on a shoestring budget ("new" photography business). Anyway, I was hoping I could tweak another module to make this work for me, anything more seems more than I can do right now. How much do you think someone would charge me to write this module?
Thanks for your time, Mike
Posts: 4342
How much do you think someone would charge me to be build me a house?
When I said "no difficulty", I meant for an experienced php programmer who has already written a few G2 modules.
I don't know about "someone"; if you're serious and you have a budget, you can drop me a private mail and I can tell you how much I would charge you.
Usually it's better to pick the free tool that does 90% of what you want and worry about the other 10% only when you have proved there's a real need for it; I can't tell you the number of hours of work I have spent implementing "special" features that in the end I really needn't have bothered with.