Need Guidance For Cell Phone Store

Hi,
I need to create an online store for cell phones, I tried with osCommerce using a template, but I don't like it. I have Super Suite, PowerStore, Contact Form, User Registration solutions pack and I'm using CS4. I followed the instructions and managed to upload PowerStore to my host and I'm at the point of adding the products through Admin and here I need some guidance:
- I want to create 4 categories (cell phones, accessories, unlocking and repairs) and for each category I want to create a few main products (manufacturer) like Nokia, Apple, Motorola and so on, but when you click on Nokia for example it will show in the main window more than 1 cell phone.
Is this possible? When I look at the PowerStore demo it displays for each category 1 product.
I have an osCoomerce template that I started changing (to give an idea) at cellularz, also here is a link for a site that has almost the same features www.torontophonerepair.com/
Can I do this with PowerStore (and with the other tools I have), is it simple, anybody has a sample of this kind of store?
Thanks,
Joseph

Powerstore will support categories but it does not currently support sub categories, like the manufacturers. To get it to list the category, manufacturer, then product would require a bit of editing with the tools you own and some hand coding also. This is not a simple task but it can be done. I do not have any example of this for you. If you think this is something you would like to try I can list some high level steps for you:

Start by adding in a productsubcategory table, make it like the current productcategory table but add in a column for the category.

Next modify the products table to include this subcategory column.

Make a set of pages to admin the subcategories with DataAssist, you must ensure that you associate the subcategory with the main category.

Next modify the product insert and update pages to include a select list for this new subcategory.

Once subcategory is working on the backend update the front end to make use of the subcategory. This will at least require changing the code on the CSSMenuWriter>intermediate.php page to loop through the subcategories within the loop for the main category.

You will also need to adjust recordsets throughout the front end to include the subcategory column. You will need to join the subcategory table in with the product table.

If you need to record this in the cart you will need to add a new cart column, update the cart display page, and the checkout server behaviors that would need to have this value included.

This is a very high level overview of the process and it may not be complete as I have not gone through it myself. If you have any question about any part of this post back and we can help explain it further.

Thank you Eric for your reply. I'm not so php and database savvy, last time I used Access with Visual Basic was 11 years ago. This site is really for now just a sample for my client, if he likes it than I'll need to create the domain, hosting and the site for him. I'm gathering the cell phone images and descriptions right now and as soon as I'll finish I'll try adding only categories like Apple, Nokia, Blackberry and for each category I'll enter the related cell phones, like in PowerStore demo so when Nokia is clicked it will list all the Nokia cell phones and when a specific Nokia cell phone is clicked it will display the details, I presume this should work. If this works than is it possible to have the category listing (all Nokia phones) in more than 1 column (the demo shows 1 column, but it only has a few items), I don't want the user to scroll too much?
Thanks,
Joseph

To make the side column larger or to add more columns may be possible but it would require a bit of custom coding. You would need to start out by adjusting the layout to accommodate the extra columns. Once you have done this you will need to define these new columns in the css.

Next you will need to adjust or make a copy of the intermediate.php menu file. You would essentially want to have this repeat it's existing functionality but do it with your new column. Along with this you would need to adjust the recordsets in here to limit the number of categories to show and use an offset for the second column.

I'll look into that after I'll have the site up and running the regular way, but right now, after I added all my categories and 1 product for each category, when I test, if I click on any top menu item I get "No input file specified.", but if I clcik on Search (without any search term entered) I get the whole product list and from there I can click any product, see its detail and add it to the cart, also the bottom footer links are working, just any top menu click or any left side product navigation click gives this error.
I followed all the how-to pdf instructions so I don't know what is my mistake, I can't understand the error displayed, I serached the forum for it, but no result.
Can you please check this on powerstore/ and let me know what do I need to do to make it work.

Hi,

I'm trying to get this added functionality happening to Powerstore2 also.

I've revised the database and am now up to the next part:

Originally Said By: Eric Mittman

  Make a set of pages to admin the subcategories with DataAssist, you must ensure that you associate the subcategory with the main category.  

I've opened up the index page that resides in the admin folder, then went Insert > WebAssist > DataAssist > DataAssist Wizard

I have the following settings on the first page of the wizard:

Database
Connection: localhost
Table: Subcats
Key column: SubcatID

Template
Name: Admin
Editable region: MainContent

Pages
I have all pages ticked, ie. Results, Search, Detail, Update, Insert, Delete

Can you confirm that the above settings are correct and whether I need all 6 pages as outlined above?

You were saying that I must ensure that I associate the subcategory with the main category. How do I do this, i.e which settings refer to this in the wizard?

Also the remaining steps of the wizard, ie. steps 2 to 10 are not clear to me either as I don't know what was set for the other pages in the store, I can't copy the settings so that everything remains consistent. Can you tell me how to fill out the remaining parts of the wizard?

Thanks



Also for the benefit of others following along, I revised the products table by adding the following column:

`ProductSubcatID` int(11) NOT NULL,

See full products table below:

CREATE TABLE `products` (
`ProductID` int(12) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`ProductSKU` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`ProductName` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
`ProductPrice` float NOT NULL,
`ProductWeight` float NOT NULL,
`ProductCartDesc` varchar(250) NOT NULL,
`ProductShortDesc` varchar(1000) NOT NULL,
`ProductLongDesc` text NOT NULL,
`ProductThumb` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
`ProductImage` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
`ProductCategoryID` int(11) NOT NULL,
`ProductSubcatID` int(11) NOT NULL,
`ProductUpdateDate` timestamp NOT NULL default CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
`ProductStock` float default NULL,
`ProductLive` tinyint(1) default '0',
`ProductUnlimited` tinyint(1) default '1',
PRIMARY KEY (`ProductID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;

I also created a `Subcats` table to store the subcategories:

CREATE TABLE `Subcats` (
`SubcatID` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
`Subcat` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
`SubcatCategoryID` int(11) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`SubcatID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;

This new table also stores `SubcatCategoryID` as a foreign key.

It looks like you have got the problem with your categories and products links worked out, when I visit your store I can see the various products sorted by the category links, clicking on any of these brings me to the page for that item. If you have not got it worked out please make anther post. If it is just the error for the input file you should post a new thread, it is probably not related to the other stuff you are doing.

at gwh362692:

When it comes to the DataAssist wizard for this setup you should create the pages you will need to manage this table. The pages that DataAssist creates are a typical set of these pages, unless you have a reason for not creating any of these pages you should make them all.

When it comes to configuring the individual steps in the wizard you should use the help button, it will take you to the help page specific to that step of the wizard. In here you are just creating the settings for your insert, update, search, results, and delete pages so long as you can insert new subcats, update them and search on them if needed you will be able to make use of them.

When it comes to associating the category with this sub cat you will need to do this on the insert and update pages first after they are created from the wizard. You will need to replace the field you have for the category and add in a recordset to select all of the available categories. You will replace the category input with a select list, and set the select list to be dynamic from the category recordset. This part will make a lot more sense when you have the completed pages to work on.

If you have any general questions about using DataAssist take a look around the forums here, many users have been through the same things.

Originally Said By: Eric Mittman

  It looks like you have got the problem with your categories and products links worked out, when I visit your store I can see the various products sorted by the category links, clicking on any of these brings me to the page for that item. If you have not got it worked out please make anther post. If it is just the error for the input file you should post a new thread, it is probably not related to the other stuff you are doing.  

Thanks Eric, yes I fix the input file (error in globals.php path)

That is good to hear, don't hesitate to post any new threads or update any if you need any further help with this.