source files explained

Is there some documentation on the site that explains the various elements of the source files? I'm new to PHP and would appreciate the chance to view comments on the various scripts to make customizing them a bit easier.

For instance, it would be nice to be able to make the products catalog page populate itself in two columns instead of one. If I knew where the script for this was hiding out, and had an explanation of the functions, I might be able to play with it and modify it without being too much of a pest on the boards.

Thanks

We do not have any guides or references that define the functionality of the source code, in the code itself you will see some loose commenting but not a lot. Fortunately most of the source is written in such a way that if you are a little familiar with php you should not have too hard of a time reading it. If you are a beginner it may take a little while to get through some of it.

When it comes to adding in a new column or making the existing menu split it will require that you do some editing to the intermediate.php file in the CSSMenuWriter folder. In here you will find the recordsets that gather the details from the db, then the loops that generate the listing. Since it is just designed for a single column you would need to devise how you would like it setup for the two columns, then make edits to this file to fit your needs.

I'm strictly running Ecart4 with Dreamweaver8, php, apache, mysql, & phpmyadmin. I do not appear to have a cssmenuwriter folder so that file was not in my package.

Can you steer me toward another file in the Ecart package possibly?

Again, thanks. By the way, is there some documentation on your site regarding integrating the Ecart with the USPS webtools? That's going to me my next big hurdle, I think.

-Rob

My apologies, I was under the impression we were discussing the Power Store implementation and using the tools with that.

For the product listing page that is part of the eCart sample store you will need to make the edits directly on that page. To make the layout work with two columns you will either need to manually edit the display to add in the extra column, then adjust the code to write to one column then the next, or you can use the DataAssist tool to create the horizontal loop for you. If you have purchased a suite of tools you will likely have this tool available to you.

Doing this manually requires the use of a nested loop, the outer loop will write the new row, and the inner loop will write the details to the columns.

I was unprepared for how in depth this software would be, but it is definetly worth learning. I appreciate your help. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for the kind words, if you have any other questions about any part of our tools do not hesitate to post, we will be glad to help you out.