Customization question

[Don Lundell]

Hi,

Bear with me, just getting started with Shopsite.

I notice that one of Shopsite's example sites is:

http://www.getty.edu/bookstore/

The front page includes html like this:

<a href="http://bookstore.getty.edu/sc/order.cgi?storeid=gtpbkstr&dbname=products&itemnum=644&function=add">
<img src= (etc...)

My question is: On first glance, using the Shopsite web-based configuration tool, I
have some number of fixed templates available to choose from. How does one do customization
such as on the Getty site? Is it something that can be done with the Shopsite tools, or
do you have to create html manually once you know the item number, etc.

Second question, related to this is: the html that Shopsite is generating on my site is a form,
rather than an href to a cgi with arguments (like in the Getty page). Is the style of generation
an option?

Thanks for the help.

If anyone knows where there might be documentation about this sort of customization,
I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

- dc

[Jim]

Hi back.

The type of order links depends on what you are adding to the cart. If
you are simply adding a product it can be an <a href...> but if you are
including order option, quantity or perhaps adding multiple products it
has to be done with a FORM.

Help on developing custom templates can be found here:
http://www.shopsite.com/help/7.0/en-US/ ... intro.html

It depends on which product level and which version of ShopSite you are
using what options are available for creating/editing custom templates.
The main functionality for ShopSite 6 and 7 for both Pro and manager
levels is found under Under Merchandizing > Custom Templates.
YOu could copy the ShopSite templates and modify them but be aware that
they may be much more complex that what you need since they must be
generalized for everyones needs. There are simple sample page and
product templates on the help page mentioned above.

You can also use a design tool like Frontpage to develop the basic
layout and then just substitute the ShopSite template tags for blocks of
html in the designed page. If you work by this method decide where you
want various blocks that are available in ShopSite for a page or
product. For example on a page you could have a header, footer, 3
different text fields, (in version 7 Pro you have 5 additional fields),
a graphic, links, and a block for products, etc. Create your layout
with those fields in mind. If you have information that will change
from page to page use the ShopSite fields, if the information is static
on all pages you may want to just code it into the template itself.

Do the same thing for creating a product template so that the various
fields of the product are simply dropped into place according to the
layout you define.

When you have assigned templates to your pages and product and publish
the store ShopSite will generate the pages and place the product on the
pages using the template you define.

Note that before you try custom templates experiment with some of the
ShopSite templates so you can see how your page and products look.

Jim

Don Lundell wrote:

Hi,

Bear with me, just getting started with Shopsite.

I notice that one of Shopsite's example sites is:

http://www.getty.edu/bookstore/

The front page includes html like this:

a
href="http://bookstore.getty.edu/sc/order.cgi?storeid=gtpbkstr&dbname=products&itemnum=644&function=add"

img src= (etc...)

My question is: On first glance, using the Shopsite web-based
configuration tool, I
have some number of fixed templates available to choose from. How does
one do customization
such as on the Getty site? Is it something that can be done with the
Shopsite tools, or
do you have to create html manually once you know the item number, etc.

Second question, related to this is: the html that Shopsite is
generating on my site is a form,
rather than an href to a cgi with arguments (like in the Getty page).
Is the style of generation
an option?

Thanks for the help.

If anyone knows where there might be documentation about this sort of
customization,
I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

- dc