How do I add a top level page?

[rmorris]

I need to add an about us page to the site i am working on, and I haven't been able to figure it out? the "about us" looks live in the website:content and layout, so why can't i navigate to it on the live site?

[mazhar]

When you talk about adding a new page for this first you need to create an aspx page that will be uploaded to the site and the next job will be to create a content scriptlet for that page. You can create scriptlets through the AbleCommerce interface but you need to create the ASPX pages your self. The easiest way to this is to make a copy of ContactUs.aspx page, rename it to the AboutUs.aspx. Now change the following information of the page

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<cb:ScriptletPart ID="ContactUs" runat="server" Layout="Left Sidebar" Header="Standard Header" Sidebar="Our Departments" Content="Contact Us" Footer="Standard Footer" Title="Contact Us" AllowClose="False" AllowMinimize="false" />

to you new info for example the if you have created content scriptlet for this new page with name AboutUs then the updated information in the page will be as below

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    <cb:ScriptletPart ID="AboutUs" runat="server" Layout="Left Sidebar" Header="Standard Header" Sidebar="Our Departments" Content="AboutUs" Footer="Standard Footer" Title="Contact Us" AllowClose="False" AllowMinimize="false" />

Save this page and now if you browse the page in browser you will see your new information.
Here is sample page I have created for this example.

[rmorris]

when i create a new page, where am i saving it too? i do not have ftp access, so where in the admin panel do i save a new page? how do i know what directory/sub-directory it will save in?

In other words. from the admin panel, which section do I need to be in for saving new aspx pages and defining them?

[mazhar]

You do need FTP access for that.

[europhile]

This is excellent, can create a new page with this, assign new custom scriptlet contents to it, then link to it manually, all works fine.

Next question is how to create a link to it in the menu...

a search on the CSS class="navigation" reveals

C:\blahblah\App_Data\Scriptlets\Default\Header\Checkout Header.htm(31): <td class="navigation" colspan="2">
C:\blahblah\App_Data\Scriptlets\Default\Header\Standard Header.htm(31): <td class="navigation" colspan="2">

aha, so the menu is also a scriptlet (Header) - we can simply either edit the standard one for instant website menu change, or (I know this is preferred for maintenance) copy them to Custom\Scriptlets\Header and change the scriptlet reference to these new ones on the pages - just add the extra link inside them:

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<a href="~/AboutUs.aspx" class="tab">About Us</a>

Cool system, like it!! Phil.

[dadkind]

You do need FTP access for that.

Are there any plans to allow for the creation of top level pages from withing AbleCommerce?

Do you offer a "Topics" page which can be used to serve up DB content via a URL Rewite?

Example: "~/AboutUs.aspx " Rewrites to "~/Topic.aspx?topicId=23"

Either of these approaches would solve the "Top Level" page problem. In addition, these "top level" pages could use the standard menuing system to allow them to be automatically displayed in the various on-site menus.

If we are limited to FTP access, then dynamic menuing is not an option for any top level pages.

We are currently evaluating AbleCommerce in a trial period. And without a workaround/solution, this could be a show-stopper.

I'm hoping there is a feature that we have not yet discovered.

Thanks,
-tomas

[jmestep]

In order to have top level pages show automatically on a site, I have made a new category content page, modified it and added the content to that instead of a webpage. As you have found out, a category is the only kind of page that can be added as a top level object.
If you go to this site and click on Privacy Statement, you will see an example of it:
http://www.gravesitemasters.com/Default.aspx

[ZLA]

http://www.gravesitemasters.com/Default.aspx

Hi Judy. You might want to check the url. I get a server error when I clicked on the left nav privacy statement link.

[jmestep]

Thanks. I haven't done any work for him for a long time and he moved the site and upgraded to 7.0.3 and he has some upgrade problems he has asked me to fix- files in the Conlib/Custom folder.