customizing category display pages

[snap624]

We were in the process of designing a website prior to finding AbleCommerce. So we have quite a few pages pre-designed for our different category headers (top categories). We can adapt these pages to the aspx format and they become part of the store in a way but they are not really part of the catalog. For example, if you start out on one of our designed category pages you can move into one of the subcategories by moving into the catalog search result display page. That's fine, but what would be better is if we could customize the display page for the category header within the catalog. This would allow a user to click on the header category within the breadcrumbs trail to move back to our customized page. Right now, if you do this, you are still in the search results page for the category. We were hoping we could use the "Display Page" option on the webpage edit menu to customize the category page within the catalog. However, unless we are not using this feature correctly, when we make changes to the display page for the header category (all our subcategory display pages are also affected). Is this how this is supposed to work? It would be nice if the drop down list for display pages included our customized display page so we could designate which page is displayed for a particular category.

[jmestep]

You might not be doing it correctly. If you make changes to any of the dropdowns in the second section of a category page in edit mode, for example, it changes it for all categories that use the display page above the update themes button. So if you want to change the display page for a category, use the Display Page dropdown, but leave the Content dropdown alone.

[snap624]

Ah, I see. I was so use to editing other pages of the store, that I thought the catalog pages could be done the same way. Unfortunately, we have several categories and subcategories and there are only 6 different display pages for the catalog. I can certainly edit some of the pages the way we want, but we soon get to the point of overlap. The content section is definitely the part we want to edit. As I mentioned before, it would be nice if custom pages could be added as possible display pages for the some of the catalog categories. Perhaps we will just add our own breadcrumbs to link back to our custom pages. Thanks for reply

[jmestep]

You can add custom pages, and I usually have to do that on every site I work on. Here is an example of how to do it.
Create CategoryWhatever.aspx by copying one of the existing files- let's say Category.aspx
Create ConLib/Custom/Whatever.ascx and .ascx.cs by copying one of the current ones and changing the references to the old ones within those two files-- If it was
ConLib_CategoryGridPage it will be ConLib_Custom_Whatever
Copy Category Grid Page.htm from the App_Data/Scriplets/Default/Content folder, rename it Whatever.htm and put it into the App_Data/Scriplets/Custom/Content folder
Change the following reference in the CategoryWhatever.aspx to
Content="Whatever" from
Content="Category Grid Page"

[snap624]

Thanks very much, Judy, for the tip. That does the trick nicely and opens up some other possiblites for me

[Rows]

You can add custom pages, and I usually have to do that on every site I work on. Here is an example of how to do it.
Create CategoryWhatever.aspx by copying one of the existing files- let's say Category.aspx
Create ConLib/Custom/Whatever.ascx and .ascx.cs by copying one of the current ones and changing the references to the old ones within those two files-- If it was
ConLib_CategoryGridPage it will be ConLib_Custom_Whatever
Copy Category Grid Page.htm from the App_Data/Scriplets/Default/Content folder, rename it Whatever.htm and put it into the App_Data/Scriplets/Custom/Content folder
Change the following reference in the CategoryWhatever.aspx to
Content="Whatever" from
Content="Category Grid Page"

as im new to this tool..so can u explain the steps to folow to create CategoryWhatever.aspx
like should i certae it under
Administration > Catalog > ..then where to go..?

and also form where to find the folder ConLib/
im bit unfamiliar with the interface

[SJurist]

Hi, I am new to this. I went to the server and copied a page, changed the words, saved the file as Test.aspx (edited in notepad). I saved the file in both ways (per notpad) saved under "all files" and tried to save as txt. I deleted one, tried the other. This Test.aspx was listed in our root directory where all other aspx pages reside. I logged in to the Admin side of our website, on the default (home) page, I clicked edit to see if the page I created would be listed in the drop down menu; it was not.

I have hunted the forums, sifted through the search and index of the Able C manual and obviously I am oblivious to the next step or sequence of steps. I've been to the dashboard, I don't know where to look. In theory (from what I read) it's a copy, change, rename then start the edit process. But I cannot find the Test page that was created in the drop down.

If anyone can direct me as to where to look or the step I'm missing, you help is greatly apprecitated.

Thank you.

[mazhar]

Most probably you are not doing something properly. The easiest way is to just create copy of any Cateogry display page on root of your website. Rename it. Then edit it and make sure to update name and other information available in XML structure within the page. Then upload it and it should be under category pages on merchant side. Give a try to page available in attachment. Upload it to your website root and then check from merchant side. Its simply duplicate of CategoryPage4 from root.

[mmackrell]

I have a custom page (CategoryGridPage4) that I would like to use one time for a specific category page, however, when I try to use Display Page using CategoryGridPage4, the left nav disappears.

I tried removing the customization (removed the custom/ from the scriplet) and tried it setting the Display Page, still no left nav. If I change the Display Page to Category Grid, the left nav stays on the page.

So, what do I need to add to CategoryGridPage4 to get the left nav to appear? Or is this a bug in the default CategoryGridPage4?

Thanks in advance,
Margie

[mazhar]

Login as admin and open category page for which you want tot change display page from retail side. Make sure that your page layout supports lef nav. You can change layout for page from layout section. New category display page is just a holder. You need to create a content and sidebar scriptlet for it. Add new content and sidebar scriptlet and use appropriate controls in it. Finally apply them to page.