Initial setup questions

[fiddycent]

Hi,

Just getting started with AbleCommerce and have a few setup questions. These forums look very interactive and helpful.

1. How do I turn off the Mini Shopping Cart? Right now it is showing up on my left side of the screen. It looks very awkward, I just want it removed completely.
2. I have over 3000 SKU's. Some of the products share the same image. I was planning to use the "Product Image Lookup by SKU" feature. For instance, is it possible to have all the products in a category share the same image? I was hoping to avoid having to copy the image and change the file name and upload it. Was also hoping to be more efficient, though that's less of a concern.

Thanks!

[Katie]

Hi there,

The mini basket is one of many controls that can be added to any layout. It will only appear if you have something in the basket. If it is removed from the page, then the customer will go directly to the shopping cart when an item is added. I just wanted you to know it's behavior before removing it...

1. What you need to do first is identify which layout is used to show the mini-basket. To do this, make sure you are logged in as an Admin user.
Then go to the page (retail side) which shows the mini-basket. Scroll all the way to the bottom until you see EDIT: (page name). Click that link.
You will be brought to the Admin side. Find the selection for Layout and make a note of it.
Then go to Website > Layouts from the top menu. Edit the one that you want to change.
You should see it in the LEFT SIDEBAR CONTROLS. Simply click the red X and save the page.

Here are some instructions on using the Layout editor. There are many controls that can be used in either the left or side bar.
http://help.ablecommerce.com/mergedProj ... ptlets.htm

2. Using the Product Image Lookup by SKU would probably not work unless all your SKU's are the same. I would suggest taking a look at the Data > Import > Products feature. You can insert all your products at once and assign them the same image.

Simply create one product using the image that you wish to use. Make sure all the fields are filled in so you don't have to do this twice.
Now go to Data > Export > Products page and export all applicable fields for this one product. If you're not sure which fields, you can select them all and remove anything that isn't used later.
A CSV will be created. Download and open in Excel.
Now create the remaining products with unique names, SKUs, etc. But leave the image references the same (there should be three).
>> MAKE A BACKUP OF THE DATABASE << Just in case
Import the products and you will be done.

The key is to make sure that your sample product is exactly how you want it to be. If something goes wrong, you can use the Update product selection and over-write instead of adding new.

This page has links to everything about this feature -
http://help.ablecommerce.com/mergedProj ... change.htm

Good Luck!
Katie

[fiddycent]

Thanks for the quick reply. Going back to the first question regarding the mini-basket, I removed the mini-basket. It was in the Right Sidebar Controls, even though it's showing on the left side of my page, which I thought was strange. My page went from being nice and pretty to full width. What I mean is that my SimpleCategoryList, even though it is showing in the Left Sidebar Controls, it is taking the full width of the screen. Then the products show underneath, one product per line, full width. They used to show 3 per line on the screen.

So I added the mini-basket control back in. But now it takes the full width of the screen up also, underneath the products. I'm not sure what I broke. I guess I should mention I had someone work on the design of the website beforehand. But I thought removing the mini basket would be ok to do without breaking the layout.

Any thoughts?

[Katie]

I'm sorry, but it sounds as if the person who worked on the site may have broken the layout editor. I can't even guess what they could have done, so trying to fix it might be a challenge. Is this a development site or are you working on a live site?

[fiddycent]

It's a development site. I'll get with my developer to see what they did. Thanks for your help.

[Katie]

Have him/her check the \Layouts\ folder. The files here are self-generating depending on how you are changing the Layout via your merchant admin.

At the top of each of these files is a remark -

<%-- This file is a generated file. Do not modify. See customization guide for details. --%>

So, if your developer was manually modifying these files, it could explain why the pages are broken.