regnow templates - php_template - instructions downloads

Introduction

The PHP Template allows you to quickly and easily launch a fully featured shopping cart interface,
customized any way you like. Unlike JavaScript data-feed systems, the PHP Template is run on your
web server and not only gives you full control of the layout but the pages are full index able by search
engines.

Unlike other similar technologies, the PHP Template system does not require MySQL and is
designed to handle high volumes of traffic. All product data is pulled from our template server live
so there's no need to ever manually update your site.

Simply customize the settings and layout, then upload to your web sever and you're done!

Setting Up Your Template

Step 1 - Configure your settings

* Denotes a required setting

Page Specific Settings

The PHP Template system lets you have as many different product pages as
you like. You can have different pages use different layouts, show different plug-in's
or even different products.

To allow this, each page has it's own settings as follows:

$gs_AffID*
Your RegNow affiliate ID

$gs_LayoutType*
Specifics the layout used to display the products.
Possible values are:
0 = Grid (shows product in a table with multiple columns)
1 = Summary (shows products in one column with image to the left)

$gs_DefaultPageSize*
The default number of products to show per page

$gs_PageSizeOptions*
An array (list) of page sizes that a customer will be able to choose from

$gs_ImgSize*
The height in pixels each product image should be. Each product image
will auto size itself so that the width will adjust to maintain the proper
height to width ratio.

$gs_DescMaxLen*
The maximum number of characters of each products description to show.
If a products description exceeds this number, it will show the maximum
number of characters and append a "...more" link to the end.

$gs_DefaultSort*
The default order in which products will be sorted.
Possible values are:
0 = Product Name A-Z
1 = Product Name Z-A
2 = Low Price
3 = High Price

$gs_ShowGroups*
Specifies if the "Group" drop downs will be shown at the top of the page.
"Groups" are ways of grouping products such as Category, Vendor, etc.
and vary by advertiser.
Possible Values are:
0 = Show none
1 = Show categories only (if available)
2 = Show vendors only (if available)
3 = Show categories and vendors (if available)

$gs_Target*
Specifies if the clicking on a product link should show the page in a new
browser window or the current one.
Possible values are:
"blank" = Show in new window
"top" = Stay in the same window

$gs_BuyNowImg*
Each product has an image link which takes them to the product
page on the advertisers site. This is the URL to the image.

$gs_ShowDesc*
Determines if product descriptions are shown. Applies only if
Grid Mode layout is selected.
Possible Values are:
1 = Yes
0 = No

$gs_BackupImgURL
This optional setting allows you to specify a URL to an image that will be
shown if a product does not have an image or for some reason it fails
to display in the users browser. If this setting is not set, the text
"Image Unavailable" or "Image N/A" will be shown, depending on
the layout type.

$gs_RowSize
This is the number of products to show on each row. Applies only
if Grid Mode layout is selected. Applies only to grid layout pages.

Step 2 - Customize the layout

This template has been designed to make it easy to customize the look and feel to match your
web site. Customizing will help give your site a personal, unique feel and set it apart from other
affiliates. It's also an important part of optimizing your site for indexing by search engines as they
are becoming more and more sensitive to duplicate page content from different sites. To ensure
that your site is well received by search engines, be sure to customize the meta tags and add
some original content.

This template comes with a pre-defined image/style sheet set. They can be used as is or
customize them. If you wish you can create your own style sheet and images or even
customize the HTML in the various template files for a totally unique site.

The style set consists of a "Buy Now" image and a style sheet. In the settings.php page is
where you define the "Buy Now" image you wish to use. To change it, simply set the
$gs_BuyNowImg setting to the path and name of the file you wish to use on your site.

Below is a description of each file that makes up the user interface, and what role it plays:

template.php
This is the page the user will see. It ties all the other layout pages together and can be
renamed it to anything you like. Add your own title, meta tags, header, footer an any other
layout HTML you want to this page.

You can also make multiple pages from this template file to show specific types of
products in different layouts.

fs_php/core/header.php
Contains the group (category, vendor, etc) dropdowns, search field, "Go" button and
sort dropdown which is shown at the top of each page (depending on your chosen settings).

fs_php/core/paging.php
Contains the Previous/Next and page number links as well as the page size dropdown
which is shown at the bottom of each page.

fs_php/core/products.php
Contains the HTML/PHP that builds the actual layout of products.

Using Plugins
Plugins are optional components that you can choose to incorporate on your site.
Currently there are two plugins that come with the PHP integration method:

list_groups.php
Builds a vertical list of groups (categories, vendors, etc) which can be placed on the left
or right of the products.

By default the group list is shown on the left side of the page. To change this, simply move
the following code in the template.php page from here:

<tr>

<? include("fs_php/plugins/list_groups.php"); ?>

<td valign="top">
<table border="0" width="550px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1">
...
</table>
</td>
</tr>

To here:

<tr>
<td valign="top">
<table border="0" width="550px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1">
...
</table>


<? include("fs_php/plugins/list_groups.php"); ?>
</td>
</tr>

Or to remove the group list, just remove the bold line of code shown above.

Step 3 - Upload the files

Upload all the template files to your web site and you're done!

Make sure that the the files are in the following folder structure:
template.php
fs_php\functions.js
fs_php\styles.css
fs_php\buynow.gif
fs_php\core\system.php
fs_php\core\header.php
fs_php\core\paging.php
fs_php\core\products.php
fs_php\core\settings.php
fs_php\plugins\sub_type_list.php

Getting Help

By Email
Send your comments, questions or suggestions to: accounts@regnow.com

By Community
Join us in online discussions with other affiliates just like you to get answers
to your questions or just trade tips or customizing ideas at:
http://forum.abestweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=193