building supporting pages from database with description, hyperlinked from main ad pages - query

I've seen the info on hyperlinking to a supporting PDF spec sheet, and this is a tangent from that. It seems very possible to create both main ad pages (without a full description) as usual, but also to be able to publish the support pages (with the full descriptions) directly from the database - already linked (ex. via the product_ID) as in ex.: main ad with item_abcdef linking to support page item_abcedf.html with the additional full description info. I'm going to be going over that possibility, but any jumpstart (or warnings) would be appreciated

building supporting pages from database with description, hyperl

To clarify, I was thinking first of outputting the product ads (with full descriptions) as the separate prodcut ad only file (per the instructions) and then breaking up the file into numerous "support files" to serve as the linked pages for the main (multi-ad) pages. Then outputting the structured website (without descriptions) and setting up the ad-comoment hyperlinks to use the "support pages" for more information. I'm accustomed to having support pages for everything. An enlarged image is fine, but a full description support page is better. I can see where this program caould easily make short order of this task, and am looking to implement the power of the database. I love you dirrection, and your vision and execution is great. Just trying to make sure I make the most of it, and that I haven't missed something you've already built in. Since I'm a new customer, I don't really know the ins and outs yet. Love what I've seen so far. Basically I'm looking to produce two sets of pages (linked). One with fully structured site, and then the other set would be "single ad" support pages (with full descriptions) to be the hyperlink target.

RE: building supporting pages from database...

The program will allow you to export all the Product Ads and / or the Add-to-Cart button code to either an HTML file or to an Excel file.

See the following topic:
Data Export - Exporting All your Product Ads to a Single File

You may also want to check out the Stock Note Behavior feature. It behaves similar to the Product Ad Hyperlinks.

When using the both the Product Ad Hyperlinks and Stock Note Behavior features together, the Product Ad Hyperlinks can be used for links to the larger product image files and the Stock Note feature can be used for links to external files or to http web pages (urls). Take a look at the demonstration websites to see how these features are implemented.

Hope this helps,

Sam Raheb
XLEcom Program Developer

1 ad - 1 page

I'm looking to produce 1 ad per page to use as the target "spec sheet". The data dumps to html and xls are by category and need further processing to be broken down to 1 ad per page "spec sheets". This is a lot of work when you're dealing with a sizeable database. I had a thought which should work - a workaround - (1) duplicate the site folder (2) place each item in its own subcategory ie. Main_Cat_All Sub_Cat_Item_001 Sub_Cat_Item_002 etc. then publish (3) use these pages as the "spec sheets" as they should all be in a separate html file. And the file sequence should also be a breeze to import into the database, especially if I drop the Main_Cat_All part of the filename. Works for me.

RE: 1 ad - 1 page

What you are attempting to do is out of the realm of a standard ecommerce website. It appears to me that you are trying to create single Product Ads pages for use in either an Advertisement or email marketing campaign.

If you want to create one ad per page, then simply use a unique sub category name for each product ad.

For example, if you have 1,000 product ads, then assign 1,000 individual sub categories titles. In this particular case, the main category title can be the same for all of the product ads and the sub categories can be a numerical sequence from 1 to 1,000. This can be performed directly with the database itself. If you do this then you will end up publishing 1,000 product Ad pages with each page containing a single product ad.

Sam Raheb
XLEcom Program Developer

same idea - different wording - worked perfect - Kudos

If you want to see what I did, check out http://www.asseenontvdistributer.com , click on any category to bring up the page_by_category , then click on the More link to see the single item pages with full description. I knew this program could do it, it just took me two days to figure out the logistics. At first, all seemed to go well, but then I noticed a difference between the Windows sorting, and the Excel sorting, which was easily fixed. If I had presorted before I began it would have been cake from the get-go. Nice feather in your cap too for building an app that didn't crash during such a feat. Your program is worth every penny. I would love to see this feature built in so that I don't have to set up a duplicate site folder/db to get both sub_category pages (w/o descriptions) and single item pages (w/ descriptions). At this point I'm going to see what I can come up with to downsize to a single database - like copying the Main_cat and Sub_cat columns to another file for replacement (as needed) and then a checklist for changing the preferences/settings back and fourth. Thanks again!

RE: same idea - different wording - worked perfect - Kudos

Cool website, it's definitely an unusual design approach for an ecommerce site, but it seems to work well.

About the Dual Databases
If you do not want to maintain two (2) copies of the program, the XLEcom.xls files, then you can use the Import / Export utility to swap databases back and forth into one copy of the program.

You can export the master database to a separate file and then import the support Database back into the program using the Import / Export utility accessible via the Product Design sheet.

You may also want to explore the built-in Store Module capability. The XLEcom program also includes a sample Store Module web store that you can experiment with.

Sam Raheb
XLEcom Program Developer

RE: building supporting pages from database with description...

Sorry, but I have no idea what you mean or plan on doing. The post is not clear enough for me to understand what you are attempting to do.

About the Product Ad and Support pages
Only the Product Ad pages have an option to be published with or without the long item descriptions. The Support pages are published as is.

Sam Raheb
XLEcom Program Developer