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addons:storefront:start

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Storefront Addon

Steps to start using the Storefront:

To "turn it on" in the admin:

  1. In the admin, on Addons > Storefront > Subscription Choices set up at least one subscription duration.
  2. In the admin, on Pricing > Price Plans Home Click the edit button for the price plan you want to enable storefronts for. Then click "cost specifics". Note that in the Enterprise edition you can attach multiple fee-based price plans to one user group but the "storefront configuration" made in the default price plan attached to that user group is the only "storefront configuration" that will affect the clients usage of the storefront feature. No changes within the "attached" price plans will affect the storefront configuration for a user no matter what of those attached price plans they choose at listing placement.
  3. Near the bottom of this page, in the section "Price Plan Items", click "configure" next to Storefront Subscription.
  4. Check the "enabled" box, then check the subscription periods you want to be available to the user to purchase a storefront subscription period.
  5. Click "save" button.

To "turn it on" for a user:

  1. Log in as the user.
  2. Go to My Account Information page.
  3. Near the bottom of this page, will be the Storefront section. If you do not see the storefront section, you may have not enabled the storefront for the "primary" price plan used by this user, see steps 2-5 above for turning it on in the admin.
  4. In the Storefront section, click the "renew your subscription" link, and follow the steps to purchase a storefront subscription.
  5. Once the subscription has been paid for and the order approved, go back to the my information page.
    • Tip: Check Orders > Manage Orders to make sure the order containing the subscription purchase is not pending, and check Orders > Manage Items for the pending subscription item if you have elected to make storefront subscription require admin approval.
  6. This time, near the top will be a link to the user's storefront URL.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why doesn't the left column of links appear on my storefront page?
A: The left-hand links are dynamically not shown if they have no content to display. If you add a Page or Category through the Storefront Manager, the menu will appear as expected.

Q: A specific user's store is not showing up in the List Stores page. What gives?
A: Be sure the user in question has turned on his/her individual store, using the directions given above under To "turn it on" for a user

Q: What is a "Trial Period?"
A: A Storefront Subscription period that is marked as "Trial" can be used only once per user, then that user can no longer purchase a subscription for that period. For instance, if you wanted to offer a free month of Storefront for new users, but then wanted them to pay a monthly fee for storefront access, you could set up two 30-day Storefront Subscription periods: one with a cost of $0 and the Trial box checked, and another with your monthly cost and no trial.

Q: Why can't I purchase a storefront subscription from the cart?
A: Most likely, you haven't finished attaching subscription periods to your user's price plan. Make sure to carefully follow the directions given above under To "turn it on" in the Admin, particularly steps 3-5

Q: How do I edit the text of the storefront shown on the client side?
A: In the admin tool, go to ADDONS > MANAGE ADDONS. Find the Storefront row, which should have a link that says Edit Text that will take you to a page from which you can translate text relating specifically to the Storefront addon.

Q: Can I allow users to choose between multiple storefront designs?
A: Yes. When you first install the Storefront addon, there is only one, default, Storefront template included. However, more can be added. Create new template files, and then attach them to the "User Storefront Pages" page in the admin, by going to Addons > Storefront > Edit Pages, selecting the Edit button next to "User Storefront Pages," and adding your Additional Template Choices in the form provided. Once that is done, those templates will appear as selectable options in every store owner's Storefront Control Panel. The "Template Selection" dropdown does not appear unless there are multiple templates for the user to select between, so if you don't see it right away, you probably only have one Storefront template..

Q: What tags can I use in my Storefront Templates?
A: The best thing to do is look at the default storefront template to see how these tags are used, but they're listed here, for reference:

  • {$storefront_logo} - shows this storefront's uploaded logo
  • {$storefront_homelink} - links to this storefront's home category
  • {$storefront_welcome_note} - shows the "welcome note" text for this storefront
  • {$storefront_categories} - array containing data for all the categories in this storefront
  • {$storefront_pages} - array containing data for all the "other pages" of this storefront

Q: My storefront pages are missing decorations, or I see lots of (!TAGS!) everywhere. How can I fix this?
A: Most likely, you need to assign templates to the storefront pages. Usually, this is done automatically for you when you install the addon, but in some cases you may need to do the assignment yourself. In your Admin panel, go to Addons > Manage Addons. Find the row labeled Storefront and click the link on that row labeled Edit Page. From here, select the templates to use, and save the form. One more thing to note is that the HOME page requires a Storefront-specific template be assigned to it for everything to look right.

Q: Why does the Storefront Control Panel show only a blank page?
A: Usually, this happens because the Control Panel page is missing a template assignment. Follow the instructions in the last answer to assign a template to the Control Panel page.

Q: What templates should I assign by default?
A: Assuming the rest of your site uses the default design, you'll want to use:

  • basic_page.tpl for the List Storefronts and User Storefront Control Panel pages
  • storefront_default_template.tpl for the User Storefront Pages page
  • listing_classified.tpl for the Classified Details {main_body} sub-template page
  • listing_auction.tpl for the Auction Details {main_body} sub-template page

Note: these values provide a good starting place, but you may need to modify them to fit the customized design of your specific site.

Q: The Google map on the front page of the storefront is incorrect. How do I fix?
A: The address of the Google map displayed on the front page of the storefront is pulled from the seller's address information in their account details. That address information is "written" to that storefront template at the time that storefront is created. If this information is incorrect or is changed after the storefront is created there are two options.

The first option is for those sellers that are not comfortable editing html. Those sellers will need to delete all pages in their pages admin tool of their storefront. Then click the "restore default templates" button in the top of that same admin tool page. The templates for that storefront will be recreated from the default templates using the new address within their account details.

The second option is for those sellers that are comfortable editing html. They only need to edit that page template within their storefront admin tool and change the Google Maps link written into that template to include the correct address information.

SEO Addon Connectivity

In Storefront version 1.7.5 (released concurrently with Geo 5.0.2), we added some more storefront pages to the SEO addon. If you're using these two addons together, you can follow the following steps to enable rewriting of these pages:

  • Install or Upgrade to Storefront v1.7.5 as normal
  • In the admin, go to Addons > Storefront > Settings. Make sure the box for "Search Engine Friendly URL" is checked.
  • Regardless of whether it was already checked or not, save the form. This will let the SEO addon know there are new pages to look at.
  • In the admin, go to Addons > SEO > General Settings. Click on Apply All Settings, then Yes
  • Copy the updated contents that are then shown into your .htaccess file
addons/storefront/start.1303151121.txt.gz · Last modified: 2014/09/25 16:55 (external edit)