Product page display problem / Content Menus

Hi,

Further updates at bottom of page - original post left in for historic purposes.

I have an issue where my product categories all have a border applied which is what I want, this seems to take it's style from the menu item I created. However when you drill down through the categories and the page of products is displayed there is no border. Also it is displaying the discount amount, which I have set to no in the default product display settings (discount does not show when the link is followed to an individual product, but on the page with all products displayed for the category it does).


As an update to this I have borders now but not sure how. I am not understanding the content menu operation at all, but this would seem to control the output on the pages.

The problem now is I have created a new content menu item pointing at one of my top level categories and another that is a sub category. The top level menu item seems to control all sub menu output, i.e if I change the number of columns in that menu it works, if I change the number of columns in the sub category menu it makes no difference.
Next issue is that when trying to add to the Joomla menu structure I can't save it as I get a message "Save failed with the following error: MenusTableMenu: :move Failed - Cannot move the node to be a child of itself"
I assume I am building the menu/category structure incorrectly somehow, but have no idea where I'm going wrong.

To summarize I have created a menu module called "Shop Menu" I have created a content menu for the first category under "Product Categories" called "telephone systems" that is assign to a category of the same name. I have created a content menu called "Panasonic Telephone Systems" and assigned that to a category of the same name that is a sub category of "telephone Systems"
Altering the settings of the menu for "telephone systems" affects both the output of that category and of sub categories.
I cannot find anything except under the config display options for altering the output of a product listing layout, but somehow this has miraculously altered itself, clearing up the initial issues I was having, but leaving me with no way of further configuring this output.

I am completely confused. I have no problem with deleting everything and starting from scratch if that would help with sorting this out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

OK - got the menu saving issue sorted by creating in Joomla and then setting up Hikashop proprties. This has now resolved my issues with layout etc. but leaves 1 small issue. When following the links in the menu everything displays as I have set it in the content menu settings. However if I click on a link in the main page e.g. i click on the image of the category/subcategories and follow those links then I am back to my original problem. For example I have a product listing menu item that I have set up with 4 columns 6 items (just to test pagination) If I follow this from the shop menu it works perfectly. However if I click on the link in the main content area it displays 4 columns 8 items. Also from the menu the categories do no display empty sub categories, but if I follow the link in the main content area it displays all sub categories.

OK - Pages display as I want via menu links

URL when using menu /index.php/telephone-systems/panasonic-systems

URL when using image links /index.php/telephone-systems/category/14-panasonic-telephone-systems

Can anyone help me achieve the same output irrespective of which link they use?

Hi, I think this is my problem. I am not understanding the relationship between modules and menus regarding the main content area output. My menus display as I wish them to. However even without any menus Hikashop creates links to the subcategories/products without a menu item, which didn't think you could do in Joomla (No menu item creates a 404 error). I dont require any additional modules on my site so just have the cart module published. Is this where I am going wrong?

The site is at www.federalcommunications.com . There is a shop menu module here and if you go down through the menu everything displays as I want. However if you click the first link in the menu and then follow the links from the categories displayed this is where the issue come in. Most obvious is the empty categories display when following links in the main content area. Not really a problem as once I get things set up right there won't be any empty categories. If you alternate between the menu links and the content area links I get a situation where the product listing shows no items, and this is my main concern. (use menu to select Panasonic Systems, then use link in main content area to select NCP systems and Page heading and category description show but no products).

Hi -Sorry, just working on it now. I deleted all menus, modules etc. and started again. I have created only 1 menu item and 1 module and as you say it seems to be working fine as it is. I have yet to recreate the menu module and sub menus and see if it all still works. I will recreate the menus shortly, but something that has come to light is that if I select No child and only display categories with products it displays the direct subcategory as well.
I'll leave it set like this for a while and let me know what you think.

I've been following that page, but I must be doing something wrong. I'll take a look again and get back to you.

I have put the submenu back in again and if you click on the shop categories menu item and then follow the image links it works fine, but if you select the telephone system menu link and then follow the image links it displays without products again.

Trying to look at the demo page but it's asking for credentials?

Demo site up again - Do you think this could be a SEF URL problem? I notice the demo site doesn't use them.

Hi,

I feel I need to play with this a bit more. Could you take a look at the screenshot here as I still don't know why it is displaying a child element? If I change the option to only display categories with products the child element disappears. I'm happy to run like that as I said I will have no empty categories once it is all set up, but if I'm doing something wrong now then I could be making things a lot worse for myself later.

I'll set up another menu to play with and leave this one as it is so you can see what I mean.

Hi, I think you mis-understood the problem. The menu should display the child elements. What is happening is below the category image you will see displayed the current link and the child element of that in the bordered DIV. To see if it is a Joomla issue I have deleted the submenu items on the "Test" menu, so that the only menu linking to the top level category is showing. With these menu items deleted the issue persists. Firebug reports span hikashop_category_name on the first link and ul kikashop_category_list on the child. Wierdly if I change the "Only display categories with products" to no the problem goes away. Change it back to yes and the problem comes back. That is what is leading me to think it is a Hikashop issue? Of course I know very little about Joomla and even less about Hikashop, so I will bow to your superior knowledge and keep trying to fix via Joomla.

I have 1 more question that could solve this issue as well as satisfying my curiosity. The help says that Hikashop has it's own menu. It also states that there may be issues with displaying it and to place it above the main content area. I can't find it at all in either position. Should there be a module I'm missing as there is no mention of this menu anywhere except on the configuration display screen. Maybe if I could get this working I could remove the Joomla menu items altogether? For clarity the menu I refer to is this one referenced in the help:

Menu position : As you might have already seen, HikaShop does not use the standard joomla menu interface. We decided to do our own interface in order to handle an additional level of menus so that you can easily reach any functionality of HikaShop easily. Our custom menu is added under the title of the page by default but some backend templates have a reduced size for this area, thus hiding the menu. So you have here the possibility to add the HikaShop menu above the main area where you should not have such issues.

Please do not feel I am picking holes, I really do love this product and your support so far has been wonderful. I just need to make sure I can get things the way I want before I buy the business version. Just out of interest do you know anyone that could write a plugin for a credit card merchant that isn't currently supported? This will be my last hurdle I need to overcome before I start spending money.

Hi, I have it set to no child for both menus as per the screenshot in my earlier post, hence my confusion. I've tried changing it and re applying the no child selection but with no luck. As mentioned its not a big issue, was just trying to resolve before setting anything else up.

Fixed - you are a genius! So impressed I'm buying the business version now. I've never had such good support on a free product before, so I think it only fair I spend some cash with you!

Quick edit - just purchased business. On the your account/subscriptions there is space for a URL and an option to extend your subscription. Is this not a 1 off fee for the software? The word subscription I find a little disconcerting and would rather have seen "Your Purchases"? What is the URL space for? and is this a limited licence that needs renewing every year?

Another edit - figured it out. Does the subscription cover major updates and can I extend it at the end of the first year?