RESOLVED: Understanding "Related Products" Module

[EDIT: I CHANGED SUBJECT TO: "UNDERSTANDING RELATED PRODUCTS MODULE" TO BETTER REFLECT CONTENT OF POST AND HELP OTHERS' SEARCH EFFORTS..... PREVIOUS SUBJECT WAS: "Assoc'd Modules" on Prod.&Cat. Listings -- SCOTT]

Hello,

I am trying to set up product and category listing pages and I want to show a module below listing featuring "Related Products". I have created and enabled a Hikashop module called "Related Product and selected it as the "associated module" for my "Product Listing" page linked to this menu item. I have selected module position User2 which is directly below User1 which is where Hikashop places its product pages. I have selected in joomla options the necessary pages for this module to show [note that I have also selected show module on all pages to double check]

Result is that I can only see this Related Products module on menu links to article pages, and can not see the module when the menu is linked to a HikaShop product or category listing. Can anyone think of a setting that I am missing that would block the module and prevent it from showing on HS product/category listings?

Thanks
Scott

Hello again Nicolas,
[EDIT SEE BOTTOM]

In attempt to better understand and self-solve my issue, I read through your following docs:

1. Content Modules Listing
2. Content Menus Listing
3. Content Module Instance Edit
4. Content Menu Edit

I set the Content Synchronization option to "no" and now I can see this module on my product listing page.... I am not exactly sure how this worked, but for now ok.... BUT I could see two versions of my "Related Products" module....

From my reading I discovered that you can show module in two different ways...by:

1. Assigning it to a module position and publishing module; or
2. Activating module via Menu: select "associate module" on Menu.... this publishes module below products listing in SAME module position... this works even when this module is set to "unpublished"

So I unpublished module and assigned it via content menu link:

and now I have only one version of "Related Products"



Question#1: I created this Related Products module and assigned it a static category that has only one product in it...



however, the module is showing products from a different category:

Module not correctly showing product in "ballerinas with heel" category.... instead showing various products from "flats" category [includes categories "ballerina flats" and "sandal flats"].... to make matters worse, 2 of 3 products shown are already listed in above product listing...super redundant.

Why can't I select the category that I want to see with this module? What setting is wrong?

Question#2: Also, out of curiosity, if there are 5 products under this "flats" category and I have set module to show 21 products in 3 columns, why do I see only 3 of the 5 products?

Thanks again for your support,

Scott

EDIT: I HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH ASSOCIATED MODULES AND MENUS AND FOR SOME REASON NOW I CAN CORRECTLY SEE PRODUCT FROM ASSOCIATED MODULE. I AM NOT SURE WHAT I DID [POSSIBLY ONLY A CACHE DUMP] AS I WAS WORKING ON OTHER MENUS AND MODULES AT TIME.. MUST ADMIT I AM HAVING A BIT OF A TIME HERE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE MENUS AND MODULES WORK AND AFFECT EACH OTHER:

Hi Nicolas,

I tried a number of variations of settings and in order to see my "related product" via the product listing menu, the Syncronization must remain set to "no". It is most likely that the "recently viewed" setting was what caused the products to be different before, but during my test I chose both "yes" and "no" and it did not effect my result now and I could still see my one related product ok as long as Syncronization is set to "no". So at this point, I think I understand how to show a static module via listing menu. I will get into understanding the syncronization, "recently viewed" and more elaborate modules at a later date...

Thanks
Scott

Hi Nicolas, thanks for keeping with me on this thread... i had kind of given up hope of really understanding all of this...
I think I am finally starting to get this. You are right, I was definitely talking about something else. Up to this point, I had NO IDEA that a "Related Products" module had anything to do with the "Related Products" defined on each product admin page. Sounds pretty obvious now, but I didn't get it. I was trying to manually create a related product module for a specific category listing menu page using a non-synchronized static category assignment.

Now I understand that:

You will be able to show related products on the product page using a content module.

So I started over and followed these instructions:

1. Create a new module of the type "HikaShop content module" via the joomla modules manager and leave it unpublished in the joomla options of the module.
2. In the HikaShop options of the module (there is a link to them on the right of the module's joomla options screen), make sure that the "Type of content" option is set to "product" and that the option "Content on product page" is set to "Related products".
3. In the Display tab of the configuration of HikaShop, click on the "Select" button of the "Modules under the product page" option. Set your related module to published and click on OK. Then, save the configuration.

SO TO CONFIRM MY NEW UNDERSTANDING:

A. QUESTION: It is NOT necessary to assign an "associated module" on ANY Category Listing Menu settings page in order to get this module to show.... it is controlled by configuration page to show on ALL product pages, CORRECT? Just to be sure, I removed all modules from the "associated modules" field of my Category Listing Menu and "Related Products" still show correctly on bottom of products listing.

B. Also, I now understand your comment that "Related Products" will show only on product pages, not on menu listing pages... as this module's placement is controlled by configuration setting, rather than module postion, RIGHT?

C. Also, I now can see how to control which products will show as the products that are defined on the product admin page in the window "related products"... CORRECT?

RELATED PRODUCTS MODULE NOW SET UP CORRECTLY:



Thanks again
Scott

Hi Nicolas.

B. MY MISTAKE! I had published this module!!... but by chance since I had no position selected, it did not show anywhere else. I have now made the following corrections/observations:
1. The Module "Related Products" is now unpublished
2. The Module Position is left blank since it is not needed - we are not placing it via template.
3. The Module Menu Assignment is set to: "no pages", also since it is not needed - likewise we are controlling assignment via Hikashop, not Joomla.

Result: Related Products module working fine. As far as Related Products go, I think your work is done here.

Thanks again
Scott

Hey Nickolas -

I would submit that the product would be improved by doing the following:

Have the Hikashop Product Page module settings honor the Joomla publish/unpublish setting. That makes adding/preventing the rendering of the module more easily controlled and intuitive.
Instruct users to suppress the inappropriate rendering of the Hikashop Related Product module via template by assigning it to position None or similar unpublished position to control rendering by the template. On installation, default the position for the module to None.

Rendering an apparently unpublished module creates user confusion and unnecessary support requests.

My 3 euros,
Duke