New Template
 

Hi All,

I have purchased a template from 7Dana.com for my version of X-Cart. I was wondering if there was a trick, hint or tip to view this new template on my current website without messing up my website's look right now a I have a live store running. I'm interested in seeing what it will look like and the work I will need to do before I implement the new template. I'm hoping this is something I can do to save me a little money. :D

Thanks for any advice you can give ahead of time.

Re: New Template
 

Create dev site, apply template there, make any modifications you need, upload the dev site over the live one

Re: New Template
 

I'm not sure how I would do that. Wouldn't I have to make duplicate of everything (databases, etc.)?

Re: New Template
 

Yes you will have to create new database for it too. Just create new subdirectory in your existing xcart installation - say dev-store. Create new db - dev-store. Install xcart in dev-store directory and connect to dev-store db. Make sure you close the dev-store and disallow access in robots. txt so it's not accessible.

Re: New Template
 

How do I disallow robots?

Thanks

Re: New Template
 

Create robots.txt file in root of the dev site and put this inside

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Note that not all search engines respect robots.txt
You can also restrict access in .htaccess to only the IP address you will be connecting from

Re: New Template
 

Which file(s) do I need to modify to look at my copy database? and not my original?

Thanks in advance.

Re: New Template
 

Edit config.php - you will need to change db name and also where cart is located as you will have it now in subdirectory

Re: New Template
 

In the config.php file are the below sections the correct sections to change? I don't want to change something that doesn't need to be changed.

Route to dev_store folder:

#$xcart_http_host ="my IP Address";
#$xcart_https_host ="my IP Address";
#//$xcart_web_dir ="";
#$xcart_web_dir ="/mydomainname/dev_store";

For dev_store database:

# $sql_host ='localhost';
# $sql_user ='dev_store database name';
# $sql_db ='dev_store database name';
# $sql_password ='mypassword';

Thanks

Re: New Template
 

$xcart_http_host ="my IP Address";
$xcart_https_host ="my IP Address";
$xcart_web_dir ="/dev_store";


$sql_host ='localhost';
$sql_user ='database username';
$sql_db ='dev_store database name';
$sql_password ='mypassword';

Re: New Template
 

Ok I made the changes you suggested. Now when I go to that folder and try to view the copy I get a blank screen. Would you happen to know why that is?

As for .htaccess file when I open it up all it says is...

DirectoryIndex home.php index.html index.php home.php

Where would I put the IP address you mentioned above?

Thanks again!

Re: New Template
 

That doesn't go in your .htaccess file, it goes to config.php file in the dev store directory. The variables are already there, you just need to edit them with the new values

Re: New Template
 

Yes I know it doesn't go in the htaccess file. I updated the config.php file with that information. For some reason the page still loads blank.

Re: New Template
 

Ok I modified a few things in the .htaccess file and the main page loads fine. However when I click on other links within the test site they go to my original site. Any ideas why?

Re: New Template
 

You have somthing in .htaccess or config.php that redirects to your original site - you didn't change it. Can you post .htaccess file here or PM if you want

Re: New Template
 

This is what I have for my htaccess file.

#DirectoryIndex home.php index.html index.php home.php
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php home.php

Re: New Template
 

Maybe I need to put the path to that file since it's within my main site???