X-Cart forums

[promart418]

I think what I am trying to ask is how do you call a specific categoryid from the MySQL database in the simplest way in x-cart?

EDIT... I was replying to my own post, but you responded before I submitted and my response looks a bit rude, sorry about that, not intended.

[ARW VISIONS]

maybe this?

{if $cat eq "252"}

{php}
require_once("simplepie.inc");
$feed = new SimplePie();
 $feed->set_feed_url("http://www.promartsupplements.co.uk/...nes/?feed=rss2");
 
$feed->init();
// Limit the items to be shown
$i = 0;
foreach($feed->get_items() as $item) {
 if($i <= 2) {
  echo "<h3 style='font-size:14px;'><a style='color:#000; text-decoration:none; font-size:13px; font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif;' href='" . $item->get_permalink() . "'>" . $item->get_title() . "</a> </h3>";
  echo "<p style='font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size:11px;'>" . substr($item->get_description(),0,180) . "...<a style='text-decoration:none; font-size:11px; font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif;' href='" . $item->get_permalink(). "'>[Read Article]</a></p>";
  $i++;
 }
}
{/php}

{else}

{php}
require_once("simplepie.inc");
$feed = new SimplePie();
 $feed->set_feed_url("http://www.promartsupplements.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2");
 
$feed->init();
// Limit the items to be shown
$i = 0;
foreach($feed->get_items() as $item) {
 if($i <= 2) {
  echo "<h3 style='font-size:14px;'><a style='color:#000; text-decoration:none; font-size:13px; font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif;' href='" . $item->get_permalink() . "'>" . $item->get_title() . "</a> </h3>";
  echo "<p style='font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size:11px;'>" . substr($item->get_description(),0,180) . "...<a style='text-decoration:none; font-size:11px; font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif;' href='" . $item->get_permalink(). "'>[Read Article]</a></p>";
  $i++;
 }
}
{/php}

{/if}

[promart418]

Thanks Ashley. I will implement that.

My aim is to increase unique and relevant content on my x-cart category pages, by pulling in the most recent 3 blog articles from my wordpress blog feed for the same category, i.e.

The most recent 3 article snippets from ".co.uk/blog/category/cat1/feed/" showing on ".co.uk/cat1"

I want to do this on 20ish category pages and 30ish manufacturer pages, without adding loads of additional code.

My last SEO company could not achieve this, so I am trying to do it myself. Do you think the method you suggested would be okay when applied to about 50 pages?

I use GZIP, so I suppose it shouldn't increase page load times much at all, even if it does add lots of code.

If you know a better method though, please let me know,

Thanks,

[ARW VISIONS]

I would do it like this.

make a .tpl for each cat wit the cat id in the name

so

252_feed.tpl

the do it like this.

{include file="customer/feeds/`$cat`_feed.tpl"}

of course you need to make the customer/feed folder.

then in your 252_feed.tpl file put your php code

{php}
require_once("simplepie.inc");
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url("http://www.promartsupplements.co.uk/...nes/?feed=rss2");

$feed->init();
// Limit the items to be shown
$i = 0;
foreach($feed->get_items() as $item) {
if($i <= 2) {
echo "<h3 style='font-size:14px;'><a style='color:#000; text-decoration:none; font-size:13px; font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif;' href='" . $item->get_permalink() . "'>" . $item->get_title() . "</a> </h3>";
echo "<p style='font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size:11px;'>" . substr($item->get_description(),0,180) . "...<a style='text-decoration:none; font-size:11px; font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif;' href='" . $item->get_permalink(). "'>[Read Article]</a></p>";
$i++;
}
}
{/php}

[cflsystems]

If this is for category pages then $cat will work - $cat holds the current category id. But you should put your code in include/categories.php and assign the result to smarty. Then you can use that smarty variable in a template to show the links

[sinobest]

would you please tell up the details on how to add the code? Where should we put simplepie.inc? many thanks.

[cflsystems]

You can copy the inc file in include directory. In include/categories.php just before "?>" put

require_once $xcart_dir."/include/simplepie.inc";
$feed = new SimplePie();
if($cat == 252)
 $feed->set_feed_url("http://www.promartsupplements.co.uk/...nes/?feed=rss2");
else
 $feed->set_feed_url("http://www.promartsupplements.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2");
 
$feed->init();
// Limit the items to be shown
$i = 0;
$new_feed = array();
foreach($feed->get_items() as $item) {
 if($i <= 2) {
$new_feed[$i]["link"] = $item->get_permalink();
$new_feed[$i]["title"] = $item->get_title();
$new_feed[$i]["descr"] = substr($item->get_description(),0,180);
 
$i++;
 }
}
$smarty->assign("new_feed", $new_feed);

Then use $new_feed in the template you want it to show

 
{foreach from=$new_feed item=nf}
<a href="{$nf.link}">{$nf.title}</a>
<br />
{$nf.descr}
 
<p> ----------------------------------</p>
{/foreach}

[sinobest]

i can not find categories.php under include category, i only find one under admin category. i am using x-cart 4.4.2 gold

[cflsystems]

There is no categories.php for 4.4.x, the replacement is common.php

[promart418]

Hi all,

I just wanted to say thanks for all the great information. It is slightly beyond my abilities at the moment, but I will come back to it as I learn, thanks again.