FAQ Publisher ShopWindowCoding

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Frequently Asked Questions by Publishers, for Publishers - Admin

All information you find here is relevant to Affiliate Window products and services only

What are hotpicks?

Each advertiser who opts to allow their datafeed to be used within ShopWindow (and is then in turn accepted to be a part of ShopWindow) has the option to select ten products that they deem to be their best selling items. All of the hotpicks are then put into a pool and served out via the hotpicks element on ShopWindow installs.

- Enabling Hotpicks for ShopWindow v3

Hotpicks were removed from the default installs of ShopWindow to allow publisher s to replace them with Content Widgets instead. This allows you to truly target your audience with the products that you choose in order to increase conversion.

For those that would prefer the less orthodox method and use hotpicks the below may be of use. This will need to be added into the index.php file. Please note that ShopWindow will prefer the use of widgets for review.

$oHotPicksParams->iLimit = 9;
include_once('elements'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'hot_picks.php');

- How do I change the number displayed?

To change the number of hotpicks you need to navigate to your index.php file and then amend the following:

   $oHotPicksParams->iLimit = 9;

   $oHotPicksParams->iLimit = X;

Where X is the number of hotpicks that you wish to be displayed on your homepage.

- How do I change the category they come from?

To change the category that the hotpicks are served from is a much more complex change to make. You have to create a new refine by definition object and then assign that as an active refine by. Navigate to your index.php file and then amend the following:

   $oHotPicksParams->iLimit = 12;
   include_once('elements'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'hot_picks.php');

   $oRefineBy = new stdClass();
   $oRefineBy -> iId = 4;
   $oRefineBy -> sName = 'Category';
   $oRefineByDefinition = new stdClass();
   $oRefineByDefinition -> sId = 4;
   $oRefineByDefinition -> sName = ‘Electronics’;
   $oRefineBy -> oRefineByDefinition = array($oRefineByDefinition);
 
   $oHotPicksParams->aActiveRefineByGroups = array($oRefineBy);
   $oHotPicksParams->iLimit = X;
 
   include_once('elements'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'hot_picks.php');

Where X is the number of hotpicks that you wish to be displayed on your homepage and where iId is the ID of the category that you wish to serve hotpicks from. sName will relate to the name of that category.

What are Vertical Shops?

Vertical shops are shops that focus on a niche area of the market and would therefore serve products from a specific category. This can easily be done with the ShopWindow software.

- How do I create a vertical shop?

To change which vertical category your products are served from you will need to navigate to your constants.inc.php file and then amend the following:

   #define('VERTICAL_CATEGORY_ID', 521);

   define('VERTICAL_CATEGORY_ID', X);

Where X is the ID of the category that you wish to serve from. This can be a parent, child or grandchild category. For a full list of categories and their ID's please see here

- How do I hide a category?

Often, you may wish to remove certain categories from the consumer's eye if they do not fit into your desired install. To do this you will need to navigate to your constants.inc.php file and then amend the following:

   define('CATEGORY_MAPPINGS', serialize( array(230 => "Books" ) ) );

   define('CATEGORY_MAPPINGS', serialize( array(230 => "" ) ) );

This will then hide the category 230 which is Books.

- How do I change the name of a category?

Sometimes it may crop up that you feel you want to change the name of a category to better serve its product offering. This can be done client side. You will have to navigate to the constants.inc.php file and then amend the following:

   define('CATEGORY_MAPPINGS', serialize( array(230 => "Books" ) ) );

   define('CATEGORY_MAPPINGS', serialize( array(230 => "Books and Subscriptions" ) ) );

This will then rename the category 230 to Books and Subscriptions.

How do I change the logo?

In order to change the logo that appears on the default template you will first need to have a logo that you wish to use. Change this image file to read sw_logo.gif. Once this logo is prepared you can then navigate to the following folder within your install /templates/default/images/ and replace the current sw_logo.gif file with the one you have created.

How do I activate the refine bys?

With v2.1+ the refine by elements are switched off by default. You may wish to make use of these optional extras and here is how to do that. Navigate to and open your constants.inc.php page and then amend the following:

   define('REFINE_BRAND',	false);
   define('REFINE_PRICE',    false);
   define('REFINE_CATEGORY',	false);
   define('REFINE_MERCHANT',	false);

   define('REFINE_BRAND',	true);
   define('REFINE_PRICE',	true);
   define('REFINE_CATEGORY',	true);
   define('REFINE_MERCHANT',	true);

This will then enable all of the four refine by objects.

What is a Tag Cloud?

A Tag Cloud is a set of the most popular searches that users make. We pool together all of the search terms that are conducted on either your individual affiliate account and from a global list and then output these as an element for use in your ShopWindow. The Tag Cloud is also generated from the product titles of products that are clicked on. The Tag Cloud is category dependent so you will not get tags from DVDs when searching through the Irons category.

- How do I change between the global list and my publisher account's list?

In order to switch between the two pools of tags you must open up your constants.inc.php and set to true in order to use the global list, of false to use your publisher accounts list. The below example is switching from the global list to the individual publisher account list:

define('GLOBAL_QUERY_LIST', true);

define('GLOBAL_QUERY_LIST', false);