Thank you!!!

Does each sidebar have to be the same or is it easy to 'stack' them in different order in different shops?

stack 'em as you wish. Just look at the order of the three lines of code there. The <script... parts are where you're pulling in from the other shop. The cp:sidebar line is the one for the current shop. So, you can put those three lines in any order and see what happens. It won't go bonk.

*lightbulb goes on in head*

*dashes from thread clutching pruple crayons*

*dashes back in and hugs Teesed*



*dashes out*

I had to sticky this thread...it's going to be a lot of SKs favorite new tool.

Thanks Jim!

Just had to pop back in and say that linking more than 2 shops ... well, it was like BUTTAH!



Teesed, you rock! Thank you SO much!

Ok...What if you want to link your "b" shop to your "a" shop, in that the side bar for A shows up in the B shop. In shop A, I don't want the sidebar for b to be there because I have a link through a dummy section to B..make sense? lmao. I think I lost myself here!

LOL Ok, my "b" shop is my art store, and is arranged by products. I don't want all the products sections show up in my main store. I have a link through a section on my main page to my art store. BUT..I would love, to have the 'Sister Shop'...with the main store sidebar in the artstore. Is there a way to do that? lol

*takes advil

Of course.

So, what you want is:

Shop A side menu:
-------------
Shop A sidebar
Shop B sidebar

Shop B side menu:
--------------
Shop B sidebar


Right? I should let Blue explain how to do it, just so she can get her orange belt.

Hang on and I'll create the code.

In Shop A:
<cpstore:sidebar>
<script src="http://www.cafewish.com/mergemenu.asp?shopid=shop_b"></script>


In Shop B:
<!-- cp menu start --><cpstore:sidebar><!-- cp menu end -->

That will show the sidebar from shop_b under shop_a's sidebar, but will only show shop_b in shop_b's sidebar. Is that what you want?

I don't know if it's the cp template or what. lol Cannot get it to work, and I did it several times... Can you perhaps show code of what it would look like. I mean, you have the basic, and where to put it, but if I had an example of what was around that coding, I think it might help

Not sure what you're looking for beyond these directions. Look for the "cpstore:sidebar" tag in your "Custom HTML". Do you have that?

At hem. Just smack me silly and call me blond...I'm a brunette lmao. Yesterday was not the day to look at html. I came to this thread while ago, copied the direction and gave it a go...worked like a CHARM!! Thank you sooooo much for this. My only thing I'm working on now is my holiday section, is it is in shop "b". My intro for it is in shop "a" with the redirect. I had it appearing twice in my sidebar. I blanked out the name of it in my 'shop b', and it works. That sound about right? The only thing being if they hit the store name from the holiday section, they go right to shop b's front page, which is my art. So, I'm fanagling how to handle that one.

Now...as for WHY I couldn't get it to work the first time?? Oh, I don't know. Maybe if my shops were named "A" and "B", it'd have worked Told ya.!! NOT a good day to look at html lol.

Thanks again! This is wonderful!!!

Editing to add this..

Eccentric Splash
If you go down and click on the holiday section, it takes you to my shop 'b'. For now, I've blanked out the name of the Holiday section in shop b, since the redirect is in the main store. BUT lol When you look around, see how awful my section is, as I am building it lol, you think ok..click on 'Eccentric Splash' link right at the top of the section, and it takes you to the main page of store b, which is my art.

Now, the brain fodder I'm throwing out now...is there a way to redirect BACK to the home page from like the holiday section?? LOL The only think I can think of doing right now, being an html dummy, is to rename shop be to like 'Eccentric Splash Art and Holidays'. It was like that before, in the beginning and I hated how long it was (I hate the font they used for the tag on the template lol). OR having a blurb up at the top to hit my store front button to get back to the main page.

That's all I can think to ask, and hopefully I haven't mangled that too bad.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Stitcherladyxx,

quote:

Originally posted by Teesed:
In light of the issue of consolidating shops and making them seamless, I have created a little tool to help merge the side navigation bars between shops.

Feedback is welcome.

Demo
Look at the Cafewish Demo and Undamned stores. You will notice that they share a sidebar, yet each actually contains its own sections. This example doesn't show a truly seamless shop as I don't have any like that yet, but it shows what the sidebars would look like.

How?

Fairly easy. Let's call these Shop A and Shop B.

In this case, we want Shop A's menu above Shop B in both shops.

In Shop A, go to your Custom HTML and find the

code. Change it to
< !-- cp menu start -->< !-- cp menu end -->

Make sure that's EXACT! All on one line, no spaces between.

Save the page at the bottom.

Next, go to Shop B and find the

code. Just before it, put this code:
<script src="http://www.cafewish.com/mergemenu.asp?shopid=id_for_shopa">

Save the page at the bottom.

Go to your Shop B and you should see the Shop A menu above Shop B.

Now, go back to the Custom HTML for Shop B go to your Custom HTML and find the

code. Change it to
< !-- cp menu start -->< !-- cp menu end -->

Save this page at the bottom.

Now go to the Custom HTML for Shop A and just below the new
< !-- cp menu start -->< !-- cp menu end -->
code, put
<script src="http://www.cafewish.com/mergemenu.asp?shopid=id_for_shopb">

Save and viola!


How does this work?
It's a small script that scrapes the page of the second shop and finds the code between the two comment tags. That's why they are important.


Questions, comments, concerns... You can link multiple shops together like this. Nice thing is, when you add a new section to Shop A, it will show up in both shops.

So, for the novice HTML'er, how exactly do you merge 3 or more shops. Think I can figure it out, but am not sure.

Thanks.

quote:

So, for the novice HTML'er, how exactly do you merge 3 or more shops. Think I can figure it out, but am not sure.

See the first page of the thread

Your are the best. I successfuly merged my 2 stores. Thanks again. If you have a minute, check the out and give me some MUCH needed feedback, here are the links:

www.cafepress.com/thelifeinme
www.cafepress.com/freeholes

Thanks again.

I'm lost. Where on the Custom HTML page should I be seeing "<cpstore:sidebar>"?