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That Software Guy, Inc.
offering consulting services in- software development
- web design
- Zen Cart™
Questions? New to Zen Cart?Required changes to discounting modules for Zen Cart 1.3.8
Quantity Discounts, Better Together and Combination Discounts all require a patch to run under Zen Cart 1.3.8. Take this function and paste it right above the function calculate_deductions() in the file in includes/modules/order_total. The latest versions include this patch, but if you haven't upgraded, you must manually apply the patch. Big Spender, Big Chooser and Military Discounts do not require this patch.Beginner's Guide to Mod Installation
(05/2008) Installing a mod to Zen Cart can seem daunting the first time you do it. I wrote up a few notes to walk first-timers through the process in my Guide to Mod Installation on Zen Cart. Hope it's useful!Dymo Label Printing for Zen Cart now for Firefox
(04/2008) Well, I finally got my Dymo Labels for Zen Cart contribution working with Firefox. It's available now in the Zen Cart downloads area, with instructions for installation on XP and Vista.Newsletter Discount for Zen Cart
(04/2008) I've added a discounting module to Zen Cart which allows you to offer a discount to newsletter subscribers, whether you use MailChimp or the native Zen Cart newsletter system. It's called Newsletter Discount.Documentation Updates
(04/2008) A couple of small documentation enhancements so far this month:- The instructions for the SMS on Sale mod have been enhanced to describing using this mod in conjunction with Twitter. This might be a desirable option for Zen Cart operators outside the US who do not have an SMS to email gateway, but still want SMS notification when a sale is made.
- A set of instructions has been written up to describe how to date-constrain your discounts when using Better Together, Combination Discounts, Big Spender or Big Chooser. Using just a small amount of PHP code, you can start and/or stop your discount offers at dates of your choosing. See Timing Discounts for details.
Dymo Label Printing for Zen Cart
(03/2008) It's no secret that I'm crazy about my Dymo. I've wanted to add Dymo printing to Zen Cart for a while, but I was discouraged by the fact that the Dymo interface logic was so tightly coupled to Internet Exploiter (it uses an an Active X interface to a COM driver). Then I read that some smart guy wrote an XPI to make it work with Firefox. Well, what the heck, right? I rolled up my sleeves, I got it to work with Win/IE (XP, Vista), but I'm still trying to make it play nice with Win/FF. Of course, since this talks directly to the driver, it's a real science project to get it going on other platforms. Check out Dymo Labels for Zen Cart.Big Upsell for Big Chooser and Big Spender
(02/2008) Since the release of Big Spender, people have been asking for Checkout Candy functionality (display the discounts on the shopping cart page and the first page of checkout to tempt shoppers with upselling offers). Big Chooser users wanted the same thing. The wait is over. Check out Big Upsell.Extending the power of coupons
(02/2008) If you're trying to measure advertising effectiveness, a common mechanism is to require a coupon code for a discount. But Zen Cart coupons can only do so much. Now you can create complex discounts with the configurability of Big Chooser and add a coupon dependency. Or you can use Big Chooser to allow a coupon to provide free shipping as well as a discount (by default, coupons can only do a discount or free shipping). Check out version 1.0.4 of Big Chooser.Category Help
(02/2008) The most common questions I get about my discounting modules are questions about category handling and category problems. I wrote a brief FAQ about how this works and the problems you might encounter here.A Podcast with That Software Guy, Inc.
(01/2008) I spent some time talking with the folks over at Alpha Software, and they released it as a podcast.All Discounts Integrated on a Single Promotional Page
(01/2008) Are you using my Zen Cart Promotional Pages to show off your discounts? Are you using multiple discounting modules? Would you like to show your discounts on a single page? You're in luck! A single page showing all discounts called the Integrated Promotional Page is now available. Here's what it looks like.Using Sandy with Zen Cart
(01/2008) If you enjoy using the electronic assistant Sandy, you can use Sandy to remind you to follow up with your Zen Cart customers a few days after a sale. Just use the SMS on Sale mod; instructions are provided.External Polling Sidebox
(01/2008) The External Polling Sidebox, which allows you to more easily integrate with hosted polling services, has been made available in the Zen Cart Download area. For more information on using this contribution to engage your customers through polls, see External Polling Sidebox help.Big Chooser Released
(01/2008) Big Chooser is finally ready for general release. If you need something more powerful than Combination Discounts to fully realize your marketing plan, check out the Zen Cart discounting possibilities that Big Chooser provides.Blogging Release Notices
(1/2008) Starting this year, I'm going to add release notices to my blog content. If you use the URLhttp://thecartblog.com/category/that-software-guy/feedyou can get a feed of only these release notices, which you can add to your iGoogle page or to your RSS Reader.
Gift Wrap at Checkout Updated
(1/2008) My Gift Wrap module has been updated to Zen Cart 1.3.8, and is now available in the Zen Cart downloads area.Search Helper Released
(1/2008) My Search Helper module is now available in the Zen Cart downloads area.Changes to Gift Wrap
(12/2007) A small bug was found in version 2.2, so I released version 2.3. This will be the FINAL version for Zen Cart 1.3.7. In the new year, I will release the required changes for Zen Cart 1.3.8.Big Chooser getting closer ...
(12/2007) I made a lot of progress this week and buttoned up version 0.0.2 of Big Chooser/Conditional Discounts. It should be ready for final release soon. Take a look at the awesome cross-selling power it gives you.Search Helper
(12/2007) Looking for a way to correct typos and use additional keywords in your cart searches without the headache of having to update meta tags on every product? Take a look at Search Helper!Passing the Century Mark
(12/2007) Not my age - although it seems that way some mornings - the number of newsletter subscribers I have. If you'd like to join this awesome group of over 100 clued-in Zen Cart users, go ahead and sign up today! Looking for even more style points? Read my blog!What's in a name?
(12/2007) Like a father confusing his children's names, somehow I got mixed up the other day writing about Combination Discounts and Conditional Discounts. So I thought I'd give them more easily differentiated names. Conditional Discounts is now Big Chooser - Conditional Discounts. Not only does this provide some separation from Combination Discounts, it also re-enforces the similarity with Big Spender.New Gift Wrap features for VAT liable shopowners
(12/2007) Gift Wrap at Checkout has been enhanced to allow the display of gift wrapping charges in a tax-included format. If your tax regime requires this, download Gift Wrap at Checkout 2.2 from the Zen Cart downloads area.The Perfect Gift
(11/2007) I wrote a fundraising appeal on my blog for the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, in response to a challenge grant generously made by Mr. Henry Rowan. Please take a moment to read it and respond if you're able.Quantity Discounts by currency per item
(11/2007) I've updated Quantity Discounts to provide per item discounting on a currency basis. So instead of saying "10% off for over 10 items," you can now say, "$5.00 per item off over 10 items." A number of people asked for this in the past week, so I thought it was about time to add it.On one condition!
(11/2007) .... or three or four. People seem to like the specification flexibility of Big Spender, so I am refactoring it into a discounting module that looks at cart contents rather than dollars spent. I hope to have it ready by December, but you can get started reading the documentation on Big Chooser - Conditional Discounts now.Updates to Gift Wrap at Checkout
(11/2007) I have added a series of user exits to Gift Wrap at Checkout which allow you to disable or surcharge wrapping services for specific categories or product ids. It's available from the Zen Cart downloads area as version 2.1.Welcome, Google Searcher!
(11/2007) I wrote a small contribution that recognizes when surfers arrive at your Zen Cart and generates an internal keyword search for them based on their Google keywords. Here's the help for Welcome Google Searcher. Happy Googling!Super Orders Fixes
(10/2007) Thanks to Frank Koehl (Blindside) for incorporating my changes into Super Orders. These changes fix the bulk status update issues that some users have reported. You can download them here.Magento and StoreSuite
(10/2007) I've gotten a few questions in the last month about Magento. Magento looks very promising, and as soon as it's released, I'll be talking more about it, both here and on my blog.Of course, it never rains, but it pours. Web Solutions provider Interspire is building momentum in the development of their own shopping cart, called StoreSuite.
Please see my most recent blog post on StoreSuite for more information.
It's a wrap!
(10/2007) A frequent topic on the Zen Cart forum was how to provide (and bill for) gift wrapping services. I wrote up some suggestions, then wound up writing a small contribution, but I wasn't satisfied with either of them. I really wanted to follow the Amazon model of wrap selection at checkout time. Finally, I took the bull by the horns and developed an at-checkout gift wrapping selection interface. I hope it helps your Christmas sales!thecartblog.com - A blog about shopping carts, e-commerce and all the rest
(09/2007) I keep coming across things I think are interesting that I want to share, but I'd like to keep my business home page for business matters. So I started thecartblog.com. Take a look!Using Google Checkout with my discounting modules
(09/2007) If you are using Better Together, Combination Discounts or Big Spender along with Google Checkout in your Zen Cart™, you must be running at least the following versions:- Google Checkout: v1.4.1_beta2 or better
- Better Together: 1.5a or better
- Big Spender: 1.1.3a or better
- Combination Discounts: 1.0.4a or better
Buy The Set extension for Combination Discounts
(09/2007) For linkages between products without attributes using Combination Discounts, I have add the ability to purchase the entire set of items with a single click. Not surprisingly, it's called Buy The Set. It does for Combination Discounts what Buy Both Now did for Better Together - making it easy for your customers to buy all your cross-sells in a single click.Hey, Big Spender!
(09/2007) Want to provide discounts or free gifts based on the dollar total in the cart? Take a look at Big Spender. It is now available.Promotional Pages for your discounts
(09/2007) A few people have asked for special pages that list all their discounts for the various discounting modules I've created. I've made them available by download and installed them on my test cart so you can see how they look.See Promotional Pages for Discounts for more details.
