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Bosse
Starting Member
Sweden
25 Posts |
 Posted - June 25 2003 : 12:35:18
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Suggestions that make full use of Language Switch.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, VPASP is made to actually just show in one language, but you can choose almost any language for this purpose. But if you like to use the function "language switch" between two or more languages, you've got trouble. Well, trouble and trouble, at least you've got a heck of a task in front of you.
You have to duplicate every product in order to get the info and currency in the right language. And as for me who in the long run like to have the store in all four Nordic languages, I have to make three copies of the origin product.
This means that I have four catalogid's for the same product. If I start from scratch I could at least have catalogid 1,2,3 and 4 for product One, 5,6,7 and 8 for product Two etc. But if I start with the Swedish language, a year later with the Danish, later on Finish etc, the catalogid's for product One might be 1, 1234, 2678 and 3456.
This makes the overwiev and maintenance unneccessary complicated.
Also, you can't – as I have today – have any customized links pointing at a special product (f.x product of the week) since when you switch language, this link will point to a product in the wrong language and wrong currency.
I'd like to have a button at the bottom of the product page (in the admin section) saying something like "Same product in another language?". I'm no asp hacker, so I don't even know if it's a huge project to do this. But wouldn't it be reasonable to believe that this can be done by adding a letter to the catalogid (and – of course – another field in the db table)? The default could be catalogid 1$=a (or whatever term you use in asp to tell the script to look in different fields/tables). If you ad a new language to a product by clicking "Same product in another language?", the new entrance get catalogid 1$=b. The link to the product will be as today (f.x. shopquery.asp?catalogid=8) but the "language switch" determine if it should be 8$=a or 8$=b to get from the db.
When I'd like to edit a product, there will be a dropdown meny at the top of the product page where I choose the language.
This way I'll get the same catalogid for every unik product, no matter in what language it is, I can edit a product in all languages from the same page, and when I delete a product, I delete it in all languages with one click.
Customized links will show the right product and the random script will show articles in the correct language (instead of – as today – randoms from ALL products, no matter language).
And while I'm at this dreaming, here's another thing:
You can't have any kind of customized pages, linked from your header or trailer (f.x. "conditions.htm", "aboutmycompany.htm" or "whatIsGiftRegistry.htm" etc), if you'd like to use "language switch". Since then these links will point to pages in the wrong language. You can't do anything with your shop that diverge from the default VP-ASP. Well, you can of course build a complete new site for each language, but I find it a waste since VP-ASP has the potential!
I've also bought a portal in asp. Here you have a function called "Articles". Works almost as "Products" in VP-ASP.
Is it possible to integrate a function like this in VP-ASP? And add the same as above for different languages?
Today we have a link "Shop" that fetch all the categories. Another link called f.x. "Content" could bring up links to alla "articles". Or you could have an extra table in the left column with the links (as you can today with categories)
Isn't it possible (and mind you, I'm a comlete novis at asp) to "just" copy the whole product-package in the asp code, and convert it to an article-package? There are unneccessary fields that you can erase, but otherwise it's the same. You change "Name" to "Headline", "Description" to "Content" etc. The only thing you have to change is that you should be able to put more than 255 characters in "Content".
In shop$colors you write new definitions for TableContent.
Voila! And in a perfect world, this works…
/Bosse
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midobu
Starting Member
USA
42 Posts |
Posted - August 06 2003 : 18:33:29
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I have suggestions for make full use of Language Switch between Japanese and English.
1. Suggesting to put back the previous language sets of VP-ASP 4.0 and 4.5 into VP-ASP 5.0
With <% @CodePage=932 %> code page setting, in VP-ASP 5.0, importing text file into Language database won't work in Japanese texts(or maybe for all 2 bytes charactors), because "Server.CreateObject( "Scripting.FilesystemObject" )" does not support Japanese text with <% @CodePage=932 %> code page setting. Importing Japanese text into database will make all Japanese texts all scrambled.
2. Suggesting NOT TO THINK SHARING the same VP-ASP files to switch languages as VP-ASP doing today. In my opinion, it is better to duplicate VP-ASP files in different locations and customise each site according its language.
For example, in Japanese, when you ask to type a full name, the last name always comes first but in English first name comes first. When you ask to type shipping address, in Japanese, zip code comes first but in English street numbers will come first. As you see the orders are totaly oposit.
And not only duplicating files in different directories help customising each site but also DUPLICATING TABLE SETS in database will allow each site to have its own unique setting.
For example;
First, let users do the job of duplicating VP-ASP files in different directories for each language use.
Next, let users do the job of duplicating all tables in Access database by copy and paste and rename each tables by adding a "string" at the end of the original table name to distinguish each table sets for each language use.
For example;
affiliatelog_E, affiliatelog_J, affiliates_E, affiliates_J , and so on.
ONLY THING VP-ASP REQUIRED HERE is to provide users to specify the "string"(in this case, "_E" or "_J") so that VP-ASP will know which table sets to pick when it starts to run the site.
This will allow each site to have its own unique setting.
3. Suggestion to share the same stock numbers in different language sites.
When the same products were sold in different sites, the stock number in the database from different sites should be upgrated at the same time.
By sharing the same database in different languages (sites), this task should be adjusted easily.
4. Suggesting to add a line, such as
<!-- #INCLUDE FILE="include_codepage.asp" -->
at the top of every page in case users need to set a certain code.
Also let users to take off <%option explicit%> code when users decided to set up a code page.
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