Can you use include files in Merchant 5

Posts: 1 · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 1:28 pm

I get how to use the tokens, etc, but is there a way to use an include file in Merchant 5 pages. Specifically, I want to edit the page template for product display, etc to use my navigation menu, but I don't want to have to add code to each page everytime I make changes.

Is there a way to create the nav file in HTML and just include it in the page?

Posts: 32 · Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 4:02 pm

I have not tried this my self but I don't see why this won't work

you would just have to make sure that the file you want to include is in the in the Merchant directory and I am assuming that you can just use the include command with the correct path..

I Don't see why it wont work.. .mvc is very similar to .html

Posts: 23 · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:16 pm

Actually, that won't work because by the time the server has passed control over to Miva Merchant, it has already by passed the server operatives for including files. However, since Merchant 5 is a "templated" system it is very easy to add your own nav bar or other HTML.

You'll want to at least review these intructions:
http://docs.smallbusiness.miva.com/en-US/merchant/5/help/tmpb.html

If not start at the beginning:

http://smallbusiness.miva.com/docs/merchant/

Posts: 27 · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:24 pm

In my site www.cardiocoach.com I created a new CSS drive nav with a php includes:
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="shared/menu.css" />
<body>
<div id="globalWrapper">
<div id="header">
<img src="https://www.cardiocoach.com/products/NEWCART_WHOLEheader.jpg" width="730" height="135" alt="Cardio Coach™ - Guided Workout Series" />
<img src="https://www.cardiocoach.com/products/NEWCART_HEADER.jpg" alt="Cardio Coach™ - Guided Workout Series" width="499" height="157" id="person" />
<? include('inc_menu.php'); ?>
</div>

Any suggestion how to code this in the Miva/OpenUI global header?

I tried (../) and absolute URL paths for the shared/menus and inc_menu.php -- but no joy.

Any one?
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Posts: 23 · Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:49 pm

As I indicated in the previous reply, you can't use an include in Miva, as the server OS (which handles includes) has aleady passed processing over to Miva Merchant, which doens't have an "include" process per se...that being said, since some else ask for this, I created a quick little component module that might work.

Contact me via info@phosphormedia.com if you want to give it a try.

Posts: 50 · Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 6:58 pm

towersupply wrote:

I get how to use the tokens, etc, but is there a way to use an include file in Merchant 5 pages. Specifically, I want to edit the page template for product display, etc to use my navigation menu, but I don't want to have to add code to each page everytime I make changes.

Is there a way to create the nav file in HTML and just include it in the page?

ADS has the External File Pro module that works great.

Jason

Posts: 1 · Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 3:23 pm

towersupply wrote:

I get how to use the tokens, etc, but is there a way to use an include file in Merchant 5 pages. Specifically, I want to edit the page template for product display, etc to use my navigation menu, but I don't want to have to add code to each page everytime I make changes.

Is there a way to create the nav file in HTML and just include it in the page?

I am fairly new to Miva, but seem to have figured out a way to work in Miva in a similar way to the way I design with Dreamweaver. What I've done is use Miva's item modules as containers of code. Whereas you may not be able to use include statements, just use the built-in items for your own designs. In some cases I don't even use them for their original purpose.

In Dreamweaver I have created a template called Miva with one editable region for the body area and one editable region so Miva can set the page title. From the beginning of the page to the top of the body region, I cut the code out of DW and paste it into the global header item in Miva. From the bottom of the body region to the end of the template I cut that code and paste it into the global footer item in Miva.

Once this is done, I can call the global header at the beginning of each of the Miva pages and the global footer at the bottom. I have effectively bracketed our Miva pages inside of a Dreamweaver template. The upside to this approach is when I have a change to the DW template, I only have to update the header and the footer instead of each page.