Multiple Categories witht the same manufacturers

I'm thinking of using 68classifieds, but I have a few questions about the organization.

I'd like to have multiple Manufacturers, in several categories.

Eg:

Category 1
Manufacturer 1
Manufacturer 2
Manufacturer 3
Manufacturer 4

Category 2
Manufacturer 3
Manufacturer 4

Category 3
Manufacturer 1
Manufacturer 2
Manufacturer 3
Manufacturer 4
Manufacturer 5
Manufacturer 6

And so on...

Is this possible?

-Doug
[email protected]

[Eric Barnes +]

Doug,

This can be done however you would have to create each one individually. Meaning Manufacturer 1 in Category 1 is not the same as Manufacturer 1 in Category 2.

So I wouldn't be able to have a button that would globally search the whole lot then...right?

eg:

Click Here to show all the "Manufacturer 1" listings. (In all categories)

....and then it sorts by the category.

[juven14 +]

Why not seperate them the otherway around?

Man1
Category
Category

Man2
Category
...

You might also make an extra field and use that to filter searches across categories.

Man1
SubCat
listing -> extra field for "value"

Man2
SubCat2
listing -> extra field for "value"

Now when you search for value you will get both listings. I believe you can hide fields and still have them searchable.

Just an idea to get you started. I'm sure there are other better ways of using the script to get what you are looking for.

[Maffo +]

I agree with John, if you can be a little more specific, there will be a solution available. This software is very versatile.

As long as it's easier to use than GeoDesic Classifieds.

I paid $1000 for their 'GeoClass" package and think it's a POS.

Here's what I want to do...this is an HTML mock-up of what I want the site to look like, and how I want it to function.

http://www.putterswap.com/demo/

Feel free to email me directly if you have any ideas, or if this won't work.

[email protected]

Also, I was thinking about it, and to just have a "Manufacturer" field would do the trick. I could search on that, or the other respective categories.

I'm more concerned with the functionality, and how the templates work than anything right now.

[juven14 +]

Yes, I think putting the manufacturer by extra fields would be the way to go. I remember seeing some way people setup the categories or extra fields for car classifieds sites. It was either in the manual or here in the forum.

I'll see if I can't look around and find it.

As for the template system it is pretty straight forward. You assign variables in the core file and then use the smarty code to display them in the template.

corefile.php

PHP Code:

$class_tpl->assign('sometext', 'this is the text you want to display'); 


corefiletemplate.tpl.php

{$sometext}

lHotch has a very good tutorial on the template system which can be found in the template forum. I hope this helps get you started in the right direction.

Oh, you might also experiment with the demo, you can define categories and extra fields there if you want to see how it works.