Adding More Pictures

[mikesouthbeach +]

Is it possible, when a customer has already chosen a package to post and decides he wants to add more images, which the package doesn't offer. Could he?

In other words, if he chooses the highest package that includes only 10 photos, but wants more images. What options could he have?

I would love to have something that would allow that person to add one or two or three images if he pleases and payes for it at an additional price per picture. Something like ebay. that charges per picture.

HELP

[juven14 +]

It is possible but not with the out of the box 68C installation. It has upgrade options for bold, featured, and highlight, but doesn't allow an upgrade to another package. You would have modify the renewal process to allow selecting the package and also have to modify order details, listing details and have a process in place that manages photos. It would be a little tricky as you would have to account for users who try to down grade packages so they pay less and retain maximum photos.

[Lhotch +]

Originally Posted by juven14

It is possible but not with the out of the box 68C installation. It has upgrade options for bold, featured, and highlight, but doesn't allow an upgrade to another package. You would have modify the renewal process to allow selecting the package and also have to modify order details, listing details and have a process in place that manages photos. It would be a little tricky as you would have to account for users who try to down grade packages so they pay less and retain maximum photos.

Packages control the number of images that can be placed so using Johns idea you would have to have a package defined that supports more images than the one the ad was originally placed in to upgrade the ad to.

I think Mike and I already had this conversation and I dont beleive he wants to deal with having additional packages to upgreade to, he just wants the ability to have someone buy the option of adding more images which is even more difficult than what John suggested unless I am missing the obvious.

[juven14 +]

Yes, maybe I understated the difficulty, there is no simple solution. The easiest way I can think of would be to allow the package upgrade, as you wouldn't have to mess with image uploading, listing edits, renewal, etc. Just charge them to upgrade to a higher level package, let the default 68C system handle the rest. Of course this in itself is not a simple/easy module to make.

[mikesouthbeach +]

Larry, this my 1st day posting. You have me confused with someone else. However, I do appreciate the help.

Whats so hard about adding this to behave the same way as an upgrade?

An upgrade of 3 photos would be placed underneath the upload photo section and be deactivated by default. Click on a checkbox to activate it and that would add the price and the ability upload more images. Repeat as needed or until picture size limit has been reached.

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Originally Posted by mikesouthbeach

Larry, this my 1st day posting. You have me confused with someone else. However, I do appreciate the help.

Whats so hard about adding this to behave the same way as an upgrade?

An upgrade of 3 photos would be placed underneath the upload photo section and be deactivated by default. Click on a checkbox to activate it and that would add the price and the ability upload more images. Repeat as needed or until picture size limit has been reached.

Mike,

Are you a programmer? It is always easy to say, What's so hard about...., etc. The reality is if it were so easy, you probably would not have had to make this post. Have you looked at the code that makes all of the checkout do what it does?

I'm not trying to give you a hard time, however I am trying to point out to you that what you see on the web page is nothing in comparison to what happens on the back end to make it all happen and make the things available to the page. Let alone all the other things that you don't see, like how those pictures are connected to a listing which is connected to a user which is connected to an order which all has to be connected together to give a total amount to even make the checkout possible for you to get paid as the site owner.

On the flip side of the coin, What is so hard about making another ad listing package that has more photos? This is already built in and functioning.

I understand what you are saying regarding the end user already being in process and now out of nowhere wants to add more pics to their listing. I think you may want to consider especially if you have different ad listings available with different numbers of pics, how often would this actually happen? Then would it even be worthwhile to accommodate those few instances when it would happen.

If you do still want to pursue this avenue it would require that you have the developer version and pretty extensive php programming skills.

Please post your 68 Classifieds type (Designer, Developer), version (4.0.x, 4.1.x) and template in your postings asking for help. This information will help you get better answers for your posts. A great place to do this is in your signature!

[Lhotch +]

Originally Posted by mikesouthbeach

Larry, this my 1st day posting. You have me confused with someone else. However, I do appreciate the help.

I had a similar conversation with someone via e-mail named Mike just a couple days ago, thought it may have been you.

Originally Posted by mikesouthbeach

Whats so hard about adding this to behave the same way as an upgrade?

No offense intended but these kind of questions crack me up. How are we supposed to answer the question? The very thing that makes it obviously difficult to us means the answer will likely have very little meaning to you.

What makes this so hard is for the reason I stated above.

Originally Posted by mikesouthbeach

An upgrade of 3 photos would be placed underneath the upload photo section and be deactivated by default. Click on a checkbox to activate it and that would add the price and the ability upload more images. Repeat as needed or until picture size limit has been reached.

When you create an ad package the ad package controls how many images an ad may have. The checkout process as well as the process of modifying an ad queries the database find out the parameters allowed by the ad package and sets up the checkout process accordingly by displaying form fields to allow and track the number of images uploaded.

So, if you do as you say, ad a simple little drop down or check box on step3 of checkout to let people buy an optional 3 images the next step will not allow for any more images than the ad package allows. So how do you address that issue?

Alter the ad package on the fly? If you do that then you also open the door to allow other users who have used the same ad package to edit their ad and add more images.

If you dont alter the ad package you need to figure out a way pro grammatically to override the ad package, track the over ride, and make sure the ad poster can add images above and beyond what the ad package allows. Not to mention you have to code for people who edit ads after their placement.


To make an analogy you have a car and that car has a max speed. Asking why something cant easily be done in a program (or set of scripts like 68C) is kind of like asking an auto manufacturer why your cars max speed isnt higher? How tough can it be to make your car faster?

There are often many underlying reasons why your car doesnt go faster than it does. For starters, the computer of the car has a program to limit engine RPM. This is done to prevent damage to the engine. You also have to consider the speed ratings of your tires.

So what if you got tires speed rated for a faster speed and melodramatically removed the rev limiter how much faster will the car go? It all depends because spinning the engine fast and moving the car faster imposes more of a "load" this increases heat build up in the engine the cooling system may not be designed to handle.

In the end, the point I am trying to make here is just like a car is build with physical limitations to its operation, so is a script. Just because I know that some cars can go 200mph does not mean every car can go 200mph.

Can I take that kia rio off the lot and make it go 200mph? Sure I can but it will take a lot of work and be difficult. You will likely have to build or replace the engine and in turn the driveline to handle the additional power not to mention beef up the cooling system etc.

Can you make 68C function like you want? Sure you can but it will take a lot of work and be difficult. You will have to rewrite a lot of code and likely alter some of the core functionality. Just like in the car example above.

[mikesouthbeach +]

Apparently, I have offended some of you. Remember that not everyone knows about programming, but thanks for the quick responses.

A great option for this forum, would be to have an Answered or Unanswered, status to every thread. If it already has it then I don't know which one it is. Just a recommendation. Don't want to offend anyone.

[Lhotch +]

Originally Posted by mikesouthbeach

Apparently, I have offended some of you. Remember that not everyone knows about programming, but thanks for the quick responses.

I certainly wasnt offended and of course not everyone knows about programming, thats why I took the time to type out the analogy I did. While not everyone is a mechanic I hope it at least made some sense.

However, you did say "Whats so hard about adding this?". Its extremely difficult to answer questions like these because as I mentioned the very thing that makes its difficulty not obvious to you also makes it difficult to explain.

It really is like speaking 2 different languages. Some people who ask will be content with a simple explanation in layman's terms but many will no and they insist on a more thorough explanation but how can you give someone a thorough explanation when they cant speak the language. Its quite a conundrum actually.

Its kind of like having someone from another country who does not speak any language you do. They know one phrase in a language you do and they ask "how do I get to the airport" and you happily give them directions. That of course doesnt make sense to them and they continue to ask for clarification in their own language. Now what do you do? Do you take the time to learn their language or expect them to learn yours? How long before you shrug your shoulders, say "Im sorry I dont understand you" and walk away?

Questions get asked here every day, we have no idea about how knowledgeable the person asking the question is but most of us respond anyway, with some form of guidance. Many times the answer isnt complete enough and people get pissy. Other times its just enough and people thank us and yet others its not enough, and people continue their search trying to bridge the gap in the "language barrier" themselves.

I guess at this point im just babbling but just like not everyone is a programmer, not everyone knows your level experience and knowledge. We dont know what version of 68C you are running or what template you are using unless you tell us so that is a two way steet and rarely do people seeking help meet those offering it half way.