I need some help. I've been using the old version of CS-Cart for years and recently decided to upgrade to the 21st century and had CS-CART: version 2.2.1 PROFESSIONAL installed. Well, first it was 2.X something and after a few necessary upgrades, I've found myself with 2.2.1. I love the new cart, very nice and useful. It's great!
The problem is, I had previously purchased a theme from AlogoZone and now it dos not work with 2.2.1. When I enable it, the entire website is a jumbled mess (the cart clearly does not like the theme). AlgoZone tells me that they have no control over CS-Cart and if a new updates comes out and my theme goes down because of it. They say that I'd not only have to wait for them to update the theme itself to be compatible but also that I'd have to pay full price for the new updated theme. No discount, nothing. I'm starting to see a lot of sites work like this, with themes they can only guarantee with certain versions of Cs-Cart.
Are there any themes that are compatible with all 2.X versions, allowing me to run security updates or updates and not risk having my entire site go down? Some of these updates are crucial and need to be made. Can I set restrictions that do not effect the theme itself? Is this not even possible?
I'm debating about spending another $200 with AlgoZone on the exact same theme, but it's frustrating to think that I might need a security patch a week or two from now and then my entire site goes down.
Appreciate your feedback!
First of all. Did you clear your browsers cache? Smartoptimizers cache? CS-carts cache?
And from which version did you upgrade? 2.1x?
Most well made themes should still work, my guess is so should yours.
Most purchased themes will probably experience some issues when you upgrade. One reason is that most commercial skins aren't done with the hooks and have edits done to the core CS-Cart files.
When you do an upgrade, sometimes some of these files are overwritten. This is especially true if you went from 2.0.x to 2.2.1. These files all contain additional functionality that is part of the new features of CS-Cart. Also from 2.0.x to 2.1.x, the URL structure was changed and that will have affected some of the files.
To help limit these problems you can use the hooks feature. This will make any changes not part of the core files. So even if the core files are upgraded, it should limit the effect on your design.
Hope that helps a little.
Thanks,
Brandon
Hey BRandon,
Wow I can't imagine sites like algozone making templates without using hooks… that would be quite a ripoff.
Hooks is a cs-cart thing… It is not a normal method. Most “theme developers” simply start with a picture and then cut out the graphics and paste it all together for a pretty look. They don't usually have time to invest in the nuances of different cart architectures. They usually don't care about ability to upgrade since most (even folks like alt-team) will not commit to supporting their changes from version to version without additional cost. This is mostly due to the fear of the unknown. And cs-cart keeps proving them right.
Note that 2.2.2 was supposed to be a nice, clean bug-fix only release so there would be a very stable version before they jet off into the multi-store area. Unfortunately, “bug-fix only” seems to have a different meaning at cs-cart and the upgrade was not stable and there are numerous issues happening. It's pretty easy to tell when the helpdesk responds to tickets with “things are too intense right now…”.
Have to agree with you there. Personally, I think the free edition is also eating a lot of their time, it brought many new users who all have questions.
Still, I remember I was also having problems with upgrades in the passed. Looking back, I have to say most (all) were my fault and not the cs-carts. I'm wondering if that is also the case now with some people.
I now have everything properly configured and upgrades are going extremely smooth… I went from 2.1.2 to .3 and .4 and then to 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 without a hickup, with the same custom made template that did not use any hooks except for the extra mods I put in there myself.