Well I am persisting with my trial of this shopping cart but yet again I have found another bug with the software.
After setting up 3 Localization and 3 corresponding locations I find the following problems.
- The default option for Localization does nothing, CS cart assigns the last created Localization that has been added as the default regardless of which is assigned the default location via the radio selection.
- Localization does not occur upon visiting IP, I have tested with several geographical proxies and IP location has no effect, maybe its not intended to but I would have thought that was an obvious use of Localization.
- Localization does not work on login, I have created several geographical login ID’s and none have any effect on setting the Localization upon account login, its needs to be set manually each time you login.
Maybe I am missing something here but it seems to me that Localization serves no useful purpose if it has to be selected manually every time a customer logs in.
You are not the only one who struggles with Localizations. Apparently it’s a fairly new feature that needs further development.
One CS-Cart user made the point that CS-Cart has to keep adding new features to keep people coming to buy the product. This I believe is true. So you just need to make yourself aware of some shortcommings but the the truth is the cart is really good you just need to massage some of the new features and report the bugs in the bug reporter or contact CS-Cart to get them to escalate but you will have to pay support tokens or support agreement.
These other forums may help with your issue. Possibly resolve what you are asking.
[URL]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showthread.php?t=13902&highlight=default+localization[/URL]
[URL]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showthread.php?t=15195&highlight=default+localization[/URL]
[URL]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showthread.php?t=14364&highlight=default+localization[/URL]
[URL]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showthread.php?t=15123&highlight=Localization[/URL]
If anyone else here has overcome these issues please respond.
Good luck.
[quote name=‘CS-Carter’]You are not the only one who struggles with Localizations. Apparently it’s a fairly new feature that needs further development.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the reply, yes I had read the posts that you liked to regarding various other issues with the Localizations feature.
I think that the lack of documentation Localizations is probably related to it being a uncompleted feature, great idea but they just need to finish it. I don’t think that it would be too difficult (for someone who can code) to connect visiting IP to a selection from the Localization options.
As far as the bug mentioned the default not being default that should be fixed and at the very least Localization should be automatically set upon login for the shipping destination of the account user.
Also there should be some CS Cart staff regularly on these forums communicating with people.
I think due to them being busy and in a different timezone this is nearly impossible.
I have emailed them directly a few times and usually I get a response by the next day when our timezones overlap.
The replies I have gotten come in between 1 and 3 AM MTN -7 GMT.
If you are on a DEMO version the help will be somewhat limited. They will still respond and in some cases fix it. Others they will ask you to buy the software.
If you want modifications made they will do that as well. As long as you buy and pay for the modification.
Some on the forum don’t care for this as they feel bugs should be fixed for free. However they are a pay for cart software service not really open source. And considering they are not 900 to 12,000 dollars to purchase I feel this is a bargain. At least they have incentive to continue development. Which is important for the longevity of the product.
I’m sure some will disagree with me but at the end of the day you have to feel comfortable with the solution you choose.
I just spent 3 weeks researching e-commerce software/platforms from open source to expensive. Not one of them is perfect and in the case of e-commerce you do not always get what you pay for. Sometimes you get to pay and keep paying for something adequate.
And many of these packages are used by huge corporations and still they fight simple and stupid issues all the time and many of the products have poor performance.
To me I think a blend of pay for software/support and and open source concept will make CS-Cart a strong product with little investment.
I do agree that documentation would shoot CS-Cart up and beyond the competition and if they can get a good technical writer to keep the docs up to date this would be beneficial to all.
Any one else have any thoughts on that?
[quote name=‘CS-Carter’]
Some on the forum don’t care for this as they feel bugs should be fixed for free. However they are a pay for cart software service not really open source. And considering they are not 900 to 12,000 dollars to purchase I feel this is a bargain. [/QUOTE]
You have made a few fair comments, for example a desired additional feature or function may be reasonably charged for if that is the software makers business model.
However a bug is a software/coding fault, and as far as consumer law goes a faulty product should be rectified at no cost to the consumer, pretty much any country has some version of that sentiment.
So I agree that on the surface the software seems like good value and it is reasonable to charge a fair price for customisations but to charge to fix software faults is not reasonable no matter what the business model is.
I agree that they need to eventually fix the bugs however I think the issue is how quickly the user needs it versus when the next release with the bug fix is available.
You can view all the bugs reported here: [URL]http://forum.cs-cart.com/vbugs.php?[/URL]
Every release has bug fixes. But for most end users who need this repaired quickly in order to keep the store afloat may have to pay to escalate and create a priority for that particular issue. I think this is what you are paying for not the actual bug fix.
I could be wrong but it seems that’s how it works.
I think #1 is fixed.
#'s 2 & 3 are still bugs in the official release.
I spent about 2 hours coding my own GeoIP localization code. Tested with 10 Non-US proxies successfully.
[quote name=‘ticeholdings’]I think #1 is fixed.
[/QUOTE]
Nope problem 1 is still present.
I have 3 localizations set and option 1 is set as the default and yet option 3 loads as the default on my site, disable option 3 and option 1 loads as the default.
If someone has a fix for this I would love to get it sorted out.
[quote name=‘ticeholdings’]
I spent about 2 hours coding my own GeoIP localization code. Tested with 10 Non-US proxies successfully.[/QUOTE]
If your mod works for all locations I would be keen to implament
Sure, I’ll share it. IS it acceptable to post code in the forums? I guess I should go back and read the Terms again or check and see if they allow attachments.
I’m so used to Quick Reply that I didn’t notice
Well, I spoke too soon. It works as long as a return visitor returns to the store index each time. IF by the smallest margin of error they will only return to the index page, the hack I wrote will set the localization by their IP address and keep it active throughout their visit.
If they don’t, then the issues you mentioned in #'s 2 and 3 are still present and CS Support is not aware of any claim that it is supposed to work the way that many of believe it should.
Sorry. I was excited to have learned a little something new and put it to good use, however short-lived.
Cosmetic, do you by chance have SEO set to active in Administration → Add-ons?
IF so, turn it off and see if your localizations work then? I had my client’s demo set up on my server and SEO turned to on and Localizations did not work at all, but when I turned them off, I had some success.
[quote name=‘ticeholdings’]Cosmetic, do you by chance have SEO set to active in Administration → Add-ons?
IF so, turn it off and see if your localizations work then? I had my client’s demo set up on my server and SEO turned to on and Localizations did not work at all, but when I turned them off, I had some success.[/QUOTE]
No SEO is disabled, 2 & 3 well CS cart may not claim that it is supposed to work that way but its just simple logic, a customer coming to the store rarely checks to see what Localizations is all about even though it is mentioned on the front page to check if it is set for their location.
I would expect at the very least 3) should be a standard part of localizations, expecting a customer to manually select each time they visit a store is just plain silly.
Not sure how you are setting up the IP/Country check but maybe you could relate it to a page block across all pages? or a header or footer?