Features

• Easy and convenient navigation for narrowing down to desired products based on their properties.

• Can be used with different kind of attributes and properties associated with a product using product template.

• Highlights current selections in the filter box.

• Remembers user selection and allows selection of multiple choices.

• User can add/remove selection criteria choices easily.

• Can be used on the catalog as a whole, or on a specific category. The results display page is an AbleCommerce category display page.

• When applied on a particular category the products of that particular category can then be browsed and narrowed down using shop-by feature. Other categories may use different display page and may be browsed normally.

• Easy setup and installation.

• For each option choice the product count can also be displayed. This however is not recommended for large catalogs as it can affect the performance.

• Improves user experience with fast and easy navigation.

Installation

To install ShopBy Attributes add-on get the latest version from here. The zip file you get will contain the following files and folders

• ReadMe.pdf
• Website

Please make sure that you take backup of any existing file that gets updated.

Usage

On your store you can make use of the features made available by ShopBy using the ConLib controls.

Caption property is used to show the caption header for ShopBy Control. The default caption is ‘Shop By’.
ProductTemplateId is the ID of the template that is to be used for defining the ‘shop-by’ attributes.
ShowCount property is used to display the number of products associated with each attribute. Default value is ‘False’.

Note: Get ‘ProductTemplateId’ by mouse over on Product Template from Admin–>Catalog–>Product Templates, and see the ProductTemplateId in URL in status bar.

Get ShopBy Attributes Module here

By giving an auto-complete field focus or entering something into it, the plugin starts searching for entries that match and displays a list of values to choose from. By entering more characters, the user can filter down the list to better matches.

Common search prefixes and search terms are defined in the merchant admin panel. Search terms and prefixes can be easily populated in bulk.

The control makes use of jQuery autocomplete and is flexible to be customized by the user.

Live example of the use of Search AutoComplete module for AbleCommerce can be seen at the following store.
http://www.napacabs.com

You can get the Search AutoComplete module from Plugables store for AbleCommerce add-ons.
Download it now.

Here is the basic documentation of the search auto complete module.

Usage

The basic use is just to replace the following

with this

in your scriptlet code.

Detailed usage documentation along with parameters is as follows.

Parameters

• CacheLength The number of backend query results to store in cache on the client side. Default value is 30.
• Delay The delay in milliseconds the auto completer waits after a keystroke to active itself. Default value is 1.
• MatchSubset Whether or not the auto completer can use a client side cache for more specific queries. This is applicable on the client side jquery.autocomplete matching. Default value is true.
• MinChars The minimum number of characters a user has to type before the auto completer activates. Default value is 1.

For interactive and user friendly stores an important aspect is how easily the users can achieve common tasks without having to navigate through a number of pages. Login to the store is one such task. Default AbleCommerce implementation forces users to go to the login page in order to be able to log in to the store. This is very inconvenient especially in the checkout process.

Customers who start as anonymous users, add items to the basket and start checkout. On checkout page they are asked to login. If they click on login link they are navigated away from the checkout page. You do not want customers to get distracted to a new page during the important process of checkout. You do not want abandoned basket just because a customer got distracted.

You don’t have to worry about this anymore if you use Ajax Popup login control by Plugables. It will allow the users to login right there on the same page without ever leaving it.

Ajax Popup login control also supports captcha. This is a feature that you will find missing on normal implementations of pop up login for AbleCommerce. Even AbleCommerce’s own implementation at http://www.ablecommerce.com does not support captcha yet.

In a standard AbleCommerce store there is a login link in the header. You can simply replace that login link with the Ajax Popup Login control as follows.

You can see a live demo of Ajax popup login control on our store for AbleCommerce plugins, add-ons and customizations at http://www.plugables.com.

Here is the basic documentation of the control.

Plugables\AjaxPopUpLogin

Summary:
Displays a popup dialog for user to login.

Usage:

Properties:

Get the Ajax Popup Login control here

Get Category Custom Fields UI for AbleCommerce here

How to Use

• On the category edit page you will see a new button ‘Custom Fields’. On clicking ‘Custom Fields’ you will be taken to a page where you can add/edit/delete custom fields for the current category.
• Custom fields are specific to the category they are defined form. They are not shared or inherited by other categories or products
• The values of the custom fields set can be accessed in many ways depending on the application and your custom needs.
• An example of how to display the category custom fields is included as a ConLib control. You can use the control on a category page scriptlet as follows
  [[ConLib:Plugables/CategoryCustomFields]]
  This will display the custom fields associated with the category. You can have a look at the code inside this control to see how category custom fields are accessed if you need more advanced customization.

Here is a brief documentation of usage of the BasketSummary ConLib control.

Installation

Installation is simple. Just unzip the downloaded file to ConLib folder of your AbleCommerce store.

Usage

Use the Basket Summary control in your scriptlets as follows

If you are offering discounts would you not want to let your customers know the fact immediately? Would you not like to let them know proactively which products you are offering discounts on instead of waiting for them browse to the product page to figure out the discounts on offer?

In AbleCommerce 5 there used to be the feature to display product specials in your store, however, in AbleCommerce 7, this feature does not exist out-of-the-box. You may find some scattered code in forums that you can patch up and build this feature on your store. You don’t need to go through this hassle anymore. Here I am sharing the free Special Offers add-on for AbleCommerce that you can just put in your ConLib folder and start using it in your scriptlets. You can get the Special Offers add-on from here.

Here is a brief documentation of usage and features of the Special Offers conlib control.

Installation

Installation is simple. Just unzip the downloaded file to ConLib folder of your AbleCommerce store.

Usage

Use the New Products ConLib control in your scriptlets as follows

There are a number of parameters that can be used with Product Specials control. These parameters are described below.

• Caption Title of the control. Possible values can be any string. Default value is “Product Specials“.
• ColumnsCount Indicates that the grid will contain how many columns. Possible value can be any integer greater then zero. Default value is “3“
• PagingLinksLocation Indicates the location of paging links. Possible values can be ‘BOTTOM’, ‘TOP’ or ‘TOPANDBOTTOM’. Default value is “BOTTOM“

Here I am sharing a free ConLib control that you can just put in your ConLib folder and start using it in your scriptlets. You can get free New Products add-on from here.

The New Arrivals (or New Products) add-on supports a number of parameters that you can use to customize it to your taste. Here is a brief documentation of New Arrivals ConLib control and its usage.

Installation

Installation is simple. Just unzip the downloaded file to ConLib folder of your AbleCommerce store.

Usage

Use the New Products ConLib control in your scriptlets as follows

There are a number of parameters that can be used with New Products control. These parameters are described below.

• Caption Title of the control. Possible values can be any string. Default value is “New Arrivals“.
• Size Indicates that at maximum how many items can be shown. Possible value can be any integer greater then zero. Default value is “20“
• ColumnsCount Indicates that the grid will contain how many columns. Possible value can be any integer greater then zero. Default value is “3“
• Days Indicates the number of days to take into consideration for deciding newness of products. Possible value can be any integer greater then zero. Default value is “30“
• UseDays Indicates whether to use days for deciding the newness of products. Possible values can be ‘true’ or ‘false’. Default value is “true“
• PagingLinksLocation Indicates the location of paging links. Possible values can be ‘BOTTOM’, ‘TOP’ or ‘TOPANDBOTTOM’. Default value is “BOTTOM“

The Facebook Like button lets a user share the content with friends on Facebook. When a user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ News Feed with a link back to your website.

When your Web page represents a real-world entity, things like movies, sports teams, celebrities, and restaurants, you can use the Open Graph protocol to specify information about the entity.

The Facebook Like Widget by Plugables allows you to include the Open Graph tags so that your page becomes equivalent to a Facebook page. This means when a user clicks a Like button on your page, a connection is made between your page and the user. Your page will appear in the “Likes and Interests” section of the user’s profile, and you have the ability to publish updates to the user. Your page will show up in same places that Facebook pages show up around the site (e.g. search), and you can target ads to people who like your content.

Using Facebook Like Widget

Facebook Like Widget can be used in the scriptlets as follows

There are a number of parameters that can be used with FBLike control. These parameters are described below.

• UseOpenGraph
  Indicates whether to use Open Graph meta tags in header or not. Default value is “true“.
• FBAdmins
  A comma-separated list of either Facebook user IDs or a Facebook Platform application ID that administers this page. Default value is empty string.
• CatalogNodeType
  Type of catalog node. Could be “Product”, “Category” or “WebPage”. Default value is “Product“
• PageTitle
  Page title to use if the page is not a product, category or webpage. Default title is the store name.
• PageImage
  Page image to use if the page is not a product, category or webpage. Default is no image.
• PageUrl
  Page URL to use if the page is not a product, category or webpage. Default value is the current page URL.
• BtnLayout
  Layout of the facebook like button. Options are standard and button_count
• BtnText
  Button text to use. For example ‘like‘ or ‘recommend‘
• Width
  Width of the facebook like button
• Height
  Height of the facebook like button

You can see the Facebook Like Widget in action on various pages at plugables website.

Facebook Like Widget from Plugables is FREE without any strings attached.
Get Facebook Like Widget For AbleCommerce Now

To fix this shortcoming we have created a custom fields UI for edit product page. On the product edit page, we have added a new menu item in left navigation named ‘Custom Fields’ which will take the merchant to UI for custom fields. This custom fields UI allows the merchant to add, remove, and update custom fields for the product being edited.

This customization will save merchants and programmers time and effort by providing them custom field editing interface right on the edit product page where they can manage custom fields quickly and easily.

Get Product Custom Fields UI for AbleCommerce now

How to Use

• On the product edit page you will see a new menu item named ‘Custom Fields’. On clicking ‘Custom Fields’ you will be taken to a page where you can add/edit/delete custom fields.
• Remember that custom fields are specific to one product other products will not inherit any custom field from any other product.

Screen Shots

Facebook Share

Get Facebook Share For AbleCommerce Now