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We are pleased to release a new version 1.4.0 of our extension Amazon Shopping Cart, and version 3.7.0 of our AmazonWS content plugin for Joomla.

amazon-logo2-medThese are maintenance releases, adding some new features:-

  • There is improved testing for which products are available to be added to the cart, so avoiding errors where the product does not have an available offer
  • The extension switches over from the Mootools to the JQuery javascript framework (more below on what this means)
  • Improved JQuery widgets for the cart and results accordion

Existing customers can download the new version using their current download link. Then install as normal with the Joomla installer, there is no need to uninstall the existing version.

Amazon Shopping Cart is a complete package of Joomla extensions based around our AmazonWS Joomla content plugin, that allows you to create an Amazon store on your Joomla website, including a shopping cart. Customers can browse your site, and add items to their cart without leaving your site: it is only when they are ready to pay that they are redirected to the Amazon website.

 Swtiching to the JQuery Javascript Framework

Previous versions of the Amazon Shopping Cart used the Mootools javascript framework for many of its features, such as the cart, the modal window for reviews, and the accordion layout for displaying multiple Amazon products. As many will know, Mootools was the javascript library used by the Joomla! core until Joomla 3, and is still supported. However it has now been deprecated, which means that, at some point, it will no longer be supported, once the switch to JQuery is completed. Therefore it is important not to rely on it any longer.

 We actually quite liked Mootools, but JQuery has pretty much achieved world domination now, and there are some big advantages to making the switch. We can use some nice new JQuery widgets for the cart dialogue, the modal window for the reviews, and the accordion layout. There are a variety of themes available for these widgets: the shopping cart now offers a choice of themes for them, and more can be downloaded from http://jqueryui.com, and integrated quite easily into the cart if desired, simply by uploading the theme css to the new folder at media/amazonws/widgets/css/themes.

Changes to the templates

Switching to JQuery has required some small changes to the templates for the Amazon results. Most users will not notice much difference, except that the cart dialogue looks better. However if you have made your own customized layout for your results, and you are using either the modal window for the reviews, or the accordion for the results, you will need to make some small modifications.

To include the reviews, the template code is now actually much simplified. In place of:-

<?php if($modalReviews): ?>
<h3><a href="/<?php echo $lists[$i]->iframeurl; ?>"
class="modal" rel="{size: {x: 700, y: 500}, handler:'iframe'}">
  <?php echo JText::_('AMAZONWS_REVIEWS'); ?></a></h3><br style="clear:both;" />
<?php else: ?>
  <?php echo $lists[$i]->reviews; ?><br />
<?php endif; ?>

You can now just put

<?php echo $lists[$i]->reviews; ?>

 For the accordion to work you now need to make sure that the entire result output is enclosed inside a div element with the class name of "amazon_results". So simply add the html markup at the top of the template:-

 <div class="amazon_results">


Remember to add a closing </div> tag at the bottom of the template.

We have also moved all the css to the Joomla! media folder, where it should be.

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