Hello,
I'm setting to work on a Game Comparison website, but I am having some trouble in figuring out the best way to split Games depending on the format that they are listed for (PS3, XBox, Wii, etc...).
The feeds I am using so far are from Affiliate Window, and from what I can so have no definition of the platform that the game is for, other than a section in the Title (sometimes).
E.g, the following from Play.com feed:
Field Sample Data
PROD
PROD-ID 9937239
PID 702385
TEXT
TEXT/NAME Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (UMD)
URI
URI/AWTRACK http://ommited
URI/AWIMAGE http://ommited
URI/MLINK http://ommited
URI/MIMAGE http://ommited
PRICE
PRICE/BUYNOW 3.99
PRICE/DELIVERY 0.00
CAT
CAT/AWCATID 579
CAT/AWCAT Video Games
CAT/MCAT GAME
BRAND
Also, what is the best way to include listings and comparisons for Vendors/Sites for which a data feed is not available?
Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks!
James
Hello David,
Many thanks for your reply! It has helped a great deal!
Regards,
James
Hello David,
Further to this, I have setup two different installations of PT so far, as can be seen at the URL's {link saved} and {link saved} and all is good with them.
I have also created a few more database fields for helping to filter out the platform differences between the two platforms.
One thing which I am now having trouble with is the search box in the main index page (thecheapestgames.co.uk). I will be adding a drop down menu for searching through each individual platform, but as my site is now separated by platform, and using different databases for each, I am unsure how I would go about connecting to multiple databases to be able to do a global search from the front page. Is this something which you have come across before or have a solution for?
Many thanks!
James
Hello James,
Absolutely - I'll email you a couple of scripts to get started with...
Cheers,
David.
Hi David
I would be interested in this also
Thank You
Dean
Hi Dean,
If you could email me a link to your installation so that I can see the site structure you are using and also one of your search.php files so that I can replicate exactly your existing search in the top-level search I'll work it out for you and send you back something to try...
Cheers,
David.
Hi James,
Welcome to the forum!
What I have recommend in the past is a solution similar to that where you create individual installations in sub-directories to represent master-categories, as described in the following thread:
http://www.pricetapestry.com/node/205
This approach is now even easier with the latest distribution of Price Tapestry, as you can use config.advanced.php to set it up so that each installation uses a common feeds directory. So, you might set up your website like this:
http://www.example.com/feeds/ (a common feeds directory)
...and then your Price Tapestry installations in:
http://www.example.com/XBOX/
http://www.example.com/PS3/
And within each installation, in config.advanced.php; you would edit line 4 as follows:
$config_feedDirectory = "../../feeds/";...so now you only need to keep one feeds directory up to date with the latest feeds for your merchants.
Next step is how to filter only games for the given platform into each installation. The first line of defence, if you have no fields in your feeds that specify the platform explicitly, is to use a Drop Record If Not filter against the Product Name field for each feed. To do this, after registering a feed; in, for example, your PS3 installation; click "Filters" alongside the feed filename in /admin/, and then add a new "Drop Record If Not" filter against the Product Name field. On the configuration page for the filter; enter "PS3" and save the changes.
With the filter in place; only product records with PS3 would be imported. That's the basic approach which I would recommend as you get started, but it can be developed further with hard coded rules within the import record handler to look for other evidence of the specific platform for a particular record.
Regarding your second point about adding listing for merchants who do not provide a feed; it is straight forward (and many users do this) to create your own feed for a merchant (or merchants) using a spreadsheet - and simply exporting the spreadsheet (File > Export menu) as CSV whenever you have made changes; and upload to your Price Tapestry site and register (first time only) / import as normal.
All you need to do is create a new spreadsheet, and in the first row enter the the following column headings Merchant, ProductName, Description, ImageURL, BuyURL, Price, Category and Brand. Description, ImageURL, Category and Brand are optional.
Then, enter the product information one per row, and export / upload as described above. I've suggested using a Merchant column as Price Tapestry supports multiple merchants within a single feed - so you would just register the first column (Merchant) as the merchant name on Feed Registration (Step 2) - but you could just as easily have seperate custom feeds for each merchant if you find that easier to manage.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
David.