[RESOLVED] AjaxCart Template odd behavior

[MikeDVB]

After upgrading to 4.5.1 we're having very odd behavior out of the ajax form:

http://www.screen-shot.net/2011-05-19_0620.swf

 

You can view this yourself at this URL (we are using the default PORTAL template for testing, to ensure it's not our custom template causing the issues):

https://www.mddhosting.com/support/cart.php?a=add&pid=5&carttpl=ajaxcart&systemtemplate=portal

 

The default "cart" works fine:

https://www.mddhosting.com/support/cart.php?a=add&pid=5&carttpl=cart&systemtemplate=portal

Edited May 19, 2011 by MikeDVB

[SteveV]

Yes, we're also seeing this problem.

[Matt]

Sorry but what's the odd part about this? You have some line breaks in your product description which means the radio button isn't next to any text, but the domain configuration step is loading below when you select a product so it all looks to be working fine?

 

Matt

[MikeDVB]

Do you not see that the product summary information is not updating?

 

I didn't think I'd really have to point this out in this much detail... Have you tried using the form via the link I sent you? In this state, the Ajax cart is un-usable. We've had to revert back to the standard "cart" template for orders but this means any incoming orders from links on third party sites where those links cannot be changed will be borked.

 

I wouldn't expect this sort of error with a "stable" build.

Edited May 19, 2011 by MikeDVB

[Matt]

That isn't actually an error though. The product isn't added to the cart until the user gets to the configuration step, otherwise the cart would just fill up as the user switches between products. And without configuration the user can't checkout anyway so the items aren't "in the cart" yet at the stage you're referring to.

 

Matt

[MikeDVB]

So why have &a=add in the URL? If they were just browsing the products via cart.php then I could see this but since we're directly linking to the "Order Product XYZ" I would expect "Product XYZ" to be added to the cart, especially when your own system specifies the action to add:

 

I think your logic on this is broken, the product should not be added to the cart until they finish configuring the product, I agree - but the summary should give them information during the ordering process as it did in the previous version of the ajax form.

 

Essentially now they have no way of seeing what they're going to be paying until the very end of the ordering process versus where they could see it AS they ordered previously.

 

On another note, there seems to be no way to skip listing the product groups and other products where as in the previous Ajax you could do &skip=1 to hide the groups. This looks far too cluttered.

 

This is FUBAR, imho... The logic behind this is entirely wrong but that's just my opinion. Why would it say "Please choose a product to begin." and then not update when a product is *chosen*? The text should be "Please fully configure a product to for a summary." If it's not an ORDER SUMMARY, and is simply the "CART Contents" then why not call it "Cart" or "Cart Contents" instead of "Order Summary"?

 

It looks like this is 1/2 stuck between where it used to be, and where you wanted to go with it.

Edited May 19, 2011 by MikeDVB

[Matt]

lol!

The point of having the direct product links is so that the product can be preselected for the customer. Without the link the customer would just be presented with a list of products, whereas as it is, the product ID you pass is being preselected, the customer is being prompted for their desired domain, and as soon as they progress past that step the order summary will update to reflect the product they've started the order process for.

 

I don't think it would be possible to display it before configuration as nothing is actually added to the cart until then, and this is the same for all cart templates. But if there's enough demand, something we can look into in future.

 

Matt

[MikeDVB]

lol!

I'm glad you're getting some humor out of this.

 

The point of having the direct product links is so that the product can be preselected for the customer. Without the link the customer would just be presented with a list of products, whereas as it is, the product ID you pass is being preselected, the customer is being prompted for their desired domain, and as soon as they progress past that step the order summary will update to reflect the product they've started the order process for.

Ok, so perhaps ?a=select instead of ?a=add. And perhaps instead of saying "Select a product" it should say "Configure a product"

 

This is the same as me telling you to hit the gas to stop the car, and then the car not stopping when you do it. It's misleading.

 

I don't think it would be possible to display it before configuration as nothing is actually added to the cart until then, and this is the same for all cart templates. But if there's enough demand, something we can look into in future.

https://www.040support.nl/client/order/?pid=239&skip=1

 

This is how the old Ajax form worked, why did you change the functioning of it so much? It would actually ADD the product to the cart, you could skip displaying the groups, and have it actually add the product.

 

So far, this is what I've figured out:

1. The link is to "add a product to the cart" however, it doens't actually do that.
   
2. The summary says to select a product, but doesn't update when you "select" a product.
   
3. The "choose product" should not be shown with the ?a=add (it never has been in ANY cart prior to this one from the standard "cart" to the version of the Ajax cart in 4.4.).
   
4. Why are you displaying the product group options, if they've already chosen a product (hence the direct order link)?
   
5. Why is the option to remove displaying the product group options, on a direct order link now missing?
   
6. Why are you displaying the option to change products, if they've already chosen a product (hence the direct order link)?
   
7. I could understand listing the products and/or groups if you pass a flag to do so, or perhaps having an option to pass a flag not to do so.
   
8. Is "?a=add" deprecated (i.e. you can no longer automatically add the selected product to the cart via a direct ordering link?) It doesn't seem to be so on any form but the new ajaxcart.
   
9. You should have the option to HIDE the product groups, as you did in the previous version of the ajax cart.
   
10. Why does &skip=1 no longer function?
    
11. You seem to think this is funny.
    

Edited May 19, 2011 by MikeDVB

[Matt]

The humour is at you using phrases such as FUBAR - quite unnecessary. And it's hardly the case either.

 

I'm not sure why we're getting into the semantics of it should say "select" in the address bar rather than "add". It's a direct product link, the same as every cart template in WHMCS uses. It's not misleading anyone in what it does, you can't add a product to the cart without visiting that link.

 

As for "why did you change the functioning of it so much", the ajax order form has been completely rewritten as a cart template to replace the old style separate ajax form. This brings with it a lot more functionality that didn't exist in the form before. What it does mean however is that it has to function as a cart.

 

Matt

 

EDIT: You keep editing your previous posts after I've replied so this reply was to the original version.

[rainboy]

Matt,

 

In the old version we could point directly to the product; i do not want my clients to have options and go directly to the domain name, is this still possible ? does the skip=1 not work anymore ?

 

(i.e. https://www.040support.nl/client/order/?pid=239&skip=1 )

 

When the skip=1 was used the product was added to the floating slip already because it was the product then already is been able to be added to the card. Not sure if i understand all the above correctly; but it seems to imply we can't do this anymore ?

[MikeDVB]

The humour is at you using phrases such as FUBAR - quite unnecessary. And it's hardly the case either.

It was my opinion which I've made abundantly clear by saying "IMHO".

 

I'm not sure why we're getting into the semantics of it should say "select" in the address bar rather than "add". It's a direct product link, the same as every cart template in WHMCS uses. It's not misleading anyone in what it does, you can't add a product to the cart without visiting that link.

The way you have it now, it's only half-logical and half-correct. In it's current state it's not useable for us. Any provider would have no issues following the ordering process but customers will have issues.

 

As for "why did you change the functioning of it so much", the ajax order form has been completely rewritten as a cart template to replace the old style separate ajax form. This brings with it a lot more functionality that didn't exist in the form before. What it does mean however is that it has to function as a cart.

So basically you tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and broke it.

[MikeDVB]

Matt,

 

In the old version we could point directly to the product; i do not want my clients to have options and go directly to the domain name, is this still possible ? does the skip=1 not work anymore ?

 

(i.e. https://www.040support.nl/client/order/?pid=239&skip=1 )

 

When the skip=1 was used the product was added to the floating slip already because it was the product then already is been able to be added to the card. Not sure if i understand all the above correctly; but it seems to imply we can't do this anymore ?

 

&skip=1 does not work any longer, no. It will list the product groups, and the products, and will not automatically add a product to the cart any longer.

 

I suppose it's not the overall function of the ajax form I have an issue with as much as the fact that it no longer has the option to automatically add a product via the direct order link.

[Matt]

It was my opinion which I've made abundantly clear by saying "IMHO".

You edited your post to include that later yes. At the time I replied there was no IMHO.

 

So basically you tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and broke it.

While it may not have been broken for you, being a completely separate entity from the cart meant the form didn't share all the same functionality of the cart, and therefore it wasn't usable for a large number of our users. We do have other customers, all equally important as you, and we have to do what makes sense for the majority. And in the long run this is the better solution.

 

Suffice to say, this is the first release of a completely new order form template, and I'm sure we'll get lots of feedback from you and others regarding not just this but all the new cart templates, and any of which is deemed to be to the benefit of everyone, and possible to implement, likely will be added in future updates.

 

But by that same token, that means changing a=add to a=select in the url probably isn't going to happen!

 

Also try considering the benefits of the new version, the ability to cross sell and promote other domain extensions and the cart nature allowing multiple products & domains in a single order.

 

Matt

[MikeDVB]

Here is a demonstration of how it is broken... THIS url works fine:

https://www.mddhosting.com/support/cart.php?a=add&pid=46&carttpl=ajaxcart&systemtemplate=portal

 

When a domain is not being asked for, it *does* add the product to the cart automatically. If it's asking for a domain it does not, seriously, you can't add a product to the cart without a domain? How was the V1 Ajax form able to do this?

[MikeDVB]

You edited your post to include that later yes. At the time I replied there was no IMHO.

There were a few revisions of every post as I've been discovering/updating rather than making new posts every time.

 

While it may not have been broken for you, being a completely separate entity from the cart meant the form didn't share all the same functionality of the cart, and therefore it wasn't usable for a large number of our users. We do have other customers, all equally important as you, and we have to do what makes sense for the majority. And in the long run this is the better solution.

We will see, I'm going to get feedback from every provider I network with, and I am sure they will get feedback from others.

 

I'm guessing that you'll hear more feedback on this soon enough from more than just myself.

 

Suffice to say, this is the first release of a completely new order form template, and I'm sure we'll get lots of feedback from you and others regarding not just this but all the new cart templates, and any of which is deemed to be to the benefit of everyone, and possible to implement, likely will be added in future updates.

Just make the ?a=add actually add the product to the cart, and we'll be golden, imho.

 

But by that same token, that means changing a=add to a=select in the url probably isn't going to happen!

So you are passing a variable to your order system that it's totally ignoring, what's the point?

[MikeDVB]

Do one of two things, and I would consider this fully resolved:

1. Have it add the product to the cart when ?a=add is in the order URL whether it's asking for a domain or not just as it always has done.
   
2. Have it state "Please finish configuring the product to view the order summary" under the order summary.
   

 

https://www.mddhosting.com/support/cart.php?a=add&pid=5&carttpl=ajaxcart&systemtemplate=portal

 

VS

 

https://www.mddhosting.com/support/cart.php?a=add&pid=46&carttpl=ajaxcart&systemtemplate=portal

 

It really should function the second way, whether a domain is being asked for or not - just as it did in 4.4.2.

 

Edit: Another issue - on the second URL listed above - if you change the product it will automatically add the new product, and not remove the old product... Another reason why it should not be listing the products on a direct-order link. See it yourself:

http://www.screen-shot.net/2011-05-19_0744.swf

 

This just goes to re-affirm my statement that you're 1/2 way between the way it used to be, and the way you want it to be. I would consider this "unfinished" and unworthy of "stable" status, imho.

 

What bothers me the most about this whole situation isn't that it's broken (it can be fixed) but your pure denial that it is broken or could be imperfect. If you had simply said something like "I could see how the differences could be confusing, would you care to discuss this in a support ticket?" I would have been MORE than happy with that.

 

Since you seem to think it's funny and want to "blow it off" or say that it may be changed "in a future release" I'm going to do what I can to see that it becomes a priority.

Edited May 19, 2011 by MikeDVB

[scottswezey]

These changes definitely seem to be confusing for new customers who are just signing up. There has to be some middle ground between what we had previously and the new version. Maybe the old check out templates could be released as an addon for us to use while the new templates are improved?

[MikeDVB]

These changes definitely seem to be confusing for new customers who are just signing up. There has to be some middle ground between what we had previously and the new version. Maybe the old check out templates could be released as an addon for us to use while the new templates are improved?

 

I've been discussing this in a ticket with Matt, or at least, I've posted a lot of it to a ticket.

 

Honestly, the only gripe I had with the functionality of the old Ajax system was not making the user select a billing cycle first. We would have people opening tickets asking why can they not use coupon code "XYZ" (which worked only on 1 year + plans) because they saw the monthly price and put in the code or they didn't get the billing cycle step yet to change it before putting in the code.

 

When I look at the way the Ajax from 4.4.2 works, it works beautifully besides what I just said. With &skip=1 it goes right to the product, lets you enter the details and order, and all makes very good sense and flows well.

 

V2 it's like this:

(Home Page) -> (Hosting Comparison Page) -> *user clicks "Order Basic Shared Hosting Plan* -> User is taken to billing system where it tells them to "Select a product" under the order summary, however, on the left side under products - one is already selected.

 

They already selected which plan they wanted to order on our page, so why ask them again which group and plan they want to order? I can see to have that functionality coming from just cart.php (with no variables) but when using a direct ordering link specifying the product &a=add, why not just add the product to the cart/summary?

 

Also, in version1 of the Ajax you could change the product and it would show in the summary instantly:

http://www.screen-shot.net/2011-05-19_1224.swf

In Version 2, that doesn't happen:

http://www.screen-shot.net/2011-05-19_0744.swf

[baldy]

Mike, you seriously need to lighten up. If this is your biggest problem in life then you need to get outdoors more you damn drama queen (FUBAR...seriously??).

 

Matt, you've done an extremely good job with the new version. Admittedly not perfect, but a very big step in the right direction. Looking very forward to the future of WHMCS now. I myself couldn't care less about an additional query string in the URL, and whether it actually does anything or not

[MikeDVB]

Nah, it's not my biggest issue, but thanks for the insight

[SteveV]

Props to Matt for getting this fixed so fast: http://forum.whmcs.com/showthread.php?t=38424

 

Awesome work, Matt.

[Speedy059]

Is everything in 4.5 similar to 4.4.1? We don't want our products to be un-orderable from our website with pre-selected configurable options.

[Matt]

To clarify the only difference between the two is that when the direct order link for a product is followed, and you're using the ajax cart template option, then in the old ajax order form (which only allowed a single product to be ordered), it instantly showed up in the order summary bar. But in this new cart version, the user must enter their domain (ie. actually start the configuration process for the product) before it actually gets added to their cart.

 

The main point for this change, is that there is a fundamental difference between the old style ajax order form and the new cart based one, and that is you could only ever order 1 product at a time in the old one. So as soon as you selected a product, anything else in the cart could be cleared and just the new product added, so you instantly saw on the summary that product was in the cart. Now it's a cart however, so when you select a product, if it's added to the cart, it's there, and clearing down the cart again upon selection of another product would mean you no longer have a cart system.

 

If it's only 1 product being ordered it's easy to show whatever is selected, but with a cart there has to be a process for actually adding that item to the cart, and selecting a product doesn't necessarily mean a client wants it in their cart (as you went on to mention later in the thread) so just selecting the product but not reaching the config step should not be enough to add it. And if the text in the summary bar is a cause of concern, that is easily customised via the language/template files.

 

Is everything in 4.5 similar to 4.4.1? We don't want our products to be un-orderable from our website with pre-selected configurable options.

 

Yes absolutely, despite all the shopping cart improvements and enhancements that have gone into V4.5, we worked very hard to ensure that existing templates would be compatable and not need any changes. So your order templates from earlier versions will still work in V4.5 without any changes required, and while we added 4 new designs, all the previous ones are still there and supported.

 

Matt

[MikeDVB]

Matt, is it possible - in the default installation (without custom lang file modification) to change "order summary" to "Cart" or "Cart Summary"

 

And then "Please choose a product to begin" to "No items in the cart, fully configure a product to add it to the cart." (or whatever you feel is appropriate) as well as "Click to continue >" to "Add to cart"? Something like this:

 

Edit: more like this:

http://www.screen-shot.net/2011-05-19_1914_step1.png

http://www.screen-shot.net/2011-05-19_1918_step2.png (the "Checkout" button in the summary and the "Click to continue >>" button in the template actually do the exact same thing, but are worded entirely different).

 

In step 2, the "Click to continue >>" already does the exact same thing as the "checkout" button does under the summary.

 

This would make the whole process make a lot more sense.

Edited May 19, 2011 by MikeDVB

[MikeDVB]

I'm going to try making these changes myself, and pass the work on so you can see if you like it.