Is there a Slideset plugin for HikaShop

-- HikaShop version -- : Starter: 2.3.5
-- Joomla version -- : 2.5.19
-- PHP version -- : 5

I want to add a slideset for featured items to my home page similar to this example: www.helidirect.com/

Scroll down to the Featured Products area and there are 4 items displayed. But clicking an arrow at either side of the screen will scroll the items sideways to display more items. I'd like to emulate this function on my HikaShop site, also for a Featured Items section.

This slideset would be linked to a specific category (named Featured Items). Then, any products that I add to the Featured Items category would be displayed in the slideset.

Is there a way to do this with Hikashop?

The Business edition comes with a carousel on board, which does the very same. It's not (yet) responsive, but can be made "adaptive" with some simple tricks.

Other than that, there are few 3rd-party carousel/product slider extensions out there which can load and display HikaShop products. Best search the JED , and eventually use Google or so as well.

Edit:
Sorry, forgot to mention that some templates/frameworks have module sliders ob board, too, which can be utilised. Depends on what you're using.

I actually did a Google search before posting here, but didn't find anything that looked promising. Same for JED.

There are a couple of sliders on JED, but they don't look like they're what I need.

I may bite the bullet and upgrade to the Business edition of HS. I can then at least try the built in carousel to see if it'll work before I spend the money on a 3rd party extension that may or may not.

CreativeProStudio wrote: I may bite the bullet and upgrade to the Business edition of HS.

<begin advertisement>
Go for it. As another user I can tell that, in addition to numerous other perks included in the Business edition, the HikaShop on-board carousel works perfectly well, and if you use a workaround for being "responsive" to varying screen sizes, you can create the exact same look, feel, and behaviour as on the sample site you linked to.
<end advertisement>

You're a good salesman!

Is there a tutorial or other info on how to implement the workarounds to make the carousel "responsive"?

Lol.

The workaround is "self-developed", simple but effective - based on what I'd like to call common sense - hence, not a secret. So, no tutorial. Well, until now and here:

You create several carousel modules, completely identical except for "Number of columns", "Number of items", and - of course - "Product per slide", most likely depending on how you set up static product listings, to match their behaviour regarding breakpoints in your responsive template.
To use the sample site you linked to, say 4 columns for large screens, 3 columns for tablets, 2 columns for small screens. Perhaps also a single column for phones?
You publish all these modules to the same template position, or alternatively, load them into the component area or a Custom HTML module with "loadposition" or similar. The important part is that you give them individual classes, either module classes (in case they are all individual modules), or by wrapping them into individual divs (in case you use "loadposition" or so).
Now, all you need to do is write some custom CSS with media queries where at your usual breakpoints the good class gets a "display: inherit;" and all others a "display: none;".
If your template framework or what they call it provides you with ready-to-use responsive classes for certain screen sizes or the individual breakpoints, it's even easier as you can use those as module classes, or the divs, whichever is applicable.

Indeed, the appearance is then almost the same as on your sample link. Again, it's not responsive but "adaptive": depending on screen size, you get to see 4 or 3 or 2, or maybe even only one column per slide. Needless to say, of course you can also configure it to have multiple rows or not, e.g. (columns x row) 4x1 on large screens, 3x1 on tablets, 2x2 on small screens, 1x2 on phones. Etc etc etc.

Hope it helps. And maybe not only you, but also some others who were too busy with other stuff to think of this.

And then it might be soon all obsolete... once the HikaShop devs turn the good old plan of making the carousel module responsive into reality.

Last notes:
If you have difficulties visualizing what it looks like, I could PM you a link to a client site I built.
Also, I found it easier than setting up a 3rd-party module I tried (which works, but whoever designed the backend must be from the dark side of the moon, so I won't name it here). And it's "lighter" on the website then loading yet another extension, risking JS conflicts, and that kinda thing.

Awesome, thank you!

This makes sense and doesn't look too difficult to do. I'll give it a try once I get HS upgraded and working.

Is there anything I would want to know about upgrading from the free version of HS to the Business edition? Is it as simple as downloading and installing it? I have a quite a few customizations to the various HS page templates. Will all of that be wiped out?

CreativeProStudio wrote: ... upgrading from the free version of HS to the Business edition? Is it as simple as downloading and installing it?

Yes.

CreativeProStudio wrote: I have a quite a few customizations to the various HS page templates. Will all of that be wiped out?

Not if you created overrides by following these tutorials on CSS and layout . However, you'd be getting and using version 2.4.0 (as of today), so you may want to verify if your overrides need a "manual" update - or vice versa - if you want to re-do your customizations on the latest view versions... whatever you find simpler and quicker. (Hint: use a file comparison app - also available on-line - and for any override file you have that is in this list of changed files , compare original core views of 2.3.5 and 2.4.0 to first see if any changes other than version number have been made by HikaShop at all.)

The only mods that would be difficult to redo would be to the product display pages. i didn't use overrides, though. I changed the HTML/PHP code in the template files to suit my needs.

Can't I just make backups of those files to save my changes in case I need to do them over?

Well, since you modded core files: yes, the next update will wipe out the mods.

Generally, you should do complete backups of all files and database frequently, and certainly before critical changes - anyway.

From now on, you should follow the cardinal rule of not changing any core files unless absolutely necessary (and then running a protocol of core file changes). Joomla has an override system built in, and HikaShop is utilizing it, through its own interface - see tutorial. According to that you could copy the changed customized core views to where they should be: in a similar folder structure under (in case of HikaShop) /templates/your_template/html/com_hikashop. There they are safe from being overwritten by updates.

Test it: create an override by modifying a view for your frontend template as the tutorial suggests, then find folder and file at the mentioned location. You can simply delete it again, e.g. by clicking the trash bin in HikaShop's view listing.

That is excellent advice. Thank you!

I purchased and installed the Business edition, and surprisingly, my customizations weren't overwritten. Maybe I did them with overrides, after all?

Anyway, the installation was painless and I have it running on a development server (I didn't install it on the live site).

But I can't figure out how to enable the carousel feature. I read the documentation, but I still can't figure it out. Under the Display -> Content Modules menu in the documentation and the HS demo site, there are three panes for setting the parameters: "Details", "Parameter for Product", and "Parameters for DIV".

In my back end, I don't have the Parameters for DIV panel. So I have no way to enable the carousel. Is there a plugin that must be installed or enabled? I didn't see anything obvious and there is no mention of if in the documentation.

CreativeProStudio wrote: In my back end, I don't have the Parameters for DIV panel.

Reads like you have set the layout for the module to something else than "Div".
In the "Details" panel of the module configuration, make sure "Div" is selected for the option "Type of layout". The panel "Parameters for DIV" will then show up at the bottom right.

Ahhhh, there it is!

Good Call!