Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

[joseibarra]

Miva Merchant 9.0002
MivaScript Engine v5.22
Database API: mysql

Prior to Miva 9 our products were using the Full-sized image which in Miva 9 now shows up under Legacy Images.

Most of our stuff just uses one Full-sized image.

In Miva 5.x we wanted to use the Image Machine in some places and I had set up some products in the store to use the Image Machine by first creating some Image Types:

Main_Image
image_2
image_3

Then I populated the Main_Image with the usual Full-sized image and in the others a side view (image_2), back view (image_3).

Things appeared to work okay and I believed that since the images were all coming from the Image Engine, in Miva 9 I did not need to worry about the the Legacy Full-sized image anymore and would just start using the Image Machine Main_Image field instead.

I thought that when adding products in the future (even those with just one image) I would just start using the Image Machine Main_Image field and quit populating the Legacy Images field (since it is legacy).

I thought since this product with multiple images and working as desired was now using the Image Machine, I could empty the Legacy Image Full-sized image field but when it is empty, no images display - not even those that are set up in the Image Engine and I don't understand why that is.

If I repopulate the Legacy Image Full-sized image field (which I thought I did not need with Image Engine) all images are again displayed but I thought I would not need anything in the Legacy Image fields if I was using the Image Engine but it looks like I still need to have a Legacy Image configured to get any image to display.

As an experiment I added one new product by hand, populated just the Image Machine Main_Image field and no image is displayed. If I then also populate the Legacy Image field the image is displayed and that does not makes sense to me.

If i am using Image Machine, why do I need to populate the Legacy Image field?

My Miva issues are usually just me misunderstanding how things work, "not getting it", not being able to find things where I think they should be, etc. so what am I missing?

[Mark Hood]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

Miva Merchant 9.0002
MivaScript Engine v5.22
Database API: mysql

Prior to Miva 9 our products were using the Full-sized image which in Miva 9 now shows up under Legacy Images.

Most of our stuff just uses one Full-sized image.

In Miva 5.x we wanted to use the Image Machine in some places and I had set up some products in the store to use the Image Machine by first creating some Image Types:

Main_Image
image_2
image_3

Then I populated the Main_Image with the usual Full-sized image and in the others a side view (image_2), back view (image_3).

Things appeared to work okay and I believed that since the images were all coming from the Image Engine, in Miva 9 I did not need to worry about the the Legacy Full-sized image anymore and would just start using the Image Machine Main_Image field instead.

I thought that when adding products in the future (even those with just one image) I would just start using the Image Machine Main_Image field and quit populating the Legacy Images field (since it is legacy).

I thought since this product with multiple images and working as desired was now using the Image Machine, I could empty the Legacy Image Full-sized image field but when it is empty, no images display - not even those that are set up in the Image Engine and I don't understand why that is.

If I repopulate the Legacy Image Full-sized image field (which I thought I did not need with Image Engine) all images are again displayed but I thought I would not need anything in the Legacy Image fields if I was using the Image Engine but it looks like I still need to have a Legacy Image configured to get any image to display.

As an experiment I added one new product by hand, populated just the Image Machine Main_Image field and no image is displayed. If I then also populate the Legacy Image field the image is displayed and that does not makes sense to me.

If i am using Image Machine, why do I need to populate the Legacy Image field?

My Miva issues are usually just me misunderstanding how things work, "not getting it", not being able to find things where I think they should be, etc. so what am I missing?

Can you post the code from your product display layout? It sounds like you have a conditional around the image display that is checking for the prodimage before it displays anything.

[joseibarra]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

Can you post the code from your product display layout? It sounds like you have a conditional around the image display that is checking for the prodimage before it displays anything.

I'll be able to get that Monday morning and I have another store that I want to look at too for the same "experiment".

Am I right in thinking that if I use the Image Machine and have populated the Image Type my "Main_Image" with a valid image that I don't need the Legacy image field anymore? This is just a simple case with a single image.

I want to be sure that is right so going forward I can retrain myself to start using Image Machine instead of Legacy images

In this store we add about 100 new items a week and think I need to adjust my method of importing new items.

[Mark Hood]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

True story once you've made the correct template changes you should not have to populate the legacy fields.

[joseibarra]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

I think I see the problem now... and thanks for the help.

I am just trying to help somebody out with this store (he is a local guy) and I think this store was a Miva 5. store and upgraded to Miva 9. Looking at the Product Display Layout, it looks very generic and old fashioned and just seems to be looking at the Legacy Images (post it later). Some other guy helped put this store together and I am trying to get his eBay stuff to work.

I have upgraded another Miva 5.x store to Miva 9 (one that I work on most of the time) and when we wanted to use Image Machine, the templates were missing lots/all the Image machine stuff so we got an experienced contributor to "fix" it so we could use IM and it seems to work - as long as the Legacy Image field is populated with the same image as the Image Machine Main_Image. In that store too, if the Legacy image field is empty, nothing displays so that is probably going to be something we will bring up with him - or we can just keep populating both.

I am not Miva smart enough to put in all the Image Machine stuff in these templates so maybe this store owner will just leave it as is. He only needed to use Image Machine to get the eBay Marketplaces working (it doesn't know about Legacy Images) so as long as he keeps both populated the same way I think it will be okay.

Here is the PDL for this store:

<h1><span class="bold">&mvt:product:name;</span></h1>
<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:customfields:brand">
    <div style="font-size:14px;padding-bottom:14px;">&mvt:product:customfield_values:customfields:brand;</div>
</mvt:if>
<div class="product-details-1">
    <mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:image">
    <div class="product-image"><img src="&mvt:product:image;" alt="&mvt:product:name;" /></div>            
    <mvt:else>
    <div class="image-not-available product-image"><img src="graphics/en-US/new/image-not-available.jpg"></div>
    </mvt:if>
    
    <div id="inventory-message">
        <mvt:if expr="l.settings:product:inv_active">
        &mvt:product:inv_long;
        </mvt:if>
    </div>
    
</div>
<div class="product-details-2">
<div class="product-quantity">Quantity in Basket:
        <mvt:if expr="l.settings:product:quantity EQ 0">
        <span class="italic">None</span>
        <mvt:else>
        <span class="bold">&mvt:product:quantity;</span>
        </mvt:if>
    </div>
    <div class="product-code">Code: <span class="bold">&mvt:product:code;</span></div>
    <div class="product-price">Price: <span id="price-value" class="bold">&mvt:product:formatted_price;</span></div>
    <mvt:if expr="l.settings:product:weight NE 0">
    <div class="product-weight">Shipping Weight: <span class="bold">&mvt:product:weight;</span> &mvt:store:wtunits;</div>
    </mvt:if>
    <form method="post" action="&mvt:global:sessionurl;Screen=BASK">
    <input type="hidden" name="Old_Screen" value="&mvte:global:Screen;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Old_Search" value="&mvte:global:Search;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Action" value="ADPR" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Store_Code" value="&mvte:store:code;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Product_Code" value="&mvte:product:code;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Category_Code" value="&mvte:global:category_code;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Offset" value="&mvte:global:Offset;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="AllOffset" value="&mvte:global:AllOffset;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="CatListingOffset" value="&mvte:global:CatListingOffset;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="RelatedOffset" value="&mvte:global:RelatedOffset;" />
    <input type="hidden" name="SearchOffset" value="&mvte:global:SearchOffset;" />
    <div class="product-attributes"><mvt:item name="product_attributes" param="product:id" /></div>
    <div class="purchase-buttons">Quantity: <input type="text" name="Quantity" value="1" class="product-quantity-input textfield" /> <mvt:item name="buttons" param="AddToBasket" /></div>
    </form>
    <br />
    <mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:customfields:details">
        <div style="font-weight:bold;padding-bottom:8px;">&mvt:product:customfield_values:customfields:details;</div>
    </mvt:if>
    <br />
</div>
<div class="product-details-3">
<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:customfields:guide">
        <div style=""><a href="&mvt:product:customfield_values:customfields:guide;">Pocket Reference Guide (pdf)</a></div>
</mvt:if>
<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:customfields:manual">
        <div style=""><a href="&mvt:product:customfield_values:customfields:manual;">Manual (pdf)</a></div>
</mvt:if>
<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:customfields:spec">
        <div style=""><a href="&mvt:product:customfield_values:customfields:spec;">Spec sheet (pdf)</a></div>
</mvt:if>
<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:customfields:youtube">
        <div style="padding-top:8px;">&mvt:product:customfield_values:customfields:youtube;</div>
</mvt:if>
</div>
    <div class="clear"></div>

[Mark Hood]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

The line below is checking for the legacy image.
<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:image">

You can change

<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:image">
    <div class="product-image"><img src="&mvt:product:image;" alt="&mvt:product:name;" /></div>            
    <mvt:else>
    <div class="image-not-available product-image"><img src="graphics/en-US/new/image-not-available.jpg"></div>
    </mvt:if>

to

<div class="product-image"><img src="&mvt:product:image;" alt="&mvt:product:name;" /></div>

or this may work if you want to test for image type main

<mvt:if expr="NOT ISNULL l.settings:product:customfield_values:productimagecustomfields:main”>
<div class="product-image"><img src="&mvt:product:image;" alt="&mvt:product:name;" /></div>            
    <mvt:else>
    <div class="image-not-available product-image"><img src="graphics/en-US/new/image-not-available.jpg"></div>
    </mvt:if>

[Protos]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

Hi, I know I have seen a message before how to tag import file in order to mark large images as maiin. But now I canīt find this post. How do I put this main-image tag while imorting?

[Mark Hood]

Re: Miva 9 Image Machine Questions

Hi, I know I have seen a message before how to tag import file in order to mark large images as maiin. But now I canīt find this post. How do I put this main-image tag while imorting?

Make sure you have the product custom image field module installed.