What is your preferred checkout flow with Google Checkout?

[Luxoria]

So far on my dev site I have 'view cart' and 'checkout' buttons. However due to how Google Checkout has to have it's checkout button specially placed using the 'checkout' button skips the cart where the Google Checkout button is and goes to One Page Checkout.

Now, I don't want to remove either the 'view cart' or the 'checkout' buttons so I guess I will just point both of buttons to the cart where the option to checkout normally or checkout with Google is present at the bottom. Is this my only option for checkout out flow if I want to use Google Checkout. How about this idea... the 'view cart' button goes to the default cart layout and the 'checkout' button goes to a special page with the buttons for 'Google Checkout', 'Paypal', and 'MC/VISA' prominently placed at the top with or w/out a cart summary.

thanks

[met00]

osCmax shopping cart software forums - Recent Blogs Posts - Blogs

[Luxoria]

So I guess you did not read the original post considering it is not a version dependent inquiry.

[met00]

You're right. I'm an ******* who has nothing better to do then post meaningless drivel. I mean we all know that every version of osCmax is just like the last version. And the people that work on it are mindreaders and can tell what you are using based on special waves that come off their computer screen after reading your posts.

Or, you are wrong, and what version of osCmax you are using might actually be important to understanding your issues, and those of us who post here are actually smart experienced people that are busy on development, but want to help the community grow, and therefore offer our help, services and insight based on our experiences for free. And therefore we want as much data about your configuration as possible, but minimally to know if you are on the current beta, which we are working on daily, or on the older stable releases, since there are major differences between the two. If this is an issue with the core, or a template issue? And if it's in the template, what template are you using (as some template sellers sell crapware).

Is this my only option for checkout out flow if I want to use Google Checkout.

Is this a template issue? Seems like it to me. And it seems like you either are using 2.5 (beta?) or installed one page checkout on 2.0.25... but since I'm not a mind reader, I have no freaking idea. As for

How about this idea... the 'view cart' button goes to the default cart layout and the 'checkout' button goes to a special page with the buttons for 'Google Checkout', 'Paypal', and 'MC/VISA' prominently placed at the top with or w/out a cart summary.

This definitely makes it seem even more like a template issue. Are you suggesting that this be done in our templates? Or are you saying that you think it may be a good idea for your templates?

[Luxoria]

Wow, your posts really make me feel like a welcome member of the forum and I am glad to to contribute to the continuation of these forums through monetary donations. Your right next time I decide to ask a non logical technical question I will grab my crayon box and color pretty pictures, scan them, and post them.

Sarcasm and asshatery aside...

My post was not as clear as it could of been. Let me try to add a bit more details. Since Google Checkout has to have their Google Checkout button placed besides or below the primary 'Checkout' button per Google's terms of service. For example, on the show cart page of osCmax beta 2.5, the page you see when you click 'Cart Contents' (with items in the cart), the Google Checkout button (GC) is below the standard 'Checkout' button. When clicking the 'Checkout' button (found on the front page as a top tool bar on fallback) with One Page Checkout installed the page brought up is One Page Checkout, thus skipping the GC button. In order for customers to select GC they will have to click 'View Cart' (or 'Cart Contents') to bring of the mentioned shopping cart contents page which has the standard 'Checkout' button and the GC button below. Currently on my template and on the default template (fallback) in osCmax beta 2.5 the customer unknowning may skip the GC button because they click the 'Checkout' button instead of clicking 'View Cart' (or just plan 'Cart'). This may be a non resolved issue.

With the situation hopefully explained with enough details so it may be understood, my questions is does anyone have a suggestion for checkout flow so customers can choose GC if they want while complying with Google's terms of use and also keeping a smooth flowing good looking site. One thought I had was to point the 'Checkout' button to the 'Cart Contents' page where the customer can choose GC if they want. With that there will be two buttons that do the same thing... 'View Cart' and 'Checkout' They both point to the cart contents. There are other solutions but not worth the time to explain currently. I just wanted to see if anyone thought if this and what flow they decided to implement.

[michael_s]

My post was not as clear as it could of been. Let me try to add a bit more details. Since Google Checkout has to have their Google Checkout button placed besides or below the primary 'Checkout' button per Google's terms of service. For example, on the show cart page of osCmax beta 2.5, the page you see when you click 'Cart Contents' (with items in the cart), the Google Checkout button (GC) is below the standard 'Checkout' button. When clicking the 'Checkout' button (found on the front page as a top tool bar on fallback) with One Page Checkout installed the page brought up is One Page Checkout, thus skipping the GC button. In order for customers to select GC they will have to click 'View Cart' (or 'Cart Contents') to bring of the mentioned shopping cart contents page which has the standard 'Checkout' button and the GC button below. Currently on my template and on the default template (fallback) in osCmax beta 2.5 the customer unknowning may skip the GC button because they click the 'Checkout' button instead of clicking 'View Cart' (or just plan 'Cart'). This may be a non resolved issue.

With the situation hopefully explained with enough details so it may be understood, my questions is does anyone have a suggestion for checkout flow so customers can choose GC if they want while complying with Google's terms of use and also keeping a smooth flowing good looking site. One thought I had was to point the 'Checkout' button to the 'Cart Contents' page where the customer can choose GC if they want. With that there will be two buttons that do the same thing... 'View Cart' and 'Checkout' They both point to the cart contents. There are other solutions but not worth the time to explain currently. I just wanted to see if anyone thought if this and what flow they decided to implement.

Some options I have considered:
1. If GC is enabled, there would be a Google Checkout tab activated next to the standard Checkout tab (or a google Checkout button/icon) that automatically appears.
2. Add a google checkout button to the One Page Checkout page, under the order detail, but above customer info and in-store checkout options.
3. Change the link for the Checkout tab to go to the cart.

The first two options add the GC link without adding clicks for the customer, so I prefer them (maybe even both at the same time). The third option adds that extra click to force GC on those that may not even want to use it, so it is not ideal. We have worked hard to remove clicks from the checkout process. Adding an extra step for one payment method rubs me the wrong way and would probably do the same for a small percentage of cart-savvy customers.

[met00]

Much better.

1) osCmax 2.5 Beta (1 or 2?)
2) TOS issues regarding the GC button
3) GC button in one page checkout on the fallback template does not conform to GC's TOS

The first question then is this a bug or a feature. If it is a bug, it should be put into the bugtracker.
The second question is what would be a good workaround. The answer there is, it should be in the bugtracker as a fix to the one page checkout or the template so that the one page checkout meets the GC TOS.

The goal, at this point in 2.5's development, is to stamp out bugs, not kluge the system with work arounds.

[Luxoria]

Thanks, Michael, for understanding the nature of my post and giving a helpful reply.

I like the idea of placing the googlecheckout button in One Page Checkout. Right now am having difficulty placing the button in checkout.tpl.php. Wherever it is placed the contents container blanks out. The code I am using is below.

// *** BEGIN GOOGLE CHECKOUT ***
if (defined('MODULE_PAYMENT_GOOGLECHECKOUT_STATUS') && MODULE_PAYMENT_GOOGLECHECKOUT_STATUS == 'True') {
include_once('googlecheckout/gcheckout.php');
}
// *** END GOOGLE CHECKOUT ***

I can place this code anywhere on the site (like login.tpl.php, product_info.tpl.php) and the googlecheckout button pops up but as soon as it placed in the checkout files the blank screen happens.(just the cart area) I've tried to locate the cause of the problem but I am just do not know that much about the core just yet. Does anyone have insight where I should look get the GC button working in One Page Checkout.

Thanks.

[michael_s]

You are getting a fatal error:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class ot_subtotal in includes/modules/order_total/ot_subtotal.php on line 13

Googlecheckout is trying to redeclare ot_subtotal, but OPC already has done so. You will need to resolve this by preventing GC from redeclaring ot_subtotal. The lines in question are in gcheckout.php around line 238:

 require_once(DIR_WS_CLASSES . 'order_total.php');
$order_total_modules = new order_total();
$order_totals = $order_total_modules->process(); 
  

You will need to only do this if not on checkout.php, else do this:

 require_once(DIR_WS_CLASSES . 'order_total.php');
//$order_total_modules = new order_total();
$order_totals = $order_total_modules->process(); 
  

That should at least point you in the right direction.

[michael_s]

After thinking a little bit more about this, a better solution to this error is to edit the includes/classes/order_total.php. This should clear up your error and allow the GC button to properly display anywhere in your shop including checkout.php

Find this:

     function order_total() {
      global $language;

      if (defined('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_INSTALLED') && tep_not_null(MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_INSTALLED)) {
        $this->modules = explode(';', MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_INSTALLED);

        reset($this->modules);
        while (list(, $value) = each($this->modules)) {
          include(DIR_WS_LANGUAGES . $language . '/' . $value);
          include(DIR_WS_MODULES . 'order_total/' . $value);

          $class = substr($value, 0, strrpos($value, '.'));
          $GLOBALS[$class] = new $class;
        }
      }
    } 
  

and change to this:

     function order_total() {
      global $language;

      if (defined('MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_INSTALLED') && tep_not_null(MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_INSTALLED)) {
        $this->modules = explode(';', MODULE_ORDER_TOTAL_INSTALLED);

        reset($this->modules);
        while (list(, $value) = each($this->modules)) {
          include_once(DIR_WS_LANGUAGES . $language . '/' . $value);
          include_once(DIR_WS_MODULES . 'order_total/' . $value);

          $class = substr($value, 0, strrpos($value, '.'));
          $GLOBALS[$class] = new $class;
        }
      }
    }