IH2 Installation

I am new to Zen Cart and installing ZC on my local cpmputer first and think I am ready to install IH2. However, the readme.txt for this product are a little vague and I have some questions. I know IH2 has been used quite often by zenners so most of my problems/questions are my own doing.

My host, HostMonster. say they support both CD libraries and ImageMagick when I am ready to move the program to the remote server.

QUESTIONS:

1. To find out if you have cg libraries the the readme.txt in IH2 says to go to admin>tools>server info and search of "CD". Not sure how you do a search on this screen.
   1a. Is CD libraries included in the PHP part of the Xampp installation?
2. I am partial to IH2 because it seems to be more support for this product on the Zen Cart forum. Are there any major advantages between CG libraries and Imagemagick?
3. In the readme.txt of IM2, it says to copy the following directories into "your Zen Card folder" which I believe is at c:\dev\xampp\mysql\data\zencart. However, I assume the following folders are meant to replace the same named folders which I found in c"\dev\xampp\thdocs\store so I installed them in the store folder.
   Admin
   bm/.cache
   Images
   includes

I am following the Zen Cart manual and don't remember making any changes to these folders.

Now, when I click on the ZC admin shortcut I am receiving a URL not found error message. If I reinstall old folder I am fine.

I wonder what is causing that.

4. How do I make sure the permissions of the bm/.cache folder is the same as the images folder as suggested in the readme.txt of IH2.

Thanks for any help.

Bill Miller

Part of my problem has been solved. I was lazy and clicked on the shortcut to the admin screen before I added IH2. which got me the URL error. I now entered ....example.com/store/admin and now get the Index of /store/admin as a title and below that.
Parent Directory
image handler.php with a large question mark in front of it
images/
includes/

If I click on the images/ and includes/ I can see the files in these folders.
However, when I click in the Parent Directory I receive the following error

Warning: main(includes/application_top.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\Store\index.php on line 26

Fatal error: main() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/application_top.php' (include_path='.;C:\dev\xampp\php\pear') in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\Store\index.php on line 26

If I counted correctly line 26 is
require('includes/application_top.php');

And when I click on image handler.php I receive the following message

Warning: main(includes/application_top.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\Store\admin\image_handler.php on line 12

Fatal error: main() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'includes/application_top.php' (include_path='.;C:\dev\xampp\php\pear') in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\Store\admin\image_handler.php on line 12

The first lines of image_handler.php are

Come on over and join the official support for IH2:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35913

I will require multiple images on each of the items shown on my Zen Cart. I am looking for a better way to install multiple images then used in Zen Cart which if I read the instructions correctly, I need to change each of the file names to show multiple images.

I started to install IH2 but had some problems and noticed that the Image Handler forum has been discontinued temporarily. That scares a Newbie like me.

1. Is IH2 still the best way to go?
2. Are there other products that integrate with Zen Cart that do the same thing. Not worried if I have to pay for a product with good support.

Thanks for your help.

I believe that the new forum for Image Handler 2 has been discontinued and the will not be up and running for awhile.

That is why I posted a new thread asking if there is another way to do the same thing. I am sure IM2 is good but, as a Newbie, I need to look at products that have support.

This is a good time to THANK all the people that makes ZenCart such a great program.

As far as I know, IH2 is the only utility that does what it does. You will still need to name your images properly to show as multiple or additional images; the large/medium/small sized images are what is handled automatically by IH2.

The link given above is to the IH2 support thread in the Zen Cart support forum.

You shouldn't be installing any files in c:\dev\xampp\mysql\data\zencart. That is for your database. The files should go in your /store/ folder under /htdocs/: c"\dev\xampp\thdocs\store.

GJH42 Thanks for your help.
First, I looked at your site -- an awesome job.
Second: You in upstate-- I am in Webster, NY.

third: Back to business. I was much too wordy in my first posts on this subject but the fact is that I did put the files in the Store folder.

Thanks.

I think I found my problem. I substituted the folders that I received from the IH2 download for the ones in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\Store. I should have taken the folders and placed then in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\Store to REPALCE the original folders instead of SUBSTITUTING the original folders.

I was confused by the instruction in IH2 readme.txt which said "Copy the following directories into your Zen Cart Folder"

Thanks for all your help.

Yes, copying new folders (with files in them) over existing folders rather than first deleting the original folders will allow any existing files that do not have counterparts in the new folder to stay unchanged.