Hello - I'm about to start building an online store and have been looking at Virtuemart. Clearly this is a really good way to get all the product listings and the payment gateways easily installed.however, I like to the look of K2 and some of the really sharp templates.Is there a way to integrate the two? I don't want to start a journey I'm not going to be able to finish - and although I could add PayPal buttons to all the products manually, this is something I want to hand over to the client once it's built so it needs to be fairly simple to use.If this is possible can someone point me to a we site which uses K2 and VM together? Thanks in advance...

Hi Steve,

This is something I am looking into for several reasons.

I maintain www.theledlightingcompany.co.uk a Joomla + VirtueMart site.
I also run K2Joom.com to support K2, in which I am running a series of guides in creating an online store, check this link. This guide is trying to replicate the main site just in K2 if at all possible.

Currently investigating some different cart systems, but the problem is, they are either creating their own content separate to Joomla Articles or, they are not written to work with K2.

I am however talking to a couple of vendors in finding a solution to this.

One thing to consider is, as much as I love k2 it was never designed to be a fully functional shopping solution.
Building content to display as catalogs is no problem, but this work for the integration of cart and payment will always be need.

Regards,

Simon
K2Joom.com

Thanks for your reply - this is what I was thinking - it's a shame.

I guess I'm going to have to go with a more VM template solution for the time being.

I'd be keen to hear about any progress you make with the integration.....

Whats your time frame to get up and running?

Dont dismiss K2 just yet as it can still be used to work along side your store. You will always need additional support information etc that can be done in K2.

Simon

ha ha - timelines - I remember those.

Unfortunately I only seem to have the "I need it yesterday" type of client at the moment....

I've got another project which will take longer (because it's my own!) and I will take a closer look at K2 and VM integration for this.

You might find this of interest.
K2 + Add to Cart + PayPal Integration.

Download, demo and instructions:K2Joom.com

Hope it might be useful.

Simon
K2Joom.com

wouldnt it be possible to import the k2 content into the virtuemart product pages by using a module that imports the k2 item page? if so, you would just create the item once in k2 and once in virtuemart, disable all the virtuemart stuff except the product pricing and cart, and use the k2 content for images, etc.

im thinking of trying it out. right now ive got k2 with simplecaddy, but simpelcaddy is a little too simple.

Eorisis said:hi friend, thanks for the reply. I was talking about Virtuemart and not paypal alone :D

VirtueMart's templates are notably difficult to deal with. The advent of CCK components of which K2, Zoo, jSebold are a few, allows for simplification of the standardization of presentation of similar content types.

I have a working theory how how to integrate VirtueMart into K2, etc, but nothing I can show. I have proven a concept on a local wamp on how to get this working. It involves using the "Simple Product Snapshot" plugin that comes with VirtueMart, (or downloading the latest update from the Joomla extensions). In a nutshell, you would put a simple reference (ie. {simpleproduct:id=xx}) to the VirtueMart product in the K2 product description. You wouldn't waste your time prettying up VirtueMart categories and products themselves; you would just use it for the cart functionality.

There is some hunting and pecking necessary in order to find the correct plugin settings. Since my product line is fairly stable, I have chosen to just reflect the bare minimums and using K2 for the descriptions and images. If your product offering is very dynamic, then this may become too cumbersome to maintain.

I use the plugin to offer the price, attributes, quantity, and button. A person clicks on the Buy Now button, and the product gets added to the cart. You can turn on the cart module for VirtueMart so that it shows the loaded cart in a module on the left or right. When the person goes to checkout, they go right through the full checkout process. No reliance on PayPal if you wish. Full shipping options, etc.

Therefore, I plan to use K2 for the ease of formating, and VirtueMart as the backend processor.

im going to try this. i have the same thing running with simplecaddy, thats exactly what i wanted from virtuemart. just the add to cart part with pricing. i like their checkout, not there handling. if it doesnt work im going to try to port over all my k2 data, which i really hope to avoid. virtuemarts template editing isnt very intuitive.

Bob Hinman said:VirtueMart's templates are notably difficult to deal with. The advent of CCK components of which K2, Zoo, jSebold are a few, allows for simplification of the standardization of presentation of similar content types.
I have a working theory how how to integrate VirtueMart into K2, etc, but nothing I can show. I have proven a concept on a local wamp on how to get this working. It involves using the "Simple Product Snapshot" plugin that comes with VirtueMart, (or downloading the latest update from the Joomla extensions). In a nutshell, you would put a simple reference (ie. {simpleproduct:id=xx}) to the VirtueMart product in the K2 product description. You wouldn't waste your time prettying up VirtueMart categories and products themselves; you would just use it for the cart functionality.

There is some hunting and pecking necessary in order to find the correct plugin settings. Since my product line is fairly stable, I have chosen to just reflect the bare minimums and using K2 for the descriptions and images. If your product offering is very dynamic, then this may become too cumbersome to maintain.

I use the plugin to offer the price, attributes, quantity, and button. A person clicks on the Buy Now button, and the product gets added to the cart. You can turn on the cart module for VirtueMart so that it shows the loaded cart in a module on the left or right. When the person goes to checkout, they go right through the full checkout process. No reliance on PayPal if you wish. Full shipping options, etc.

Therefore, I plan to use K2 for the ease of formating, and VirtueMart as the backend processor.

its not hard, its tedious and obstructive. i already have a fully working template which ive coded and i will have to rewrite and recode it for vm. vm templates are just bloated, mainly because i dont need their site wide organization, just a cart and checkout.

Eorisis said:if you find customizing the Virtuemart templates hard, then I don't know what to say :) really ! and remember, using virtuemart only for it's functions, you will still need to create a complete product list and categories.
this means, you are not going to avoid not doing it, hehe.

anyway ! good luck !

p.s
we have created this catalogue lately, it's virtuemart, it will go cart soon (not our choice to be catalogue). check it out:
www.gogokorogiannou.com

im trying it out now, i have the products all designed in k2, the useless cart is operated by simplecaddy. ive already begun recreating the product sku's in vm and ill be trying out Bob Hinman's method.

tinyurl.com/metrolinedesign/products


Eorisis said:all I am saying here, is why to gt into this mess, and not jsut use normal Joomla Articles for the catalogue, and custom link them to each product like we did on this site I gave. once the reason to use K2 is the way it customizes the catalogue list etc, dod you find it way better than the traditional Joomla Articles ? I would say no, cause k2 has limited functionality.

well that's just my opinion.

i dont use wysiwyg editors. regarding k2, what custom linking issue are you referring to?

Eorisis said:checked you site,
well all I mentioned in previous post, is that I started using k2 in order to take advantage of it's nice finctionality and easy to use for noobs etc. But I found out that it has great limits such as custom linking (VERY IMPORTANT !!)

this was the reason I uninstalled it.

so custom designing Joomla Articles is unlimited.
Try a good Editor for Joomla such as JoomlaCK and you are done with it.

which thumbnails do you mean? the catalog pages? k2 is pretty flexible, you dont even need to use their category landing pages. the linkbar on the left has nothing to do with k2, the mainpage spread links to multiple items, some categories, some products. i prefer k2 to standard joomla because of the organizational hierarchy and the templating which is k2 specific and doesnt have to be governed by the site.

but anyhow, back to it, this is a k2 forum, and im i think we should focus on the topic of integrating k2 and joomla.

My overall reason for wanting to use a CCK is that I will not be the only person who will be contributing to the site. A CCK like K2, etc. can help to provide some standardization to the presentation. Yes, I too have modified CSS' and VirtueMart templates, and I know about and have used Joomla articles in order to create my catalog. For me, and my use alone, that is fine, but for multiple users, it allowed for too much flexibility. It isn't just about the NOOB's. It is trying to create some rigidity in the presentation so that there isn't a noticeable disparity between offerings by those who are very terse from those who like endless embellishments. Creation and Updating of the content can be documented. This is important for a consistent corporate "image".

i agree, this is the same reason for me, and the reason for joomla in the first place. i havent had a chance to try out your solution yet. but once i do, and its working ill put it online. im not expecting a huge stumbling block, but if i run into anything ill pm you.

Bob Hinman said:My overall reason for wanting to use a CCK is that I will not be the only person who will be contributing to the site. A CCK like K2, etc. can help to provide some standardization to the presentation. Yes, I too have modified CSS' and VirtueMart templates, and I know about and have used Joomla articles in order to create my catalog. For me, and my use alone, that is fine, but for multiple users, it allowed for too much flexibility. It isn't just about the NOOB's. It is trying to create some rigidity in the presentation so that there isn't a noticeable disparity between offerings by those who are very terse from those who like endless embellishments. Creation and Updating of the content can be documented. This is important for a consistent corporate "image".

i still dont understand your problem with k2, more so i mean to say, i dont see it as a problem with k2. if you dont want to use the k2 lightbox then you dont have to use the image gallery they provide. nothing stops you from using your own lightbox, of any other number of scripts or galleries that you want to include.

joomla core is not an e-commerce solution by itself. k2 is not an e-commerce solution by itself. adding e-commerce is always going to be an addition, whether hand written, or added as a component/plugin/whatever. k2 is no obstacle in this, i dont see how its a problem. i dont see k2 as any more an impediment than joomla core; in so much as that neither has a built in e-commerce function. Virtuemart fills that void, but assume a lot of control over the layout in doing so. It is bloated in that sense, and I don't want to turn over everything to VM when I just need the cart, checkout, and order handling. Simplecaddy is too simplistic, and VM is too bloated. if bob's solution works, it cuts out that bloat. i havent tried it yet, and as i said i will tonight; and ill post the site link.

if your comment was regarding lightboxes, they have no purpose on the site im building so the feature is not used.

If you had used K2 longer maybe you would have realized K2 has templates, you can either modify those templates or create own, which I have done. Nothing prevent you from adding images to a K2 article, you can use the built in K2 features or just plop in an image yourself to the content of the article. No different than a Joomla article. This is not a 'hack' nor am I changing K2 beyond its upgrade-ability.

Integrating VM and K2: I do not think this will take more than a few hours to figure out; hardly weeks, months or years. After which the solution can be shared with others in this forum.

I have no reason to argue for you to use K2 or not use K2, that is your decision. But using K2 is why I am here, and adapting VM to work with K2 is the goal of this thread. Your input regarding how I run my business is completely off base and outside this discussion.

Pardon the confusion regarding the second part, I inferred incorrectly.

Regarding this topic, who cares how long it was open, I just got here, and along with others I am keen on finding a solution. And to stay on topic I won't post again unless I have it. Further, if you have nothing to add working towards a solution, and are no longer a K2 user I am not sure why you continue to post.