Welcome to Ultimate SEO URLs contribution documentation!

First, if you are upgrading please read the UPRGADE documentation.

What does this contribution do?

This congribution replaces the stock osCommerce method of creating URLs by passing the parameters (products_id, cPath, etc.) by creating static HTML file URLs.

In this release the cName method of URL generation has been DISCONTINUED. If you are hosted on a Windows server or otherwise need the cName method please use v2.0b

Requirements

• osCommerce, CRE Loaded, Zen Cart, or any other osC based solution
• >= PHP 4.3.0
• Linux based server capable of mod_rewrite
• …5 mintues to install the contribution

INSTALLATION – Clean install on sterile osCommerce MS-2.2

STEP #1 – Upload the class and update files

• The class file seo.class.php should be uploaded to includes/classes/seo.class.php
• The update file reset_seo_cache.php should be uploaded to admin/includes/reset_seo_cache.php

STEP #2 – Edit includes/application_top.phpFind this code:

// include the language translations require(DIR_WS_LANGUAGES . $language . ‘.php’); Directly AFTER add this:

// Ultimate SEO URLs v2.1 include_once(DIR_WS_CLASSES . ’seo.class.php’); if ( !is_object($seo_urls) ){ $seo_urls = new SEO_URL($languages_id); }

STEP #3 – Edit includes/functions/html_output.phpFind the tep_href_link() function:

//// // The HTML href link wrapper function function tep_href_link($page = ”, $parameters = ”, $connection = ‘NONSSL’, $add_session_id = true, $search_engine_safe = true) { global $request_type, $session_started, $SID; if (!tep_not_null($page)) { die(‘<br><br><font color=”#ff0000″><b>Error!</b></font><br><br><b>Unable to determine the page link!<br><br>’); } if ($connection == ‘NONSSL’) { $link = HTTP_SERVER . DIR_WS_HTTP_CATALOG; } elseif ($connection == ‘SSL’) { if (ENABLE_SSL == true) { $link = HTTPS_SERVER . DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG; } else { $link = HTTP_SERVER . DIR_WS_HTTP_CATALOG; } } else { die(‘<br><br><font color=”#ff0000″><b>Error!</b></font><br><br><b>Unable to determine connection method on a link!<br><br>Known methods: NONSSL SSL</b><br><br>’); } if (tep_not_null($parameters)) { $link .= $page . ‘?’ . tep_output_string($parameters); $separator = ‘&’; } else { $link .= $page; $separator = ‘?’; } while ( (substr($link, -1) == ‘&’) || (substr($link, -1) == ‘?’) ) $link = substr($link, 0, -1); // Add the session ID when moving from different HTTP and HTTPS servers, or when SID is defined if ( ($add_session_id == true) && ($session_started == true) && (SESSION_FORCE_COOKIE_USE == ‘False’) ) { if (tep_not_null($SID)) { $_sid = $SID; } elseif ( ( ($request_type == ‘NONSSL’) && ($connection == ‘SSL’) && (ENABLE_SSL == true) ) || ( ($request_type == ‘SSL’) && ($connection == ‘NONSSL’) ) ) { if (HTTP_COOKIE_DOMAIN != HTTPS_COOKIE_DOMAIN) { $_sid = tep_session_name() . ‘=’ . tep_session_id(); } } } if ( (SEARCH_ENGINE_FRIENDLY_URLS == ‘true’) && ($search_engine_safe == true) ) { while (strstr($link, ‘&&’)) $link = str_replace(‘&&’, ‘&’, $link); $link = str_replace(‘?’, ‘/’, $link); $link = str_replace(‘&’, ‘/’, $link); $link = str_replace(‘=’, ‘/’, $link); $separator = ‘?’; } if (isset($_sid)) { $link .= $separator . $_sid; } return $link; }</b>And REPLACE with this function:

//// // Ultimate SEO URLs v2.1 // The HTML href link wrapper function function tep_href_link($page = ”, $parameters = ”, $connection = ‘NONSSL’, $add_session_id = true, $search_engine_safe = true) { global $seo_urls; if ( !is_object($seo_urls) ){ if ( !class_exists(‘SEO_URL’) ){ include_once(DIR_WS_CLASSES . ’seo.class.php’); } global $languages_id; $seo_urls = new SEO_URL($languages_id); } return $seo_urls->href_link($page, $parameters, $connection, $add_session_id); }

STEP #4 – Edit admin/categories.php Find this code:

$action = (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['action']) ? $HTTP_GET_VARS['action'] : ”); Directly AFTER add this:

// Ultimate SEO URLs v2.1 // If the action will affect the cache entries if ( eregi(“(insert|update|setflag)”, $action) ) include_once(‘includes/reset_seo_cache.php’);

STEP #5 – Edit admin/includes/functions/general.phpAdd this code to the file just above the ending ?> tag:

// Function to reset SEO URLs database cache entries // Ultimate SEO URLs v2.1 function tep_reset_cache_data_seo_urls($action){ switch ($action){ case ‘reset’: tep_db_query(“DELETE FROM cache WHERE cache_name LIKE ‘%seo_urls%’”); tep_db_query(“UPDATE configuration SET configurationvalue=’false’ WHERE configuration_key=’SEO_URLS_CACHE_RESET’”); break; default: break; } # The return value is used to set the value upon viewing # It’s NOT returining a false to indicate failure!! return ‘false’; }

STEP #6 – Edit .htaccess file (in your catalog directory)If you don’t have an .htaccess file in your catalog directory create one.

If your store is located in a DIRECTORY add this to the /*directory*/.htaccess file:

NOTE: you will have to edit the “directory” to match your directory name!

Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /directory/ RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^options\=(.*)$ RewriteRule ^(.*)-p-(.*).html$ product_info.php?products_id=$2%1 RewriteRule ^(.*)-p-(.*).html$ product_info.php?products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-(.*).html$ index.php?cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-m-([0-9]+).html$ index.php?manufacturers_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-pi-([0-9]+).html$ popup_image.php?pID=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-t-([0-9]+).html$ articles.php?tPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-a-([0-9]+).html$ article_info.php?articles_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-pr-([0-9]+).html$ product_reviews.php?products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-pri-([0-9]+).html$ product_reviews_info.php?products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-i-([0-9]+).html$ information.php?info_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} If your store is located in the root add this to the /.htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^options\=(.*)$ RewriteRule ^(.*)-p-(.*).html$ product_info.php?products_id=$2%1 RewriteRule ^(.*)-p-(.*).html$ product_info.php?products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-c-(.*).html$ index.php?cPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-m-([0-9]+).html$ index.php?manufacturers_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-pi-([0-9]+).html$ popup_image.php?pID=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-t-([0-9]+).html$ articles.php?tPath=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-a-([0-9]+).html$ article_info.php?articles_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-pr-([0-9]+).html$ product_reviews.php?products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-pri-([0-9]+).html$ product_reviews_info.php?products_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING} RewriteRule ^(.*)-i-([0-9]+).html$ information.php?info_id=$2&%{QUERY_STRING}

STEP #7 – Test the installationCall your store in your favorite broswer! The contribution should be functional out of the box and all database settings will be installed automatically on first page request. The contribution has an intelligent database installer that detects whether the proper settings are present and if not will install them.
You may need to clear your cache files to ensure that all URLs generated are fresh.
Click a few links and verify everything is functional. Test the add to cart and buy now buttons if you use them. Once you verify everything is working it’s time to configure the contribution.

STEP #8 – ConfigurationYou will find a new setting group in your admin control panel under Configuration => SEO URLs

• Enable SEO URLs?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the SEO URLs contribution globally.
• Add cPath to product URLs? *NEW*
  • Default Setting: false
  • This setting enables/disables the option of adding the cPath parameter to the end of product pages.
  • Example: some-product-p-1.html?cPath=xx
• Add category parent to begining of URLs? *NEW*
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of adding the category parent to the beginning of category URLs. This was added to maintain backward compatibility with <= 2.0b releases.
  • Example: parent-category-p-1.html
• Choose URL Rewrite Type
  • Default Setting: Rewrite
  • This setting selection of URL rewrite types. Currently, there is only the 1 type (Rewrite) but in the future there will be more.
• Filter Short Words
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting allows a store owner to filter short words which typically add no value. Don’t set this too high!
• Output W3C valid URLs (parameter string)? *NEW*
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting allows a store owner to choose W3C valid URLs.
• Enable SEO cache to save queries?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the query cache engine globally. If disabled each URL generated will take 1 query.
• Enable product cache?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of using cache for the products.
• Enable categories cache?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of using cache for the categories.
• Enable manufacturers cache?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of using cache for the manufacturers.
• Enable articles cache?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of using cache for the articles (if installed).
• Enable information cache?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of using cache for the information pages (if installed).
• Enable topics cache?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the option of using cache for the article topics (if installed).
• Enable automatic redirects?
  • Default Setting: true
  • This setting enables/disables the automatic 301 header redirect logic. This sends a moved permanent header for all old URLs to the new ones. This setting is highly recommended for stores that have already been indexed by spiders.
• Enter special character conversions
  • Default Setting: NULL
  • This setting allows a store owner to enter a list of special character conversions. Please note the format below.
  • FORMAT: char=>conv, char2=>conv2, char3=>conv3
  • NOTE: use a comma as the separator
• Remove all non-alphanumeric characters?
  • Default Setting: false
  • This setting allows the store owner to remove all non-alphanumeric characters from the URL. This is highly effective and will result in some interesting URLs. For example, some-product-p-1.html will become someproduct-p-1.html
• Reset SEO URLs Cache
  • Default Setting: false
  • This setting allows the store owner to clear the SEO cache manually.

OPTIONAL – Performance Monitoring and AssessmentIn includes/application_bottom.php paste this code just after the opening PHP tag:

if ( $_REQUEST['profile'] == ‘on’ || $_SESSION['profile'] == ‘on’ ) { $_SESSION['profile'] = isset($_REQUEST['profile']) ? $_REQUEST['profile'] : ‘on’; $seo_urls->profile(); } To activate the performance diagnostic code append ?profile=on to any URL which will save the setting to your session. Now you should see the performance profile data at the footer. You can browse the catalog and the output will be at the footer. This will allow you to quickly assess the performance of the homepage, category, and product pages. To turn it back off append ?profile=off to any URL.