Knowing the list page "trail"

**tosca** · 08/27/2009, 10:50

Hi Thyon,

I have a unique reader page

[attachment=1:yst104wq]catalog_reader.jpg[/attachment:yst104wq]

... that is common to several filter+list pages :

[attachment=0:yst104wq]catalog_lists.jpg[/attachment:yst104wq]

When on the reader page, I'd like to know from which list page I'm coming from ?
Ideally, I would like to add some CSS class on the list page link in the left menu, so I can style it the same way wether I'm on the list page or the reader page: presently, the orange arrow shows only the active page when on a list page; I'd like to use it also on the reader page, to show the corresponding (trailing ?) list page.

Hope this has been clear enough

Thanks for your ideas on the matter.

**thyon** · 08/27/2009, 11:15

This approach, albeit nice, will be very difficult to implement.

TL's approach is that if you navigate directly to the reader URL, you don't have any context of where this page came from, e.g.

Code:

http://www.site.com/catalog-reader/items/ac2-ezio-limited-edition-action-figure.html

As you can see ONLY the items "alias" or "ID" is provided and there is no information to tell it which page it was coming from.

The Catalog list pages is actually just a single 1 page where various types of filters can be applied and then added to the URL as parameters. If you need to show which filters have currently been selected also on the reader page, then we have to store all the URL parameters (/category/toys/orderby/date_asc/) as well as the current item. This will make the URL very long and its not necessary to view the details of that item (redundant).

The best possible solution would be the Catalog Navigation Module, which is currently being worked on (for release with 2.0), where the current item will be highlighted inside a nav tree of a single field you have chosen to be your navigation, e.g.
[attachment=0:a9t360xv]catalognav.jpg[/attachment:a9t360xv]

Of course you can also simplify your situation, by making 3 reader pages, each UNDER the list as parent, which will then highlight the parent item. If they don't click "Go Back" then at least they can then click back to the "default" list page.

**tosca** · 08/27/2009, 22:53

Thanks for your answer.

The new version seems very promising with both the Navigation and the Breadcrumb modules. Any foreseen release date yet?

**valentin** · 09/05/2009, 15:00

I have a very similar problem:
I do a webpage for a gallery and use the catalog to display their artists.
First I used the Filtermodule to display all the artists in a list (like a menu), but they were ordered by their first name.

For example (A):
Andy Warhol
Bruce Naumann
Cy Tombly

instead of (B):
Bruce Naumann
Cy Tombly
Andy Warhol

With the Filter Module and A as a result i was able to style the active item. Then i figured that the list has to be ordered by surnames. I created a list modul, made a new catalog field (surename), sorted the list after this field and displayed the items content in a catalog reader. Now, as in toscas case the active item can not be highlighted in the "menu".

I see that the Catalog Navigation Module is a big help there but since my case is only about the correct order i´m wondering if there is a work around. is there maybe a way to have the filter link list sorted by another field (surename)? that would already do it for me.

btw.: i didn´t quite understand this trick with the 3 readerpages under the list. would you explain this more detailed?

thanks and have a nice weekend,
valentin

**tosca** · 09/05/2009, 15:21

Originally Posted by valentin

btw.: i didn´t quite understand this trick with the 3 readerpages under the list. would you explain this more detailed?

I have 3 different filter/list pages for the same catalog, all of them linking to the same unique reader page. Thus, when on the reader page, I don't know which filter/list page was displayed before.
As I understand it, Thyon advised to have 3 different reader pages, one for each filter/list page, so I'll always know which was the "before" (= active) page.

**thyon** · 09/25/2009, 10:41

That is why the Navigation will allow you to show the context of the current reader item, based on your "navigation" category.

Alternatively, you can create a page tree as your categories, then create a reader page and copy that as a child into each category... boy that's a lot of copying, but it will allow you to use a normal page Navigation module to simulate the parent page (of the reader) as the source of the current catalog item.