Thread: ML 9.0.1.3 Minicart question

Let me just say I really like the new ajax minicart in ML 9.

I would really like for the minicart to not require a mouse click in order to view it. I would like the minicart to be in a location displayed at all times similar to the old minicart from ML 8, but still retain the same functionality of the ML 9 ajax minicart. So instead of a popup, simply have it static on the master page?

I realize this may take some customization but could you guys maybe point me in the right direction? I have ML 9.0.1.3 with VB source.

Thanks

I see this post has been looked at a lot but no replies. Am I the only one who would like the minicart to behave this way or am I missing something very obvious to accomplish this?

That minicart is in a collapsible panel, created in the {root}/controls/minicart.aspx file. You could just set the 'Collapsed' attribute there to false, which will keep it expanded at all times, but since it's a collapsible panel it's going to be drawn collapsed and then expand on every page load, which would look pretty weird.

If you want it open all the time without that redrawing/expanding on each page load, you'll probably need to change that to a normal panel, and then adjust the rest of your skin to make room for it (since it's going to be covering up whatever was underneath it once it's expanded).

Thanks Scott! I was over thinking the problem quite a bit and already have something working. As far as editing the look and feel of the minicart though, is this all handled in the AspDotNewStorefrontControls >> ShoppingCartControl.vb file?

Another questions related to these ASPDNSF Custom controls.. is there any documentation for these controls. I mean some of them are pretty self explanatory but it would be nice to have theses documented for implementation and use with a list of available options. I looked through the manual and I didn't find anything. Also searched the forums and didn't find anything.

Most of the look & feel of that control is where you were looking, yes.

There aren't any formal docs up yet (lots of info here in the forums) but I'm working on them. There are a lot of them, and a lot of stuff going on around here, but it's coming along. I'll have that doc posted ASAP.

Thanks Scott! Yeah, I realize you guys are working hard with the new version 9 out. And this forum has been a life saver for me. Thanks again for your help and I have the minicart working the way I want it now.

Do you have the cart floating with the page when open? If so, what mods did you make?

The easiest way is to simply take the "ctrlMiniCart" out of the pnlMinicartControl panel and place it right under the <contentTemplate> within the UpdatePanel. This will make the minicart display all the time since the ajax CollapsiblePanelExtender is set to show/hide the pnlMinicartControl panel when the pnlMinicartHeader panel is clicked.

Then you can simply format the link button text to an empty string and comment out the lblItemCount assignment in the minicart.aspx.vb page to hide the pnlMinicartHeader content. You also need to just re-style the container div for the minicart, get rid of the z-index if you want the minicart to reside within a sidebar or container.

This is quick, dirty and inelegant. But for now this is what I have done until I have some time to remove the CollapsiblePanelExtender and debug some javascript errors I get.

Hope this helps