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