Replace product thumbnail with Video button?

[feklee]

Is it possible to replace a thumbnail image of a product with a video play button (on mouse-over)?

Videos could be hosted e.g. on Vimeo.

Here is how it may work:

   
• Default (no mouse over): thumbnail of product
• On mouse over: play button on top of thumbnail
• On mouse click: video player pops up (e.g. when clicking on the play button on the Vimeo Pro intro page)

Note that I have no experience with Joomla! or VirtuaMart. However, I am a seasoned programmer, and I do have experience with embedding video in web sites (in the past, via YouTube's JS iframe API).

[ivus]

Hi feklee,

How seasoned a programmer are you? Joomla and VM both use MVC architecture. Anything you want to change/alter/modify can all be done in the VIEW.

Your question did not mention which page you want your video on? Category Page, Product Detail Page, Shopping Cart? or perhaps one of the modules?

[feklee]

How seasoned a programmer are you?

I am experienced with the technologies that Joomla! is built upon: PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

Anything you want to change/alter/modify can all be done in the VIEW.

The question is, can this be done without patching VirtueMart? Could I create some kind of module to provide the needed functionality?

Your question did not mention which page you want your video on? Category Page, Product Detail Page, Shopping Cart? or perhaps one of the modules?

It would be nice to have it on the page showing the products in a particular category.

Of course, I am aware that a fallback solution is to add the video to the product description.

Some background: I am asking this for a customer. He would set up Joomla! with VirtueMart, and he asked me for help on this particular issue.

[ivus]

Hi feklee,

OK, you original post wasn't clear enough.

Joomla! and VirtueMart are built on PHP, MVC principles, if you know that, you shouldn't have any issues making anything you want happen

Yes it can be done without patching/hacking VM core. You need to create template overrides (information can be found on Joomla! website). This will ensure that changes you make to the output won't get overwritten on new updates.

The tricky part is if your client wants to have different (specific) videos for each of the products, in which case, you either need to create them as custom fields per product or use a third party plugin (http://extensions.virtuemart.net/component/sobi2/?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=11&sobi2Id=224&Itemid=2)

I hope this helps.

[feklee]

Thanks, ivus - that's valuable information!

And, yes, I am aware of MVC principles.

[feklee]

use a third party plugin

I now had a closer look at the Video - Where You Want plugin. It seems unattractive:

   
• As far as I can tell, it is only possible to replace text with video, not images.
• It's for Joomla 1.5, i.e. outdated.

[ivus]

Hi feklee,

looks like you're stuck with

You need to create template overrides

[feklee]

looks like you're stuck with

You need to create template overrides

No problem, if my customer wants to pay for development. Perhaps I can convince him to release code under an Open Source license, so that it can be shared.

[ivus]

Hi feklee,

There's already code floating around on this forum that deals with the product images, how to use them and how to extend it's features. Why re-invent the wheel, just follow on from what others have started.