[NOT a BUG] Flypage Product Navigation

[doorknob]

The product navigation links are not always shown on the flypage.
When navigating to the flypage through the category hierarchy using the menu from the VM Module, the flypage navigation links allow direct access to adjacent products in the same category.
If the flypage is displayed by linking directly (e.g. using the 'related products' or 'recently visited' links) then the navigation links are not always shown. The determining factor on whether the links are populated seems to be whether or not the product being displayed is in the same category as the most recently displayed product category browse page.
I have also had a situation a couple of times where the product navigation shows products in different categories but I have been unable to systematically reproduce this.
Looks to me like the query that selects the list of 'neighbors' expects the global value of category id to remain good in all circumstances where a join to the current product through product_category_xref might be more reliable

Tested on J1.5.3 (with 'Joomla 1.5 SEO Patch' applied)
VM 1.1.0 (nightly update 05-05-2008)

Regards
Phil

[aravot]

Tracker URL http://dev.virtuemart.net/cb/issue/2084

[doorknob]

I have now concluded that this is not a bug but the intended functionality.
When a product is displayed as a result of navigating through the category hierarchy, the 'neighbours' are other products from the same category. When a product is displayed as a result of a search, its 'neighbours' are the other records found by the same search. When a single product is a 'landing page', there is no context from which 'neighbours' can be determined.

Even though I have concluded that this should not perhaps be seen as a bug, I still think that assuming a context of category structure when a single product is displayed in this way (perhaps from a browser bookmark) would be useful functionality (at least it would stop people like me thinking that there's a bug! and it just might sell more product).

It would also be helpful if the functionality was explained at the point in the manual where the on/off option is described.

Regards
Phil