Program Flow

Execution Path for a Zen Cart Page Visit

A storefront visit in Zen Cart follows an MVC style approach, albeit largely based on procedural code. The files involved are processed roughly in the order shown below.

AutoLoading

At various points there may be auto-loading of certain files in a certain directory matching a prescribed naming convention, or all files automatically executed according to certain rules for that location.

If debugging the program flow, there is a useful constant called DEBUG_AUTOLOAD which will show the file loading order in the browser output if set to true:

define('DEBUG_AUTOLOAD', false);

See Checking file loading for instructions on use.

File Load Order

Locations where an “override” can be used are noted with a ► symbol.

  • /index.php

  • /includes/application_top

    • /includes/local/configure.php, /includes/configure.php
    • /includes/defined_paths.php
    • ►/includes/extra_configures/*.php

  • ►/includes/autoloaders/config.xxxx.php files (the Init System) loads things in the order defined inside the files, which follows essentially the following order:

    • Connect to database and setup caching
    • /includes/filenames.php
    • /includes/database_tables.php
    • ►/includes/extra_datafiles/*.php (usually to load extra db tablenames or custom defines)
    • Read configuration keys from database (as set in Admin)
    • Start gzip compression if enabled
    • Load functions
      • functions_general and most other functions files, including html_output, functions_email, etc.
      • ►/includes/functions/extra_functions/*.php
    • Set up and start session if valid
      • Check for cookie support
      • Check to see if the customer is a spider/robot, and act accordingly
      • SSL and IP validation checks
    • Instantiate shopping_cart class
    • Sanitize and validate URL parameters
    • Language Selection
    • ►/includes/languages/LANGUAGE/extra_definitions
    • Template Selection
    • Setup currencies
    • Enable navigation history
    • Load MessageStack
    • Check for “Down For Maintenance” or “Customer Not Authorized yet” status
      • ►/includes/init/includes/init_customer_auth.php
    • Process Cart Content Adds/Update, File Uploads
    • Process specialized functions
      • Who’s online detection and logging
      • Activate and Expire any time-scheduled Banners, Specials, Features, Salemaker, Upcoming Products
    • Calculate category/product path (cPath)
    • Load category-tree class, and prepare the categories-sidebox contents
    • Start the breadcrumb class and add current page components to it
    • Start observer/notifier infrastructure
    • Calculate and display any system error messages if relevant

  • /includes/modules/pages/PAGE/header_php►*.php files:

    • ►loads /languages/LANGUAGE/TEMPLATE/PAGENAME.php
    • update the breadcrumbs appropriate for this page
    • (occasionally calls a specific tpl_xxxx.php file, although usually things carry on through the following steps first)

  • ►/includes/templates/common/html_header.php

    • <HTML><HEAD>
    • /includes/modules/meta_tags.php
    • display canonical metatag links based on language etc
    • ►/includes/templates/TEMPLATE/CSS/style*.css
    • load jQuery from jQuery CDN
    • modules/pages/PAGE/jscript*.js for static <script> snippets
    • modules/pages/PAGE/jscript*.php for dynamic or conditional <script> code
    • </HEAD>

  • /includes/templates/common/main_template_vars.php

    • Prepares the content for the “center” section of the page (doesn’t display until done processing)
    • Content is prepared from either of:
      • includes/modules/pages/PAGE/main_template_vars.php (► and any additional files it calls)
      • ►includes/templates/TEMPLATE/templates/tpl_PAGE_default.php (this is usually also called by main_template_vars.php from the line above)

  • ►/includes/templates/jscript/on_load/*.js

    • loads any customized code for the “onload” parameter of the tag which gets output in tpl_main_page

  • ►/includes/templates/TEMPLATE/common/tpl_main_page (The following order is from template_default, as an example; some templates may alter this)

    • <BODY>
    • output Banner Area 1
    • ►/TEMPLATE/common/tpl_header.php
      • Output Header rows (logo, nav bar, search box, etc)
      • Output Banner Area 2
    • output Left sideboxes (/modules/column_left)
    • output “body content” from main_template_vars or tpl_page_default above
      • Output Breadcrumbs and Banner Area 3, and any MessageStack messages
    • output Banner Area 4
    • output Right sideboxes (/modules/column_right)
    • ►/templates/common/tpl_footer.php
      • Footer Navigation bar (including ez-pages tagged for footer)
      • Display IP Address
      • utput Banner Area 5
      • ►Display footer text (from language file)
    • Output Banner Area 6
    • </HTML>

  • /includes/application_bottom.php

    • close SESSION, end GZIP compression and dump buffered data to the screen, if applicable.


Still have questions? Use the Search box in the upper right, or try the full list of FAQs. If you can't find it there, head over to the Zen Cart support forum and ask there in the appropriate subforum. In your post, please include your Zen Cart and PHP versions, and a link to your site.

Is there an error or omission on this page? Please post to General Questions on the support forum. Or, if you'd like to open a pull request, just review the guidelines and get started. You can even PR right here.
Last modified December 12, 2022 by Scott C Wilson (f6632301).