is it possible to run multiple websites from the same URL?

Question

i'm in the process of adding a US site to my current UK site. I'd like to do this as transaprently as possible so that we don't lose any traffic to existing links. We're currently running this under version 1.4.1.1 of Magento on a shared hosting setup.

The new website (US) will be essentially the same as the current (UK) site, but with US Dollar pricing instead of Pound Sterling.

We currently have a GeoIP setup whereby visitors are redirected to either UK or US site whilst utulising the same URL. This essentially means that we have switch statements in our index.php to indicate what run code to use.

Here's my question: what's the best way of selecting/overriding the GeoIP selection via the standard store switcher selector dropbox? Both websites are being populated in the dropbox, however, since both are utilising the same URL (www.example.com/boutique) the default one is the only one that's being selected.

I've also tried the &_store= as well as the &_website= arguments with no success.

Any ideas? are URL rewrites in .htaccess the answer? if so, any ideas as what to use?

P.S. this is the method that's pretty much being followed however my aim is to let users override their location-specific website (e.g. US) if necessary:http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/4_-_themes_and_template_customization/navigation/multiple-website-setup#multiple_website_setup_for_useuuk_storespricing

Answer 1

The best way to over-ride is to have a little php program, e.g. 'countries.php' that sets a cookie depending on the country code that you choose or 'auto' to test regular geoip. Then in your index.php have an 'if cookie then use cookie code else use geoip code'. Naturally the cookie can only be set by your test program.

And yes, you only need set 'website' not 'store'. There is no benefit in your US customers being able to see your UK prices (and vice-versa) so don't even bother with setting up a frontend drop-down. Or, if you really want, you can have rest-of-the-world customers choose their currency/website and put your own cookie-setting code in the header for them, with a couple of nice flag icons.

Answer 2

Have you tried using a getUrl() method to build the store arguments for you? It can help clear up those little misunderstandings, for example I'm pretty sure the store parameter is supposed to have three underscores but cannot really remember so I use the function instead.