Can ZC validate previous order before new product can be purchased??

[PB2009]

I have products A & B that can be ordered separately, but "A" *must* be ordered before B can be ordered. I would like product B to contain a field for customer to input their ORDER ID # from their previously-purchased product "A" and have ZC search the DB for a valid ORDER ID #. If ZC cannot find the ORDER ID #, then customer is not allowed to order product "B". Is this possible? If so, I would appreciate some direction as to any threads already existing. I have not had any luck finding such.

Please let me know if I need to clarify anything in this post.

[Ajeh]

Zen Cart can do anything you need it to ... you just have to customize the code or hire someone to write it ...

The best method for this is to have a test done on the shopping_cart and the checkout_shipping to verify that Product A has been purchased if Product B is in the current cart ...

If not, then send the customer to the shopping_cart page or to Product A with a message that this needs to be purchased ...

The trick is, can the customer buy A and B at the same time to meet this requirement? If so, then make that part of the test as well ...

While this is not built into Zen Cart, it can be customized for your shop ...

[PB2009]

The best method for this is to have a test done on the shopping_cart and the checkout_shipping to verify that Product A has been purchased if Product B is in the current cart ...

Yes, that's what needs to be done. Does this require extensive coding? Or just a few tweaks? As for checkout_shipping, there is no shipping involved, so perhaps this is not needed.

The trick is, can the customer buy A and B at the same time to meet this requirement? If so, then make that part of the test as well ...

I have already created a separate product that includes both A&B. If customer does not want to buy the combo, they can purchase A by itself and come back at any time to get B if they also want it. But purchasing A&B combo saves them some money.

While this is not built into Zen Cart, it can be customized for your shop ...

Bummer. I was hoping it was built in or an easy modification that someone would offer the code for, as I am working on LESS THAN a shoestring budget right now (as are many would-be shop owners). Can you suggest where to find a coder CHEAP to mod this?? (I am guessing you would be happy to do this for me, but I also presume you are out of my current price range, sorry to say.)

[Ajeh]

Posting on the Commercial Help Wanted is one way to find a coder for this ...

The reason to code for both the shopping_cart and checkout_shipping is so that when added to the cart, a message tells them they need the Product A to buy B and that regardless of how the customer tries to get to checkout they get rejected if they only have Product B in the shopping_cart and never bought Product A ...

While you may not "technically" use checkout_shipping, evaluations are made to move you along to checkout_payment ... so adding the evaluation for Product A and B on checkout_shipping would be the better solution based on how the Zen Cart checkout presently works ...

[PB2009]

Could the "Discount Code" function be modified/customized to look for a customer order no. ID? And used on ONE product only, as a required field always displayed, not available on all products?

[Ajeh]

You lost me on this one ...

I am not following what you are trying to do with the Discount Coupon in relation to having to buy Product A before buying Product B ...