Connecting Products with Attributes

[dancingbay]

I'm new to Zen Cart and also to building an online store. I have installed Zen Cart 1.5.1 and a Template and am ready to add products. Long story, but this is my second attempt to install Zen Cart. On my first attempt, I used QuickInstall via HostGator control panel, but there were so many issues with that that I decided to uninstall that and to manually install it. I did that yesterday, and plan to install EasyPopulate 4.0 later today. However, on my first install, it was suggested that I install at least one product my hand before running EasyPopulate, so this is where I am. I got a category added and a product added and attributes (variations) for that product added, but I cannot seem to get those attributes/variations to show up on my product page. I've read several tutorials on the subject, but at some point, none of the line up exactly with what I see on the screen. Here is the product: http://www.dancingbayembroidery.com/...&products_id=1. It is supposed to have a color choice, a font choice, and a chain color choice.

On the Catalog > Categories/Products page, I see my category.
Click on the folder and see my product.
Click on the e and see the Product.
Click on the A and see the Attributes page. On this page, I see the product, SKU, price, and inventory and a green square to the left and Attributes Changes for Products ID#1 to the right. Under that, I see:

[preview] [Attribut Controller]

Downloads: disableddisabled

Delete ALL Product Attributes for:
Acrylic Bracelet ID# 1
[delete] button

Update All Products' Attribute Sort Orders
to match Option Value Default Sort Orders:
Acrylic Bracelet ID# 1
[delete] button

Copy Attributes to another product from:
Acrylic Bracelet ID# 1
[copy to] button

Copy Attributes to another product from:
Acrylic Bracelet ID# 1
[copy to] button

If I click on [preview], I see [option names] [option values] to the left and then centered on the page, I see

PREVIEW ATTRIBUTES DISPLAY FOR ID#1
Acrylic Bracelet
[cancel]
empty table border
[cancel]

Clicking on [option names] shows the option name, option type, sort order, size, max, [edit] [delete], a WARNING about backing up the database, and then options for the following:

Add ALL Option Values to ALL products for Option Name
Add ALL Option Values to ONE products for Option Name
Add ALL Option Values to ONE Category of products for Option Name
Delete ALL Option Values to ALL products for Option Name
Delete ALL Option Values to ONE Category of products for Option Name
Copy ALL Option Values to another Option Name

Click Back and click on [option values] and I see a page with all the values I entered.

I'm not sure what I need to do to get the attributes attached to the product. I have 4 other products with almost the same attributes. On the Necklace, the customer has the choice of the size disk with will change the price, but for right now, I'd just be happy to get the attributes to show up on the bracelet.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Alisa
Dancing Bay Embroidery

[dancingbay]

I should add, that I have been trying to follow How do I add attributes to my products?

Okay, I finally figured it out. So much better to figure it out on your own. Sticks in the brain longer. Finally figured out that you have to select a Name/Value pair. I was just selecting the name, so wasn't getting anywhere.

But, next question. I want the 3 text boxes in a row. Is there any way to do that.

I want my order page to look similar to this page from my wholesaler's site:


with color swatches for the different colors offered and for the monogram (initials) to be in a row. Is any of this possible with ZenCart?

Thanks,
Alisa
Dancing Bay Embroidery

[gjh42]

You can do some layout with settings in admin, and there may be some class/id tags you can use for CSS handles. For more individualized attribute styling, you can use Flexible Attributes from Plugins, which allows every separate attribute to be addressed uniquely.

Looking at the page live is the only way we can offer specific CSS styling advice.

[dancingbay]

I did include the url in the first post of this thread, but here it is again: http://www.dancingbayembroidery.com/...&products_id=1. I only included the screen shot of the wholesaler's site because I would like my site to look similar, but of course, not the same.

Thanks,
Alisa
Dancing Bay Embroidery

[gjh42]

So you did:) There was so much other detail after that that I forgot about it...
The attributes are all in .wrapperAttribsOptions elements, so are very tricky (not practical) to address individually. If you install Flexible Attributes, you can use the id of each attribute to position it exactly.