Good Reason to Change Product Types

[GAPC23]

I've read through all the threads on why we shouldn't change product types on the fly, but I do have a valid reason for the need. My customer would like to move his sold products to a "museum" type category after the product is sold (he sells one-of-a-kinds), that will be completely the same as the original product pages, with the exception of not having the 'add to cart' information. He doesn't want to display any additional info than his default product types, just get rid of the qty. box, cart button, & price so the product becomes a display piece.

Any suggestions for automating this? I really don't want him fooling around with tables using phpmyadmin.

Cheers!

[swguy]

Hmm.... what if you used "Product is Call for Price" ... then he could tell the person, "this one's sold, but I could make another original for you."

Or perhaps create a new category called "Sold Pieces," then use the blue "Copy to" button (or the purple "Move" button) in catalog/ categories/product, and duplicate the item in "Sold Pieces" after they sell. You could then perhaps delete the original item (or maybe keep it in there - you'd have to see what looked best).

Good luck!
Scott

[Ajeh]

You could experiment with this idea ...

The Product General and Documents General use the same databases ...

The difference is the fields available for adding/editing/display

If a Product sold then changed to Documents General, this would remove all the "selling" aspects of the Product ...

Try this by going into phpMyAdmin and change the products_type to 3 on one of the Products that is sold ...

Does this give the desired effect?

NOTE: you will not be able to update all of the fields in the Admin should you want to Edit this product later while it is set to products_type 3

[madk]

You could experiment with this idea ...

The Product General and Documents General use the same databases ...

The difference is the fields available for adding/editing/display

If a Product sold then changed to Documents General, this would remove all the "selling" aspects of the Product ...

Try this by going into phpMyAdmin and change the products_type to 3 on one of the Products that is sold ...

Does this give the desired effect?

NOTE: you will not be able to update all of the fields in the Admin should you want to Edit this product later while it is set to products_type 3

I don't know of any way to automate this without actually hardcoding a database query after the order has processed.

I would just make sure to set the quantity to 1 so that when it is sold the add to cart button is automatically removed. And correct me if I am wrong but can't you define an image file for 'Sold Out'? If not I am sure this would be an easy mod to the product page just replacing the string with an <img>.

[GAPC23]

Yea Ajeh, it does, and that's how I've faked it to this point. But, my client is not too web savey so I don't want them roaming around a database of 5-600 products looking for that sold item.

It would be a great feature if, and I guess this belongs on the Wish List, is that when a product is copied/moved to another category, that product would then take on the available aspects of the product type assigned to that category. I do realize that different prod. types may have extra db tables to deal with, but it could certainly be a feature that, like many others created by the Zen team, would be well explored and exploited by developers.

Well, it looks like I'll be writing a script to accomplish the product type switch. I'll do what I can to integrate the feature into Zen's admin area. If I have major difficulties I'll post it for a more seasoned veteran to integrate.

[gjh42]

Listen to madk (and swguy).

I think you can get the results you want without any coding, beyond perhaps making a nice "Sold" image or something. If your client can be trusted to set the quantity available to 1 and to move it to the museum when sold, the rest can be handled by admin settings.

Configuration > Stock:

Title -- Value
Check stock level -- true
Subtract stock -- true
Allow Checkout -- false
Mark product out of stock -- Sold (or whatever you wish...)
Stock Re-order level -- 1 (not relevant)
Products status in Catalog when out of stock should be set to -- 1
Show Sold Out Image in place of Add to Cart -- 1

The price would still show, but I think that's good for comparison.

[GAPC23]

Nice idea Glen. I could even set the sold image to a 1x1 transparent gif.

I'm still thinking that it may be a good wish-list addition to keep all product data in one table, then adding the code to automatically change the product type when a product is copied/moved to another category. Maybe there's a middle ground where it can be decided how to save product data, whether it be in a separate table, or in the main product's table. I dunno. I think a bigger wish would be to custom build all product addition forms for each product type prior to adding prods. It would be a fantastic addition and would truly enable the developer to create a custom shop for clients. The forms now, though editable, are a little stiff.

Cheers all!

[adf169]

Hi, I am setting up a similar type of site for my client - one off items to remain on the site after sale for posterity.

I would be very interested in seeing how you have set your site up - is there a url?

Mine is still under development, early days


http://cybergrot.proteus.titaninternet.co.uk/cart/

[GAPC23]

We branded an image to solve the problem, while following the above instructions to leave the product visible online after being sold. We're working out of a sandbox, so I'm not going to post a url, as it will become invalid in the next week, but will post the image as an example.

[swguy]

I'm glad you're keeping them online - even if those exact ones are not for sale, they become part of a "portfolio" of work that could get buyers excited about other offerings you have.

Good luck,
Scott