Showing Attributes from List Page

[dwaz]

I would like to show attributes of my products in the product list. This allows visitors to compare the various similar products from a single screen.

Zen Cart shows the following columns in the product list:
Product Image :: Item Name :: Price

I would like to show additional "attributes":
UN Rating :: Size :: Cover Type :: Ring Type :: Dimensions :: Weight

Is there a way to add attributes to a product and show these values when showing the products in the list? I am new to this, so maybe I am barking up the wrong tree.

[dwaz]

I started to look at the data model and code to see if I can get closer to an answer. So this may be a little technical.

From the documentation I could find, zen_products_attribute has a many to one relationship with products, products_id being the foreign key to the products table. So for each product you can have several attributes.

Each zen_products_attribute has a value key (zen_products_options_values) and a option key (zen_products_options). I was able to write sql to get to the information I need:

select
g.products_options_name,
h.products_options_values_name
from
bc_products_attributes as e,
bc_products_options_values as h,
bc_products_options as g
where
e.options_values_id = h.products_options_values_id
and e.options_id = g.products_options_id
and e.products_id = 1

I haven't yet determined if there is a field in the attributes table that will indicate which attributes should show up on a list like the product list for a product comparison. I am thinking of adding a field, attributes_display_on_listing. Also, I am new to php and the many template files. I don't know which template files would contain my sql and other code. Can anyone help with this? Thanks in advance. Please let me know if these questions should be submitted elsewhere.

Dwaz

[gjh42]

"...a field in the attributes table that will indicate which attributes should show up on a list like the product list for a product comparison."

The attributes are designed to all display in the product info page, and none of them anywhere else. You are correct that you will need to do some extensive custom coding to accomplish what you want as "attributes", especially if you want to process choices on the listing page.

However, the things you are talking about seem to fit the "product details" category better. Attributes are designed for the customer to make choices when ordering. You apparently just want to display relevant details about the product. The easy way to do this is to include them in the description, with HTML to make a bulleted list or whatever you want. You would then have to enable HTML display in the product listing. It's easy - search for zen_clean_html in the forum: html links in product description (on listing page).

The complicated way is to make new fields for more product details paralleling weight and model, and then get them displayed.