Same Product In Different Categories

[thebargainbuggy]

Hello,

I am looking for some advise on how to configure one product to be active under a variety of categories without recreating the product in each category.

Let me clarify with an example...

My site is thebargainbuggy.com; and I will be selling cellular accessories. I have a variety of universal cases that work on probably 50 different phones which I have categorized by manufacturer and sub categorized by model number. Is it possible to create the product once but apply it to all the applicable sub categories (phone models).

I prey that it is as it will save me obscene amounts of time.... like days!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Brian

p.s. i have searched with no luck

[schoolboy]

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=216

and

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=325

[thebargainbuggy]

so that does work however it only allows me to use the multiple category link manager when the category has at least one active product in it.

Is there any work around for this? Perhaps some way to activate all the categories without adding products?

[Muzz]

so that does work however it only allows me to use the multiple category link manager when the category has at least one active product in it.

Is there any work around for this? Perhaps some way to activate all the categories without adding products?

Can you please be a bit more specific.. I kinda get what you mean.. but write out an example. I do a lot of duplicating and attribute duplicating and have a couple methods that may help.

[thebargainbuggy]

Ya having read over my reply it wasnt very clear. Ill try and clarify.

Ok, perhaps viewing my site while I explain this will be the easiest way to explain it (thebargainbuggy.com)

My site consists of main categories (manufacturers) and subcategories (model numbers) for cell phones.

Lets say I have a case that is currently under Blackberry (main category) Pearl (model - sub category) which i wish to link to a variety of other sub categories (phone models) which currently have no products in them.

Example: When i go to link the case to say a LG (main category) 6190 (subcategory) it doesnt give me the check boxes for the "Categories with Products that are Available for Linking ..." section of the multiple category link manager. (i presume because there are no active products yet within the LG 6190 sub category)

I have noticed that if i were to add a phony product to the LG 6190 sub category it then becomes available to check off under the "categories with products that are available for linking..." section. I just seems that there should be a easier way then this.

Hope thats a little bit more clear, thanks in advance for your help.

Brian

[thebargainbuggy]

to the top...

[Ajeh]

The multiple category link manager is designed to only show Categories with at least 1 Product in them ...

[gjh42]

It does seem reasonable that a tool designed for linking products into categories should be able to show all categories, even if they are currently empty.

Is there a downside to having them all show? (Beside the obvious possibility of a bloated list.) Something to consider for the admin rework...

You would want to limit the categories to ones that don't have subcats.

[Ajeh]

This can be a major problem for sites with a lot of empty categories so it is setup to work with Categories with at least 1 Product ...

You can always re-write it if you need it to work otherwise ...

[gjh42]

In working with gigantic inventory sites, I expect you have seen that problem. For the average site, I expect that is not a real problem, and being able to easily link products into any & all categories would be a real benefit. This sounds like a situation where a switch would be in order.