Force attribute selection?

[jenpen]

Hiya,
I noticed that it's possible to place items in the cart without first selecting (in my case) colour or size. Is there some way of stopping a customer proceeding until they've made a selection?
Jen

[gjh42]

Add another option value to the option name (call it Select, Choose One or whatever you like), and add that as an attribute, marking it as Default and Display Only. This will force an actual choice to be made.

[jenpen]

Great, thanks - but I guess that means setting up this new value for each attribute and each product, one at a time?
And how do I make the new value (I called it Select) appear at the top of the list every time? Thanks, Jen

[haredo]

Within the attribute controller as you list the attribute values

1. Under this Heading: Prices and Weights
2. you will see: price, weight, order, one time
3. start with 0 for Select
4. and 1 for the first value
5. and 2 for the second value

[jenpen]

Thanks haredo but a little more detail if possible. I can see Price Weight Order One Time. Do I have to type my values into there somewhere? This has nothing to do with Price or Weight. Not finding this very intuitive, I'm afraid.

[haredo]

That is ok...

1. For the Value called Select under the Order will be 0
2. For the Value called " " under the Order will be 1
3. etc, etc

If, have any more trouble PM me...

[nathant]

Add another option value to the option name (call it Select, Choose One or whatever you like), and add that as an attribute, marking it as Default and Display Only. This will force an actual choice to be made.

10 points for gjh, that did the trick nicely

[gjh42]

Glad it's working for you!

I note jenpen's comment... No, actually, it shouldn't be a global requirement or setting to force a selection for radiobuttons or dropdowns. There are plenty of situations where it is fine for some attributes to remain unselected while others must be selected, and only a per-attribute admin setting could force that. And this wouldn't even cover setting a default message or box/label text the way the ZC method does.
It is also possible to hide the "default" attribute so that it doesn't clutter the page, using CSS on attribute ids, if desired.