Product Info too big for database

[kehrli]

Hi,

I need to add a drop down box to the product info for a product, and the number of choices in the box is very large. It's basically every make/model/year of car. I get the drop down code from the manufacturer. But when I try to add it to my store page, it only accepts part of the code. It truncates it before the end which not only doesn't give all the available choices, but also breaks the code for the drop down box.

Is there a way around this? The drop down code gets updated by the manufacturer periodically, and I need to be able to update the code as well as use it when someone orders the item.

Any ideas or threads you can point me to? I couldn't find anything about this.

[stevesh]

I'm not exactly sure where you're trying to add this or what page it needs to display on, but there isn't a DB limit that I know of. Check Admin - Configuration - Product Listing - Display Product Description

[kehrli]

Thank you.

Mine was set at 150, and I changed it to unlimited. But it still truncates the code when I try to save it. I get up to the "C"s, and everything after that is gone. But it is a lot of data: 403K.

[DrByte]

Maybe that info doesn't really belong as part of the product description?

[kehrli]

Actually, it belongs as an attributes drop down box. But its a huge number of choices in the dropdown and gets updated from time to time. I can't add each one as an attribute. It would take forever. But at least if its in the product description people can find out if their car is supported.

Any idea how to go forward on this?

[DrByte]

The inefficient, and IMO wrong way to do it is to simply change the field type in your mysql database for products_description in the products_description table to be something that accepts insanely large amounts of data.

The more efficient way would be to find a way to manage the commonalities between relevant items, and display that information accordingly. That involves studying the data itself, studying how to implement those customizations technically (whether it be PHP, database with one table or numerous tables, integrate with existing ZC features or build your own, etc) and so on. Obviously that's highly specific to your business, and really is much larger discussion than merely how to stuff extra data into a product description.

[kehrli]

Yes, I understand what you're saying.

Is there a way to include a separate html page into my product description. I think there is not, but just checking.

I fully agree that changing the data base structure to handle data of that size is not a good solution. It's just too big, and keeps getting bigger as more vehicles are added to the list.

What you are suggesting is doable, or, I should say, possible for me to figure out. But it's not worth that much work... or maybe I should say, I don't have that kind of time to develop. But If I could just include an html file inline with the details data, or maybe even on one of the checkout screens, that would be great. Is there a way to do that?

[DrByte]

You can include any html by adding it into whichever template file you desire, according to where you want it to be displayed. This can be by pasting the actual html in the php file, or by creating another html or php file which you incorporate via an "include" statement.
And if it requires being displayed only under certain conditions, you can wrap some PHP code around that html snippet (or "include" statement) to control when/whether it is displayed.

[kehrli]

Hmmm. That is probably very workable. I started to get an inkling about that when I answered your last post. Thanks very much. I know what to do now. It'll be relatively easy, I think.