Global Attributes to All Products?

[cmj2kul]

Hello,

After reading through the docs and this forum ... Attributes appear to be a hot topic ... I just cannot seem to get it nailed down and was hoping for a clear-cut explanation ...

Scenerio ...

Multiple Categories and Products (Cribs, Blankets, Bedding, Pillows, etc ...) to be custom made ...

All products require a fabric pattern to be chosen ... similar to choosing what color or what size ...

So ... user would select Category: Bedding and select Product: Blanket ...

The user is sent to the detail page with a generic picture of the Blanket and description ... the user THEN needs to select a fabric/pattern (Currently 23 and growing) that the Blanket is to be made from ...

What I would like to do is provide a gallery of sorts ...

1. this could be achieved via a new window displaying all of the fabrics/patterns and the user would simply click the thumbnail of choice and the window would close and insert Fabric/Pattern into text field ... THIS WOULD BE IDEAL in my opinion

2. this could also be achieved by displaying all of the fabrics/patterns in the detail page with radio buttons to select before continuing ... NOT SO IDEAL BUT COULD LIVE WITH

User selects Fabric/Pattern ... fills in the quantity ... and they should be off an running ...

However ... with option one ... I could possibly re-use that tool throughout the site to display the Fabrics/Patterns at any time ... say on the home page introductory ... I could say that we make custom bedding, etc ... take a look at the [link]fabrics and patterns we offer[/link] ... or something to that effect ...

Bottom line ... we need the user to select a fabric/pattern before the can move on ...

Any Ideas ...

Thanks in advance,

cmj2kul

[cmj2kul]

Actually ... thinking further into it ... would it be just as simple to create a new category for the Fabrics / Patterns ... upload photos ... set the pricing to none ... and instruct the user at the product detail page that they need to choose a pattern ... so that the invoice would have 2 line items ... one for the product .. and one for the fabric/pattern???

Seems to me that there wouldn't be validation if the product and fabric were not joined ...

argh ... too much fun ...

[cmj2kul]

Another via option could be to land on the detail page ... upon clicking add to cart ... the user lands on the fabric/pattern page to select ... then on to the finish ...

any help with this would be awesome !!!