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  1. #1
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    Default Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    Is there a built-in simple way to create a product which is actually consisting of multiple inventory items, so that when a person purchases said product, all sub-products contained within that product are deducted from the inventory.

    Here's an example: We are a home brewing supply store (bonus brews for locals who can answer our questions :). We have ingredient kits, which are made up of products which we stock. We don't stock the kits, per se, because we don't want them to get old, but when someone comes into our shop, we make the kit and send them on their way.

    When they pay, during check out the kit is selected, as opposed to going through the web site, individually finding all 8 ingredients. But, purchasing a kit doesn't take the items that make up the kit out of inventory.

    Thus, the question is: Is there a way to formulate a product which consists of other items, default to the zen cart out-of-the-box software (or even as an add-on I suppose).

    I did think that an option with attributes might work, if there was only one attribute which was ALWAYS selected as a part of the product, but that introduces confusion in addition to making the few attributes we really do want (yeast and other upgrades) difficult to find and select.

    Anyway, if there are any beer drinkers out there, please help a brother out. Bottle of russian imperial stout comes your way next time I hit the post office ;)

    JJ
    http://www.tuxedoparkbrewers.com
    Last edited by lindenboy; 28 Mar 2011 at 02:46 AM. Reason: added web site address

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    No, there is no built-in way of bundling existing products into one item at the present time.
    .

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  3. #3
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    Default Re: Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    Thanks for clarifying so quickly -- I wonder if this would be a worthwhile wish list item (assuming the ZC community would use such a function).

    JJ

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    Quote Originally Posted by DrByte View Post
    No, there is no built-in way of bundling existing products into one item at the present time.
    Hey there. I wonder if anything has changed in the last 4 years and if this is possible now with the newer versions of zencart?

    My business is loot bags. so each loot bag that I sell has 2 or 3 different items from inventory.. however I would never sell the items separately. Each loot bag has various combinations of the items.

    Kevin

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Ohio
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    Default Re: Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    The only thing I have seen is a commercial add-on, but it is for v1.5.0 and would be worth asking if they will upgrade it ...
    flipsideservices.com/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=5

    If you do get this, let us know the results ...
    Linda McGrath
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  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    Quote Originally Posted by Ajeh View Post
    The only thing I have seen is a commercial add-on, but it is for v1.5.0 and would be worth asking if they will upgrade it ...
    flipsideservices.com/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=5

    If you do get this, let us know the results ...
    At last word, the claim was that it is/has been upgraded to support higher versions; however, there is a significant amount of work necessary to the base product even to make it truly compatible with 1.5.0, let alone bringing it forward as far as 1.5.4... There has been some effort applied and progress has been made; however, there hasn't been quite enough coffee to go around to finish it off.. Issues still exist regarding sale prices and some of the price updating factors that appear to work on the demo site.
    ZC Installation/Maintenance Support <- Site
    Contribution for contributions welcome...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Default Re: Inventory control with products containing multiple items

    Quote Originally Posted by lindenboy View Post
    Thanks for clarifying so quickly -- I wonder if this would be a worthwhile wish list item (assuming the ZC community would use such a function).

    JJ
    Quote Originally Posted by kdixon View Post
    Hey there. I wonder if anything has changed in the last 4 years and if this is possible now with the newer versions of zencart?

    My business is loot bags. so each loot bag that I sell has 2 or 3 different items from inventory.. however I would never sell the items separately. Each loot bag has various combinations of the items.

    Kevin
    This was ALWAYS a doable feature even for older versions of Zen Cart.. and of course it's a "worthwhile" feature, but a "worthwhile" feature doesn't mean it SHOULD be part of the core code. There are many "worthwhile" features that REALLY should be modules as ALL shopowners will not need this functionality as an out-the-box feature..

    The trouble with this particular "worthwhile" feature is that it's a BIG LABOR INTENSIVE module which is why it's never been (and probably NEVER WILL) contributed for FREE.. (keyword here.. FREE)

    Quote Originally Posted by Ajeh View Post
    The only thing I have seen is a commercial add-on, but it is for v1.5.0 and would be worth asking if they will upgrade it ...
    flipsideservices.com/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=5

    If you do get this, let us know the results ...
    I purchased this module, and my advice for ANYONE thinking of purchasing it is that you should be aware that this module (as mc12345678 has indicated) LOADED with coding issues.. Bottomline is this module is a MESS, and truthfully the "seller" never fully resolved all of the issues I reported to him!!! Let me give the HIGH LEVEL list of issues..


    • OLD OUTDATED jQuery library bundled in with the module (v1.4.2).. The module ABSOLUTELY would not work with the latest versions of jQuery (not even with jQuery migrate also loaded). The author seemed to think it was OKAY to load BOTH the v1.4.1 jQuery library alongside the latest jQuery library. THIS was a red flag for me personally that he was SERIOUSLY trying to make a case to me that this was OKAY!!!
    • It took SEVERAL emails with the "seller" to get him to include the proper v1.5.x admin installer.. It was almost like he was unaware of the additional requirements to register modules in the admin with ZC v1.5.1.. (WHAT????? when was the last time he LOOKED at Zen Cart???)
    • LARGE PORTIONS of the modules "so-called" v1.5.1 compatible code STILL contains old from Zen Cart v1.3.9 files. The author doesn't even own up to the fact that A LOT of the base code that is included in the is from Zen Cart v1.3.9.. Again it took several emails to get him to act on this and even then I discovered very recently that he STLL missed some files/code.
    • The module is POORLY documented (ie: THERE IS NO DOCUMENTATION!!). The admin includes a "Help" button that takes you to a broken page on the author's site. There is NO "how to use doc".. Let me repeat this NO INSTRUCTIONS whatsoever on how to use parts of the interface. This would be fine IF the interface's UI was CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS.. (it's not). It took SEVERAL EMAILS to get the author to give me at least a ONE SENTENCE response on how some features worked..


    My suggestion?? Don't do it unless and until the module author gets it together and updates this thing.. OR.. be prepared to hire a developer to FIX the MANY broken issues, outdated code, and changes required so it works with the latest jQuery library..
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