generate product model, is it possible

[swguy]

Haggis, do your products have attributes? Because if so, this gets a bit tricky.
If you have two attributes, each of which has two choices, you have four potential combinations.
But the product only has a single model number.

Does this make sense?

[mc12345678]

Haggis, do your products have attributes? Because if so, this gets a bit tricky.
If you have two attributes, each of which has two choices, you have four potential combinations.
But the product only has a single model number.

Does this make sense?

It may, but it is also possible to apply/store a customid to each such variant, if in fact this is what is going on. Otherwise it appears that even with such "attributes" that perhaps the product are being "listed" one by one instead of being combined into attribute related product... (Yes I'm making guesses.)

[mc12345678]

Currently the spreadsheet reacts to what options are chosen on a dynamic basis, they are specific to the option chosen, it's not a list that is generated. There are over 18500 product options within this one main category, sad fact is I actually know every product number of every stock item off by heart but getting software to come up with the matching results has been a pain.

If there is a pattern, there is a program...

[swguy]

It may, but it is also possible to apply/store a customid to each such variant

Absolutely - but I want to be sure this is the situation before moving forward.

[kobra]

Currently the spreadsheet reacts to what options are chosen on a dynamic basis

Can you share this spreadsheet so that we can see what it is you are attempting first hand?

[Haggis]

Haggis, do your products have attributes? Because if so, this gets a bit tricky.
If you have two attributes, each of which has two choices, you have four potential combinations.
But the product only has a single model number.

Does this make sense?

The only attribute I'll be using is price based, I tried all the possible variations in attributes, to work out the most efficient control process.

[Haggis]

Can you share this spreadsheet so that we can see what it is you are attempting first hand?

I can't Kobra, there is too much information within it that could be used by competitors. I do understand why you ask though, it would make it easier to see what I'm trying to achieve

[mc12345678]

The only attribute I'll be using is price based, I tried all the possible variations in attributes, to work out the most efficient control process.

What do you mean by this? Every attribute that is entered as an attribute through the attributes controller can be price based... Are you indicating that someone would select a price from a dropdown, picklist or otherwise?

[mc12345678]

I can't Kobra, there is too much information within it that could be used by competitors. I do understand why you ask though, it would make it easier to see what I'm trying to achieve

Can it be somewhat cleansed to provide at least an example of the process?

[swguy]

No need. He's using attributes, so we know enough to direct him.

@Haggis, the products_model field is a single-valued field per model. What you'll need to do is create a new field in your database (suggest using the orders_products table) and populate your computed "model number" based on attribute settings when an order is placed (or perhaps nightly as a cron job). You'll have to write the logic that maps the product and its attributes to one of your model numbers.