Attributes System ?

[jacopo3001]

Hi all.
I have serious doubt with the entire attributes system.

in my shop, each product has about 25 attributes. Some of them have up to 30 options (i am not creazy, i am selling prescription lenses!)

Now, because the system the way it is now make me save EACH option for EACH attributes for EACH product, my attributes table has about 260 options for each product. is already about to blow.

according to my understanding of the problem, i should build a template of attributues(and related options) then apply it to the selected articles.
so i shouldnt have a product_to_attributesOptions any more, but a product_to_template only.

when i display product_info.php i should load all the information related to the product + all the attributes in the linked template. thats it.

I am wrong? am i missing any important information in my logic?

please advice on this. Please let me know if any one has worked on this before.
thanks

[Ajeh]

Sites have been setup for lenses and contacts using the attributes ...

This is more extensive than many sites and it will require a good hosting site with a server properly optimized for php and MySQL ...

Breaking down the elements for the lenses is the hardest part and most time consuming ...

Once built, a product can be made that can be copied to other products to duplicate the attributes ...

[jacopo3001]

my problem is not really on how to create the attributes.. i kind of already solved that. (coping atributes from one product to other, create script to generate attributes.. whatever)

the problem is that if i stick to zen (or osc) origininal structure, i will have 260+ options for each product, all repeated.

Which makes operation on products very slow, as each time i do something on products, this will stress the db a lot.

what i am talking about is ANOTHER way of storing/handling options, more then just a smart way to add attributes on the current system.