"Stock by Attributes" (version 1.5.3). This MOD is ONLY for v1.5.1 ..whaddda?

[mc12345678]

hmm....well here we may run into a problem. The live site (1.3.8a) is submitting feeds to google merchant center and is using attributes to fullfill googles' product identifier requirements (which are also hidden on product info page with the flexible attributes module).

I ended up installing SBA module on a development site and set up some attributes which work nicely. I really like how the dropdown boxes work and the variant quantities display alongside each variant. I added two dropdowns, each with several variants. I did notice though that I couldn't change from dropdown to bullet (or checkbox etc. when experimenting).

I did find that when I added a read only attribute (for google merchant center feed) Ex: option - gender, value - female, the other attributes/variants (option names color and size) don't work, saying out of stock....so this is probably what you were advising about or maybe a configuration problem on my part?

A little of both... See, one doesn't "add" a read only attribute... Variants are built off of the available attributes... If the product has more attributes than the variant, then it shows up as out-of-stock (or at least that is what I expect because that scenario is not one that is yet incorporated into the expected program flow.)

In your case, need to build variants that include all attributes together as a single variant, not all selectable product information as a variant and then just add the read only attribute to the product...

So the mix part I saw in my testing just now was that Dynamic Dropdowns doesn't just display read only attributes. It makes them an item that must be selected... Sort of defeats the read only part... But, it doesn't force an out-of-stock condition...

The way I built my test product was to select multiple attributes-combo for all attributes and provide some quantity even if it is zero. I then was able to select the various options and see what the total stock was for the chosen options. There are a few scenarios that I didn't try and probably need addressing, but at least a read only attribute was possible to have...

[buildingblocks]

A little of both... See, one doesn't "add" a read only attribute... Variants are built off of the available attributes... If the product has more attributes than the variant, then it shows up as out-of-stock (or at least that is what I expect because that scenario is not one that is yet incorporated into the expected program flow.)

In your case, need to build variants that include all attributes together as a single variant, not all selectable product information as a variant and then just add the read only attribute to the product...

So the mix part I saw in my testing just now was that Dynamic Dropdowns doesn't just display read only attributes. It makes them an item that must be selected... Sort of defeats the read only part... But, it doesn't force an out-of-stock condition...

The way I built my test product was to select multiple attributes-combo for all attributes and provide some quantity even if it is zero. I then was able to select the various options and see what the total stock was for the chosen options. There are a few scenarios that I didn't try and probably need addressing, but at least a read only attribute was possible to have...

I was getting out of stock with read only because on attributes controller I had it set to "Used For
Display Purposes Only: yes" The out of stock went away when I set to 'no'.

In 'option names' can you tell me if there's a functional difference between "SBA Select List (Dropdown) Basic" and "dropdown"? I'm not noticing anything different between the two settings.

I do think the site owner is going to want to keep SBA and still have the gender field (and other google merchant related fields) hidden so I'm thinking/hoping in order to keep SBA and also have hidden fields, a combination of SBA and numinix produuct fields (custom fields) might work.

[mc12345678]

I was getting out of stock with read only because on attributes controller I had it set to "Used For
Display Purposes Only: yes" The out of stock went away when I set to 'no'.

In 'option names' can you tell me if there's a functional difference between "SBA Select List (Dropdown) Basic" and "dropdown"? I'm not noticing anything different between the two settings.

I do think the site owner is going to want to keep SBA and still have the gender field (and other google merchant related fields) hidden so I'm thinking/hoping in order to keep SBA and also have hidden fields, a combination of SBA and numinix produuct fields (custom fields) might work.

Okay, gotcha now... Read only and for display purposes only are two different things. Technically, if SBA (truly Dynamic Dropdowns) properly only displayed the data not requiring the user to select the value of the Read Only attribute, then CSS could be used to visually hide the read only attribute. This would still provide the data to the webpage, but not to the user...

As for the two drop down styles: the SBA select List (Dropdown) is primarily only supported in single attribute scenarios at the moment. The difference is that html coding is supported in that dropdown style permitting things like bold text, greying of the box when out-of-stock, etc... These characteristics are intended to be incorporated into multi-attribute product, but there are other corrections/items to incorporate necessary first.

When using the display only aspect, is that the only value in that option name? Or is it just one of many values in the option name. If the only value, then it should be setup as a read only option name type. (Meaning the above is incorrectly setup). If say the first of many option values, then I can't say I see how it is being used to obtain the desired result.

[buildingblocks]

Okay, gotcha now... Read only and for display purposes only are two different things. Technically, if SBA (truly Dynamic Dropdowns) properly only displayed the data not requiring the user to select the value of the Read Only attribute, then CSS could be used to visually hide the read only attribute. This would still provide the data to the webpage, but not to the user...

As for the two drop down styles: the SBA select List (Dropdown) is primarily only supported in single attribute scenarios at the moment. The difference is that html coding is supported in that dropdown style permitting things like bold text, greying of the box when out-of-stock, etc... These characteristics are intended to be incorporated into multi-attribute product, but there are other corrections/items to incorporate necessary first.

When using the display only aspect, is that the only value in that option name? Or is it just one of many values in the option name. If the only value, then it should be setup as a read only option name type. (Meaning the above is incorrectly setup). If say the first of many option values, then I can't say I see how it is being used to obtain the desired result.

First, I do understand this mod version is still beta and a work in progress. Some of this may be repititious so please excuse my jabbering, but I typed as I went along testing and trying to understand how things work. I have been working with SBA some more and this is the general setup needed for majority of our products.

Some testing attributes


option name

color - dropdown
option values : red, blue


option name

size - dropdown
option values : 10, 12

option name

gender - read only
option values : female, male, unisex

option name

age group - read only
option values : adult, child

The intention is to hide the read-only attributes. They are for google merchant center and don't need to be visible on the page


When stock variants are set up for color and size the read only attributes are being included in the selection proccess on the product info page.

Hoping maybe these scripts might separate them I ran some of the optional scripts found in configuration > products with attributes stock

* add product attributes that are NOT read only

* default SQL - only add the product attributes that are NOT read only and are NOT the new SBA selections

Neither of these scripts did what I was hoping and actually I didn't notice anything different after they were run.

If the read only attributes are at the top of the list the first attribute must be selected in order to continue making selections. If the read only attributes are at the bottom of the list they must still be selected in the process with the last one displaying the quantity in stock.

Initially I had planned on using the flexible attributes module (I tried and got unfavorable results) but found the attribute output code for products setup with SBA is using tables whereas the attributes not set up with SBA the attribute code is output with divs. So it looks like the flexible attributes module is not going to be compatible.

Also if the read only attributes can not be separated from the selection process then hiding them would make it impossible to complete the selection proccess.



What you said here

""In your case, need to build variants that include all attributes together as a single variant, not all selectable product information as a variant and then just add the read only attribute to the product...""

wasn't quite sure what you meant so what I did was set up the variants adding quantities for color and size and left gender and age group as N/A. On thee product info page trying to make selections I get 'out of stock warnings' The product variants add up correctly to the product listing quantity.

I then ran the default script and that allowed me to make the selections.



Also you asked

""When using the display only aspect, is that the only value in that option name? Or is it just one of many values in the option name. If the only value, then it should be setup as a read only option name type. (Meaning the above is incorrectly setup). If say the first of many option values, then I can't say I see how it is being used to obtain the desired result.
""

While the read only options have several values set up only one value is displayed on the product info page.

So one product may have gender female another product may have gender male. But on any given page it would be only one value displayed.

[mc12345678]

What you said here

""In your case, need to build variants that include all attributes together as a single variant, not all selectable product information as a variant and then just add the read only attribute to the product...""

wasn't quite sure what you meant so what I did was set up the variants adding quantities for color and size and left gender and age group as N/A. On thee product info page trying to make selections I get 'out of stock warnings' The product variants add up correctly to the product listing quantity.

I then ran the default script and that allowed me to make the selections.

So does the above mean that the issue is resolved?

Initially I had planned on using the flexible attributes module (I tried and got unfavorable results) but found the attribute output code for products setup with SBA is using tables whereas the attributes not set up with SBA the attribute code is output with divs. So it looks like the flexible attributes module is not going to be compatible.

Trying to understand the use of flexible attributes and its intended functionality... Perhaps not for you to answer, but trying to figure out/would like to know if flexible attributes is something that should ultimately be able to work with SBA? Is there something about SBAs output that is making it incompatible? If so, then perhaps need to modify the output even though some of that output is linked to Dynamic Dropdowns (caused by).

Some testing attributes


option name

color - dropdown
option values : red, blue


option name

size - dropdown
option values : 10, 12

option name

gender - read only
option values : female, male, unisex

option name

age group - read only
option values : adult, child

The intention is to hide the read-only attributes. They are for google merchant center and don't need to be visible on the page


When stock variants are set up for color and size the read only attributes are being included in the selection process on the product info page.

Hoping maybe these scripts might separate them I ran some of the optional scripts found in configuration > products with attributes stock

* add product attributes that are NOT read only

* default SQL - only add the product attributes that are NOT read only and are NOT the new SBA selections

Neither of these scripts did what I was hoping and actually I didn't notice anything different after they were run.

When multiple attributes are involved as shown above, Dynamic Dropdowns presides and the associated scripts identified above have not been tested against that aspect of SBA. They were designed with single attributes in mind. Single attributes at this time is fully presented by the SBA code modified by potteryhouse and jeking with exception of some additional functionality and code cleanup that I've added, but their core operation has been untouched. So, those scripts may have desirable effects when a product has a single attribute.

If the read only attributes are at the top of the list the first attribute must be selected in order to continue making selections. If the read only attributes are at the bottom of the list they must still be selected in the process with the last one displaying the quantity in stock.

Also if the read only attributes can not be separated from the selection process then hiding them would make it impossible to complete the selection process.

Agree, this is something that needs to be addressed in the Dynamic Dropdown code. If you are okay without having the stock quantity display/out-of-stock information, etc..., then you can turn off Dynamic Dropdowns from multiple attributes (and off for single as well or combination of the two) and just provide selectable variants like you are probably more accustomed to seeing. This would/should offer the functionality desired including the ability to hide the read-only attribute for the presented variant.

Also you asked

""When using the display only aspect, is that the only value in that option name? Or is it just one of many values in the option name. If the only value, then it should be setup as a read only option name type. (Meaning the above is incorrectly setup). If say the first of many option values, then I can't say I see how it is being used to obtain the desired result.
""

While the read only options have several values set up only one value is displayed on the product info page.

So one product may have gender female another product may have gender male. But on any given page it would be only one value displayed.

This was what I was thinking the goal was, but I also saw in Attributes Manager that it was possible to assign more than one read only value to a read only option name and wanted to get a bit of a better idea of how it was being used...

Help a little? I think I addressed every area discussed. This type of feedback is very beneficial and technically might be better served on the applicable forum for the plugin, but at the least some issues have been identified (already started a new issue in github) to address some of the observations discussed, though curious about what is now at the top of this message... :) If that is a viable solution, then it would be important to capture in the documentation.

[buildingblocks]

"I then ran the default script and that allowed me to make the selections."

So does the above mean that the issue is resolved?

yes in part, I was able to make selection and add to basket, but I find that each time a product is set up this way I have to run the script again.



Flexible attributes module over-rides/or merge

\includes\templates\your_template\templates\tpl_modules_attributes.php
\includes\modules\your_template\attributes.php


The flexible attributes module generates a unique id number for each attribute so that id can be used in the stylesheet to style individually or display:none. The styling would affect any product using that attribute/id.

In firebug this is how the code looks

<div id="wAttrib-10" class="wrapperAttribsOptions">

<div class="attribsOptions">
<h4 class="optionName back">Age Group</h4>
<div class="back">
Adult<br>
</div>
<!--<br class="clearBoth" />-->
</div>

</div>

for this attribute, in stylesheet we have

#wAttrib-10 {display: none;}

If you are okay without having the stock quantity display/out-of-stock information, etc..., then you can turn off Dynamic Dropdowns from multiple attributes (and off for single as well or combination of the two) and just provide selectable variants like you are probably more accustomed to seeing. This would/should offer the functionality desired including the ability to hide the read-only attribute for the presented variant.

That would be ok but it doesn't work. IE: once stock variants are added then the dynamic dropdowns take over. To be sure I removed all variants from SBA. Went to attributes controller and made sure the option names were using the default 'dropdown' and read only for those others....age group etc. The attributes on product info page looked like the normal default display. I went back and added the variants to SBA and the dynamic dropdown took over. I tried with both 'drop down' and with 'SBA select list (dropdown) basic'

Thanks for taking the time to go over these things.

[mc12345678]

That would be ok but it doesn't work. IE: once stock variants are added then the dynamic dropdowns take over. To be sure I removed all variants from SBA. Went to attributes controller and made sure the option names were using the default 'dropdown' and read only for those others....age group etc. The attributes on product info page looked like the normal default display. I went back and added the variants to SBA and the dynamic dropdown took over. I tried with both 'drop down' and with 'SBA select list (dropdown) basic'

Thanks for taking the time to go over these things.

Ahemmm, need to take an action to turn off Dynamic Dropdowns: admin->configuration->Dynamic Dropdowns

Then I think the first menu option, change from 2 to 0... (Multiple attributes only to off).

As for the css, the attributes ought to be unique enough to use CSS on any of the attributes.

No, thank you for the feedback, kind of stuff needed to make improvements.

[buildingblocks]

Ahemmm, need to take an action to turn off Dynamic Dropdowns: admin->configuration->Dynamic Dropdowns

well, Duh!!.....I knew the configuration > products with attributes stock existed but my eyes skimmed right over the dynamic drop downs menu. lol Thank you for pointing it out. Off to play some more.

[Malaperth]

well, Duh!!.....I knew the configuration > products with attributes stock existed but my eyes skimmed right over the dynamic drop downs menu. lol Thank you for pointing it out. Off to play some more.

In my installation of SBA 1.53 on ZC 1.5.1, I do not have an admin->configuration->Dynamic Dropdowns choice, and in the setup for the attributes, when I try to change any of the lengths of attribute names from 32, I get no change. Please forgive a half-senile old man who hasn't written a line of serious code in over 20 years, but, as I have a feeling, does this appear to anyone else that I have not installed SBA correctly?

Mal

[mc12345678]

In my installation of SBA 1.53 on ZC 1.5.1, I do not have an admin->configuration->Dynamic Dropdowns choice, and in the setup for the attributes, when I try to change any of the lengths of attribute names from 32, I get no change. Please forgive a half-senile old man who hasn't written a line of serious code in over 20 years, but, as I have a feeling, does this appear to anyone else that I have not installed SBA correctly?

Mal

As it is the case with open source software that has been made available on this site, either it was pretty much paid for and permitted to be posted, self developed and returned to the community, or developed/modified to meet some need and returned to the community. In regards to the current state of SBA, when it seemed like it was ready to go, it was realized that ZC 1.5.4 was just around the corner and that to ensure the continued functionality of SBA, that it needed to be updated to support the newest version ahead of providing backwards compatibility.

Short part about that, there are features and options in SBA 1.5.4 that are not yet a part of SBA 1.5.3. This includes direct incorporation of the Dynamic Dropdowns plugin as part of the code. So no, the issue(s) you have with SBA 1.5.3 are not "your doing". :)

As to the modifiction of the attributes field, that I believe is a separate issue that personally would have to look up info on to help, though would think someone else may come along with the answer before I do. :)