cubmanky:
Just to say I did the Full/Upgrade DB Install Do I need to run any of the other sql files? How do I setup the selection of the first choice will affect the option values available for the second choice. Second value is a text box
This module is primarily for tracking stock of items that have attributes. From the previous description of need, it seems that the stock aspect for usage of this is not really a need, but the other capability offered is. So, that said, likely when creating desirable variants, will want to use huge quantities.
So, then comes the issue of addressing the request. As is, because core Zen Cart software doesn't offer the ability to multiply attribute cost factors, the "simplest" method to the above is to have each text box have its own price per character setting. I would have suggested possibly using price factors as well, but that too has its internal "issues". So... I would envision that there would be one option name of font size and three text boxes or however many support the option values. Then, to add a variant that uses the chosen font size and the associated text box at the above absurd quantity or as befits the product quantity that is associated. A little more on that in a moment.
Ok, so what this does on the product page though is display an option name of font size and one each text box for calculations. Problem there is that customer doesn't really know what to do with that configuration. Further, there is the issue that if they select 1, put text in box "1" then selecting 2 requires re-entry of the text... And that's before even thinking of how to make the process easier for the customer.
The way I see to make it easier for the customer is to offer a single text field where the text is entered, with that content placed in the field that applies to the font size selected. The reason for this is so that the end resulting text field is the only one that should have the desired text to support the calculations, but the user only enters info one time. That all would involve additional javascript/jQuery to shuffle the text around for storage/price calculation and that would also involve hiding the field(s) from the customer's view to ease the process.
Lastly though, because of what I said in the first paragraph, I'm not so sure that the sought after dependent attributes is really what addresses implementation sought. E.g., there isn't really a "dependency" about that stock. There's a relationship between atribute selection, but its more about the internals of Zen Cart than the product itself. As far as the product, font size and entered text is the dependency, pricing based on the font size is what is actually being addressed.
THAT I actually think could be addressed through the notifier/observer system at least as far as the shopping cart and order classes are concerned.
Anyways, while I am now in ramble mode, let me address one of the other parts a little more. Adding variants to force availability. When the store is setup to prevent checkout with no available stock, then to prevent a combination from being chosen to check out, if that combination has no stock available, it will be prevented. Such as a stock of 0. A conbination that is not defined can check out so long as the core product has sufficient stock remaining. Further with that, if a variant has quantity, but the core product does not, then the variant can not be checked out. This is why the admin screen for variants offers info about how the sum of variants relates to the total available product. Not everyone sells product the same way or with the same dependency of variants to stock. For example, may have a thousand beads for a necklace, but only 20 strands of necklace that can be sold. That leads to a shortcoming of this module as thus far implemented. Its not (yet) possible to identify a central container of say red beads that could be used across multiple product ina stock tracing aspect. It is possible to indicate an unlimited number of such an option value so that the stock would not be internally tracked, but I digress from your needs...
So.. in summary, based on the operational need, I don't see that this module really offers the best solution for what has been described. I would suggest that the observer system for attribute related aspects be considered to support designating the attribute's cost based on the selection made in the first dropdown. This is based on the characteristic that there doesn't appear to be a need to track the stock of these attributes, that there are ways to swap out the image of the entered text which are going to naturally need to use javascript/jquery (unless a popup window is shown when a sample is desired to be seen) and the need to incorporate text population to the correct field(s) to provide a decent customer experience.
As to seeing the most capability of this software in attribute setup, setting the option name type to the SBA Simple Select (Dropdown) type offers the more central stock dependency of displaying the option value quantity available based on previous/earlier selections. One caveat that remains at the moment is that the first option name should not be a read-only type option name. Such can be the second on, but not first).