Inventory control by Attributes???

Hi there, I 'm new here and new to using Zen Cart. I've figured out a lot of things on my own by trial and error, but I need help with my inventory/attributes.

What I want to do is have a single page for a product (say a shirt), and have the customer be able to choose the size and color. I have added these attributes to the product page without any problems.

My problem is that the inventory only shows the total inventory and I want to be able to have indivudualized inventory for each size/color combo. So instead of 10 shirts in stock (total), I'd like my inventory to reflect 1 black shirt in small, 2 black shirts in med, 5 red shirts in large, and so on. Is there a way to do this?? I have been wracking my brain trying to figure it out.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!!
Michele

I need to do the same thing but at the moment there doesn't seem to be a way to do it. There is adownload that's supposed to do it but I removed it after trying it and not been able to work out how to use it.

You can find it in the downloads section. If you get ti going, let us all know how it works.

Yeah, I found that download and it's working for me. My husband installed it and set it up. It seems to keep track of everything like it's supposed to. So it's working for my end of things.

The only problem/complaint I have is that it doesn't display the quantity in stock for each attribute. It's supposed to show you the available quantity in the shopping cart if you try to order more that what is in stock. That part of it isn't working, so you have to do it by trial and error to see what's actually available. Kind of a pain for the customer.

Let me know if yoy need help with it. I'm not really a computer guru, but I'll try my best.

Michele

Thanks Michelle, I guess I'll give it another try and see how it goes. It would make it a lot easier when setting up products so I would really like to get going.

All you do is copy and paste the required files into their corresponding folders right? I got a direct deposit module going that way so I gues it would be the same thing.

No problem. Happy to help when I can (even if it's not to often). I guess you just copy and paste the files, I'm not really sure. My husband installed Zen Cart and the Attributes module. HE's my computer guy for that. But I had to figure out everything else about Zen Cart on my own (just by trial and error). I hope you get the Attributes module going.

Michele

It doesn't seem to stop you from ordering more than you have in stock. for example if I have 23 total shirts but only 3 mediums, everything looks ok. If someone orders 4 shirts they are still able to check out ok....anyone else come across this problem?

I don't get that problem If I try to order more than in stock, it tells me. It is supposed to tell you (or the customer) exactly how many are in stock at that point (in the shopping cart), but that part isn't working for me.

I have "alllow checkout" (when stock is unavailable) set to false. Do you have that?? It's under Configuration>>Stock>>Allow Checkout. If that doesn't fix it, I'm not sure what else the problem could be.

Michele

I have the set to false. I'm curious though - there are two stock levels you can set. You can now set a stock level for the initial product and you can set a stock level for each of the options, right?

What do you set the stock level of the initial product to?

The initial stock amount (the one you enter in the product description) doesn't seem to matter. If you have any attributes, that stick amount could say you that have 6000 in stock, but unless you set the stock with attributes quantity to something other than zero, you'll get an error if you try to order it. Well, I get an error at least. From what you said, that part isn't working for you, right?

Also whenever I set the stock with attributes amount, it overrides what amount I had initially entered in the product description.

If you'd like, you can check out the site I'm working on. It's www.naturallynurtured.com/zencart. I didn't set the attribute quantites for any of the Pretty Mama Slings, so you can try putting one in the cart and you can see the error message that comes up telling you there's not enough stock.

Michele

MicheleB:

The only problem/complaint I have is that it doesn't display the quantity in stock for each attribute. It's supposed to show you the available quantity in the shopping cart if you try to order more that what is in stock. That part of it isn't working, so you have to do it by trial and error to see what's actually available. Kind of a pain for the customer.Do you have the Admin > Configuration > Stock > Show stock when low flag set to "true" or "false"?

vivaraquel:

All you do is copy and paste the required files into their corresponding folders right? I got a direct deposit module going that way so I gues it would be the same thing.Most FTP programs will allow you to drag the admin and includes directories stright to your store's root folder. This will ensure that all the files end up in the right place (which is rather important as there's quite a few of them, many of which have the same name).

part-timer:

It doesn't seem to stop you from ordering more than you have in stock. for example if I have 23 total shirts but only 3 mediums, everything looks ok. If someone orders 4 shirts they are still able to check out ok....anyone else come across this problem?You need to have Admin > Configuration > Stock > "Check stock level" set to true and "Allow Checkout" set to false to prevent this.

part-timer:

there are two stock levels you can set. You can now set a stock level for the initial product and you can set a stock level for each of the options, right? What do you set the stock level of the initial product to?For products with no attributes, set it to your stock level. For products with attributes, it doesn't matter, as it will be recalculated as the total of the stock for each product variant (i.e. combination of attributes).

kuroi:

Quote:
Originally Posted by MicheleB [IMG]http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/images/ZCgreen/buttons/viewpost.gif[/IMG]
The only problem/complaint I have is that it doesn't display the quantity in stock for each attribute. It's supposed to show you the available quantity in the shopping cart if you try to order more that what is in stock. That part of it isn't working, so you have to do it by trial and error to see what's actually available. Kind of a pain for the customer.

Do you have the Admin > Configuration > Stock > Show stock when low flag set to "true" or "false"?

I currently have it set to "true". But I have tried "false" also and it doesn't seem to change anything either way. Any suggestions??

Which version of the mod are your using and which version of Zen Cart? The problem that you are describing existed in an older variant of the mod but was fixed a while back. Have you checked the support threads and the wiki both of which provide a lit of information to help you with this sort of problem?

Can someone provide a link for this module, I found "Attributes Separate Stock" module under admin tools but by its description there is a better for for items like clothing.

I have given up on the forum search after 10 unsuccsessful tries at the verification code >:(

The link is in my sig below. It's called Stock by Attributes.

I have given up on the forum search after 10 unsuccsessful tries at the verification code A bit "off topic but....this should only be asked if you are not logged in???

Thanks for the link and a great mod :)

kuroi:

The link is in my sig below. It's called Stock by Attributes.

Hi Kuroi. Great mod you've got here. I've been searching high and low for a way to disable attributes from appearing in the dropdown if they are out of stock. It seems that the only way a user can tell an item is out of stock is once they add it to their cart. Your mod shows the status in the cart but not on the product page.

i.e.

Product Name: Mens Cool Jeans
Product Options:
Size 28 (5 are in stock)
Size 29 (5 are in stock)
Size 30 (0 in stock - should not display!)

I've tried digging through the core to see if I can add this but it's outside my skill set. Is this possible with your mod - even something like showing the number of items next to the size (as above) would be more helpful than forcing the customer to add to cart to see the stock.

Thanks again for the great mod. It's been tremendously useful thusfar.

This question is covered at length in the support thread for this mod and is also mentioned in its wiki entry so I won't repeat it all here. But here's a potted summary ...

What you want would work fine for products that only have one attribute. For a product with two attributes, however, there may be stock for each attribute, but not in the combination that the customer chooses. The mod could display a table with one attribute on each axis, but that gets difficult for products with 3 or more attributes. So, alas, there is no generic solution to your problem.

What there is, is a specific solution that can be incorporated into the mod when a product has just one relevant attribute. If you do a search on "Grayson" you should find links to this.

Thanks for th quick reply. I will check out those areas for further research.

Here's the forum thread for the mod:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47180