How-To: Add new Properties to your Products

Hi

I actually got mine to work - trial and error again - but thank you for your comments and code.

Here is the code I am using:

Now what I am wondering is whether I could put the data from the Measurements into a table ... so it looks like this:

http://www.gardenfurniturescotland.co.uk/Store/images/Measurementstable.jpg

Hope someone can help me .... you are all brilliant!

Gillian

My table HTML/CSS is awful -- I always have to look at examples -- but my guess is to run two IF statements for each set of data, one IF to write the title and another IF to write the value. Since no titles will be written for empty values and no values written for empty values, the table will shrink and expand appropriately.

Substitute/use the bits below into/with proper table HTML/CSS and you should be golden.

TITLES

<strong>Measurements (in cm): </strong>

<strong>Materials: </strong></div>

<strong>Maintenance: </strong>

VALUES

Thanks to this thread I have successfully added fields to my product file and can maintain and display them.
But I need to be able to filter on them too.
By copying the manufacturers box I have added a sidebox for a search on my new colour field which seems to work ok but it never finds any products.
When I click on one of the colours in the sidebox I get the following url;
.../index.php?main_page=index&filter_id=colour_id&colour_id=1
I have a colour_id_filter.php module in /includes/index_filters/ but I'm not sure it is being included.

Does someone have a checklist for adding a new filter? I am sure I have missed some basic step in the process.

Any hints from someone who has been down this path before would be very welcome.

Thanks - Mark :dontgetit

Hi All,

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread...

I am working on a new jewelry site (categories: earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces) for which I want to to specify some custom product attributes which are not choosable by the customer. I want to use these attributes to search and sort the products.

Let me explain with an example: Some pieces are gold, some are silver, some are plain, some have stones. None of the attributes are mutually exclusive. So, any piece of jewelry could have the attributes <gold, silver, plain, stone>. I want the user to be able to search and/or click on an attribute and display a list of all the products with that attribute. (i.e., "show me all the jewelry with stones" returns a list of all the necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets with stones). I'm still shaking my head trying to figure out why this isn't a default feature in Zen Cart.

After looking at all the posts in this thread, I'm considering attacking the problem from a totally different angle:

1. Install the hidden categories mod (or some version of it). This step may not be entirely necessary.

2. Create a hidden category called "attributes". (or not hidden if step 1 is skipped).

3. Create sub-categories for all the attributes <gold>, <silver>, <plain>, <stones>, <animals>

4. Modify the <new product> page (collect_info.php?) to have a check-box list of these "attributes" sub-categories, checking these sub-categories will automatically link the product into the appropriate sub-categories.

5. Create a sidebar box to display the "attributes" sub-categories, or just make the "attributes" visible and use the regular side-bar. Voila! Clickable, dynamic, sortable, searchable attributes.

My thinking in this regard is that it will be:

a) potentially easier or as easy to implement as the database change methods from post #1
b) more flexible for my client to add and change attributes on-the-fly
c) easy to use the category browser to find out which products have which attributes, or which attributes have which products.
d) easy to search and display the items in these linked categories

Does anyone think this method might work or not work? I'm new to Zen Cart and don't want to spend a week barking up the wrong tree....

It sounds like the only real step in all of this is making a "category linker" on the product page.

I'd appreciate any tips in advance.

Thanks,
Damon

lunomad, I agree, ZC's attributes feature is less than it should be or is designed more for companies that do not (need or want to) control inventory tightly.

Ideally, a customer makes a product selection and then chooses attributes, and then the resulting choice has a unique model number that can be used again for that some combination. Back when I setup ZC, I generated model numbers myself for all the combinations but still couldn't get ZC to serve the correct model number given the choice of attributes. Instead, I went with a heavy cross-categorization organizational model that is not for the faint of heart. FWIW, I wanted to use the HiddenCats mod, but I couldn't get it to work in the way at the time (when I knew much less about ZC and hacking its and any mods' PHP files). Not sure even now that I could get ZC attributes to function the way I'd like them to work. Need way more experience for that and will hold out hope for ZC 3.0.

Good luck in finding something to work for you! And please do let us know of your solution.

crazy_chris:

hi folks,

this is a little howto add new properties to general products
(like guarantee time, color, oem-number, compatible models, whatsoever)1. >

2. think

decide which new properties you want to add to your products
(in this example we take guarantee-time (in months) and color)
.

3. db manipulation

open the table "products" in your zencart-database and insert new rows at the end of the table called "products_guarantee" and "products_color"
*ALTER TABLE zencart_products ADD products_guarantee INT NOT NULL , ADD products_color VARCHAR( 32 ) NOT NULL;
.
*

4. edit 'collect_info.php' (in /admin/includes/modules/product/)1. >
5. at the very beginning there is the variable $parameters set. add your row-names to the end:

'products_guarantee' => '0', 'products_color' => '' );
.

3. just below there is the db-query set [$product = $db->Execute("...]

add your rows with a 'p.' in front (before the "from ..." part)
*select ......., p.products_guarantee, p.products_color from ....
*.

4. now you can add the input fields in the product-mask (lets say somewhere around line 450 or so):*

<tr> <td class="main">Guarantee Time (in months)</td> <td class="main"><?php echo zen_draw_separator('pixel_trans.gif', '24', '15') . ' ' . zen_draw_input_field('products_guarantee', $pInfo->products_guarantee, zen_set_field_length(TABLE_PRODUCTS, 'products_guarantee')); ?></td> </tr><tr> <td class="main">Color</td> <td class="main"><?php echo zen_draw_separator('pixel_trans.gif', '24', '15') . ' ' . zen_draw_input_field('products_color', $pInfo->products_color, zen_set_field_length(TABLE_PRODUCTS, 'products_color')); ?></td> </tr> .*

5. **edit 'preview_info.php' ** (in /admin/includes/modules/product/)

somewhere around line 10 is the variable $product set. like in step 3.2 add the new rows with a 'p.' in front just before the 'from'
select ......., p.products_guarantee, p.products_color from ....
.

6. **finally, edit ****'update_product.php' ** (in /admin/includes/modules/)

around line 20 is the $sql_data_array set. add to the last lines before ');' the new rownames.
$sql_data_array = .......... 'products_guarantee' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_guarantee']), 'products_color' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_color']) );
.

7. ***Setup All Done!

.
*.:D
.
.Of course, now we want to display our cool new properties .
.

8. edit 'main_template_vars.php' (in /includes/modules/pages/product_info/)

around line 46 you find the variable $sql set. like in step 3.2 add the new rows with a 'p.' in front just before the 'from'
select ......., p.products_guarantee, p.products_color from ....
.

9. **last step: display the new infos

edit 'tpl_product_info_display.php'** (in /includes/templates/template_default/templates/)
now, wherever you want, you can add to the html:
<?php echo $product_info->fields['products_guarantee']; ?> and <?php echo $product_info->fields['products_color']; ?>
enjoy!

ps: now i'm feeling really ############ up : P

:blink::blink::blink:

written by chris at linuxuser.at

Great and very simple tutorial! I have just add few new fields for short time following your instructions from post above. Thanks man :bigups::bigups:

lindasdd:

Anyone think they can make this work so different product details appear on the product listing page(in columns) based on category?

-lindasdd

In case anyone is wondering I figured out how to do this. The scenario is - you added a new product field and you added a new column to the product listing page so you can see and sort by that new filed. But, you only want that field to appear based on certain categories.

So open includes/modules/pages/index/main_template_vars.php (if you can figure out a way to do this with overrides instead I recommend it)

Find this section:

"$define_list = array('PRODUCT_LIST_MODEL' => PRODUCT_LIST_MODEL,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_NAME' => PRODUCT_LIST_NAME,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_MANUFACTURER' => PRODUCT_LIST_MANUFACTURER,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_PRICE' => PRODUCT_LIST_PRICE,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_QUANTITY' => PRODUCT_LIST_QUANTITY,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_WEIGHT' => PRODUCT_LIST_WEIGHT,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_IMAGE' => PRODUCT_LIST_IMAGE);
"

Right before it add your starting if statement, then right after it add your else and then right after that add your new column list.

So basically it looks like:
If category = X, show columns ABC, otherwise, show columns ABCD.

In my case I have:

if ($current_category_id =='92' ){
  $define_list = array('PRODUCT_LIST_MODEL' => PRODUCT_LIST_MODEL,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_NAME' => PRODUCT_LIST_NAME,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_MANUFACTURER' => PRODUCT_LIST_MANUFACTURER,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_PRICE' => PRODUCT_LIST_PRICE,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_QUANTITY' => PRODUCT_LIST_QUANTITY,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_WEIGHT' => PRODUCT_LIST_WEIGHT,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_IMAGE' => PRODUCT_LIST_IMAGE);

    } else{
$define_list = array('PRODUCT_LIST_MODEL' => PRODUCT_LIST_MODEL,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_NAME' => PRODUCT_LIST_NAME,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_MANUFACTURER' => PRODUCT_LIST_MANUFACTURER,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_PRICE' => PRODUCT_LIST_PRICE,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_QUANTITY' => PRODUCT_LIST_QUANTITY,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_WEIGHT' => PRODUCT_LIST_WEIGHT,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_IMAGE' => PRODUCT_LIST_IMAGE,
  'PRODUCT_LIST_CUSTOMCOLUMN' => 8,
}

I would like to use this with the intention of adding new, used or refurbished so that it can be picked up by Google feeder.

Now I create a Google upload and have to change the condition for each item.

Will this work to accomplish this goal?

janekbar5:

Hi
in my case I wanted to add about 20 .....

once you take a closer look you gonne now how to do it

This is exactly what I need but for some reason its not working for me......

Post #79

worked it out with the help of #153 and #145

Although this is slightly different...

INSERT INTO configuration (configuration_id, configuration_title, configuration_key, configuration_value, configuration_description, configuration_group_id, sort_order, last_modified, date_added, use_function, set_function) VALUES (1201, 'Show My Field', 'PRODUCT_LIST_MYFIELD', '1', 'MYFIELD', 8, 13, NULL, '2006-07-05 13:59:40', NULL, NULL);

you will need to change the configuration_id for each one

This was missing. it basically turns your new PRODUCT_LIST_MYFIELD on so you can see it. That is why it wasnt showing up before because it had no configuarion value. Good Helpful thred pointed me in the right direction good to see people sharing information.

even puts a box in the admin product listing so you can turn it off!

It would be good if anyone knew a way of putting quantity discounts on collect info page...

I have got it to display 10 by choice but posting it back is prooving difficult

Bikeforce:

worked it out with the help of #153 and #145

Although this is slightly different...

INSERT INTO configuration (configuration_id, configuration_title, configuration_key, configuration_value, configuration_description, configuration_group_id, sort_order, last_modified, date_added, use_function, set_function) VALUES (1201, 'Show My Field', 'PRODUCT_LIST_MYFIELD', '1', 'MYFIELD', 8, 13, NULL, '2006-07-05 13:59:40', NULL, NULL);

you will need to change the configuration_id for each one

This was missing. it basically turns your new PRODUCT_LIST_MYFIELD on so you can see it. That is why it wasnt showing up before because it had no configuarion value. Good Helpful thred pointed me in the right direction good to see people sharing information.

even puts a box in the admin product listing so you can turn it off!

Thanks so much for this - I figured this is why it wasn't showing but no one else bothered to stop over many different threads and give specific instructions and I was too lazy to try it myself!

One note however, replace the 1201 with '' and the field will automatically choose the next id number like this:
('', 'Show My Field', 'PRODUCT_LIST_MYFIELD', '1', 'MYFIELD', 8, 13, NULL, '2006-07-05 13:59:40', NULL, NULL);

The 4th field that has the number 1 in it will sort the display - leaving a 1 there makes the display sort by the number and then alphabetically but you can resort in the admin to get the display to work.

Hello everyone,

I don't know if anyone has referenced this page throughout this epic thread, but I thought that this webpage describing how to add new fields to products might be of use to someone somewhere sometime...

http://www.cornerpiecewebdesign.co.uk/blog/zen-cart-how-to-add-new-product-fields

The author referenced this particular thread as his starting point. I've followed his instructions carefully, and whilst it's not a quick method, it definitely works.

I hope it helps someone.

please help, I am trying to add new properties via a new DB table. The second post or so suggests doing it this way but I haven't found anyone posting on how to actually doing it this way. I don't want to mess anything up in the process and would greatly appreciate any response on how to do do. I am relatively new to PHP but learn quickly. Setting up the DB table is no problem at all but getting zen and Easy populate to link to it properly is where the problem lies. I have ideas of how to do it but again I want to get it right.

I am trying to add a couple of properties to the music product style. I have followed the instructions as specified at the beginning of this post but I made the changes to the files in /admin/includes/modules/update_products and /admin/includes/modules/products_music/collect_info and preview info . The two new properties appear on the product_info.php page.

THe database is updated each time I hit the update button but the database does not record what I enter for the new properties added.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

Should the code/ logic be any different for the music style verses product-general?

ANy ideas what would prevent the database from updating. TIA TOM :cool:

Ok...... I found a couple of typos and correct them.

Now I am receiving this error when I enter regular product.

1054 Unknown column 'products_sitchguide' in 'field list'
in:
[update products set products_quantity = '1', products_type = '1', products_model = 'SB', products_price = '34.0000', products_date_available = null, products_weight = '1', products_status = '1', products_virtual = '0', products_tax_class_id = '1', manufacturers_id = '1', products_quantity_order_min = '1', products_quantity_order_units = '1', products_priced_by_attribute = '0', product_is_free = '0', product_is_call = '0', products_quantity_mixed = '1', product_is_always_free_shipping = '0', products_qty_box_status = '1', products_quantity_order_max = '0', products_sort_order = '0', products_discount_type = '0', products_discount_type_from = '0', products_price_sorter = '34.0000', products_sitchguide = '', products_embellishment = '', products_image = 'categories/cat_symphony_bulky.png', products_last_modified = now(), master_categories_id = '26' where products_id = '168']

If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you left no blank fields.

It appears that the two fields I entered....... products_embellishment = '', products_embellishment = '' are not recognized.

When I do an insert of a music product, the two new fields are not recognized.

Since the fields I entered are NOT NULL, I receive and nothing is entered into those fields, there is an error message that the fields are blank

Any ideas on how I should progress. TIA TOM

Hello

First of all, I haven't read the whole thread since it is too long... So please excuse me if someone else has already commented this issue. Some time ago i applied the hack to add extra fields to the products. Everything was working fine... But yesterday a client warned me that these extra fields' contents were not getting copied when duplicating products in admin.

For those who want their extra fields to get duplicated, I share my solution (sorry, no line numbers, my code is too edited):

• Open file "admin/includes/modules/copy_to_confirm.php". Make a backup copy.
• If your new fields are in the "zen_products" table, find the select statement that says $product = $db->Execute("select products_type, products_quantity, products_model, products_image, etc. and add there your new fields names. Then find the statement that goes ```
  $db->Execute("insert into " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . "

- If your new fields are inside the zen_products_description table, follow the same procedure, but editing, instead of the previous blocks of code, those beginning with ```
$description = $db->Execute("select language_id, products_name, products_description,
``` and with ```
$db->Execute("insert into " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . "
```.

Save, upload and that's it, your new fields will be duplicated when you duplicate a product.

As a side matter, I also noticed that products meta tags don't get duplicated either when duplicating a product. To solve this, you can add ```
$metas = $db->Execute("select language_id, metatags_title, metatags_keywords,
                                         metatags_description 
                                         from " . TABLE_META_TAGS_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . "
                                         where products_id = '" . (int)$products_id . "'");
            while (!$metas->EOF) {
              $db->Execute("insert into " . TABLE_META_TAGS_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . "
                                        (products_id, language_id, metatags_title, metatags_keywords,
                                         metatags_description)
                            values ('" . (int)$dup_products_id . "',
                                    '" . (int)$metas->fields['language_id'] . "',
                                    '" . zen_db_input($metas->fields['metatags_title']) . "',
                                    '" . zen_db_input($metas->fields['metatags_keywords']) . "',
                                    '" . zen_db_input($metas->fields['metatags_description']) . "'
                                    )");
              $metas->MoveNext();
            }
```someplace after ```
$description->MoveNext();
            }
```I hope this helps some people.

Oh, and sorry for my bad English (and the lack of line numbers).

Yako

Hi

I created some additional product fields using product_weight as the staring point ... and it all worked very well. However, I have upgraded to 1.3.9h and now the additional fields (measurements, materials, maintenance etc) will only show up if I have something in the product_weight fields. Has anyone got any idea of how this has happened - or, more importantly, how I get it to show something in any of the fields if they are filled in but leave the individual field (and title) blank if there is no data in that field.

Alos, I cannot get these fields to update via the Admin. The only way to update these fields is by filling in the fields directly into the database. This is not so good if I am checking for errors and spot a typo etc and just want to quickly change it.

Many many thanks, from very snowy Scotland

If you mean on the Catalog ... check your template for the Product _info and see if it is because you added your new product info in the IF statement:

<!--bof Product details list  -->
<?php if ( (($flag_show_product_info_model == 1 and $products_model != '') or ($flag_show_product_info_weight == 1 and $products_weight !=0) or ($flag_show_product_info_quantity == 1) or ($flag_show_product_info_manufacturer == 1 and !empty($manufacturers_name))) ) { ?>

as this is setup to only show this section based 1 or more fields existing ... if your new data is inside that IF, but not one of the data components being tested, then it is turned off ...

Hi

Thanks a million. That is great - I managed to fix that problem.

Now, the next prolem I have is this... I have added 3 fields all based on the product_weight which are Measurements, Materials and Technical Details. The additional fields are fine if I populate them through the database but if I try to add something in the Admin > Catalogue > Product section, it doesn't seem to write it to the database for one of the fields (Technical - products_technical) but all the other new fields work. Which file do i need to look at? Is it the update product file?

In the update_product file I have the following code:

• $sql_data_array = array('products_quantity' => $products_quantity,
  'products_type' => zen_db_prepare_input($_GET['product_type']),
  'products_model' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_model']),
  'products_price' => $products_price,
  'products_date_available' => $products_date_available,
  'products_weight' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_weight']),
  'products_measurements' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_measurements']),
  'products_materials' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_materials']),
  'products_technical' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_technical']),
  'products_maintenance' => zen_db_prepare_input($_POST['products_maintenance']),

The extra fields I have created all update from the Admin product Info page, except for "technical" which just returns to blank after I press update. Any ideas why that might be?

Many many thanks

Gillian