New Product Type or Not? Help me decide please!

Hello!

I'm trying to decide the best way to offer a specific product and need some objective input.

Scenario:

Products are Post Cards, each having a stock message. The message may be used on more than one post card being offered, so it is not unique to each post card.

What I am trying to do:

Come up with the easiest way to a) add the text to the product and b) do a custom product info layout. I do not want to use the Product Description for this text as that is reserved for other future use.

I've given this a lot of thought (or as much as I ever put into things - hehe) and think I have it narrowed down to a couple of choices (in no special order). I would appreciate input from someone who can be more objective than I can at this point! "-)

Choice 1: Set up a new Product Type simply for purposes of providing a different Product Info Page -- so nothing big in terms of the admin side, just lets me totally rip apart the Prod Info Display for this product. Then set up each text message as a Display Only Attribute, to be assigned to/used with each post card as appropriate. Will require fiddling the allowed character count for this kind of Attribute or maybe I could use the Comments attrib I already have (I avoid Attributes like the plague so I forget what I did/how they work as soon as I do one). I could even go one step further this way and let them pick from a couple of text messages (instead of a display only attrib) if I felt that kindly toward the whole process.

Choice 2: Set up a new Product Type and stand on my head trying to figure out what I need to do to add a text message field/table without bloating things, and of course do the Product Info layout customization.

Choice 3: Get into a new line of work. Maybe wearing a sandwich board for the local pizza joint and standing at intersections all day long waving at cars passing by. "-)

So what do you ZC Gurus out there think? One of the above, or do you have a better idea that has escaped me?

Thanks!

Becky

Are you really wanting a radically different page appearance/layout for this product, or do you just think you will need to rip up tpl_product_info_display.php?

If all these products will be segregated in one or more defined categories/subcategories, it is possible to make changes in the flow/function of tpl_product_info_display.php for just these cats. See Removed Qty Box, now want it back for some (especially posts 57 & 63) for an example.

I think that attributes can handle your situation easily.

If you have a finite number of messages and don't need to have a "different" kind of display for them on the page, you can make an option name "Message" and assign an option value to Message for each of your stock messages. Then add these as attributes to one card, and copy the set of attributes to the entire category.

The value can be the whole message, which might require changing the length of a field in the database (it won't hurt other products to have this field extended for all), or a summary of the message with a photo of the full message attached to the attribute display. This is entirely within the stock abilities of Zen Cart.

gjh42:

I think that attributes can handle your situation easily.

Hi Glenn,

That's what I was thinking too, after wasting too much time trying to make it much harder. "-)

In reply to your first post, I think I might do it as a new Product Type to begin with (at least in testing) for 2 reasons: a) I need the practice doing that, and b) I'm trying to develop routines I follow for creating carts for clients that will be easiest to "fix" in terms of upgrades. I have a bad habit right now of hacking the heck out of the standard Product Info Layout and in this case it has put me in a "doggone, now it won't work for this one" situation. So I'm thinking that the New Product Type might be better for me in the long run to make it easier to have all kinds of different layouts that would be easy for someone coming along behind me to pick up on.

Of course I could be wrong. grin. Hence the testing phase.

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking about the attribute bit! Sorry for the delay in responding, had a family emergency that dragged me out of the office yesterday.

Cheers,

Becky "-)