Browse by Price or Shop by Price - automated

Hi!

I need help in creating a new way to browse items.

I want to be able to Browse by Price. Price is different than most other categories since it tends to change a lot. So my Dell, Core Duo desktop isn't going to move categories once it's set up, but the price will change frequently. Bottom line is I want this sidebox/category adjunct to be automatically populated *not *manually associated, i.e. I don't want to manually assign my Dell, Core Duo desktop to the category "$750-$1000". If I do this manually then as soon as I discount for a week that product is mis-categorized and I have to find it and fix it manually.

Browse by Manufacturer

• Dell
  ....
  Browse by Processor
• Core Duo
  ....
  Browse by type
• Desktop
  ....
  Browse by Price
• under $100
• $100-$500
• $500-$1000
  ....

Thanks!

Eric

Yep, I'm looking for same. Did anyone try this yet?

Product Filter by Attribute and price range:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=760

..seems to do the job. Has anyone used it, any experiences?
Thanks

I've found some other posts on this topic, and the response is create a category e.g. "under $25" and manually sort products into the new category. What I've never seen is any discourse on WHY. Clearly this is not ideal. Is this on the development path?

My guess as to why this is the way it is is because price is rather messy. The sql for finding an item in a category is trivial (and fast), calculating price is a calculation not a simple select and would be slow if occurred live on the site. Still there is clearly a business need here. seems like a batch job that calculates everything could be done and then you could push products via easy populate.

I'll be curious to see what the submission mentioned above does.

Hi Likewater

Did you have any joy finding the contribution you wanted? I'm looking for similar but to no avail so far

cheers

Try using Quick Price Search...older contributions,
download section i.e.
http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_contributions/other/
Tested, works in Zencart 1.37*/1.38*

Hi Misty,

Thanks for replying so quick. I;ve actually tried that one. It only seems to give you the option of either adding price ranges into the search sidebox - which is ok but I don't use the search sidebox and don't really want to, I'd rather just add the price ranges as categories in the category sidebox.

Or it allows you to add a completely new sidebox which kinda is the same problem as before. Unless I've got it totally wrong.

Have you any ideas how I can add price ranges as categories in the category sidebox, or even a way I could modify the mod to make that happen?

I've happy enough going into the code but I'm not great at figuring out what the code is doing. Do you think i'd be able to do it?

cheers

barricades:

Hi Misty,

Thanks for replying so quick. I;ve actually tried that one. It only seems to give you the option of either adding price ranges into the search sidebox - which is ok but I don't use the search sidebox and don't really want to, I'd rather just add the price ranges as categories in the category sidebox.

Or it allows you to add a completely new sidebox which kinda is the same problem as before. Unless I've got it totally wrong.

Have you any ideas how I can add price ranges as categories in the category sidebox, or even a way I could modify the mod to make that happen?

I've happy enough going into the code but I'm not great at figuring out what the code is doing. Do you think i'd be able to do it?

cheers

Exactly. I don't want a sidebox either. An option in the "Sort by" dropdown on the category page should suffice.

Anyone got a solution to this?

I think this is an essential browse technique. Looking at any top sites invariably you have browse by product category, brand and price probably in that order. I assume the issue, and the reason it is not a core feature in Zen Cart is that it does not fit well with the data model. Where category is a simple is it in this category question - a single simple query. Price is a calculation where all the specials need to taken into account. Everyone I know who does this has a batch job sweep through the database (typically 1/day, but available on demand as well) that calculates price for the sake of categorization and then price can be used as an attribute just like categories.

WHAT I DID:
My "solution" was to create brand categories, then download everything to spreadsheets using easy populate. Do the price calculation manually, offline on the spreadsheet, then upload all the products into the price category buckets. The issues with this approach are that as soon as a given special runs out, you have to go through and fix the price categorization. So its fickle, error-prone and manual - the triple threat, but at least I have my browse by price.

I had a go at what you suggested. Downloading the catalogue into easy pop then sorting the products by price, then copying and pasting the products in each price range below and changing their category to (for example) £0-£4.99 (see here https://www.traditionalirishgifts.com) This effectively creates linked products which appear in my price range categories

The problem is that i would like the products in each price band to appear in order of cost, from the cheapest to the most expensive. However, I use sort in the ordinary categories which is duplicated when I copy and paste in easy pop. This results in a higgelty piggelty prices in each range.

Obviously I could create brand new product id's for each product therefore creating copies rather than just having linked products but that means any changes to the product have to be made twice.

Is there anyway to have the sort order different for linked products which appear in more than 1 category?

Also, I don't use the search sidebox (tho I think I will from now on) but it has an option to search according to a price range that the user specifies. It would be easier, rather than using easy pop, to have a simple hyperlink to the result of your preferred price range search in the categories box. For example, if I wanted a price range of £0-£4.99 as a category I would do a search on my site for that price range and I would be directed to the page http://www.traditionalirishgifts.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&keyword=keywords&search_in_description=1&categories_id=&inc_subcat=1&manufacturers_id=&pfrom=0&pto=4.99&dfrom=&dto=&x=23&y=22

I would like to have a link in my categories box pointing to that url. Is this possible and does anyone know how/where I need to add the link in the code?

Cheers

Nudge nudge

Can anyone help me with this?

Cheers

I ran into a similar problem with sort order and price categories. i.e.
in the "main" category you want one particular ordering (so you set the sort order accordingly)

But in those same products appear in the price category and should have a different sort order. Bottom line, I just lived with it. This is one of the many way that makes this workaround fragile and not very satisfactory in the long term.

misty:

Try using Quick Price Search...older contributions,
download section i.e.
http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_contributions/other/
Tested, works in Zencart 1.37*/1.38*

Thanks Misty, I would never have found this! :smile:

Thanks,this was something i was looking for.