!! Please help !! Add new Properties to your Products

Hi, Im new here so hello everyone. Im also new to zen cart and web development so excuse me for maybe asking stupid questions.

I need to add new properties to my catalog, for example manufacturer and manufactures code.

I folowed this thread http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57924 and from what I can understand, its not advisable to edit/modify the main zen cart tables, but to rather use new tables.

I am sure there are many people who would really like to be able to implement this feature.

As per pensive612's request, could anyone please provide the following info as I could not really follow the other thread. (maybe it got hijacked and I lost the plot )

pensive612:

Thanks Chris! it worked perfect for me.

If you have a chance to respond,

Do you have any thoughts on:

separate tables instead,

easy populate,

and having these new fields included in the search fields!!

just a wishlist.

thanks again for your time in that step-by-step

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Original post by crazy_chris:

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

Anyone ???

Did you try the options under configuration> product listing.
You can show your manufacture and other info if you set the option to 1 instead of 0.

Or are you talking about something else????

I have v_manufacturers_name in my products database. I would like to add more information about the manufacturer for example:
Manufacturer Division
Manufacturer Description
Manufacturer Product Code (This is different from my product code and is needed for reference)

There already is a manufacturers_id in the products table that ties the products table to the manufacturers table ...

You could just add the additional fields to the manufacturers table and gather them when the rest of the manufacturers information is gathered ...

Or, are these new fields as unique as the products are?