creating 'mixed cases'

[zigzagad]

I'm working on a site selling wines, currently they sell by the case of 12, and also have pre-selected mixed cases available.

They would like the user to create their own mixed cases of 12, so that they have a product with 12 drop downs each listing the wines available.

I've searched for hours on here and I can't find a solution.

Is this possible?

I've tried creating hidden products for each of the bottles of wine, but I can't figure out how the components/atttributes/choices need to be configured.

[leehack]

Why would you search for hours, that's a little excessive, no need to search for so long before asking for advice. I don't think you'll find any great advice on here regarding solutions for this, but it's an interesting discussion point.

I'd approach it from a Multiple Products per Page (MPP) angle, using a Single Add To Cart (SATC) solution on the page. You'd then list the products so they showed in a grid type format, with a thumbnail if required along with a quantity box next to each option (example - http://www.hobuk.co.uk/acatalog/SDS_DRILL_BITS.html ). The customer could then select their quantities of each bottle and click on the SATC, which had some JavaScript checking that the purchased number was divisible by 12.

If you go down the permutations route you will just end up with 12 lists all containing the same options that do not change according to what you chose in the previous drop down, i'm not so sure that is intuitive.

You could also consider a product builder like this example - http://www.quantumelectronics.co.uk/...m_Builder.html

[zigzagad]

Why would you search for hours, that's a little excessive, no need to search for so long before asking for advice. I don't think you'll find any great advice on here regarding solutions for this, but it's an interesting discussion point.

Thanks Lee, I'm not in a position to give much back to the forum so I wanted to do as much research myself before asking help!

I'd approach it from a Multiple Products per Page (MPP) angle, using a Single Add To Cart (SATC) solution on the page. You'd then list the products so they showed in a grid type format, with a thumbnail if required along with a quantity box next to each option (example - http://www.hobuk.co.uk/acatalog/SDS_DRILL_BITS.html ). The customer could then select their quantities of each bottle and click on the SATC, which had some JavaScript checking that the purchased number was divisible by 12.

If you go down the permutations route you will just end up with 12 lists all containing the same options that do not change according to what you chose in the previous drop down, i'm not so sure that is intuitive.

You could also consider a product builder like this example - http://www.quantumelectronics.co.uk/...m_Builder.html

I think the permutation route does sound like what I want, why would anything need to change dependent on the previous selection? For example the customer could select the same wine for their first 5 selections, then different wines for the remaining 7, they don't need to be different for each selection.

In fact this was how I was trying to get it set up but not getting very far!

[malbro]

Thanks Lee, I'm not in a position to give much back to the forum so I wanted to do as much research myself before asking help!



I think the permutation route does sound like what I want, why would anything need to change dependent on the previous selection? For example the customer could select the same wine for their first 5 selections, then different wines for the remaining 7, they don't need to be different for each selection.

In fact this was how I was trying to get it set up but not getting very far!

But from a customer point of view why would I want to make that selection seven times far better to be able to enter the number of bottles for each item selected, much more intuitive.

[leehack]

Use the product options wizard, select a product and it is one of the menu/tabs to use. Follow that to completion, that will give you one drop down list for option 1, then copy paste it or repeat the operation for the next 11. You'll then have 12 drop down lists, customer chooses an option from each list.

If you're a customer and want 6 of your 12 bottles to be one type, would you prefer to select that name 6 times from 6 different drop down lists, or would you prefer to just type '6' into a quantity field?

[zigzagad]

If you're a customer and want 6 of your 12 bottles to be one type, would you prefer to select that name 6 times from 6 different drop down lists, or would you prefer to just type '6' into a quantity field?

I do know what you mean, but the other way means they have to keep track of how many bottles they've selected.

I'll have a play with setting up as you've suggested and see if I can get it working this time!

[malbro]

if you're a customer and want 6 of your 12 bottles to be one type, would you prefer to select that name 6 times from 6 different drop down lists, or would you prefer to just type '6' into a quantity field?

snap!!!

[leehack]

What's to stop you relaying how many they have chosen so far or how many more they need to choose, you could do an ongoing total relatively easy.

Using your theories, how will they know if they have selected something from all 12 drop down lists? surely as problematic as people with bad maths? If you have the add to cart check for a multiple of 12 or even better still only have it show once total is divisible by 12, i think you'd have a far better solution.

Remember a drop down list relays no info and provides no way of giving the customer further info on that choice, so unless they know all wines very well, again lacking some usability IMO.

[leehack]

snap!!!

LOL, designers unite on usability.

[Sean Williams]

LOL, designers unite on usability.

Quick - have them stuffed and mounted

[zigzagad]

better still only have it show once total is divisible by 12, i think you'd have a far better solution.

That sounds a very good, user friendly solution.

<headscratch>I've no idea how to go about it however!</headscratch>

[malbro]

That sounds a very good, user friendly solution.

<headscratch>I've no idea how to go about it however!</headscratch>

see post #2 above from Lee regarding setting it up as a multi product page, as for the javascript if it is not your bag you will need a programmer to code it for you, you can contact me by email if you need that help.

[NormanRouxel]

There are a few gotcha's if you use multiple products per page.

It's easy to add some JavaScript that interrogates all the Quantity fields and makes sure they sum to 12.

However this puts all the items in the cart as a simple list of individual wines, just as happens for your usual products.

There's nothing to show they're all meant to go in one box, nothing to differentiate them from the usual single wines that may already be in the Cart, and perhaps worse, nothing to stop the customer from tinkering with the quantities in the Cart before checking out.

It's possible to extend Actinic to do what you want and overcome these gotcha's but it's more difficult than simple JavaScript. I recently did a similar requirement for a seller of paper that wanted the customer to fill a selection box. Demo on http://www.drillpine.biz/v10pickandm.../Mega_Box.html

[zigzagad]

That looks fantastic Norman, ideal for what I need.

Unfortunately I don't have any budget, but if I can scrape some together I'll be in touch.

[zigzagad]

Right, I have this up and running using drop downs (sorry!), you can see this here:

http://www.twistedcider.co.uk/twiste..._Mix_Case.html

I've been asked to give a running total based on the users selection, I've found some javascript that can do this, but I don't know how to pull out the price from the dropdowns.

Would anybody like to quote me for writing the necessary script?