stock control does not work for attributes?

[gabrielcrowe]

we use alternative stock control mechanisms, so this does not apply directly to us, but developing Actinet, i have encountered this behaviour and find it to be flawed.

perhaps its been discussed before, i did do a brief search.

add a product, then add a attrib/choice set.

lets assume its clothing. lots of sizes. they change daily.

now enable stock and set it to how many you ahve in stock.

now find the choice for your size to tell actinic how many you have in of that size and...

...no options?


so... therefore, if i have 10 in stock. with that item having 2 sizes. small and large. if i have 5 of each in stock. actinic lets the customer order 10 large online, for there is no distinction between small and large?

this is fundamentally wrong. is this how it actually works? or am i missing something?

comments actinic towers?

[TraceyHand]

ok..attempt two...lol
I was reply to that when you deleted/moved it!

firstly...you need to set up the max qty orderable to match the stock level for EACH associated product (which, incidentally, Actinic doesn't automatically do or update but luckily Mole Ends stock control mole does )

then...you need to apply the patch posted somewhere on here (I'll find it in a sec) to make the MAIN product obey the min and max qty orderable for each of it's choices (associated products) because it doesn't do THIS automatically either

gimme a sec, I'll come back with the patch post

[leehack]

Long standing problem Gabe, you need to create hidden products for each instance and apply the stock control to these hidden products. You associate the choices to the hidden products then.

[gabrielcrowe]

oh foo. this wasnt what i wanted to hear

essentially, with 1,000 products, and at least 5 choices per product, this will take infinity time to set up.

[TraceyHand]

oh foo. this wasnt what i wanted to hear

essentially, with 1,000 products, and at least 5 choices per product, this will take infinity time to set up.

yep

[leehack]

Get something built Gabe you will make a killing.

[gabrielcrowe]

i'm brainstorming it as we speak.

[gabrielcrowe]

the only way i can think of, is to take stock control entirely out of actinic's hands.

a seperate application that can list all your products in a tree like actinic's and that adjusts the stock levels.

it maintains its own database, that it uploads to the web when you're done adjusting all the stock for all the attributes you have.

thee tricky part is intercepting the add to cart button online to check the stock from an online database. most likely in mysql.

sound like it might work?

[leehack]

First thing to solve is being able to add sizes and colours to a product without having to create hidden products to stock control them. Your product tree needs to list 'Jumper + Red + Size 12' as a product without having to set it up as so.

If you can't solve that, don't waste your time buddy, it won't sell enough to warrant the time developing, plus v9 will be out and quash it all.

[TraceyHand]

First thing to solve is being able to add sizes and colours to a product without having to create hidden products to stock control them. Your product tree needs to list 'Jumper + Red + Size 12' as a product without having to set it up as so.

If you can't solve that, don't waste your time buddy, it won't sell enough to warrant the time developing, plus v9 will be out and quash it all.

couldn't agree more, Lee
The current set up is pants. The ability to give properties such as stock levels and weights to choices/choice combinations, without the need to set up associated products, is something we've all harped on about for as long as I can remember.
It seems to fall on deaf ears
It's one of my "hot topics"

[BigRedKeith]

Hi Gabe,

Please excuse my impertinence, I have only been using Actinic V8 for 20 days so have no where near the level of experience the rest of you have, but this is exactly what I need the stock control system for. We sell, or will when I build the site, Health Supplements, each supplement can come in a range of sizes inc. 30’s, 60’s, 90’s, 180’s, 300’s and 360’s. after creating the att/choice for each product, over 600 individual products produced 2,400 variants.

I simply took the prod ref out of auto and created 2 product leaders, HS***** for each individual product. All these products were placed into a hidden folder and represented the stock and price control model. I then put an individual product name for each product with a ref leader of MP***** for the product that shows in the shop. This had the att/choice selector on it that pointed to the permutation in the hidden folder. It took its price, stock, tax and name line from the associated product, all set in the permutation grid.

The upload of the product list came from a simple flat file .csv that came from an excel file where each product had its appropriate section name set from a drop down menu and imported as an update.

Would that not do the job for you?
Keith

[gabrielcrowe]

First thing to solve is being able to add sizes and colours to a product

if i build every possible combination of size and colour and such for every product in an sql table, then let the user edit the available number in each row, then when the add to cart button is pressed the database narrows it down to that specific record, allowing/disallowing them an order.

this would remove the duplicate items and also remove actinic stock control from the equation entirely.

[gabrielcrowe]

its good idea keith. but i wanted a solution that requires the least possible modification to the online and desktop catalogs.

i see what your saying though, a good idea.

[leehack]

I agree also Gabe, this has to bolt on and use what actinic has, but not touch it. Move away from that and expect a reduced take up. Upgrades and system changes all need to pass by without bothering this add-on, must be seamless.

[gabrielcrowe]

Let The Coding Begin!!!

Wooooo!!!!!!!