product group section

[jay cee]

Hi

Is there a way of having a section populated by the items of a set product group?

I.e if I setup a group call 50% off and assigned items in the product group section then assign this group to a 50% off discount in discount & surcharges.
As this would make maintain a special offer page a lot easier.

Regards
Jaycee

[leehack]

This is possible yes, you could run a block on the product list and filter it by the ID number of the said product group. The number of products you have would be a clincher, if too many, it might grind to a halt.

[jay cee]

Thanks for the advise
I have setup a page call special offers added some items to my product group and created a new productlist with a block around it as below

<actinic:variable name="ProductGroupID" /> != 1

but this is not working, have I made a silly mistake?

http://www.farmerschoice.co.uk/acata...al_Offers.html

[leehack]

You need to run a block on productlist with a blockif limiting it to the relevant group (wrapped around the product layout selector). I'd do this on my own product list layout, ensuring that i have provided a product layout for it to use on any that meet the criteria.

[jay cee]

I,m still a little bit confused i thought that is what I had done?

I created a new product list layout and assigned it to the section, as well as a new product layout

then I added the blockif code around the product layout as below

<actinic:block if="<actinic:variable name="ProductGroupID" /> != 1">
<actinic:variable name="ProductLayout" />
</actinic:block>

Sorry, if I'm being a bit dum just upgraded from v7 and getting myself around the new layout in v9.

[leehack]

As it's a number, it doesn't need to be in quotes, but if it did it would need them either side, not just at the end. Have you confirmed the group IDs, your condition is running on anything not equal to one, is that what you want?

[NormanRouxel]

If in doubt, temporarily display the variable so you can see what's going on.

Group:<actinic:variable name="ProductGroupID" />

Anyway, you may be using the wrong variable. ProductGroupId is intended for use on the Cart pages and gives an error when I try it on product pages or product lists.

Use GroupID instead, which returns a number (and -1 if not in any group). And also use the Actinic UI to create your Conditions. You can't easily type them in:

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22GroupID%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%201" >
	<actinic:variable name="ProductLayout" />
</actinic:block>

[jay cee]

Thanks for all the help so far but, I must still be missing a trick
as I placed norman code in my productlist and this is still not working so I tried as suggestion to temp show the GroupId but it doesn't show I have placed this also in the productlist as everywhere else I tried returned and error ie (main product layout & overall page layout).

ProductGroupID:<actinic:variable name="ProductGroupID" /> <BR>
GroupID:<actinic:variable name="GroupID" /> <BR>

[leehack]

Just add the variable "GroupID" into your product layout, NOT 'ProductGroupID'. I did this myself just a few days ago, it works fine i assure you. Perhaps you should try selecting it from the variable insert list, no confusion or mistakes possible then as long as you select the correct one.

[jay cee]

I understand what you are saying and your right this does work as long as you add products to that section, But maybe my first question was unclear?

I would like a section that automatic populates its self with items from a product group, like the bestsellers/new item sections.
I don't want to have to add all items to a section then filter out the groupid.
Is this possible?

[NormanRouxel]

I would like a section that automatic populates its self with items from a product group

This would require tricky database manipulation, automatically making duplicates of such products. Way too risky.

Here's how I'd do it. By making a special Section that contains a tweaked Fragment, the Fragment layout instead of displaying the Fragment details, contains code that loops through all Sections / Products and displays the relevant ones.

Create a Section, put one dummy Fragment in it. Create a custom Fragment Layout (copy an existing one). Use this layout for the dummy Fragment.

Now edit said layout and replace all code with:

<actinic:block type="EntireSectionList">
	<actinic:block type="ProductList">
		<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22GroupID%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%201" >
			<actinic:variable name="ProductLayout" />
			<br clear="all">
		</actinic:block>
	</actinic:block>
</actinic:block>

Where the code above displays only those products with GroupID of 1,

[leehack]

Nothing unclear this end, you have a product group and whatever products are in that group you want to be auto added into a special offers section. To do that first of all you need to have the product list add all products into the section in question, you then limit the list by using the groupID as a qualifier for that product to be shown within that section.

You are doing the temporary adding of the group id to simply find out the number of the group in question, that is it. Remove it immediately after and then use that number within a blockif to filter the list as illustrated earlier in the thread.

[NormanRouxel]

Just tested my code #11 above. It works fine and (using the Actinic Demo site data) it displays just the Books products as they are all in Product Group 1.

Also added a <br clear="all"> to separate the product layouts.

[jay cee]

Thank you both for your help.

Norman it worked first time well done.

Don't you think it would be a good idea to have a option to create sections from product groups in v10 or even v11 and even the option to assign all items in the group a set product layout?