Can't find article in new knowledge base

[PatchworkRabbit]

I'm about to start messing around with components and have seen reference to article:

Supplying Additional Items With A Product

but have googled it to no avail. I don't have my actinic laptop to hand, so can't search the help there.

It's not in either of the V9 basic or advanced user guides from the download centre.

Basically, I want to add "add ons" to my products which are items also held in the store that can be bought separately. It needs to control stock levels, if possible.

What I don't want to do is have to add these additional items to each product. I want to be able to reference existing products already in the shop.


So, I have a embroidery pattern that uses 5 threads. All 6 products are currently products in the shop. I want to reference the 5 threads, individually with check boxes, as add-ons to the pattern product, so they can choose which they want and add them to the cart as well. I do NOT want to have to add the threads as stand alone options because popular colours are requirements for hundreds of patterns.

Can it be done? And, if so, could you point me at the documentation for it?

Ta muchly, gurus!


p.s: you guys rock so much that I've included virtual hugs for you on my blog:

http://www.patchwork-rabbit.co.uk/blog/share-the-love/

It's near the bottom, but you're there

[TraceyHand]

have you tried the Actinic in-built help?
I'm fairly sure there is quite a bit of information about components etc

[Krithika]

Hi Karla

You can find detailed information on creating Product Options in the 'Starter Guide' (Pages 19-22). It is listed in the Help menu within the application. It can also be downloaded from our Support centre , or please use this direct link .
Additionally, if you run a search on the Knowledge Base forum using the term 'Component' or 'Product Option' , that will bring up quite a few articles as well.

Hope this helps.

Regards

[PatchworkRabbit]

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply, however, I have already tried the basic user guide and said that I don't have my actinic laptop available so can't check the built in help.


Thanks anyway.


Edit: just had a very helpful text from an Actinic pal and it seems what I'm looking for is "permutations". What the user guide doesn't make clear (unless I'm missing it) is how to use an existing product (not a hidden one generated by actinic).

[TraceyHand]

it makes no difference if the product you're linking to a component or permutation is an existing live product or an Actinic-generated hidden one.
It works the same way

[PatchworkRabbit]

Right, my point was that the basic documentation doesn't say how to link a live one, but, after some grasping about, I've found it now. I think we're speaking at cross purposes.

Thanks for your help in pointing me in the right direction

[PatchworkRabbit]

Right, I thought I'd found it. I've clearly been staring at the documentation so long that I don't see the answer


I've re-created my thread (sku: 1331) with 2 options, 5 yard - (1331-5y) and 1 yard (1331-1y) lengths and entered stock amounts so that it created two hidden products. (These are permutations, right? )

So now, I want to add a pattern that allows the user to choose this thread as an option, but I'd like the customer to choose which length they want. The thread is a component of the pattern and the lengths are permutations, is that right?



Then, on the layout tab, I selected:

Component Layout: Component Layout for Patterns (which is based on Component Layout with Selectable permutations)

Permutation Layout: Permutation Drop Down List

Retail Price Layout: Additional price in brackets



But, on the pattern product, the permutation drop down does not display for the thread.

In the layout, the line

<actinic:variable name="PermutationLayout" value="Permutation Drop Down List" />

is there. Am I just being thick? I think my earlier confusion is down to a lack of understanding of the vocabulary. I'm clearly missing something really simple, though, from reading other threads, permutations sounds like quite a frustrating area for most people.

Sorry to be so dense, but I could really use some help

[PatchworkRabbit]

Right, after 12 hours of trying, I think I've figured it out, though I have yet to test it and I have to say, the documentation and KB are hiding the instructions pretty well because this was not obvious, at all.


So, I still have my parent thread product with two hidden products (5yd, 1yd). Edit: create your own hidden products first then associate them manually as I think there's an issue with auto generated ones. e.g. I couldn't change the prices of them once they were created.

On my pattern, I did "add new option" and NOT "right click, add component" as I had before.

1. Add new option
2. Name of Option: length
3. Choices for length: 1 yd and 5 yd
4. Next
5. I filled in the price/stock grid
6. Ignore product price was greyed out, so I have to deal with this later.
7. Next
8. Check Include Prices and Hide Out of Stock Options
9. Next
10. Finish

It then prompted me for new SKUs for the hidden products for the pattern which I don't want. I'm creating threads, not the pattern, and I've already created my thread hidden products, so I cancel both.

11. I then click on the component (yellow), go to the permutations tab, tick valid for both 1yd and 5yd, find the product references in the product column for the associated product, change pricing column to "associated product"


Done.

The layout is wonky and I don't want the permutation drop down to have the "length" label against it so that needs doing, but, I have to say, that is a hugely complex and not at all obvious way of doing it.


Surely, a lovely wishlist item would be to have the option of adding a checkbox to the related items for a product (and showing its price?).


The documentation really needs revision. Page 22 of the basic user guide could really do with saying that not only can the prices be changed (as it clearly states) but also that the "pricing" column has other options and "product" column can be changed to reference the hidden products created previously (the threads). It also needs to say that prices will only be displayed on permutations which, in turn, must be manually created (they're not inherited from associated products with their own permutations as I'd originally assumed). I'd previously added a component which was just a link to the parent thread product assuming it would inherit the permutations.

A small extra blurb there could have saved me 12 hours of work and frustration. Hell, I'll even write it if you want me to.

It may seem obvious to people who know how to do it, but it really isn't. I'm sure it's frustrating to keep being asked the same questions, but, truly, people keep asking the questions because the documentation is crap and it's very frustrating to just be pointed back at the documentation you've already read LOL


Anyway, after all that, I suspect that's going to be too long winded a process (if that is, in fact, the fastest way) so I'll probably have to bin the idea completely, but at least I know how to do it now! LOL




Edit: It also seems that you can't change the price of the hidden products. You have to change the price in the permutation grid of the parent product. Kind of annoying, isn't it? You can't use "associated price" so what if you want to do a blanket update through ms access or something?

[PatchworkRabbit]

Other useful posts that I've only just found (why oh why didn't this come up yesterday! LOL )

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=32742
http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?p=295281