Custom Attribute System

[embsupafly]

Hello All,

 

I am in need of some assistance/direction on by passing the default method of adding product options and attributes in OSCommerce. The default way is a nice setup, but it is not feasible to use in the current cart that I am working on to add products.

 

What I want to do is not use the Product Option/Attribute system in OSCommerce, but use my own method, I know what I want to do, but I don't know 100% on how to make it work correctly.

 

Instead of using the built in Product Option/Attribute system in OSCommerce, I want to insert form SELECT tags with my own values into the description of each product, just like you would on a regular web page. I can do this, it works to add my own SELECT tag and option values in the html form object, but I need to get the selected value from the dropdown menu to pass its value (variable) to the remaining pages in the checkout procedure and have this value be added to a new column in the corresponding MySQL column so the option is stored to be referenced later. I think this will involve adding a column in the 'orders' table. My major confusion is how to get the variable to pass and display from the product page to all of the pages following it up until the order confirmation page and adding this to the SQL INSERT Statement for the record the order.

 

OSCommerces built in Product Option/Attribute system is not very efficient and is not easy to use when you have hundreds of options and hundreds of product attributes. It would be much easier to paste a SELECT form field with my product options into the description of the product. It should work ok because all of the attributes and options will not have a value assigned to them, so there is no manipulation of the product/order total.

 

Any assistance on what pages need to be changed and how to do so would be appreciated.

 

I think this would make a great project for a contribution, can I get any feedback?

 

Thanks in advance!

[dynamoeffects]

I just finished a mildly complex custom attribute system on one of my customer's sites, so I have an idea of what you're in for.

 

It doesn't matter if prices aren't attached, you'll still have to modify product_info.php, shopping_cart.php, checkout_confirmation.php, includes/classes/shopping_cart.php, includes/classes/order.php, includes/application_top.php, and probably a few others to correctly display your custom select menus and to add the attributes to all of the pages that display or process your cart.

 

It would be far easier to just take all of your attributes, turn them into MySQL insert statements, and plop them directly into the database.