Sanity checking - attribute, option and value

[thewitt]

I have installed a product attribute modification, so it's possible that my mod has broken things, but I found the following to be true and was wondering about it so I thougt I would ask.

 

If I define a Product Option, then Values for this Option, there is no checking when assigning Option Values to a Product in an Attribute. Is this desired? Safe? Did my add-on break something?

 

Let me give you an example.

 

If I have two different product options with overlapping values like this:

 

Product Option: Model

Option Values: Mens, Womens, 15 degree, 30 degree

 

Product Option: Style

Option Values: Mens, Womens

 

I can add the following attribute to my product:

 

Product A

Option Style

Value 30 degree

 

Should this be allowed? Shouldn't there be some sort of error checking so that I cannot add values for a given option that were not defined for that option? Did my add-on break this or is this the way OSC works?

 

Does the duplicate Values "Mens" and "Womens" cause any confusion? What about in the DELETE logic for an Option - since there are duplicates.

 

Thanks for any insights.

 

-t

[thewitt]

The more I look at the handling of product options, the more frustrated I become.

 

Is there any sort of effort to address the shortcomings - or perhaps I should call them missing features - of the product options system?

 

I see lots of questions in the forums on how to make options more powerful, but it seems to me that there are schema changes required, and some significant feature consideration needed if the product options system is going to be replaced in a wholesale manner.

 

The mechanism used to simply assign options today is cumbersome to say the least. Any plans to open up a sticky topic on product options to guide development for a future version?

 

Thanks,

 

-t