Hi Simon, On 22/09/2009, at 8:05 PM, Simon Hutchinson wrote:
Thanks Scott, This is looking like a possible approach.It will certainly work from the perspective of our eCommerce application for search and display on the product detail page.However I am still a little unsure from a back-office perspective.The data model does not allow me to create ProductTypeAttr without a ProductAttribute due to PK constraint.
Do you mean without a ProductType? There's no PK constraint related to ProductAttribute. But yes you would need to create a ProductType first but tying the attributes to a ProductType is sort of the point.
I cannot create the ProductAttribute without a Product again due to a PK constraint.
That's correct but ProductTypeAttr should fill this need.
I hoped form your post that I would be able to link ProductAttributes (without being associated to an existing Product) to specific ProductTypes with the with the link between Product and ProductAttributes being created at the time that the Product is added.
That's correct, you'd need to add the logic yourself though.
I can think of some ways of achieving this but it will involve more customisation of the catalog app then I would like to undertake (unless absolutely essential). Am I missing something obvious here?
It's not uncommon to need to customize the various apps, the best way to do so is to extend applications using a separate hot-deploy app. You shouldn't need to change too much to support this though.
To summarise, this solution is great from the ecommerce perspective and would do exactly what I want. Is there a way of making this approach easier to administer from the back-office? Ideally, when a user is working in the catalog application and they create a product of type "My Product" then I would like the attribute fields to be presented (name, type), ready to be filled in with values if required. i.e Without the user needing to have prior knowledge of attribute name and type.
The approach I described should work fine. To summarize:Add a UI for defining ProductTypes and adding attributes to them (I don't think this is present OOTB) Add some logic to automatically create the ProductAttributes when a Product is created
That's really about all there is to it. Regards Scott
Thanks Simon On 21 Sep 2009, at 23:55, Scott Gray wrote:Attributes could still be a decent fit, you could create new ProductTypes that are children of FINISHED_GOOD and tie the attributes to the ProductType via ProductTypeAttr. You could then customize the Product UI to display the attributes depending on the ProductType selected. If I'm not wrong ProductKeywords are generated from ProductAtrributes for they automatically be included in search results whereas you would have to customize the keyword generation for any new Product fields.Regards Scott HotWax Media http://www.hotwaxmedia.com On 22/09/2009, at 10:41 AM, Jacques Le Roux wrote:In this case I would extend the Product entity, using (filling) this field uniquely when necessaryJacques From: "Simon Hutchinson" <simon.hutchin...@ixxus.co.uk>Hi Jacques, Thanks for the reply.I don't know if attributes are the right solution or if I am missing something.If for example I have two types of products. 1. Books 2. CarsThese will share some product properties that are currently defined e.g size, weight, description etc .... If I want to add something specific to books e.g numberOfPages then are attributes the correct choice? This will involve the user entering the data to know the name and type of the attribute to enter as free text which seems error- prone. I can see how attributes would be useful for adding ad-hoc information to specific instances of product but this doesn't seem to be a good solution for adding "Product Type" specific information that I might need to search on for example. Would you still advise that I use attributes based on this information or should I be looking elsewhere?Kind regards Simon On 20 Sep 2009, at 17:05, Jacques Le Roux wrote:You may use an Attribute (see Attributes tab for a specific product)Jacques From: "Simon Hutchinson" <simon.hutchin...@ixxus.co.uk>Hi all,One of the items that our store is going to sell are publications. I want to know the best way to add a new "date published" property for products that are created in the "publications" category. I have looked into extending the Product entity but this solution makes a product too specific. I have researched features but can see how I can add a free entry feature of a date type. If anyone could point me in the right direction as to how best to assign specific properties to products of a certain type that would be great.Kind Regards Simon Hutchinsont: +44 (0)20 7033 2333 m: +44 (0)7595 020569 f: +44 (0)20 7033 2330 a: Ixxus Limited, Holywell Centre, 1 Phipp Street, London, EC2A 4PSUnited Kingdom. www.ixxus.com <http://www.ixxus.com/>This message should be regarded as confidential. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and destroy it immediately. Statements of intent shall only become binding when confirmed in hardcopy by an authorised signatory.Kind Regards Simon Hutchinsont: +44 (0)20 7033 2333 m: +44 (0)7595 020569 f: +44 (0)20 7033 2330 a: Ixxus Limited, Holywell Centre, 1 Phipp Street, London, EC2A 4PSUnited Kingdom. www.ixxus.com <http://www.ixxus.com/>This message should be regarded as confidential. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and destroy it immediately. Statements of intent shall only become binding when confirmed in hardcopy by an authorised signatory.Kind Regards Simon Hutchinson t: +44 (0)20 7033 2333 m: +44 (0)7595 020569 f: +44 (0)20 7033 2330 a: Ixxus Limited, Holywell Centre, 1 Phipp Street, London, EC2A 4PS United Kingdom. www.ixxus.com <http://www.ixxus.com/> This message should be regarded as confidential. If you have receivedthis email in error please notify the sender and destroy it immediately.Statements of intent shall only become binding when confirmed in hard copy by an authorised signatory.
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