Products in Data Grid - Product Pages Eliminated

Store Builder Questions
1

When I first started using CS-Cart I had never used anything like this before.

It was my first online store in other words. I immediately ran into problems as soon as I started breaking out the products into categories.



In my case, we are an industrial reseller, we sell industrial equipment that is so specific in some cases you’d almost have 6 layers of categories to deal with for one product. On top of that, the category pages were a bit limited in version one in regards to how I and my employer had envisioned the layout. In addition, we would have 23 versions of the same jack that just kinda changed height and weight and function yet looked almost identical - I really just wanted a category page that went to a secondary page that had ALL of the products on it.



What I ended up doing is basically eliminating the product pages, works for us but not for most. However, if you find yourself in this situation, here you go. I’ll document what I did.



Some side effects include - no active search function on version 1, actually a lot of the things that a regular retail store would value I stripped out - I included all of the extra features in version 2. Like I said it was my first store and those things were distracting. We intended to lead them straight to the product through the process of elimination.



Here’s the typical layout for a store on the category page.







Below is my version 1 stores category layout:







Here is my version 2 category layout:







And lastly the product layout - a table with add to cart buttons running down the right column:







My biggest problem initially was getting the add to cart buttons to work, in version one it was simply hide the product list at the bottom and apply [quote]index.php?target=cart[/quote] to the button.



Version 2 was easier I just had to hide a div I encapsulated the product list with and surround the add to cart button in the table with the form tag needed to make the button work and to keep the auto update working for the cart display on each page.


[quote]














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I intend to go back through rigging.com and make the same change to the product list by hiding it in a div as opposed to the way I originally did it which was simply commenting it out - like I said I'm not really a programmer - it worked for the time being and it was my first store I had ever made.

Not sure how this will help anyone, but i couldn't find much on it when I started working on it.
2

What I understand you want parent - child configuration with multiple cart selection.

unfortunately it is missing feature in the cs-cart which I would love to see in the cs-cart.

In the Virtuemart cart , they have this feature but I gave up the Virtuemart as

it does not a configurator . We should probably put it in the future request of the

bugtracker.

3

Well, not sure if it should be a regular feature as opposed to a different product all together.



If you’re a straight retailer the original interface setup is pretty much the evolution of the modern online store. You probably want to stick to that format even if altered a bit for your own design satisfaction.



My setup mainly applies to industrial resellers whose products have upwards of 20 specific and important specifications it must meet to properly pull off a rigging job where your employees lives are in danger if you get the wrong product. The product configurator is nice but switching from tab to tab drains interest from the user and makes them have to look for information, my goal is just to be able to provide all of the product information for all of the same type products all at once.



In addition I like the idea of just dropping a shopping cart object anywhere you want on any page and configure it to do what it’s supposed to do irregardless of the preset template.



*oops - irregardless is a double negative, let’s say regardless.

4

Yes, what you are looking forward is not something so special although not a standard setup. You display modification limits you to your all products.

In the virtue mart, this arrangement for each product much better managed by “product display options” (product features can set up horizantally with header) .

Virtuemart product display options are as follows and why not for cs-cart as well

Display options

Override Child products Display Values and use parents

Display Child Description

Child Description Width

Child Attribute Width

Child Class Suffix

Use List box for child

One Add to Cart Button

Add to Cart Button for each Child

Add to Cart Button for each Child

Link to child product from list

Include Product Type With Child

Standard Quantity Box

Hide Quantity Box

Use Dropdown Box

Use Check Box

Use Radio Box