Admin Only Categories?

On our multivendor shop we want to “curate” product collections - basically create special selections of products to present for special events or holidays.



Currently our thinking would be to create special categories for these selections and then attach them to specific products of our vendors.



The problem seems to be that once you create a category all vendors can “see” it and can then add their products to this category whether we want them to or not.



Is there any way to make certain catgories invisible to vendors, but still visible to admin, and still callable in a category search?



Or are we trying to use the wrong tool to do the job

[quote name='janskor' timestamp='1398089021' post='182014']

On our multivendor shop we want to “curate” product collections - basically create special selections of products to present for special events or holidays.



Currently our thinking would be to create special categories for these selections and then attach them to specific products of our vendors.



The problem seems to be that once you create a category all vendors can “see” it and can then add their products to this category whether we want them to or not.



Is there any way to make certain catgories invisible to vendors, but still visible to admin, and still callable in a category search?



Or are we trying to use the wrong tool to do the job

[/quote]



Please check this article:



CS-Cart Documentation — CS-Cart 4.15.x documentation


[quote]

[color=#2A2929][font=Arial][size=5]Categories[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#333333][font=Arial][size=3]

List of categories in the common product catalog in which the vendor is allowed to create his products. If no categories are selected, the vendor will be able to create his products in all categories.[/size][/font][/color]



[color=#333333][font=Arial][size=3]Here you can add new categories with the [/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=Arial][size=3]Add Categories[/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=Arial][size=3] link or edit existing with the [/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=Arial][size=3]Edit[/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=Arial][size=3] link.[/size][/font][/color]

[/quote]



Hope that helps.

Thanks for the attention, but I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at?



I know how to create new categories, but there doesn't seem to be a way to create categories that are invisible to vendors.



Using a status of hidden, hides it from category menus, but still shows as visible to Vendors.

hello janskor,



eComLabs meant that on the vendor/company editing page there is the “Categories” tab where the administrator can specify available categories for every vendor individually, e.g. - Instant Demo - CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Demo Try Free for 15 days



However, this solution might not work for you because if you specify particular categories for a vendor, it will be impossible to assign other categories (in our case - collection categories) to products of this vendor.



So the requested feature can be achieved only by customization of CS-Cart functionality so if you are interested in it, please do not hesitate to contact our specialists



Best regards, Sergei

[quote name='janskor' timestamp='1398092085' post='182018']

Thanks for the attention, but I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at?



I know how to create new categories, but there doesn't seem to be a way to create categories that are invisible to vendors.



Using a status of hidden, hides it from category menus, but still shows as visible to Vendors.

[/quote]



Sorry if I was not quite clear. On the “Update vendor details” page in the admin panel you can specify categories in which the vendor is allowed to create new products. All categories are allowed by default. Thanks.

Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree.



Can anyone suggest a way of the site's admin presenting a selection of vendors products? Clearly it can't be done via categories…



best regards!

hi janskor,


Can anyone suggest a way of the site's admin presenting a selection of vendors products? Clearly it can't be done via categories…



You can try to use the following trick:


  1. Create a static page per every collection - Instant Demo - CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Demo Try Free for 15 days
  2. In the block manager create product block of the “Manually” filling type on the “Pages” tab - Instant Demo - CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Demo Try Free for 15 days

    NOTE: In order that this block is not displayed for non-collection pages, you should not specify any product on this step.
  3. Open the “Blocks” tab of editing page for static page (collection page), e.g. Instant Demo - CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Demo Try Free for 15 days

    On this tab you will see your products block (set on step #2) and will be able to assign any products to it.



    This solution has one disadvantage - absence of pagination



    I hope this trick helps.



    Best regards, Sergei

Hey Sergei - that's great!



It's not real pretty, but it at least gives us a way to do it. Our collections are small, so pagination is not an issue!



thanks!