component permutation problem

[webmaster]

I have a site where im selling pet food etc. I have tin of dog food as an example

product>
size>
12.5kg
2.5kg
dog>
puppy
adult
flavour>
beef
chicken

now one or two of these options will be invalid which i have specified with the valid check box......but how is the customer supposed to know which option is invalid.....are they supposed to just keep trying till they get the right one......so what i mean is how do they know whether its the flavour they cant chose or the size etc.....its going to get very frustrating if they dont know which they cant have?

[Mike Hughes]

I can see your problem and wouldn't do it that way. If you can't offer all the different permutations then you need a different approach.

In this case I would use a description and picture followed by single line product layouts for each so that the page layout was something like:

Title

Picture and Description

Puppy dog Food:

Beef 2.5Kg 'Buy Now'
Beef 10.0Kg 'Buy Now'
Chicken 2.5Kg 'Buy Now'
Chicken 10.0Kg 'Buy Now

Adult Dog Food:
Beef 2.5Kg 'Buy Now'
Beef 10.0Kg 'Buy Now'
Chicken 2.5Kg 'Buy Now'
Chicken 10.0Kg 'Buy Now'

Or you could use the above with a drop down for the 'weight' option to reduce the space needed.

Mike

[webmaster]

my problem is there are nearly 10,000 prods in all...with different flavours/sizes and dogs/cats/fish.....im sure you get it ;0)....and every 1 needs a unique reference so each permutation i have linked to the associated product.

maybe my attached pic is the way to go?

[Mike Hughes]

Yes. That would work. I believe the selection box can either be a tick box or a quantity box if people are likely to buy more than one of each.

This way would also avoid the need for associated products as each line would be the actual product.

For a large number of products like that I would definitely look at linking to (or importing from) an external spreadsheet.

Mike

[webmaster]

yeah think thats the route i'll go down...i was basically trying to achieve something similar to this http://www.feedem.co.uk/dog-2/dog-food-18/bakers-21/bakers-complete-adult-dog-3527.htm

they have created dynamic pricing also by having every product in its own page/section and the drop box links to it.

the database issue....yeah i have it in excell sheet....but the format is quite different and also i haven't even been supplied with the pics yet so they are gonna have to be done sepperately:( ....and ALSO they dont even sell all the products...they want me add them all and then they are going to delete the ones they dont sell....kind of backwards and i dont think they realise the work ill have to do...but anyway....thanks for the advice.