Child Products and Custom Fields

[kaybee57]

Woo hoo!! Lots of experimentation and I have finally managed to break through my hurdle of implementing issues relating to Child Products and Custom Fields in Vm 2.0.6 and Joomla 2.5.6.
I am a relative newbie to Joomla but have done lots of work in Drupal so have learnt that trial and error is the only way to learn and get things working, hence this post.
The following items were written down by me as I worked on my own products - the basis of setting things up here works well so I hope this helps others along the way. If you find some glitches along the way or improvements to this, pelase let me know and I will edit this post.
I apologise if there are mistakes (that may have worked for me but not you...). I have created a Numbered list so you will know what 'number' you are up to, not which dot point!
FIRST - CREATE CUSTOM FIELDS for SIZE, COLOUR VARIATION ETC. Think of all those fields your product/s may or may not have - your size field as per this example can have a full list of all sort eg xs, s, 6, 8, 10, 12-14, one size, 22 etc.... - Each of your Child products you will be able to select which sizes are for that product only)

• Under Products (not under a parent product), Select "Custom Fields"
• Select "New" and a Custom Field Type of "Plug-In"
• Enter a Title as eg "Please Select a Size" (This will show above your options when displaying)
• Change Cart Attribute to "Yes"
• Select "select a Plug-In" as "VM - Custom, Stockable Variants"
• Option Name: "Sizes Available" - will show as well as the "Please Select a Size" words above - this field DOES need to be entered or variants will not show through - then list all your various options you want to make available to this variant
• NOW CREATE A PRODUCT
• Create a Product as the PArent to show on all displays - enter the Manufacturer (if lists created), and Categories (if already created)
• Set the Cost Price as the main product price
• Tab to "Product Description and Enter details
• Tab to "Product Status" and enter number of items (total including all sizes) in stock
• Tab to "Product Image", scroll to the bottom and input one only image - do not use a GIF as the thumbnails are 'dodgy". Thumbnails will be automatically created.
• Tab to "Custom Fields" and select your Size Item under "Custom Field Type"
• At this point, click SAVE
• If you want to add another image, you can now repeat the image process and a new thumbnail will be produced - need to save after every image is input
• Tab back to "Product Information", scroll down and click "Add a Child Product" - fastest method is to click as many times as the number of options you have i.e. click "Add a Child Product" click "Add a Child Product" click "Add a Child Product"
• Now change the Product Child Name on each line - eg T-Shirt XS, T-Shirt S, T-Shirt M etc
• If you enter all these then find you need to add another, click "Save" first, otherwise your hard work needs to be repeated!
• Now, go back to Custom Fields, and reset your sizes (nothing else for now) - click Save again when done
• Okay - nearly there - your options will not yet be showing through as you MUST have some stock available
• Go to "Products" - and click Inventory - you can see that the number of items for each child product is the same as the main product - but not true - you need to click into each product and give it a stock level so it shows through in your variable options
  
• Your Main 'parent' product must have a stock level to enable the "Add to Cart" to function
• To add a new size to your parent product - it's tricky but, Add a Child Product and change it's name, Go to Custom Fields, pick the right one and change the size info available, THEN, go to your inventory list and correct the stock level (will show as the main parent count but will NOT show in your display until you fix this)

Now say to yourself "How come this is all so complicated?" - Who knows! But I hope this breakdown helps others in need...

Other points to note

• Do not give Child Products a Category or Manufacturer otherwise multiple images will appear in your displays
• To give Child Products a different Price - pull up the Parent Product, go to Custom Fields and add on the additional amount to be added to the main parent product eg Parent product = $81.50 - make your additional amount $15.00 - That Size variation will now show as $96.50 when selected in a display.
• Drop down variants not showing in Display? Make sure under Configuration / Shop / Use only as Catalogue is NOT ticked

[HospitalityGear.com]

Thanks for this post, it was really helpful.  However, I might want to add that in order for the change in price to display, I had to add the text to the title of each child product.  ie. instead of a child product being named "Red" I had to name it "Red +$5.00".  The sales price displayed would change when I chose a selection with a price variance.  But without changing the title/name of each child product, the drop down list would not display the additional charge for the child. 

[kaybee57]

Should be able to just go to Product/Select PARENT Product / Custom Fields (for that Parent product), and eg add 5 to the "Additional Charge" field - will show through then when a customer selects that particular variation.
(Well mine works that way  )

[HospitalityGear.com]

I was referring to the price displaying inside the drop down list.  The sales price would update just fine.  But the customer had no way to know the amount of additional charge before making a selection.

[kaybee57]

Figured that after I re-read your post and yes, you are correct - if a customer needs to see the variation, what you have said does need to be entered.

[lindapowers]

So there is no way to show the price in the dropdown list even im vm3?

I see a setting which says show price in the generic child variants but cant be saved.

[Only82]

So there is no way to show the price in the dropdown list even im vm3?

I see a setting which says show price in the generic child variants but cant be saved.

I have the same problem - can't save "show price" in the generic child variants.
Does anyone have any solution?

[lindapowers]

In case that fails you can do it the nasty way directly in the database

http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=128758.0 check last image