Changed custom field to cart variant and lost QTY option and add to cart

[Snostar]

I am using joomla 2.5 and virtuemart 2.0.  Since I can't control the drop down order of child products (or so I have read repeatedly on here).I opted to use the <cart variant> instead of <generic child variant>  When I do this my QTY box and "+" icon to add to the cart go missing.  This only happens using the <cart varient> option.  If I can't add to the cart I can't test to see how it comes up in an order. any idea what I am doing wrong?

Also, one real detriment I came across was not being able to enter a separate sku for each variant (that was a plus side of using generic child variant).  Is it possible to do that?

[GJC Web Design]

It is possible to order the child products with a small hack and an added function.. done it here -
http://www.gamesnapped.de/gamekeys/action/far-cry-3-preisvergleich

the 3 prices listed at the bottom are children reverse sorted by price

but the code has to be varied depending on what you want to sort by etc..

PM if your interested

Cheers