How to use vmcustom specification plugin?

[aerdna]

Hi,

I'm very reluctant to post this question since I fear it could be a duplicate, but I've searched and found a lot about people doing hacks to the specification plugin php code, but not saying how to use it.  I apologize in advance if I'm posting a duplicate :-(

I'm using Joomla 3.6.0 with VM 3.0.16 and PHP 5.6.24

I'm just trying to figure out how to use the specification vm custom plugin and I'm not sure exactly what it does.  I've created a custom field and set it to Custom Field Type = plugins and set the "Additional Parameters" = VM Custom - Product Specification.  I've tried creating a group and put it in the group. I've tried creating custom field properties and adding it to the group, but it isn't doing anything useful. I am not able to add the specification custom field to my products in any scenario I've tried. It appears in the option list to add to my product under custom fields, but it does nothing if I select it. 

My goal is to be able to provide details about a product which do not affect the cart or price.  They would just be displayed somewhere on the details page and be searchable.  I could just create a bunch of custom field strings or properties but I'd like to know what the vmcustom specification plugin does and use it if it is more appropriate to do so.

Would someone point me to the docs or at least share some hints that could help me figure it out?

Thank you,
Andrea

[GJC Web Design]

I have never used it but a quick look at the code it seems to do just what you want .. add searchable custom fields

the plugin has functions like plgVmAddToSearch() and plgVmSelectSearchableCustom()  and creates its own Product Specification Table with 2 fields

$SQLfields = array(
       'id' => 'int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT',
       'virtuemart_product_id' => 'int(11) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL',
       'virtuemart_custom_id' => 'int(11) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL',
       'custom_specification_default1' => 'varchar(1024) NOT NULL DEFAULT \'\' ',
       'custom_specification_default2' => 'varchar(1024) NOT NULL DEFAULT \'\' '
      );

someone else must be able to provide more info as to how it is configured.. 

[PRO]

I am not able to add the specification custom field to my products in any scenario I've tried. It appears in the option list to add to my product under custom fields, but it does nothing if I select it. 

have you assigned it a "position" ?

[aerdna]

I've spent some time looking at the specification plugin some more and I don't see any way to add a "position" to a plug-in and can't find the usage info. There's so many other things I want/need to do still that I think I need to give up on this one.  I'm going to just use the custom fields and see if I can do a layout override for them.

Thank you

[aerdna]

It just donned on me what you meant by "position"....yes, I tried "normal" and "addtocart" (although I don't want it there if it did work).  It won't let me actually add the created custom field to any products.  It appears in the drop-down, but when I select it and save, nothing changes (even if I'd added other custom fields to the same product).

[PRO]

Have you filled in the specifications?

do you have the positions in your template?


Specification is really for standardized things like

Hard drive Size: 10
Ram: 32GB   

etc.

Is that what you are looking for, adding standardized parameters of a product?

You could always use the custom field "editor"
and create a bullet list for some things.

[aerdna]

Sorry for my delayed response. It was a long week at work and I don't get paid to do joomla and virtuemart stuff unfortunately.  I don't actually see any place to enter the specifications.  I create the custom field and try to add it to a product, expecting then I'll be able to add the specifications to the product somewhere, but nothing happens. It's like selecting the specification custom field in my product is a no-op.

I'm trying to have common product specs for jewelry/gemstones, so the info would be carat weight, species, variety, dimensions, etc. for basically all the products.

I'll take a look at the custom editor you mentioned and see if it makes sense to me.

Thanks

[PRO]

aerdna

YOU are right. I just looked at the plugin, and it looks like it was never updated to VM3

[aerdna]

Good to know! Thanks for looking in to that.

[Studio 42]

Hi all,
This was the first plugin attempt for VM 2 + text input and is very limited.
Specification plugin was never updated seens i'm not anymore in the team (or not many), it's the same as the stockable plugin, only text input plugin is most of time compatible with new release.
Regards