X-Cart forums

[ADDISON]

Hi Guys,

A few questions:

1. I need to use tabs in products page. What is the best mod to use? Commercial or free? More intrested in creating an unlimited number of tabs. Not always I have the same data in product page.

2. In one tab I need to insert a form and give the customer the chance to ask me about the product. Could anyone help me with a solution for this?

3. I need to group in one tab, all thumbnails of that product. When click on them to zoom in using highslide or other script (lightbox, thickbox, etc.). Could you help?

4. How can I control the inventory for a product with sizes and colors? In some case not all color/sizes are available. Some shopping carts are using Parent/Childs option to control the inventory. In X-Cart I cannot create one product for every combinatios of size and color . Any idea?

Cheers!

[carpeperdiem]

for #1 & #2 - PhilJ's Ultimate Tabbed Product Menu Will get you there for US$29

For #3 - I'm sure Phil has a solution...

For #4 - keep doing your homework on VARIANTS.

In X-Cart I cannot create one product for every combinatios of size and color

This is the point of variants. Let's say you have a product in 7 colors and 5 sizes... 35 skus - but you will only have one product. BUT each variant can have its own image and with tabs and some code, Variants will get you there...

[ADDISON]

Thanks.

What are VARIANTS? Never heard of them, sorry!

[intel352]

X-Cart has Product Options. Product Options have an advanced functionality, called Product Variants.

Product Options allow you to have dropdowns of color, size, etc. If you need to track inventory levels, skus, etc, for each combination of color, size, etc, you can establish Variants which allow you to store/track that information. You can also specify incompatible options as needed.

http://www.x-cart.com/xcart_manual/online/?product_options.htm

[ADDISON]

Thanks Jon, I will take a look over the manual.

[ADDISON]

If you used Product Options module before, could you please let me know if this gives you control over the quantities of every combinations of size/color?

Keeping Inventory Tracking enable, can the software find what is available or not in all combination?

Thanks

[intel352]

is each size/color a different sku?

Product Options works as Groups of options. Those options can be a Text Box (text entry by customer), Modifier (just a dropdown per group for color, size, whatever you enter, that can change price or have no effect on price), and Variant (manages it's own stock level, has own sku, own image, etc)

You can add multiple Product Option groups. If you add a variant group of Colors, and a variant group of Sizes, X-Cart will automatically pair up all of those colors and sizes into 1 Variant per combo

Ex:
Sizes - XS,S,M,L,XL (group specified as Variant)
Colors - Black,White,Blue (group specified as Variant)

Resulting Variants:
Black - XS
Black - S
Black - M
Black - L
Black - XL
White - XS
White - S
... etc etc


And that will track qtys & sku for each combo in the admin. The customer will see only 1 dropdown, showing "Black - XS", etc.

Alternatively, if you only need to track Color qty, but not Size necessarily:

Ex:
Sizes - XS,S,M,L,XL (group specified as Modifier)
Colors - Black,White,Blue (group specified as Variant)

Then your variants in the admin would only be the Colors group. The customer would see 2 dropdowns, one for Colors, one for Sizes, and any purchases would only affect Color's inventory of course.

[Asiaplay]

am2003,

The quantity in stock for each "Variant" is stored for each combination (so yes, this can be tracked and updated for each combination / variant).

If you open a product for which you have ALREADY set up variants for you will see in the header choices "Product Variants" - click on that and you will be able to change the stock level for each product variant (each combination).
Basically the "Product Variants" option appears as soon as you have added "Product Options" for a product - so is two step process for each product (set up Product Options, then open Product Variants to change stock level and if wanted allocated product photo for each variant / combination).

By default X-Cart adds a number to the end of your SKU when you add variants
e.g. Original SKU for product is SS1234 (you can manually edit these to use the SKU number you want for each variant - but there can not be duplicates).
SS1234-1 Black - XS
SS1234-2 Black - S
SS1234-3 Black - M
SS1234-4 Black - L
SS1234-5 Black - XL
SS1234-6 White - XS
SS1234-7 White - S

So clarifying for a product with variants - the STOCK level is updated in the "Product Variants" area and not in "products" where a stock level is normally undated if the product does not have variants - there is a warning which shows up for the stock level when you open a product actually (so you will see this).

Note that you can also import these via CSV "Product_Variants" - see import / export CSV manual if you ever choose to do that (is pdf manual which can be found by searching for "import export guide" here in the forums).
Easiest way is to set up one product manually and then do an export of your "Products" and also "Product Options" and "Product Variants" in X-Cart Admin. (best to do these as 3 separate exports - as it is much faster and easier to import as 3 separate imports if you choose to do that later).

Hope additional comments make this clearer for you - cheers, Asiaplay

PS: you can also have a different photo for each variant - so when a person changes from white to say red - then they get to see the red product photo.

[ADDISON]

Great Guys,

Your support helpt me a lot. Thanks you all!

[GeeCee]

> 4. How can I control the inventory for a product with sizes and colors?

I think I'm right in saying that xcart is a bit silly when it comes to running out of stock. E.g. if you set the stock to just 3 left, it won't stop someone ordering 5 of them!