Conditional attributes - can this be done?

[RMWAnnie]

It's probably easiest to look at my site - www.rockymountainwestern.com - but I'll try to explain here.

We sell custom bolo ties. Customers have the option to select one of two different types of bolo cords on their ties - suede cords or leather cords. Suede cords only come in 36" lengths, leather cords come in 36" and 42" lengths. Their are multiple color choices for each type cord.

Right now I have one long drop down list with choices:


36" black suede
36" brown suede
.
.
36" black leather (add $)
36" brown leather (add $)
.
.
42" black leather (add $)
42" brown leather (add $)


The drop down list is long (26 chioces), cluttered and difficult to read.

I would like to be able to have the customer choose either a suede cord or a leather cord, then have the length and color options come up depending on which type cord is selected. If they choose suede, the suede color attibute is displayed. If they choose leather, the leather color and length attributes are displayed.

I also need to require them to select a type, color and length (for leather) of cord.

My site is using openui.

Don't know if this can be done in miva??? I've seen it on other sites, but not on a miva site that I recall.

Thanks,
Annie

[Phatose]

Re: Conditional attributes - can this be done?

Make 3 different products - 36" suede, 36" leather, 42" leather. Give each one the appropriate attributes, and make a category page that sends you to the correct product.

[Mark Hood]

Re: Conditional attributes - can this be done?

If you really need to do this you may want to take a look at this
smart products by crosstown. It would force them to choose type first. It works pretty well but it is a bit annoying if you need to make changes to the attributes once they are set up. I'd contact them for more information I am the one who caused them to make this module.

[RMWAnnie]

Re: Conditional attributes - can this be done?

Thanks guys.

I'm afraid the 3 different products method would get too cumbersome and confuse customers, but will give it some thought.

I'll give smart products a call. Maybe they can create a module that will do what I need.

I'd really like to add some additional options, but there are already so many choices in that list that it just isn't "clean" to do that at this point.

I'm willing to pay for a custom module, so any developer's out there who are interested, please let me know.

Annie

[Phatose]

Re: Conditional attributes - can this be done?

If your primary concern is customer ease of use, and you've got templates, you could certain keep doing it the way you are, but write a javascript front end that hides the ugly from the customers and makes it straightforward for them. You still get the ugly backend, but the customer only experiences it if they've got javascript off.