re: BVC5 Products Bug - Choices and Combinations do not work properly


from about page: 5.0.0.750...........BVSoftware.Bvc5.Core.dll





1. add product - leave pricing as 0.00.

2. save product.

3. edit product.

4. click customer choices

5. add new choice --> image radio button list

6. click new

7. add 4 choices - i made a black book, red book, blue book, and green book - starting from sample book image and making 3 additional colored images.

8.save.



9.test from customer side - NOTE : image swapping does not work. You have to go back and edit the choices.... and add individual images for each choice.



10. edit the pricing and content for each choice - i.e replace long description with Long Blue Book, Long Red Book, Long Green Book and so on. modify the prices as well.



11. test from customer side - NOTE: swapping works now. NOTE: without defining any choice as "default" - the system returns $0.00 as price as the product itself has no price defined.



so... you can have show customer a price on the page that is not for any of the choices - a price they cannot purchase the item for.



12. click "Shared Choices" in the top sub bar menu

13. select product choices--> drop down list and click new

14. add name - i used "format"

15. add two new items - i used "book13softback" and "book13hardback"

16. edit your original product

17. click "customer choices"

18. click add new shared choice - i used "format" from above. click "new" (add)

19. click save, save. until you get -- <SPAN id=ctl00_MainContent_ChoicesMessageBox_MessageText>Product Choices were successfully saved to the database.

20. test from customer side

21. click customer choices and delete the format shared choice.

22. save. save. save.

23. test from customer side - image swapping gone.

24. click "edit customer choices" a few times to get the edit page to appear.

25. I have 10 choices listed instead of 5



uhmmm. whats going on here?



and no way to "delete' a choice?





Scott Mech

this was done through a fresh demo store that I setup yesterday and says BV Commerce 5 SP1.

Scott Mech

Scottne and Scott,

What you're seeing is a difference between customer choices and modifiers. When you use "choices" you are telling the system that you want to track individual prices and images for each variation. When you add your first "choice" of color the system says "we've got 4 possible variations on the main product." When you later add in the shared "choice" the system now has to create all the possible variations from scratch. For example, instead of just the four colors we now have:

1) black hardcover
2) black softcover
3) red hardcover
4) red softcover
5) blue hardcover
6) blue softcover
7) green hardcover
8) green softcover

Now, the system has no way of knowing what picture or price to use for these choices because it's a whole new set of products. That's why you aren't seeing image swapping anymore because your old four choices of color only no longer apply and are gone.

Hmmm, so what if you don't want to track image and/or price by one of the options? Then you'd want to look at "modifiers" instead. "Modifiers" work like the old BVC 2004 choices where you set a price adjustment instead of a specific price. You can combine choices and modifiers on the same product.

You could use a "Choice" of COLOR and a "Modifier" of COVERTYPE and get this:

Color:
1) black - 10.99
2) red - 11.99
3) blue - 12.99
4) green - 9.99

CoverType:
1) Paperback +0
2) HardCover +2.50

If you add/remove modifiers choices are not affected. If you add/remove choices you most likely will need to reprice your product.

*Note: if you just add a new color to your choice you only need to price the new color. Your old information will remain. It's only when you add/remove a completely new choice that you need to reprice.