Question about product and options (or features or configurations)

[Cimballi]

Hi,

For our business we are trying to model ordering of products and
associated options (like features or configurations).
We first tried to model the options using features, but you it seems
the OFBiz order application doesn't handle them.
Then, we tried to model the options using configurations, but here it
seems that OFBiz doesn't keep track of them in the order.

So, can you tell what's the best way to manage options when selling products ?

Thanks

Cimballi

[BJ Freeman]

there was some discussion about in either this or the dev mailing list a
 few months ago.
also I believe a jira on this issue if you want to research it.


Cimballi sent the following on 6/27/2009 6:35 PM:

> Hi,
>
> For our business we are trying to model ordering of products and
> associated options (like features or configurations).
> We first tried to model the options using features, but you it seems
> the OFBiz order application doesn't handle them.
> Then, we tried to model the options using configurations, but here it
> seems that OFBiz doesn't keep track of them in the order.
>
> So, can you tell what's the best way to manage options when selling products ?
>
> Thanks
>
> Cimballi
>

--
BJ Freeman
http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation
http://bjfreeman.elance.com
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1237480&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro
Systems Integrator.

[David E. Jones-2]

To really get into this you mean need to be more specific about what  
you mean by "ordering of products and associated options."

About the functionality you mentioned, or lack thereof rather, neither  
of those are true in the current revision of OFBiz.

Which version/revision are you using?

-David


On Jun 27, 2009, at 7:35 PM, Cimballi wrote:

> Hi,
>
> For our business we are trying to model ordering of products and
> associated options (like features or configurations).
> We first tried to model the options using features, but you it seems
> the OFBiz order application doesn't handle them.
> Then, we tried to model the options using configurations, but here it
> seems that OFBiz doesn't keep track of them in the order.
>
> So, can you tell what's the best way to manage options when selling  
> products ?
>
> Thanks
>
> Cimballi

[Cimballi-2]

Hi David,

Here are more precisions about what I wuold like to do and what I tried.

To give a concrete example about product and options, imagine you want
to sell tables, the default table is sold with a raw color, and you
can choose an optional color for an extra cost. So, the customer
should be able to order a table and optional options for the table
(from a list of options that are only available for table type
products).
Then, in the order, we should see the table selected by the customer
and all the options that he has also selected.
And from my point of view, the total price of the order should be the
sum of the price of table and of all the selected options. But for now
I don't care about how the price is calculated.

So, first I tried to used product features, I created some data in a
XML file, import it, but when I have an OrderItem for a feature
related to the OrderItem for the product, then in the UI there is an
infinite loop on displaying the order. It's strange because there is
no error, only the request never return. But in this case maybe the
XML file is not correct.
So I looked in the UI directly to select features in the order entry
screens, but I didn't found how to do it.

Then, I looked at existing demo data and I saw that it uses
configurations entities. But when I tested it, I saw that when you
select a configuration on adding a product to an order, then later you
didn't see it in the order display screen. The price is calculated
with the configurations, but you don't see which ones were selected.

I'm using a recent version, the "ofbiz-rel9.04-2009-05-28-v779496",
but maybe I don't use it well.

Thanks,

Cimballi


On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 9:26 PM, David E Jones<[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> To really get into this you mean need to be more specific about what you
> mean by "ordering of products and associated options."
>
> About the functionality you mentioned, or lack thereof rather, neither of
> those are true in the current revision of OFBiz.
>
> Which version/revision are you using?
>
> -David
>
>
> On Jun 27, 2009, at 7:35 PM, Cimballi wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> For our business we are trying to model ordering of products and
>> associated options (like features or configurations).
>> We first tried to model the options using features, but you it seems
>> the OFBiz order application doesn't handle them.
>> Then, we tried to model the options using configurations, but here it
>> seems that OFBiz doesn't keep track of them in the order.
>>
>> So, can you tell what's the best way to manage options when selling
>> products ?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Cimballi
>
>

[David E. Jones-2]

On Jun 27, 2009, at 8:43 PM, Cimballi wrote:

> Hi David,
>
> Here are more precisions about what I wuold like to do and what I  
> tried.
>
> To give a concrete example about product and options, imagine you want
> to sell tables, the default table is sold with a raw color, and you
> can choose an optional color for an extra cost. So, the customer
> should be able to order a table and optional options for the table
> (from a list of options that are only available for table type
> products).
> Then, in the order, we should see the table selected by the customer
> and all the options that he has also selected.
> And from my point of view, the total price of the order should be the
> sum of the price of table and of all the selected options. But for now
> I don't care about how the price is calculated.
>
> So, first I tried to used product features, I created some data in a
> XML file, import it, but when I have an OrderItem for a feature
> related to the OrderItem for the product, then in the UI there is an
> infinite loop on displaying the order. It's strange because there is
> no error, only the request never return. But in this case maybe the
> XML file is not correct.

This sounds like a bug. If you could send steps to reproduce it would  
be helpful to the community.

> So I looked in the UI directly to select features in the order entry
> screens, but I didn't found how to do it.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but again steps to reproduce might  
be helpful.

> Then, I looked at existing demo data and I saw that it uses
> configurations entities. But when I tested it, I saw that when you
> select a configuration on adding a product to an order, then later you
> didn't see it in the order display screen. The price is calculated
> with the configurations, but you don't see which ones were selected.

The configuration data is persisted in the database and is available  
for screens to show it. I know that some screens do show it (at least  
the shopping cart detail in ecommerce).

Could you be more specific about which screens you would like to have  
display the configuration details for an order item that currently do  
not? Maybe you'll get lucky and someone reading in will work with you  
to get that implemented...

-David

> I'm using a recent version, the "ofbiz-rel9.04-2009-05-28-v779496",
> but maybe I don't use it well.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Cimballi
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 9:26 PM, David E Jones<[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> To really get into this you mean need to be more specific about  
>> what you
>> mean by "ordering of products and associated options."
>>
>> About the functionality you mentioned, or lack thereof rather,  
>> neither of
>> those are true in the current revision of OFBiz.
>>
>> Which version/revision are you using?
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> On Jun 27, 2009, at 7:35 PM, Cimballi wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> For our business we are trying to model ordering of products and
>>> associated options (like features or configurations).
>>> We first tried to model the options using features, but you it seems
>>> the OFBiz order application doesn't handle them.
>>> Then, we tried to model the options using configurations, but here  
>>> it
>>> seems that OFBiz doesn't keep track of them in the order.
>>>
>>> So, can you tell what's the best way to manage options when selling
>>> products ?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Cimballi
>>
>>

[Cimballi-2]

I made some more tests and here are the results :

About ordering a product with features, I finally found an example in
the demo data which allows you to select features for a product, and
they appear well in the order, using order adjustments entities. On
this point it means my XML file is not good and I will use the demo
data to correct it.

About ordering a product with configurations, here I made a test with
enchiladas and peppers, if you select peppers the price is updated but
later you don't see that you ask for peppers in the order. I don't
know if OFBiz store the informations in the DB or not, or if it's just
a UI problem, or even if it's something done with intention.

HTH,

Cimballi


On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 11:08 AM, David E Jones<[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> On Jun 27, 2009, at 8:43 PM, Cimballi wrote:
>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> Here are more precisions about what I wuold like to do and what I tried.
>>
>> To give a concrete example about product and options, imagine you want
>> to sell tables, the default table is sold with a raw color, and you
>> can choose an optional color for an extra cost. So, the customer
>> should be able to order a table and optional options for the table
>> (from a list of options that are only available for table type
>> products).
>> Then, in the order, we should see the table selected by the customer
>> and all the options that he has also selected.
>> And from my point of view, the total price of the order should be the
>> sum of the price of table and of all the selected options. But for now
>> I don't care about how the price is calculated.
>>
>> So, first I tried to used product features, I created some data in a
>> XML file, import it, but when I have an OrderItem for a feature
>> related to the OrderItem for the product, then in the UI there is an
>> infinite loop on displaying the order. It's strange because there is
>> no error, only the request never return. But in this case maybe the
>> XML file is not correct.
>
> This sounds like a bug. If you could send steps to reproduce it would be
> helpful to the community.
>
>> So I looked in the UI directly to select features in the order entry
>> screens, but I didn't found how to do it.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by this, but again steps to reproduce might be
> helpful.
>
>> Then, I looked at existing demo data and I saw that it uses
>> configurations entities. But when I tested it, I saw that when you
>> select a configuration on adding a product to an order, then later you
>> didn't see it in the order display screen. The price is calculated
>> with the configurations, but you don't see which ones were selected.
>
> The configuration data is persisted in the database and is available for
> screens to show it. I know that some screens do show it (at least the
> shopping cart detail in ecommerce).
>
> Could you be more specific about which screens you would like to have
> display the configuration details for an order item that currently do not?
> Maybe you'll get lucky and someone reading in will work with you to get that
> implemented...
>
> -David
>
>
>> I'm using a recent version, the "ofbiz-rel9.04-2009-05-28-v779496",
>> but maybe I don't use it well.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Cimballi
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 9:26 PM, David E Jones<[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>> To really get into this you mean need to be more specific about what you
>>> mean by "ordering of products and associated options."
>>>
>>> About the functionality you mentioned, or lack thereof rather, neither of
>>> those are true in the current revision of OFBiz.
>>>
>>> Which version/revision are you using?
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jun 27, 2009, at 7:35 PM, Cimballi wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> For our business we are trying to model ordering of products and
>>>> associated options (like features or configurations).
>>>> We first tried to model the options using features, but you it seems
>>>> the OFBiz order application doesn't handle them.
>>>> Then, we tried to model the options using configurations, but here it
>>>> seems that OFBiz doesn't keep track of them in the order.
>>>>
>>>> So, can you tell what's the best way to manage options when selling
>>>> products ?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Cimballi
>>>
>>>
>
>

[Cimballi-2]

Hi,

Continuing with my tests, I am now able to create an order for a
product with selectable features.
But there is something I am not able to do, I would like to be able to
order a product on which you can add optional features, for example :
- the customer can order a table, with no options, which means standard color
- the customer can oder a table with a specific color by selecting it,
and having to pay an extra cost

I tried to use ProductFeatureApplType - Optional, but then in the
ordering I cannot select the options.

Is there a way to do that ?

Thanks,

Cimballi

[Kumaraswamy nandipati]

Cimballi.,
if *table *is virtual product, create 2 variant products like *
table-standard-color* and *table-green-color, *with different prices with
"Selectable" option for ProductFeatureApplType .

If you want to define this as configuration,
*table *as product,
create add-on(configuration) as color and it consists of variant colors and
each has its own price. Then, customer will enter into check out page with
standard product or with color if he selected any add-on in the product
product.

I hope this will solve your problem

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 9:07 PM, Cimballi <[hidden email]>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Continuing with my tests, I am now able to create an order for a
> product with selectable features.
> But there is something I am not able to do, I would like to be able to
> order a product on which you can add optional features, for example :
> - the customer can order a table, with no options, which means standard
> color
> - the customer can oder a table with a specific color by selecting it,
> and having to pay an extra cost
>
> I tried to use ProductFeatureApplType - Optional, but then in the
> ordering I cannot select the options.
>
> Is there a way to do that ?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Cimballi
>

--
Thanks,
Kumaraswamy.N
91-9866805250.

[Cimballi]

Hi Kumaraswamy,

Thanks for your answer, in facts finally we use virtual products with
selectable features. The only inconvenient of this solution is that we
had to create a "no feature" feature because a user must select one to
order a product.

Cimballi


On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Kumaraswamy
nandipati<[hidden email]> wrote:

> Cimballi.,
> if table is virtual product, create 2 variant products like
> table-standard-color and table-green-color, with different prices with
> "Selectable" option for ProductFeatureApplType .
> If you want to define this as configuration,
> table as product,
> create add-on(configuration) as color and it consists of variant colors and
> each has its own price. Then, customer will enter into check out page with
> standard product or with color if he selected any add-on in the product
> product.
>
> I hope this will solve your problem