Thanks Dani.
You say you "default the product stock and the product live column to 'those values'. And then use the Update All Options to update all the variations of that product after options has been added."
Are you saying that 'those values' should be the same as for the default product (i.e. non-zero). In my case they are zero, and the 'Update All Options' must be used to finish (make correct) the entries to the database such that they reflect the proper numbers.
I think the correct flow of data should be that the default values for 'stock' and 'live' for all product options are the same, and that the Update should only be for the exceptions (when there really are differences in 'stock' and 'live' values).
I say this because after I complete the addition of the other colors and click finish, I would expect all the database records to be at the default values. Otherwise, how does one know that they are not at the default (correct) values when they are returned to the Products_Update page?
There is no message telling me that I now need to check the "update all options" boxes for "ProductLive" and the "ProductStock" inventory, in order for the correct values to be entered into the five records that hold zeros. Having to do that last step turns out to be critical. Had I did not checked the database records, I would not have known that I needed to do it.
Thanks,
Robert