Product Options and Webassist questions

Hi, I recently installed DataBridge and eCart and don't have any problems with it in terms of errors. My problem which I guess is simple ignorance on my part but I have been following all of the tutorials and have questions.

I'm not sure where to start so I'll just jump in.

I started with the integrating databridge and ecart tutorial based on some of the topics I read and that helped me figure out how to create all of the pages I needed. I'll say that I struggled with the tutorial and had to go through it several times before I got it to work the way I think it's supposed to. Maybe it's just me. The tutorial seems short and to the point so I trust that I needed to follow it to the letter so I did the first couple of times. The 3rd time through I figured that I had to change the Product and Order table names to product and order otherwise either the code was broken or it created extra tables. Anyway, doing that helped me. Maybe I missed something though.

So these pages work fine after I did that tutorial but my order form needs flavors and sizes added to them. Someone recommended the ecart tutorial and although it has more details than the databridge and ecart tutorial it doesn't talk about how to add variations to the orders.

I then ran across the product options with ecart tutorial and it recommends using the free mysql database. So I downloaded it and installed it but then most of my columns were missing. I started comparing the tables that the databridge and ecart tutorial create and the free database that ecart recommends to use and they are very different.

I understand that the databridge and ecart tutorial only cover basics so they wont create the other tables. So my questions are.

Is the free database the wrong one or is there another database I am supposed to use? Or is there a tutorial or forum that helps with this or is this not a problem and I am just too new at this? I am lost right now and was hoping these tools made this process easier. Instead it seems harder or more confusing. DO I need to somehow combine the missing tables and columns from the free database into the databridge and ecart created version?

And also, is the product options for ecart the right tutorial for adding the flavor and size options? Or is this something I should be able to do during one of the wizards? You'd think adding options would be covered in the ecart wizard however I didn;t see anything.

Sorry for being such a noob but I really want these tools to help me out but I am more lost then ever.

The idea behind the tutorials is to get you started with the concepts behind the products so that you can then use them with your own database structure.

They are intended as a starting point.

The free MySQL eCommerce database can be used for a store that offers product with options. but again, it is a starting point. You may need to add columns to the database.

The product options tutorial was created around the MySQL eCommerce database.

There are 2 concepts:
1) Simple Options, these are options that do not effect price.
2) Advanced Options. These are options that _do_ effect price (you may want to charge more for an Extra Large Sweatshirt than a Small)


the first part of the Product options tutorial goes through Simple options (in the tutorial this is the color option). the second part (Sizer options) deals with the advanced options concept.

If there are specific parts of the tutorial you need help with, please let us know.

Thank you for responding.

I understand that the tutorials are not meant to have every answer for my exact scenario and I also do not expect the extensions to create my sites for me. And please do not take this personal as it's not against WA support but rather my expectations of the documentation and the software itself. I'm just kind of frustrated after paying $600 for software and feeling worse off than I was before I got it. There seems to be a huge learning curve with your software and so far the tutorials have only made the process more muddy in my mind.

Let me give you some examples. Most of your tutorials begin with a paragraph asking if you are new to databases and if so direct you to download the free database. This is the same database you refer to as the basis for the eCommerce tools. Part of my confusion comes from the tables in this database. The tutorial is ran using dreamweaver 8 so it's gotta be 5 or 6 years old at least and I'm guess so is the database. The database tables don't jive with the tables created in databridge. I do understand that in the end I will need to create my own database and yours is just am example to learn your tools. But please look at it from my perspective. I don't know your software and am using your tutorials to learn it, but your tutorials are inconsistent and so are the tools you have given us to use as examples.

I have compared the free database tables to the ones created using dataassist: create pages - I was able to in 30 minutes update the free database version so that it included all of the tables and columns created in dataassist when you create orders, product administration, product catalog, user administration so I could follow your tutorials.

I have found many discrepancies that have thrown me for a loop where I have to stop and spend time looking up or figure out through trial and error. That's really frustrating for someone trying to learn using a tutorial that supposed to help you. You have text that you are supposed to copy and paste into the advanced recordset. In the picture you show below that of what your recordset should be afterwards is different. If you are new, how are you supposed to know which is correct?

Also, in dataassist create pages wizard when you go through the tutorial and let it create the tables for you the wizard provides default names for the table. The default names are not the same names in the code. It took me three hours of running this wizard, deleting all the files and rerunning it before I realized this. I'm thinking this is a software bug rather than a tutorial issue. However I think that if someone there ran through your tutorials they would catch stuff like this. But maybe it's just that I am the only noob that needs your tutorials.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that if you are going to sell your software under the premise that you don't need to know any coding to use it. Then either it should work that way OR you should have more noob friendly documentation. If you are going to tell me to copy some code into a recordset it would help if you explained a bit about what this code is and why so that I can apply it to my scenario. If I need to add code to make a calculation, explain to me how this works so I can understand it so I'll know how to apply them in my situation.

In the end it only took me about 30 minutes to complete the entire ecart tutorial from start to finish but only after it took me 12 hours (over two days) to figure it out the first 10 times.

And how come adding product options is not part of the wizard? It seems like most shopping carts have them. If I known yours did not I would never have bought it. I want to like your software but so far am disappointed and frustrated but straggling on with a smile :)

your post does not rally have any specific questions that i can answer.

i will forward this to our documentation team, and also I have created a support ticket so we can discuss the further.

To view and edit your support ticket, please log into your support history:
supporthistory.php

Thanks Jason. I think I am getting the hang of it through using the forums so don't think I need a support ticket at this time.

I do have something I'm trying to figure the best way to tackle that you can help me with on here though.

On my product_details page I have three separate select menus (scent; flavor; aroma). Depending on what product is selected one of these is relevant. I can tell that this is working because if I select a product that only has a scent, the scent dropdown has options and the other two do not.

Here's what I need to fix
1 - I want to hide the two irrelevant dropdowns so the user doesn't think they can choose them for that product and think the site is broken.

2 - A row with the quantity shows up in the cart however the name and amounts are blank. I am sure I am missing a step somewhere but I can't seem to find it.

For number 1 I have tried several variations of if conditional statements in both php and javascript but I don't know enough of either to get it right. I either get syntax errors or lose the select drop down altogether. I have attached a zip copy of my page. Maybe you can help? Thanks.

This post has been deleted.

1) Each of the option select lists uses a recordset to populate, use a show if behavior to hidwe the select list if the recordset is empty.

for example, click the scernts select list in design view. in the server behaviors panel (Window -> ServerBehaivors) click the plus button and select Show region -> Show if recordset is not empty. from the records list, select the rsScents recordset.

2) In the add to cart behavior, you have not bound the name or Price column to a value. in the server behaviors panel, double click the add to cart behavior, on the bindings behavior, bind the name and price columns to the corresponding columns from the WADAproducts recordset.

Thanks so much Jason.

I figured out number two after cross referencing several different tutorials and trial and error. Dumb mistake on my part really had I read all of them.

I have much to learn!