Hello,

I have another scenario that I would like to find out if it is possible for smith cart to handle.

 

The context:

My webstore will be sellling musical products (electric guitars, acoustic guitars, drums, trumpets, etc.)

I will create a page containing a unique buy now module for each of the 10 general top level categories. (Guitars, Bass, Amps/Effects, Drums, Pro Audio, ETC.)

Each buynow module will contain a unique category list, based on the products being sold by that top level category.

Example:

Guitars (top level category, unique buy now module)

      Electric Guitar (1st-sub category)

            Solid Body (2nd-sub category)

            Hollow Body (2nd-sub category)

            Starter Packs (2nd-sub category)

      Acoustic Guitar (1st-sub category)

            6-string (2nd-sub category)

            12-string (2nd-sub category)

 

The problem:

I want my customers to be able to shop the categories listed above AND to be able to filter their results by Brand at any time, but after much searching, I have found no way to "filter" your currently displayed products by brand.

 

The question:

Say a visitor to my webiste selected Guitars~Electric Guitar~Solid Body in my category menu, and then wanted to filter those results by brand. Is it possible for me to create a list of  links or radio buttons that would add a filter to the currently displayed products, in order to filter the products by the brand they selected?

I could add each product to multiple categories (example: Guitars~Electric~Solidbody, Brand~Fender), which would make it possible for me to specify what brand each products is, but how could I take advantage of this setup using the Category Menu?

 

Post question thoughts: 

I'm sure there is multiple ways to go about this. I'm also aware that this might not be possible with Smith Cart. If not, can anyone think of a category structure that would allow a similar functionality, while not creating a MASSIVE category menu list?

 

Thanks so much guys !

Alex

After a conversation with a co-worker, I diagrammed out my problem in more detail. Hope this will help. If anyone in the community has any insights, please help! Much appreciated!




Thanks for the reply Michael,

The only problem I'm having is trying to simplify the navigation. The navigation setup I'm going for will have the following 4 abilities.
1. View all guitars by type
2. View guitars selected by type, then all of that type filtered by brand.
3. View all guitars by brand
4. View guitars selected by brand, then all of the brand filtered by type.

So say I have all the categories on the left hand side of the screen in a vertical list. In order to have the categories needed for this setup, I would have to have all the following links on the left:

Solidbody
Fender
Ibanez
Gibson
etc.

Hollowbody
Fender
Ibanez
Gibson
etc.

Semi-Hollow
Fender
Ibanez
Gibson
etc.

Fender
Solidbody
Hollowbody
Semi-Hollow
etc.

Ibanez
Solidbody
Hollowbody
Semi-Hollow
etc.

Gibson
Solidbody
Hollowbody
Semi-Hollow
etc.

From what I can gather, I need the ability to filter a currently viewed category by another category. Not just simply change categories.

In smith cart you can create a link that will change categories by appending a ?categoryid=1 to the web address.
Essentially, I need a browser link or radio button to "pass a second category querystring" on top of the current one. I think?

Hope this makes sense. Thanks man. - Alex

Thanks Kevin - I'll do some testing with the product matrix feature and let you know.

Would it be possible for me to do something like....

http://www.test.com/teststore.aspx?categoryid=273&?categoryid=279

Or something in that fashion?

Hi Alex,

I tried to take a look at the link you provided above but it seems the site is not accessible to view.

You may also want to use the Product Variant Matrix in addition to the Category Matrix. For more information, please see Pg.129 of the Cart Manual.

Thanks,

Hi Alex,

The ability to filter Products for multiple Categories via the querystring is not currently available. If you have budget in your project and would like to be provided with a fixed quote to sponsor a portion of the programming please send an email with a link to this post to sales@smith-consulting.com. We quote all feature enhancements below cost since it is enhancing the module and in most cases we can start work within a week.

Thanks,