Hello... I am currently evaluating SmithCart v3.96 for our web site upgrade to DNN5. I've been doing to testing to ensure SmithCart will work for us and it looks like it's going to be great.. but I've run into a little stumbing block.

Variants seem to be a little buggy and here's my main question.

How in the world do I set up a product... let's say a T-Shirt. The T-Shirt has 2 colors (black and white) and 3 sizes (s, m, l).

I'd like a drop down to choose the color, and then a drop down to choose the size. So the possible outcomes would be Black S, Black M, Black L, White S, White M, White L. Each of these items would have it's own sku and inventory tracking.

Second question... We have hundreds if not thousands of variants. I'd like to import them. Obviously there is no pre-built import function, but how about if I just imported them directly into SQL. Any potential issues that could be created by doing so.

Thanks in advance, and I have to say that I do like the Cart. Great looking product.

Regarding your first question, this is EXACTLY what I do on (one of) my web stores.

You can see it in action at http://store.grandmasmarathon.com

But, setting up the variants is simple. FIrst of all, you will set up two variant groups for the item; I call one "Size" and one "Color". Because I'm original like that. ;)

Next, you'll have photos for your two colors. Set up the two color variants, put them in the "Color" group, and upload the colors for each of them.

Then, set up your size variants. S,M,L,XL,2XL, etc. Put them in the "Size" group, and don't upload any pictures.

Make sure that you set all the "Required" checkboxes to checked.

That's all there is to it!

As far as importing, it *can* be done... but you need a pretty good understanding of the tables first. However, I do believe that you can "share" variant groups (if I remember right), which may make the process of inserting the stuff easier.

Ok, so I got the variant situation figured out (mostly), but I've run into a potentially serious issue. This could be a show stopper for me.

I created a product, we'll call it a Widget. I created a product in Smith Cart call a Widget and I gave it an inventory count of 0 because we only have Blue or Red Widgets. I created the two varients, and then used the add Varient Inventory to put quantities of Red and Blue. Let's say 2 each.

Then I went to the shopping cart (in a different browser so I wasn't logged in) and I purchased 3 Red Widgets. I get no notification that I've asked for too many until I go to actually check out, which is ok in my opinion, but the error message I get is that there are Zero Widgets, not that I ordered 1 more than is in stock.

Advice???

Did you setup your variant inventory using the "Variant Inventory" sub menu option in the product setup screen. Can you post a screen shot of how you setup your variant inventory?

-Scott

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Scott Kelly
Project Manager