Subproducts Feature Very Inefficient

[lbohen]

Currently the subproducts feature is very inefficient in that editing / deleting subproducts is a manual process and takes too much time.

Ideally, the subproducts can be changed or deleted if an SKU is removed from the subproducts list.

Example 1: 9781455829132|9781455829156|9781455829194 --> 9781455829132|9781455829156

The SKU 9781455829194 would be removed from its subproducts.

Example 2: 9781455829132|9781455829156|9781455829194 --> (all SKUs removed)

All subproduct associations for 9781455829132|9781455829156|9781455829194 SKUs would be removed.

[Jim]

I don't understand what you are trying to say.

I create a product MAIN and three subproducts, sub1, sub2, sub3 and assign sub1,sub2,sub3 to MAIN as subproducts and I add MAIN to a store page.
I publish the store and view the page and MAIN displays with the 3 subproducts. (using the MATTE theme, others may vary what displays). I then delete Sub2, publish and look at the page and MAIN is still there with just sub1 and sub3 listed.

So how does what you are asking for differ from that?

[lbohen]

Here's an example.

Currently I have the following in our Access db subproducts field for SKU: 9781419305948 at our Web store, www.audiobooksonline.com.

9781419305948|1565111915|9626340819|0786184418|0786189576|0786128216|9789626341308

Ideally, if I delete one or more of the SKUs in our Access db subproducts field and upload to our ShopSite Pro store, the SKU(s) I deleted from the subproducts field will be deleted from the ShopSite page for SKU 9781419305948.

Currently, the above automatic deletion does not occur. I have to manually go to Products --> 9781419305948 --> Remove Subproducts --> Publish.

[Jim]

So you want to be able to delete or unassign products / subproducts on an upload.

Is that stating what you are wanting to be able to do?

[lbohen]

Yes, I would like the subproducts feature to be as smart as the Product on Pages feature and automatically delete any subproducts that are no longer in my Access db subproducts field.

[Jim]

I see your store is running ShopSite 11sp2. Have you tried marking the subproduct that you don't want displayed as a "Disable Product:" ? (New feature added in 11sp2)

This can be done in the backoffice under Products > Edit Product Info .
It can also be done in an upload using the field "Disabled Product" with the value of "checked".

Re-Publish and the and the product should not display as a subproduct.

[lbohen]

I wasn't aware of the Disable Product feature. If I check it does it just remove it from being a subproduct or does it do more. What more?

[Jim]

It disables it as a product/subproduct so that it will no longer be published on pages , will not be indexed and if an old link to add it to the cart is used it will give a message that the product is not available.

It will remain in the database, so if at some future time you want to enable it again you can just uncheck the box and publish and it will reappear where ever it was before.

You can also use Disable Product in the search field for products in the backoffice. This allows you to find them easily to edit them or delete them.

A list of other new feature and enhancements in 11sp2 can be found at http://shopsite.com/help/11.2/en-US/new-features.html

[lbohen]

What occurs if a Web searcher clicks on an "old" link for the disabled product?

[Jim]

If they get to a page where the product is displayed (i.e. cached or not yet republished) and they click the add to cart button/link, they will get a message "The selected item is no longer available" in the cart.

If they do a search the product will not display since the search results are generated dynamically.