eStore: How to enforce a valid selection on product variation

[patbloomfield]

We’re setting up a media music store for licensing music, see [http://www.scrambledegos.com/media-music/]

We’re using WP eStore v 6.8.4

It’s currently possible to add a product to the shopping cart without selecting an appropriate licence. How can we check a valid licence option has been selected?

Also, is it possible to only list the selected licence rather than listing each variable type. For example, can we change:

Stigmata (TV / Radio / Film) (Select Option…) (Select Option…)

to

Stigmata (TV / Radio / Film)

TIA

[admin]

The variations were designed to have one of the options selected by default. Kind of like when you go to configure an apple or dell computer, it has the recommended options selected by default. A customer will change the variation if he/she wants a different option. So for example, in your situation you can have the “TV” variation selected by default and if someone wants “radio” he can change the option to radio and then add to the cart.

I will look into adding an option so you can have a “Select option” in the drop down and customers are force to select a different option.

I don’t understand your 2nd question though. When you configure a product, you have the option to use 1 variation or 2 variations or 3 variations. If you use 1 variation in the product then only one will show up. If you leave variation 2 and 3 empty, it won’t show those variations. What am I missing?

[patbloomfield]

Thank you for looking into forcing an option to be selected.

Initially, I did list the various options without a dummy “Select option…” option, but this caused incorrect prices as only one licensing option should be selected from the three categories. I separated the licensing categories using the different Product Variables to make it easier to purchasers to understand.

The second point I was eluding to is caused by the first option not really being an option but a message requesting an option to be selected and that message gets listed in the cart.

I’ve tried leaving the first option blank and that seems to work quite well; more obvious nothing is selected and lists as () in cart. Maybe this would also make it easier to ensure an option has been selected on check out?

An additional complication is we only expect one of the variant options to be selected, so a little more logic is needed to cover all scenarios.

[patbloomfield]

After chatting this through with my business partner, we decided it’s best to stick to keeping the “Select option…” call to action as the first entry rather then being blank.

To cover all scenarios, I think the user configurable logic needs a choice between forcing one different option or a different option for all variants.

TIA

[patbloomfield]

Has anyone had a chance to look into adding this new feature yet?

Quote: “I will look into adding an option so you can have a “Select option” in the drop down and customers are force to select a different option.”

TIA

[admin]

Yes, I have been looking into it and I intend to add an option for this in the plugin if a lot of users ask for it.

[moorezilla]

I need to force customers to choose sizes on several products. Was this ever implemented?

“After chatting this through with my business partner, we decided it’s best to stick to keeping the “Select option…” call to action as the first entry rather then being blank.

To cover all scenarios, I think the user configurable logic needs a choice between forcing one different option or a different option for all variants.”

That’s basically what I need, a way to display something like “please choose” and then force customers to choose something before adding a product to the cart, but I don’t see how to do this in the documentation.

[admin]

Yes there is an option for it now. In the variation dropdown you can use “Select Option” as your first option. That will force the user to select a valid option.

For example: you can have a size variation with “Select Option” to be the first option like the following example:

Size|Select Option|Small|Medium|Large|XL

This will enforce the user to select something other than the first option.

I have sent you an updated copy of the plugin via email.

If you want to use a different text other than “Select Option”, you can customize it using the following technique:

https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/how-to-customize-various-textmessages-displayed-by-the-plugin

[moorezilla]

UPDATE: appears to be working fine now. I think it was a cache issue or something when I tested it earlier. Thanks again!

Thank you for getting right back to me, and on the weekend as well. Much appreciated.

I uninstalled the older version of the plugin and installed/activated the emailed update. It show as 7.4.1 in the plugin menu. I’m running a Genesis theme and the latest version of WordPress, with all updated other plugins on an Ubuntu 14.04.x LAMP setup.

I added the “Select Option” and it appears in the product dropdown, but it still seems as if customers can simply add a product without selecting a size (adds the “Select Option” as the default choice instead of forcing a change). Also, once they add an item, I don’t see a way for them to select/change a size without removing the item from the cart. Maybe this second functionality is by design; it’s not a big deal as long as the initial choice is forced, but I’m not having much luck forcing the first choice. Adding an item without making a choice seems to add it with the “Select Option” language, instead of firing a warning or otherwise forcing an actual choice. I hope this makes sense.

My variation is in as: Size|Select Option|Youth S|Youth M|Youth L|Adult M|Adult L|Adult XL

I’m using the fancy shopping cart option. Perhaps this is a clue or problem? wp_eStore_cart_fancy1_when_not_empty

If you want to see what I’m talking about, you can see a demo at bellpto.org/store

Thanks again for your help. I think we’re really close. I think I’m just missing one more key step or something.

[moorezilla]

Hold on… it appears to be working now! Perhaps it was a cache issue or something after updating the plugin, but it appears to be working now. Fires a “You need to select an option before you can proceed” when someone tries to add to cart without selecting a size… which is great. Thanks again for the prompt help on this.

[moorezilla]

This continues to work fine for us, but there’s one odd behavior that we’ve noticed that might be worth looking at for a future release.

If you have more than one required variation, the javascript warning fires after any required option is chosen, rather than when a user tries to add the product to the cart without having chosen an option for all required fields. So, for example, if you have a t-shirt with three required options like size, color, and sleeve length, the user will get a pop up warning when they choose their first option, and then they’ll get another warning after they choose their second option, and then selecting the third option will allow them, of course, to add the product to the cart. We’ve just had some customers complain that they’re getting a warning WHILE they’re filling out the required options, as opposed to getting a warning only if they tried to move on without filling out all the required options. Again… isn’t an issue if there’s only one required option; just comes into play if there is more than one required options. This doesn’t seem to affect the ultimate selection, but it does pose a minor usability issue for customers that might be revisited in a future release.

Thanks!

[admin]

I have worked on an improvement that should help. I will send you an update for it.

[Author]

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