Time-based Stock Availability

[thyon]

Currently the customer stock is time and date based, so the item is only available on certain dates with timeslots, e.g. adventures. How does IsoTope cater for this?

Example:

Rally Racing (product)
- 4 April 2011 10:00 - 12:30
- 4 April 2011 14:00 - 16:30
- 5 April 2011 10:00 - 12:00
- 5 April 2011 14:00 - 16:30
...etc.

Some suppliers would like you to book 6-8 months in advance, so it's obviously not a situation where you can enter the "available" items. The available items should rather be automatically calculated, e.g.
Available on [x] Mon [x] Tue [x] Wed [x] Thu [x] Fri [ ] Sat [ ] Sun (not weekends)
Then we can setup blocking calendars when it's not available:
[x] Public Holidays
[x] Jewish Holidays
[ ] Muslim Holidays
[ ] Custom Calendar

This can then automatically determine if you can add the item to the cart (the stock check).

Even if I have to manually write this integration, I have no idea where to even start -- anyone for some tips?

[winanscreative]

Hi Thyon-

Sounds like you'd need to code a custom product class. You can extend IsotopeProduct and register your new product class in config.php. Then when you create a Product Type it will be available and will apply the logic in your new class...

Let me know if that gets you started!

[thyon]

Well I wanted to just add this as a stock parameter, e.g. like color, size, and therefore availability...
How can I make the availability as an additional field so that it cannot be added to the cart unless it has availability. Where do I start with that? Do you have some sample integration code, like the CD Module for Contao to see where to start, without having to learn the isotop code inside out.

I'm writing the availability as a completely separate Contao app, just linking the Product Id to the booking/availability. So my system will be queried and then it will return a "select" drop-down or another control that will allow you to choose a specific available date, e.g.

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Event Availability
Monday 28 March 2010
- 28 Mar 2010 @ 10:00 - 12:30 (29 seats)
- 28 Mar 2010 @ 14:00 - 16:30 (12 seats)
Tue 29 Mar 2010
- 29 Mar 2010 @ 10:00 - 12:30 (fully booked)
- 29 Mar 2010 @ 14:00 - 16:30 (fully booked)
Mon 30 Mar 2010
- 30 Mar 2010 @ 10:00 - 12:30 (5 seats)
- 30 Mar 2010 @ 14:00 - 16:30 (16 seats)
Mon 31 Mar 2010
- 31 Mar 2010 @ 10:00 - 12:30 (29 seats)
- 31 Mar 2010 @ 14:00 - 16:30 (29 seats)

[winanscreative]

Oh, I see... Why not add a date & time field as a stock parameter and then add variants to the product as the times available?

That way you would have your parent product and the times as the variant products of that parent... Seems like that way you wouldn't even need to code anything custom...

[thyon]

this f**king st**pid forum... my whole 2-page message gone, because of a server error... ai, yay, yay!

[thyon]

that requires all the setup to be done in Isotope, and won't that add tons of overhead for the client....

My idea was a stock reverse process.....

• booking must be in a seperate app, as I need to integrate it into other affiliates at some future date (this current client would be 1 affiliate)[/*:m:lbwyjmek]
• availability can be defined as weekdays, timeslots and then blocked by calendars (holidays, leave, etc.)[/*:m:lbwyjmek]
• availability can be deducted by (1) online bookings through isotope and (2) manual override or (3) manual bookings (those received over the phone)[/*:m:lbwyjmek]

This means the primary method of stock availability is outside of IsoTope, however it must retrieve and display, and allow booking against (and through integration deduct) from the booking system.

[winanscreative]

In that case perhaps you can create a custom product class that auto-generates variants based on your separate app?

[thyon]

I've tried to setup the manual variants again, but it seems that it hasn't been fixed. This is the same problem I had in June Last year, without any fix. Is it still a feature in progress?

I added a date and time attribute field and then ticked them on the the variants setup for the product type. Then I go to the screen for the product management and voila, no variants again... Also when i manually add a variant, it asks for a product variants setup, huh?

[attachment=0:1nxdxwfz]variant-error.jpg[/attachment:1nxdxwfz]

[winanscreative]

Ahhh yes. Date/Time attributes are not variant enabled. Only selects and radios are at this point.

What you will need to do in this case is set up a select menu as your date/time attribute and manually type in the options or use a foreign key. Although I don't think that will solve your issue. I recommend creating a new Product Type and dynamically crating variants from your separate table.

[thyon]

Blair. Do you mean a Product Class or Product Type??

[winanscreative]

Sorry... Class!