Multiple sets of variants

[scottopell]

Is it possible to have multiple variant sets for a given item or obtain some similar functionality?
Here is an example use case that I can't figure out how to properly model.
One of my products is paint.
I sell my ACME super glossy paint in 1 gallon containers or in 5 gallon buckets.
I sell this paint in 10 different colors.

The only way to model this seems to be to make two different products, one of the 1 gallon size and one in the 5 gallon size and have 10 variants of each.

The same kind of question could be modeled to shirts for example. I have a certain shirt in 5 different colors and in 4 different sizes. It seems like I'm repeating myself too much if I make either 5 products each with 4 variants for sizes or if I do 4 products for sizes with 5 variants for color.

It would seem like the best way would be to have two separate (but not necessarily a parent child relationship) sets of variants that would act like tags. Select one from category A (being the possible sizes) and one from category B (being the possible colors). Each unique combination would have its own sku and would therefore be its own variant.

Am I misunderstanding how variants work, or is there a better mechanism to use for this?

[drhenner]

Scott did I answer this in a personal email or google group. If not I am very sorry. I swear I thought I have answered this.

[DTwigs]

I'm really curious about this too. I want to do coffee weight and grind.

[drhenner]

@DTwigs

You can model this with one product and different combinations of variants. (variants would most likely have different prices) If you give me your example I'll try to break down how to model it.

What I should create is a way to create all combinations of properties quickly in the UI. 😦

[DTwigs]

Auto creating all the combinations would be super useful as I have 40 different types of coffee all with the same 15 variants haha!

I appreciate you offering help, let me try and explain:
I have a blend of Coffee, so that product will be called Breakfast Blend.
Now this blend needs a 'Bag Size' and a 'Grind'.
The bag sizes are: '0.5 lb', '1 lb', '5 lb'
The grinds are: 'Wholebean', 'French Press', 'Auto Drip', 'Pour Over', 'Espresso'

With these two properties, it would produce 15 variants to cover them all. What I would like to accomplish is to have a select box for 'Bag Size' and a select box for 'Grind'. The combination of the two values would point to the right variant. I think this would lead to a better UX in my case.

Thanks so much!

[scottopell]

I have started work on a similar feature, this might serve as a good starting point for anybody wanting a similar feature. Its still under heavy development, as in this might not work like you'd expect it too, but I'm basing it on the variants multi editor, the idea being you "create" one variant with the properties that you want multiple of in a comma separated list, then you hit submit and you get a "multi" like view where you can further edit everything and then finally hit submit.

https://gist.github.com/6513017

If this kind of functionality were polished up and released into master I think it would add a lot to the admin usability.

[drhenner]

I was on the phone with a guy needing this functionality yesterday. It looks like several people are doing similar things. I actually watched him go through the process and my plan is to get this more streamlined as soon as I have enough time.

I'm guessing you can expect several changes within a month. (might not fit many people's deadlines) but I'll gladly accept Pull Requests. 😄