On 8/14/16 01:07, Taher Alkhateeb wrote:
I think perhaps what you are seeking is not related to the product data
model, instead, it is related to order.
Now, in your case this might be a bit too custom for your needs. I'm not
sure but I would suggest to store such values in OrderItemAttribute where
you define a custom attribute maybe with a key called CUSTOM_EMBROIDER for
example. Then you build your solution around that attribute key.
Thanks Taher, that's a good direction to consider. The reason that I
looked at Product Features is because my users conceptually consider
system-defined and user-defined options for a product as roughly
equivalent and they are related at the order line item level. You could
imagine:
Product: Engagement Ring
System-defined Product Feature Types where product features are enumerated:
Size (finger sizes)
Material (gold, silver, plat)
Stone type (diamond, opal, ruby)
User-defined "Product Feature Types" where the product features are
provided by the user:
Engraving text (text, limit of 30 characters, engraved on the ring)
Date of wedding (date field, used for customer service to send a wedding
card)
Name of partner (text, limit of 10 characters, printed onto a
certificate of authenticity)
Total amount you want to spend (money/decimal field, choose a stone
quality/size which stays within budget)
This is just an example but the idea is that my admins may want to
collect ad-hoc data from the customer. They want to see it with the line
item that has been purchased, include it in receipts, print it in
reports, etc. Today we do this using EAV since our SaaS system can't
define it in advance for all customers.
Looking at OrderItemAttribute, it looks like a candidate, but I don't
see where in the model you define what the attributes are? E.g., where
would I define the label "Date of wedding"? What if I wanted to specify
it should be a date? What if I wanted to define it as required or
optional? If those are all things that need to be added, it sounds like
duplicating much of the ProductFeature supporting entities?
Can ProductFeatures and OrderItem be intelligently extended to handle
both system-defined and user-defined values?
Brian
