Magento 1.8 Bundle Product Dynamic Pricing from Options

configurable-productcustom-optionsmagento-1magento-1.8product

Sorry if this question has been asked before but I cant find a solution to this problem and bundled products might not be the answer.

Imagine a scenario where you allowed the customer to buy a customizable picture frame. The first option is the size of the frame. The available options are 10×10", 12×12", 14×14", 20×20". The next option is frame style. Which are Classic, Regular, Brushed etc… The problem is- is their a way to change the price dynamically depending on a previous option? For Example:

Option 1: 10×10" + Option 2: Brush = $100.00,
Option 1: 12×12" + Option 2:Brush = $120.00,
Option 1: 14×14" + Option 2: Brush = $140.00

… and so on.

A. Can customizing / changing the bundle products be a solution? or…

B. Do you have to tackle this issue another way with Magento?

Any links to blogs posts or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

Best Answer

Option 1: Configurable products

I'm not sure what's the reason to use bundle products over configurable products here.

Here's what I would do.

I would create a configurable product based on the two following product attributes:

size of the frame
frame style

You will obviously have to add the options to the attribute before starting.

Create your configurable product
Set the price of the configurable product as the minimum possible price ($100 ?)
Now, after save and continue edit, go to the associated products tab

Here's the critical part to achieve what you want, for each combinations you'll have to:

in the quick simple product creation fill the weight, status, qty and visibility
then choose the combination for the two configurable attributes (e.g. 10x10" + brush, 12x12" + brush etc...)
click the quick create button
Now you said that the price increases only based on the first attribute (size of the frame), you'll have to add the extra cost in the super product attributes configuration section:
e.g. for 10x10'' fixed price = 0, for 12x12'' fixed price = 20, for 14x14'' fixed price = 40 etc...

This way, whenever a customer chooses the size of the frame, the price will be updated on the fly based on the extra cost you provided.

Option 2: Custom options

Another way of doing it in case you don't want simple products for each combination would be to use custom options.

Create a simple product
Set the price as the minimum possible price
Go to the custom options tab and click the Add new Option button
In the Title write "Size of the frame", select dropdown in the input type and set the sort order to 1
Now click add new row for each size available
Foreach size fill the title with the size, price as the extra cost (0 for 10x10'', 20 for 12x12'' etc...), the sku and the sort order.
Now click the Add new Option button again
In the Title write "Frame style", select dropdown in the input type and set the sort order to 2
Now click add new row for each style available
Foreach style fill the title with the size, price as the extra cost (should always be 0 as the price seems to only be based on the size), the sku and the sort order.

Related Solutions

Magento – Product Types: Custom Options vs Bundle vs Configurable

This is just my opinion, so don't shoot if you don't like it.
I would use configurable products if the only configurable attribute is 'color'.
Pro
Using configurable products you take advantage of what Magento offers. Each product has it's own SKU, you can set out of stock only a few combinations, you can even make (custom) reports of how many red shirts you sold, and the list can go on.
Con
I know it can be a pain to manage them...but I assume you are not going to manage 1k products (* configurations) each day.

I would not take the custom options approach.
Pro
Maybe this has an advantage, because It can be easier to manage. You can even create an observer that will add the custom options on save so you won't have to add them manually. (here is how)

Conn You cannot set a combination out of stock.
Red for one product and Red for an other mean 2 different things.

I may take the bundle products approach by making each color a separate product, not visible individually.

Pro Can make an observer to add them on save so you don't have to add manually (I don't have a link for that).
Can manage prices for different combinations easier than for the configurable products.
Conn
Cannot make a combination out of stock unless all "red" combinations become out of stock.

This is what I got so far. I will add more as soon as I remember.

Magento – Bundle product with custom options

It seems like this is a limitation with Magento.

There is a discussion on their forum visible over here:

Custom Options on a Bundle Product

The solution is:

As a quick solution to add Custom Options to bundled products with dynamic prices you may try to tweak prepareProductSave method in app/code/core/Mage/Bundle/Model/Observer.php, namely just comment some code out as follows:

/*
    if ($product->getPriceType() == '0' && !$product->getOptionsReadonly()) {
        $product->setCanSaveCustomOptions(true);
        if ($customOptions = $product->getProductOptions()) {
            foreach (array_keys($customOptions) as $key) {
                $customOptions[$key]['is_delete'] = 1;
            }
            $product->setProductOptions($customOptions);
        }
    }
*/

To get rid of “Bundle with dynamic pricing cannot include custom defined options. Options will not be saved.” message you should hack app/design/adminhtml/default/default/template/catalog/product/edit/options.phtml template

//show error message
/*
if ($('price_type')) {
if ($('price_type').value == '0' && $('dynamic-price-warrning')) {
    $('dynamic-price-warrning').show();
}
}
*/

Obviously this should only be done via local override (i.e do NOT mess with the core files as they mention) to preserve upgradeability