Complex Variations

[mskurnik]

I have a client that has a rather complex product. Here is the scenario:
Languages: English, German, Japanese
Operating System: Windows, Mac
Delivery Options: Physical CD & Digital Download, Digital Download Only, Physical CD
It comes out to 18 different variations. Now, since you cannot turn on/off shipping via variations, I will need to use kits. I created a hidden product for each of the 18 options. Now I need (preferably out of the box) a way to use those products. I added a variation group for languages delivery, and OS options and added a kit with all the products with the proper shipping turned on or off. How can we at checkout grab the right Delivery method? I really only want to need to add 3 options in the drop down but currently I need to show all 18 variations.
Here is an example:
Product, Language, Shipping, Digital Download, Physical Product, OS
Product, English, Yes, Yes, Yes, Windows
Product, English, Yes, No, Yes, Windows
Product, English, No, Yes, No, Windows
If you do the same for Mac and the other 2 languages you get 18 variations.
Now the two work-a-rounds I can think of are to have a separate product for each Language and then have the drop downs (While this is not ideal, it would work) or place all the languages into one installer or zip file (thus making the download larger). Does anyone have an idea how to make it just one product with all these variations?

[mskurnik]

Well I found a work around. Add a fixed price of $0 to a shipping option called "Digital Download Only" and we dont have an issue. I can now just use variants.

[mskurnik]

This actually wont work as It still requires administrators to "Ship" the non-shippable item.

[igavemybest]

Why don't you instead create separate products for digital downloads and a separate . Within the product description you can have an image that can be a mini advertisement for the digital or physical product in case the missed that option.

[mskurnik]

Why don't you instead create separate products for digital downloads and a separate . Within the product description you can have an image that can be a mini advertisement for the digital or physical product in case the missed that option.

I ended up doing this and then creating a custom product page. We have in all 64 different variations of the product with half of those shippable + download and the other half just download