Any way to Apply Filters instead of using subcategories?

[kimray]

We're attempting to use this shopping cart, but running into some problems.

Our company has 5600+ items and many of them are very similar and only distinguishable by their features. The easiest way to "narrow down" the product list in a particular main category is to start applying feature filters.

(we sell oil and gas valve controls)

Example:
Category: Backpressure Regulators
Filters: Line size (1" through 10" would be selectable)
Body Material (Cast Ductile, Steel, etc)
Body Type (Thru body, Angle Body, etc)
Inner Valve Size (various)
C.V. (various)
Elastomer type (Buna, Nitrile, etc).
Coating (Kimcoat, etc)
etc...


So, a customer would most easily find a valve by picking several of the filters... however, the customer may not know or have specifics on a particular filter, so we can't really force WHICH filter they choose first.

In doing this with subcategories, it would have to be listed EVERY way possible... For example, a 2" B.P. Regulator that was Cast Ductile, Angle body, 1.5" Inner Valve Size, with a BUNA elastomer would have to be sub-categorized like this:

Backpressure Regulator > Line Size: 2" > Body Material: Cast Ductile > Body Type: Angle Body > Inner Valve Side: 1.5" > Elastomer: Buna
Backpressure Regulator > Body Material: Cast Ductile > Line Size: 2" > Body Type: Angle Body > Inner Valve Side: 1.5" > Elastomer: Buna
Backpressure Regulator > Body Material: Cast Ductile > Body Type: Angle Body > Line Size: 2" > Inner Valve Side: 1.5" > Elastomer: Buna
Backpressure Regulator > Body Material: Cast Ductile > Body Type: Angle Body > Inner Valve Side: 1.5" > Line Size: 2" > Elastomer: Buna
Backpressure Regulator > Body Material: Cast Ductile > Body Type: Angle Body > Inner Valve Side: 1.5" > Elastomer: Buna > Line Size: 2"

.... and it continues on in every possible combination... effectively putting each product in about 100 sub categories each... which greatly multiplies the complexity of importing 5,600 products, and all the possible combinations of subcategories they go in.

So, the question at hand is: Is there a way to assign Products specific attributes (i.e. each of the above "filter items" would be in its own cell in the SQL DB) and then filter or sort based on any number of combinations of those attributes?

An example would be how our data is arranged in an older product Selection software: http://products.kimray.com < You can see how it allows you to check the filters for the features you want to show, and narrows as you go.

Any suggestions? Maybe a 3rd party vendor? Is this an AJAX solution?

Thanks,
Eric

[david-ebt]

Have you taken a look at the Shop By Attributes module from Plugables? I haven't tried it, but it looks like this might be what you're looking for.

http://www.plugables.com/ShopBy-Attribu ... e-P30.aspx