What happened to Custom Fields?

[VIPER7]

It seems there is no longer an option to add / edit custom fields for products in Able Commerce Gold. Is this true, what is the alternative?

[nadeem]

No. Option to add/edit custom fields for products is still available in Gold. You need to do the following steps:

1. Go to Administration > Catalog > Product Templates
2. Add a new product template or edit an existing one
3. At edit product template screen, there is a 'Customer Fields' section. Add custom fields of your choice and save
4. Now go to 'Templates' tab at edit product page and assign the template created in step 2 to the product. Preview the product to see your added custom fields.

[jmestep]

If you are coming from Able 5, the custom fields there get turned into template fields when you run the upgrade scripts. Be sure you review your Able 5 data before you export it- make sure you have uniform names for the same custom fields because if you don't, different templates will be created.

[VIPER7]

Thank you both very much for your replies! After some extensive poking around on my own after I posted this, I did find the Product Templates and was able to see it's purpose and functionality. So, here are some followup notes and questions.

Yes, I was coming from AC 5.5 but was not able to perform an upgrade since there is no clear cut upgrade path from 5.5 to Gold without installing version 7, which I did not want to do. I basically have been working with SQL directly to extract my data and importing using the built in tools in Gold to get my 3,000+ products up and running. My products were the only thing I cared about anyway... no users or orders had to be brought over due to how big of a mess it was in my 5.5 install.

So, with that said, the main thing I use custom fields for is to show whether a product is in stock or not. i don't want to use the built in inventory features in Able for various reasons. Question: Is it possible to show the custom field on the category display page (where the product grid shows and just below each product)? Here is my example (on my old site): http://www.drumcityguitarland.com/drumc ... -C621.aspx (see the "In Stock Today" text).

I would also like to remove the Add to Cart button on this page, so that the visitor has to click through to the full product page, besides, that button is overlapping on the product below it so it's not showing properly anyway. Thanks for your help!

[jmestep]

That is possible. Sample code is in the Conlib/ProductCustomFieldsDialog. You can add your code to the Conlib/Utility/ProductItemDisplay

[VIPER7]

Thanks Judy! I've managed to remove the Add to Cart button but the display of the custom field may be a bit out of my reach code wise. May I hire you?