Back to CS-Cart.com

Interaction between Features (and Groups of Features) and Categories of Products

In CS-Cart, product features (as well as feature groups) are assigned to categories. This ensures consistency between products and features in the catalog. In addition, assigning product features to categories is designed to:

  • simplify product management for administrators: when creating or editing a product, only the features that are relevant to its category are displayed. For example, in the “Apparel” category you will see the “Size” and “Color” features, but you will not see the “Power consumption” feature from the “Electronics” category;
  • keep the catalog organized: the database does not store features that do not make sense for a product;
  • improve filtering and search quality: feature-based filters work correctly because each feature is used only where it is relevant.

This approach requires special attention, because product features can be removed in the following cases:

  • if a product is moved to another category, where the feature assigned to this product in the previous category is not available;
  • if a feature is removed from the current category of the product (in this case, features that are not assigned to any category and therefore have no meaning for the database, are removed).

Protection against Unintentional Removal of Product Features (Groups of Features)

Important

Starting with version 4.20.1 of CS-Cart, the system warns you that a feature may be removed when a product feature or category is changed, and offers further actions.

The system warns you that a feature may be removed.

If you see a warning about feature removal, you can:

  • confirm the removal of the product feature;
  • cancel the feature removal; in this case, you should follow these steps:
    • click the Cancel button; do not close the current tab;
    • in a new tab:
      • edit the features (feature groups);
      • add these features to the required categories or assign them to other categories.
    • return to the previous tab and try saving your changes again.

Examples

A category is changed for the product

The product “Running Shoes”, belonging to the “Sports Goods” category, has the following features:

  • color;
  • size;
  • material;
  • sports discipline.

Task: move the “Running Shoes” product to the “Apparel” category, where the products have the following features:

  • color;
  • size;
  • material.

Problem: when moving the product to a new category, the product loses the “sports discipline” feature. The system will display a corresponding warning.

Solutions:

  • cancel moving the product to a new category; add the “sports discipline” to the “Apparel” category; the feature will be preserved;
  • confirm the removal of the “sports discipline” feature, as the product name already indicates that the shoes are designed for running;
  • cancel moving the product to a new category; keep the product assigned to both categories.

A feature is changed for a product

In your store, you decided to offer customers packaging options, which are standard, gift, or no packaging. For this purpose, a feature called “Packaging” was created and assigned to all products. Over time, for some products in the “Computers” category, specifically monitors, this feature is considered unnecessary: gift packaging is not a practical solution for large-sized monitors.

Task: remove the “Packaging” feature for the “Monitors” product category.

Problem: this feature will be removed from all products in this category, regardless of monitor size. The system will display a warning indicating which products will have this feature removed.

Solutions:

  • confirm the removal of the “Packaging” feature; later you can create a separate feature for small-sized monitors;
  • cancel the removal of the feature.