Knowledgebase

How do I use the Option Rules Add-On?

 

With Shift4Shop's Options Rules add-on module, you can configure a specific set of options that would display (or not display); based on previous options that are already selected.

For example, let's say your particular base products are available in a range of possibilities like size and color. However, certain sizes are not available in specific colors. For situations like this, you would use Option Rules to designate whether subsequent products will be available or not.

Additional Information
Shift4Shop's Options Rules module is available as an additional plugin.

If you are interested in finding out more about this feature, please click here.

Important
Before purchasing the Option Rules module, please be aware of the following.

  • The setting up of the rules must be done on a per product basis. Importing options rules en masse is currently not possible.
  • Option Rules can only be applied to Radio Button, Dropdown Menu (and Dropimage), Text or Textbox option types. All other option types (i.e. File Upload, Checklist, etc) are not supported for option rules.
  • Subsequent editing and/or adding of options to the product will also require updating the Option Rules for that product.

Basic Set Up and Use of the Module

After purchasing the module, you will receive a notice from your individual Project Manager notifying you that it has been installed on your account. Once you receive this notice, you will be able to set up the rules, by following these steps.

From your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager

  1. Go to Products >Product List
  2. Locate the item you'd like to add Option Rules for and click on the product's thumbnail, ID or name to open it up.
  3. Select the item's "Options" tab to view the options

Note
Ideally you've already set up options for this product. However, if the product does not yet have options assigned to it, please click here to view our KB article for instructions on how this can be done.

While viewing the product's Options tab, look to the top right and click on the "Actions" button and select "Option Rules" to open up the popup window.

This popup window will contain two panes. On the left will be the dropdown or radio options that can be selected for the product. The options you select here will be the the options that will trigger the rules when they are selected. On the right hand pane, you will select the options that are either shown or hidden based on the trigger selections chosen on the left.

Important
Options using the Text or Textbox option type cannot be set as triggers since they do not directly contain a setting that can be selected. Instead, they will need to be set to either show or hide within the second pane of the setup.

From this window, you will configure your option rules by either selecting which options are shown (depending on which are selected), or which options are hidden (again, depending on which are selected)

In the following sections we will go into more specific details about configuring the Option Rules.


Option Rules (Examples)

For this article, we will use a polo shirt as our product. This polo shirt comes with several options for color, size, and the optional embroiding of the shopper's name or initials onto the shirt. The embroidery of the shirt is done in a red thread and the shopper can select to have the following combinations of their name for the embroidering:

  • First Name Only
  • Last Name Only
  • First & Last Name
  • First Initial/Last Name
  • First Name/Last Initial

Here's what the product's options look like on the store front

Note
In the above illustration, we have set the product to use radio button option types to show all available options at once. For the product example described here however, the drop down option type would probably be more suitable.

We will use this product to illustrate how to set up option rules to either show or hide option selections based on the previously selected options.

For the purposes of this article, we will describe the steps as belonging to this specific polo shirt product, but the same basic process can be used for whatever type of product you are using.


Option Rules (Showing applicable Options)

In our first example, we'll configure a rule to show individual options when specific size options are selected.

In this case, we have an option allowing shoppers to purchase the polo shirt with their first and last name embroidered on it. However, this is something that looks better on larger shirts. On the smaller shirts, the two name embroidery isn't really ideal, so we'll be adding an option to only show the two name ebroidery when the larger sizes are selected.

To do this:

  1. Go to Products >Product List
  2. Locate the item you'd like to add Option Rules for and click on the product's thumbnail, ID or name to open it up.
  3. Select the item's "Options" tab to view the options
  4. Next, look to the top right and click on the "Actions" button to select "Option Rules"

Our goal is to show the First & Last Name embroidery option only when Large, X-Large and XX-Large are selected. To do this, continue with the following steps.

  1. In the left hand pane, click on the + symbol next to the Size option to expand the view
  2. Place a mark in the Large, X-Large and XX-Large checkboxes.
  3. On the Right hand pane, select the "Show" radio button
  4. Now expand the options for "Embroidering"
  5. Place a mark in the "First & Last Name" checkbox.
  6. Click on Save Rules.

The module will now populate the bottom of the option rules window with a summary of your saved rules. (see above image)

With this saved, shoppers viewing the product will now see the First & Last Name embroidery option only when the configured sizes are selected.


Option Rules (Hiding non-applicable Options)

For our next example, we will be hiding options from displaying when a previously selected option is marked.

Previously, we've described how the embroidering of the polo shirt is done in red thread. Therefore, it really serves no purpose to make embroidery available to the product when the polo's selected color is also red. So in this case we'll be hiding all of the embroidery options when visitors select red as the shirt's color.

To do this:

  1. Go to Products >Product List
  2. Locate the item you'd like to add Option Rules for and click on the product's thumbnail, ID or name to open it up.
  3. Select the item's "Options" tab to view the options
  4. Next, look to the top right and click on the "Actions" button to select "Option Rules"

Again, our goal here is to hide the embroidery options when the shopper selects red for the polo shirt. To do this, continue with the following steps.

  1. In the left hand pane, click on the + symbol next to the color option to expand the view
  2. Place a mark in the "Red" checkbox.
  3. On the Right hand pane, select the "Hide" radio button
  4. Now expand the options for "Embroidering"
  5. Place a mark in each embroidery option checkbox.
  6. Click on Save Rules.

The module will now populate the bottom of the option rules window with your newly saved rules added to the summary. (see image)

With this saved, shoppers viewing the product will now see the embroidery options on the product. However when they select the polo's color as red, the embroidery options will disappear.

Tip
When hiding options with rules, be aware that the product - upon first viewing - will usually show all of its options initially. This is because when the product is first displayed, no options are actually selected. Therefore, the rules may not yet trigger. So in our example above, the shopper will see the embroidery options until they select the color Red. It's only after selecting red that the embroidery section disappears. This may or may not be ideal in all situations depending on your needs.

To avoid this, one solution is to make the Red option pre-selected in the option section as shown below.


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