New User Question: How Does Magento Deal With Variation Information That's Not Configurable

[aaronmag]

Hi - I've never used Magento before, but I'm currently looking at it as an option. 

A simplified example of my question:

Sofa variation A

Colour: Black (configurable attribute - i.e. on the product page, you should be able to choose between multiple colours)

Seat filling: Feathers (basic variation specific information)

Sofa variation B

Colour: Red (configurable attribute - i.e. on the product page, you should be able to choose between multiple colours)

Seat filling: Foam (basic variation specific information)

My question is, how does Magento deal with displaying this information on the product page? If you select the red variation, will it change the seat filling information automatically? 

[Damian Culotta]

Hi @aaronmag,

Magento can handle that type of product. Maybe this document helps you to understand how to manage configurable products http://docs.magento.com/m2/ce/user_guide/catalog/product-create-configurable.html

[aaronmag]

Hi @Damian Culotta

Thanks for you response! I can see that configurable products are possible from your link, and you can set colour for example to be available in a select/swatch. My question is, can you add 'extra information' that is specific to that configuration, but will not be a select/swatch, i.e. it's purely there for informational purposes. 

In my previous example, 'Seat filling' was the extra information. It shouldn't be selectable by the customer, it should simply change depending on the configuration the customer selects – i.e. selecting the brown sofa would see the corresponding 'Seat filling' update.

In WooCommerce this isn't possible by default. If you want an attribute to be assigned to the specific configuration (e.g. Brown sofa only), it will automatically appear as a second select/swatch. 

[Damian Culotta]

Hi @aaronmag,

Yes, you'll be able to do that.

Let's think on Size and Color options for cloth.

You can choose first the color and then, based on selected color you'll see the available sizes for that color.

Those options could be different. The trick here is to build the configurable with the options in order. For example, first option/variation will be color, second size option. You can continue if you like with a 3rd option too.

The order you choose to build the options will be the rule to make the next option dependant from the first option.

Let me know if I wasn't clear enough.