Automated Pricing Table Generator

[calledminime]

Hello everyone,

I came across a nifty feature on a website that I think would be something beneficial to add on the site I work on.

Essentially on the order page, there is a price table that is automatically updated based on the options selected in the drop-down fields below.

For example, the table has a base price of $5.00 per product. If you select an add-on option of $0.50, the pricing table is automatically updated to $5.50 per product; if another add-on of $1.00 is added, then the total cost per product is updated to $6.50 - this automatic updating would be very beneficial, especially with the number of options we offer on our site. It would also be great to be able to extend that pricing to various price quantity breaks as well.

Anyone have any idea how this can be done? Any thoughts/guides would greatly be appreciated!


Much thanks

[imvain2]

I have actually done this many times, it isn't "that" difficult.

The "hard" part would be the getting this process to work when adding the items to your shopping cart.

I started writing out pseudo code and the javascript for this, however the shopping cart would be the sticking point.

[seopo]

It's probably done by AJAX. It'll be a steep learning curve but there are plenty of articles out there on how to

[imvain2]

You don't have to use AJAX, that would just be overkill. This can be done with simple javascript.

[calledminime]

Thanks for the replies -

I already have the proper coding in place for the product options to integrate with the shopping cart - I am wondering if there is a piece of javascript or something else I can add to the option field to automatically pull and display the pricing values...

Anyone have any idea what kind of javascript this particular situation would use? Seems like there are a lot of scripts out there but I can not think of the proper term to search for this function/operation in Google to get a good start...

Any ideas?

[confettiguru]

I use the shopping cart from Network Solutions and that feature is automatic. It is definitely a nice thing to have
Confetti Guru
PartyConfetti.com - Confetti by the Pound Confetti by the Packet

[spiderbait]

Originally Posted by calledminime

Thanks for the replies -

Anyone have any idea what kind of javascript this particular situation would use? Seems like there are a lot of scripts out there but I can not think of the proper term to search for this function/operation in Google to get a good start...

Any ideas?

With a bit of study and some effort setting it up, I think the form field syncronization of wForms will do the trick for you. It's an open source solution that works well for all sorts of form situations.

You'll just need to code your product pages to input the various pricing options into the form field options that will be shown/enabled or hidden/disabled based on prior selections in the product form.

[will22]

Interesting. I think AJAX is doing the magic..

[spiderbait]

Originally Posted by will22

Interesting. I think AJAX is doing the magic..

Yes Will. I think this could be correctly called AJAX, although a fairly simplified form.

[calledminime]

Thanks for the responses.

I found something that seems like it would work well - JavaScript - Total an Order Form - mredkj.com - specifically sample 5.

There are a few changes - like adding a discount for quantity orders and displaying various prices at different quantities instead of just one total price...unfortunately, I have very little experience with java script so I am unable to try and make these changes...

Anyone have any ideas?

[chiron]

You could do it with rather simple modification to this example 5 you mention, or not so simple, depending on how much user input you want to cause versus else-if logic in the JS... better solution usability wise would probably be a more dynamic method.

If you're going to increase the price per unit - as with shipping - fine to delay the display. If you are going to lower the price per unit based on quantity, you'll want the user to see that without clicking (or worse, dumping cart and leaving).

[calledminime]

Thanks for the response Chiron.

Ideally I would like to have a table of sorts generated that show the pricing at various quantities based on the selections chosen from the various fields below.

I am starting to learn JS but I doubt I will be efficient or knowledgeable enough anytime soon to implement what I want from scratch...but if anyone else has a link to a predesigned template that would be great.

Again, any other suggestions appreciated.