Out of stock purchases

[salvador21]

I want to allow out of stock purchases, so have enabled it.

However if I do that, then the product page does not show that it is out of stock (as it did with Cubecart4) and customers expect immediate delivery as they can't see it's out of stock.

My store policy and product descriptions state that shipping for out of stock items may take 2 - 3 weeks.

If I disable out of stock purchases customers obviously don't get an add to cart button

Is there a way round this please or am I missing something?

[bsmither]

We need to edit the skin file that shows the product. In the skin template content.product.php, we are given four logical flags: CTRL_ALLOW_PURCHASE (A), CATALOGUE_MODE ©, CTRL_HIDE_PRICES (P), and CTRL_OUT_OF_STOCK (S). We need to figure out what we want and when.

Currently, for displaying the Buy Button, the code will show one of four things: S or P (or possibly nothing at all), or A or C (C is nothing at all).

You want A because you allow out-of-stock purchases, but you also want S to inform the customer of the stock situation.

So (for CC514, but CC515 should be the same),

{if A && !C} Buy {if S} 2-3 Week Delay {/if}

{else}{if P}Login{/if}

{/if}

Make these statements:

      {if ($CTRL_ALLOW_PURCHASE) && (!$CATALOGUE_MODE)}

      <p class="buy_button">

        <input type="text" name="quantity" value="1" class="quantity required" />

        <input type="hidden" name="add" value="{$PRODUCT.product_id}" />

        <input type="submit" value="{$LANG.catalogue.add_to_basket}" class="button_white" />

      </p>

      {else}

          {if $CTRL_HIDE_PRICES}

              <p class="buy_button"><strong>{$LANG.catalogue.login_to_view}</strong></p>

          {else if $CTRL_OUT_OF_STOCK}

              <p class="buy_button"><strong>{$LANG.catalogue.out_of_stock}</strong></p>

          {/if}

      {/if}

      {if $SHARE}

look like:

      {if ($CTRL_ALLOW_PURCHASE) && (!$CATALOGUE_MODE)}

      <p class="buy_button">

        <input type="text" name="quantity" value="1" class="quantity required" />

        <input type="hidden" name="add" value="{$PRODUCT.product_id}" />

        <input type="submit" value="{$LANG.catalogue.add_to_basket}" class="button_white" /><br />

      {if $CTRL_OUT_OF_STOCK}

      <strong>{$LANG.catalogue.out_of_stock} There will be a 2-3 week delay.</strong>

      {/if}

      </p>

      {else}

          {if $CTRL_HIDE_PRICES}

              <p class="buy_button"><strong>{$LANG.catalogue.login_to_view}</strong></p>

          {/if}

      {/if}

      {if $SHARE}

But wait, there's more.



Because of a flawed logical assumption, the S flag does not get set to true if the store has enabled out of stock purchases. So, in the file /classes/catalogue.class.php at around line 227, find:

               	 if ((int)$stock_level <= 0) {

                        // Out of Stock

                        if (!$GLOBALS['config']->get('config', 'basket_out_of_stock_purchase')) {

                            // Not Allowed

                            $allow_purchase = false;

                            $out = true;

                        }

                    }

and change to:

               	 if ((int)$stock_level <= 0) {

                   	 $out = true; // Out of Stock

                        if (!$GLOBALS['config']->get('config', 'basket_out_of_stock_purchase')) {

                            // Not Allowed

                            $allow_purchase = false;

                   	 }

                    }

[salvador21]

Thanks, that's very helpful. It might too complex for me but I'll have a go.

It would be nice if this was just possible in the store settings (I think it was in cubecart 4 if I'm not mistaken)

[salvador21]

Thanks, that's very helpful. It might too complex for me but I'll have a go.

OK I tried it and it seems to work, but changed the font size in the Admin CP, made all the text larger so this is a bit worrying. Any idea why that would happen?

[bsmither]

There shouldn't be any connection at all between these storefront edits and anything to do or display in the admin backend.

I have no answer without being able to see for myself.

[salvador21]

Aha

Line 227 in /classes/catalogue.class.php is a bit different:

if ((int)$stock_level <= 0) {

// Out of Stock

if (!$GLOBALS['config']->get('config', 'basket_out_of_stock_purchase')) {

// Not Allowed

$allow_purchase = false;

$out = true;

}

}

[salvador21]

No, that wasn't it that was the same

But I think I found the problem. I'd copied and pasted from my email notification. However when I copy and paste from your post above it now appears to be working.

The email notifications had somehow taken out some of the code.

[salvador21]

Thanks bsmither, however there's still an bit of an issue:

Although it works once a cutomer is on the product page, if they add to basket from the category list then they get no out of stock warning.

Is that a simple fix I wonder? Thanks.

[bsmither]

In the file skinsYOUR_SKINtemplatescontent.category.php, find:

    {if $product.ctrl_purchase && !$CATALOGUE_MODE}

      <p class="buy_button"><input type="text" name="add[{$product.product_id}][quantity]" value="1" class="quantity" /> <input type="submit" value="{$LANG.catalogue.add_to_basket}" class="button_white" /></p>

    {elseif $product.out}

      <p class="buy_button">{$LANG.catalogue.out_of_stock_short}</p>

    {/if}

And make it look like this:

    {if $product.ctrl_purchase && !$CATALOGUE_MODE}

      <p class="buy_button"><input type="text" name="add[{$product.product_id}][quantity]" value="1" class="quantity" /> <input type="submit" value="{$LANG.catalogue.add_to_basket}" class="button_white" />

    {if $product.out}<br />{$LANG.catalogue.out_of_stock_short}{/if}</p>

    {/if}

Then, again in catalogue.class.php, near line 825, follow the instructions I gave regarding line 227.

[salvador21]

I tried that, many thanks. But nothing changed, still no notice on the product in the category page.

[bsmither]

The skin file could be cached by Smarty. You didn't mention if you had cleared the cache (admin, Maintenance, Rebuild tab, Clear Cache checkbox).

[salvador21]

Thanks, tried that but still not there:

http://tamingthesaxophone.com/store/accessories.html

(second item down)

[bsmither]

Looking at the HTML source as seen by my browser, I see that the </p> tag is on a line of its own, following the line breaks of the edited content.category.php file.

The {if $product.out} is still false, so that means the second edit for class.category.php is bad or not done.

The code near line 825 was originally:

           	 // Out of Stock

                if (!$GLOBALS['config']->get('config', 'basket_out_of_stock_purchase')) {

                    // Not Allowed

                    $product['ctrl_purchase'] = false;

                    $product['out'] = true;

And needs to be:

           	 $product['out'] = true; // Out of Stock

                if (!$GLOBALS['config']->get('config', 'basket_out_of_stock_purchase')) {

                    // Not Allowed

                    $product['ctrl_purchase'] = false;

Earlier when I said, "follow the instructions I gave regarding line 227," I hope you just didn't blindly copy/paste the exact same code from the line 227 area to the line 825 area, but rather saw the essential difference and extrapolated what was actually to be done.

[salvador21]

I hope you just didn't blindly copy/paste the exact same code from the line 227 area to the line 825 area, but rather saw the essential difference and extrapolated what was actually to be done.

No, but I must have done something wrong, it's working now.

Thanks you're a star!

[salvador21]

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