Attributes & Attribute Groups Not Saving

Using 1.5.1 as a complete newby. I have set up attribute groups and assigned attributes but cannot add an attribute to my products.

The way I understand it, you must add attribute groups first such as colour or size, then add attributes and assign them to an attribute group

eg
Attribute group COLOUR

Attributes - blue, green, yellow, red

Attribute group = SIZE

Attributes - sml, med, lge

Once this has been done, I them go to product, attributes, add attribute. An attribute box appears and a text box.

So far so good! I then begin typing in the attribte box expecting a drop down list to appear, but nothing appears. I have tried manually typing the info in and saving but this does not work either.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Please make sure your server has the php mbstring() module loaded.

You may need to ask your host about this.

Most servers have this by default, although there are some that don't and this may be your problem.

I believe this is going to be fixed in the next OC updated which should be available soon. (i.e. mbstring() functions are going to be removed).

p.s. If you are wanting your customers to be able to choose colour/size from the product page, then you should be doing these as Options, not Attributes.

They work in a similar way.

Hi, Thanks for the quick response.

I already have options set up. I am under the impression that attributes are used to narrow down products in a search
such as wanting a shirt in large and then being given the available colour options for that size. I was expecting a search bar to appear in my shop once the attributes were set up to allow this type of search like the big catalogue sites have?

I've tried to set up a feed to google base and its coming back with attribute errors so I was thinking I needed to complete the attributes for this to work?

Attributes in OC have a slightly different meaning than in other carts.

They are simply a place to give specific details of an item.

Also they are shown in the compare products page.

But other than that they have no other specific function.

There is an extension available called 'Layered Navigation' which do allow you to drill down products using the attribute, but this is not installed in OC by default.

The attributes Google has mentioned will be specific Google Attributes which Google should indicate what they are specifically.

HI,

Many thanks for the explanation. I get it now. Will follow up on google attributes further.

Cheers for the assistance

Hi,
I am having the same issue in 1.5.1. Hosting company have confirmed that mbstring is enabled.

I can create Attribute and Attributes, but there is no dropdown menu on the product's attribute tab to link them. I'm working in IE 8.

Any suggestions, please?

Thanks in anticipation

Did you start typing an sttribute name.

This is how the dropdown menu appears

Hi,

Thanks for your response. Yes I did, and nothing came up at all. Just blank....

Hi,

I saw another post in which Dan says that some anti-virus programs don't like Ajax, so I unistall Avast and it seems to be working now...

Hi, I posted it to another topic, but it's relevant here too: http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php ... 94#p212894

Ok...here's what I've got going on with this. I've been all over this today and I could use some input...Please...

I've got a fresh install over at http://pocketchalker.com and I systematically stripped out all the default products, cats, and manufacturers except for one. Then I threw on one of mine.

Options? attributes? or both?
Here's the product option break down...
I've got...
3 leather colors
3 handle colors
2 accent options
No price changes

I shot over to options and created the leather "drop option" and gave it 3 colors with images. I went over to the product and had the drop down menu but the image didn't change with the product change. Maybe it isn't supposed to but I believe it is.

Then changed it from a "drop down" type to an "images" type, refresh the product page and I see I " *Leather Color " but no images of the options.

Ok so I kicked the options idea and went for attributes. This might be better for seo anyways. I'm not very up on seo but with my color combinations and the 5 other products I have probably close to 100 items all with the exact same meta data and search terms. Any input on this is much appreciated.

On to attributes.
I created the groups, created each attribute and then tried to add one to my product. I have the same situation, no automatic drop down when I type in the attribute name. Even without the attribute 'ajax'ing' down I try to type one, add some text, save and refresh. Nothing saves.

I take a look at the default product. Checking out it's 'specifications'.
It has inherited 2 attribute groups, I'm probably renamed some of the default attributes, but...now I'm confused a little on this...it shows the 'Title' of the attribute group then under it is the color and to the rught is the 'default text' from the default products. Is there an explanation on this somewhere?

JavaNovice mentions he uninstall AVG. I uninstalled my AVG and still no change, same ol' problem.

I read the other thread mentioned by mudlee but didn't find anything relevant to this problem.
Uksitebuilder mentions the mbstring() issue and that it should be fixed in the next release. I believe I'm running the next release, only based on the fact that this post is referring to 1.5.1 and I'm running 1.5.1.3.

I've sent off a note to my host to check the mbstring() module and waiting on a reply. Any input in the mean time would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Doug

update: Report back from host, mbstring() module activated.

Still no love...

Figured it out....

I was typing the 'groups' name and not the name of an attribute. I don't understand what the use of groups are if you have to type it out anyways. I'm sure there is a use for it somewhere or it wouldn't be set up this way.