Hide certain products on front-end [1.5.5.1]

I did some digging and I managed to find a thread that spoke about hiding categories. However, I am uncertain whether the exact same process can be adapted for specific products. Here's what I want to do - I will be launching a promo, of sorts for a couple of new products we are rolling out. However, I want these products to be available ONLY to certain people who have coupon codes.

I will be using a vqmod to generate coupon codes and make sure that they call these products when the code is entered but I do not want these products to be displayed on the website. These products will be available EXCLUSIVELY as rewards for social sharing and through other contests and giveaways.

Basically, I want the product to be live but invisible. Any pointers?

Hi theace,

You can write a mod that will add an additional filter to the getCategories query. Then you can either name the category with a special prefix which will be filtered out, or if you are daring enough, you can add a field to the categories table that you use to filter the dataset with.

Just note, that for completeness, you should create the relevant Admin changes to allow you to manage these new features.

If you get stuck, PM me and we can work something out.

- Mel

If you assign the product to the store but do NOT assign it to a category, it in effect will be "hidden" from the store. Then you could send the people you want the direct link to it. I did it a while back for a customer that wanted something I didn't normally carry but could special order for them.

You would also need to hide it from latest products if you use it, but this should in effect do what you want.

Interesting thought. If you just dont assign it to a category will it still be visible in search, sitemap, feed and google? You would have to title/url it something people wont search for if so.

Looks like it would be a decent amount of tinkering, but adding a new product status "hidden" instead of just enabled or disabled seems like it would be cool. Could then tell functions like sitemap, feed, search, etc to ignore if status #2 for hidden.

labeshops wrote:You would also need to hide it from latest products if you use it, but this should in effect do what you want.

Yes, I will need to hide it from the "Latest" box. That was one of the primary reasons for posting this thread. I know I can hid a product by not assigning it to a category, but it will still show up in the "latest" area.

Dhaupin wrote:Interesting thought. If you just dont assign it to a category will it still be visible in search, sitemap, feed and google? You would have to title/url it something people wont search for if so.

Looks like it would be a decent amount of tinkering, but adding a new product status "hidden" instead of just enabled or disabled seems like it would be cool. Could then tell functions like sitemap, feed, search, etc to ignore if status #2 for hidden.

True, if it can be done, I would like to have it hidden from there as well. Would you happen to know what kind of tinkering would be required?

Hi all,

I had quite a few people ask for this feature to be built, so I've released this on my store here.

If you PM me, I'll send you a discount coupon.

- Mel