How to have multiple product variant models?

Hi,

I have some trouble grasping the concept of modeling a catalog with different variant requirements. How would one create a catalog with multiple ProductVariant models?

For example if I would have both mobile phones and t-shirts in a catalogue:

# Shirt product
class Shirt(ProductBase):
    description = RichTextField()
    # Other shirt fields

    content_panels = ProductBase.content_panels + [
        FieldPanel('description'),
        InlinePanel('variants', label='Product variants'),
    ]

class ShirtVariant(ProductVariantBase):
    COLORS = [('red', 'Red'), ('green', 'Green'), ('blue', 'Blue')]
    product = ParentalKey(Shirt, related_name='variants')
    shirt_color = models.CharField(choices=COLORS, default='blue')


# Phone product
class Phone(ProductBase):
    description = RichTextField()
    # Other phone fields

    content_panels = ProductBase.content_panels + [
        FieldPanel('description'),
        InlinePanel('variants', label='Product variants'),
    ]

class PhoneVariant(ProductVariantBase):
    CAPACITIES = [('32', '32 G'), ('64', '64 G'), ('128', '128 G')]
    product = ParentalKey(Phone, related_name='variants')
    phone_capacity = models.CharField(choices=CAPACITIES, default='32')

I have noticed that PRODUCT_VARIANT_MODEL setting is required, and I realise this is not the intended use of the ProductVariant model. Reading through the docs I’ve failed to understand how to achieve a similar catalog model.

Any explanation would be much appreciated. Thanks =)

[JamesRamm]

Having re-read the initial question, I think this is just a case of making your variant models more dynamic.

There isn’t any difference between a Shirt product and a Phone in how you have defined it, so we can keep the standard product class:

class Product(ProductBase):
    description = RichTextField()

    content_panels = ProductBase.content_panels + [
        FieldPanel('description'),
        InlinePanel('variants', label='Product variants'),
    ]

we might want to enrich it with a ‘category’ field.

Now we want a variant model, where we can choose what we use for the ‘choices’. Django has something builtin for that - the ModelChoiceField

class ProductVariant(ProductVariantBase):

   product = ParentalKey(Product, related_name='variants')
   property_name = models.CharField(...)
   property_model = models.ModelChoiceField(...)

We can then make any number of separate models for different types of variants. The idea is to make the product/variant as generic and configurable as possible (balanced against ease of use) so that when you have a new product type you can just add it in the admin.

[thenewguy]

@tboulogne @dinoperovic I have plans to be spending some time around this in a couple of months once some obligations are cleared. Please share any progress you made here and your approach. What made the implementation difficult for you? Is there anything in particular that would ease your troubles?