Virtuemart filter by custom fields. Assigning existing products type and parameters

Custom Filters PRO is a Joomla component and module for filtering and searching VirtueMart products. The extension has been translated into Russian. With it, you can filter products by price, manufacturer, categories, and custom fields. Supports regular customizable VirtueMart fields and custom fields of the Custom Fields For All component. The filtering module is equipped with flexible settings, including the ability to allow or prohibit (“nofollow”) indexing search engines filter option links. Essentially, this way you can create "pseudo-categories" based on a product filter (only URLs with parameters). The search and filter support outputting results via AJAX or regular HTTP requests (your choice).

The review (01/30/2018) involves the Russian version of Custom Filters PRO 2.5.3 in Joomla 3.8.4, VirtueMart 3.2.12, the JM Computers and Electronics VirtueMart Store site template 1.11. Custom fields - regular VirtueMart.

The minimum system requirements for the extension are:

Joomla 3.7.1 and newer.
Virtuemart 3.x.
PHP 5.4.x. Tested in PHP 7.0 and 7.1 - found no problems.
MySQL 5.0.4 and newer. Tested in MySQL 5.7 and 5.5 - found no problems.

As you can see, Custom Filters PRO allows you to create and flexibly configure a high-quality VirtueMart 3 product filter and a completely normal search. I hope that this article and video review gave an understanding of the capabilities of this extension, and this will help you decide on the relevance of its use in your online store.

Already available. The process for downloading, installing and activating is similar to version 2. Those who buy the filter this year get access to new version automatically.
We are actively updating text information and documentation for the new version and Joomla 3.

virtuemart 3 filter by custom fields

Rated 5 out of 5 on The Joomla Extensions Directory

Look for convenient product filter for your online store?
We have something to offer you!

We offer you a high-performance filter for virtuemart 3. Search module for custom fields, categories, discount prices and manufacturers.

Feature of the module in flexible system settings and a large number functionality. This allows you to better adapt to the needs of your store's customers.

Are you the site owner?
Your customers are comfortable!

High speed- Search speed increased up to 20 times compared to the standard. Due to what? By using a unique field type that stores information in its own database tables.
Accounting for child products- For example, you can search for sneakers not just by parameters, but by size and stock balance. There are different formats for setting up a "child" search for the most flexible adaptation to your needs.
Search by price including discounts and multicurrency in our search module for virtuemart 3 it is most fully implemented. And the display in the form of a slider is distinguished by the attention-grabbing highlighting of the active values of the price range.
Linked lists- The client is offered a consistent choice of options for a given scenario - to facilitate the search. For example, when he specified a country, he was immediately offered to select a city. This approach is a unique feature of our module.

It's easy for you to customize!

Improved administration comfort- By default, to specify an "option", you need to add separate lines for each value to the product. In our field type, we took into account this standard flaw and for each of the fields in our virtuemart product filter, only one record with multiple selection of values \u200b\u200bis used.
Easy implementation and management- Clear and detailed documentation with a large number of visual screenshots. No modifications to the code are needed. Full integration into the system API. Fewer buttons and navigation in the administration panel, a minimum of settings for joint work. Any difficulties? For your convenience, a choice of - support for e-mail, skype or phone.
Easy update- Thoughtful and easy-to-configure change in the behavior of the virtuemart 3 search module on the page. Showing different fields in the search module depending on the characteristics of the product.
Convenient interface- In virtuemart 3 alternative filter modules, the interface is either just a standard list of fields in a row, or an additional paid component for working with field settings. By default, we have convenient sorting and management of field values. Different options for displaying the search form: displaying filter fields to your taste: checkmark, dot, slider, drop-down list.

Are you a webmaster?
It's easy to implement search for virtuemart 3 on customer sites!

Clean install- Easy to implement without changing the html-code, because we took into account most of the situations and arranged the classes along the code for all layout cases. No changes in the Virtuemart 3 code. Support for export and import by the powerful component CSV Improved v.5.9. From you a minimum of effort!
Convenient setup- AJAX-updating the module and the list of goods when changing the parameters in the virtuemart 3 filter. Both manual binding to categories and automatic selection of fields. Unlike alternative modules, our search is easy and quick to set up.
Comfortable Support No third party components! Work directly with Virtuemart 3 through the plugin system. Own custom field plugin with multiple selection of multiple values from the product dropdown list. At your client less problems with the search module. You have fewer problems with the client!
Any difficulties? For your convenience, you can choose from consultations by e-mail, skype or phone.

Did our ideas about the ideal search filter for virtuemart 3 match?

Already available. The process of downloading, installing and activating is similar to version 2. Those who bought the filter this year get access to the new version automatically.
At the moment we are actively updating the text information and documentation for the new version and Joomla 3.

virtuemart 3 filter by custom fields

Rated 5 out of 5 on The Joomla Extensions Directory

Look for convenient product filter for your online store?
We have something to offer you!

We offer you a high-performance filter for virtuemart 3. Search module for custom fields, categories, discount prices and manufacturers.

Feature of the module in a flexible system of settings and a large number of functionalities. This allows you to better adapt to the needs of your store's customers.

Are you the site owner?
Your customers are comfortable!

High speed- Search speed increased up to 20 times compared to the standard. Due to what? By using a unique field type that stores information in its own database tables.
Accounting for child products- For example, you can search for sneakers not just by parameters, but by size and stock balance. There are different formats for setting up a "child" search for the most flexible adaptation to your needs.
Search by price including discounts and multicurrency in our search module for virtuemart 3 it is most fully implemented. And the display in the form of a slider is distinguished by the attention-grabbing highlighting of the active values of the price range.
Linked lists- The client is offered a consistent choice of options for a given scenario - to facilitate the search. For example, when he specified a country, he was immediately offered to select a city. This approach is a unique feature of our module.

It's easy for you to customize!

Improved administration comfort- By default, to specify an "option", you need to add separate lines for each value to the product. In our field type, we took into account this standard flaw and for each of the fields in our virtuemart product filter, only one record with multiple selection of values \u200b\u200bis used.
Easy implementation and management- Clear and detailed documentation with a large number of visual screenshots. No modifications to the code are needed. Full integration into the system API. Fewer buttons and navigation in the administration panel, a minimum of settings for collaboration. Any difficulties? For your convenience, you can choose from support via email, skype or phone.
Easy update- Thoughtful and easy-to-configure change in the behavior of the virtuemart 3 search module on the page. Showing different fields in the search module depending on the characteristics of the product.
Convenient interface- In virtuemart 3 alternative filter modules, the interface is either just a standard list of fields in a row, or an additional paid component for working with field settings. By default, we have convenient sorting and management of field values. Different options for displaying the search form: displaying filter fields to your taste: checkmark, dot, slider, drop-down list.

Are you a webmaster?
It's easy to implement search for virtuemart 3 on customer sites!

Clean install- Easy to implement without changing the html-code, because we took into account most of the situations and arranged the classes along the code for all layout cases. No changes in the Virtuemart 3 code. Support for export and import by the powerful component CSV Improved v.5.9. From you a minimum of effort!
Convenient setup- AJAX-updating the module and the list of goods when changing the parameters in the virtuemart 3 filter. Both manual binding to categories and automatic selection of fields. Unlike alternative modules, our search is easy and quick to set up.
Comfortable Support No third party components! Work directly with Virtuemart 3 through the plugin system. Own custom field plugin with multiple selection of multiple values from the product dropdown list. Your client has fewer problems with the search module. You have fewer problems with the client!
Any difficulties? For your convenience, you can choose from consultations by e-mail, skype or phone.

Did our ideas about the ideal search filter for virtuemart 3 match?

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. In any online store (based on VirtueMart is also no exception), in addition to having a large assortment and reasonable prices, it is important to have the ability to perform an advanced search by characteristics.

In other words, it will often be more convenient for the buyer, when searching for the product or product he needs, not to enter the name of a particular model in the search box (especially since he has the right not to know its exact name), but to choose a number of models that meet his requirements using a filter system.

Why you need advanced search in VirtueMart

In the drop-down lists of these filters (characteristics), you can select the parameters you need. As a result, you will receive a list that meets all your requirements. The buyer will make the final choice from the items remaining on the list after filtering by the presence of the desired characteristics.

Those. all items on this list will meet his needs and he will only have to consider their price and some other properties in order to make a final choice.

The presence of an advanced search in the online store is, perhaps, prerequisite if you want your project to gain popularity among buyers. For example, my favorite computer discount CITYLINK bribed me not only with humane prices, but also with an ideal, from my point of view, filtering system.

Of course, it is not built on the basis of VirtueMart, but nevertheless, in our case, something similar can be organized. If you create a sufficient number of types for products and set them in accordance with the parameters with all possible valid values, then the buyer will be able to quickly find what he needed by narrowing the search area.

But in order to implement this, you need to mark all products (in any case, those that should participate in advanced search).

You can mark them by setting for each of them belonging to one or another type, and choose the most appropriate values for all available parameters that characterize this particular product or product. It sounds a little confusing for the first time, but it will be clearer if we consider all this with a specific example.

For example, it will be possible to create a product type called "Processor", then create a parameter for the type, for example, "Number of cores" and set possible values for it: "single-core", "dual-core", "quad-core", etc.

Then, in the VirtueMart admin panel, on the settings page for each product that we classify as "Processor", you will need to select a specific value for the parameter that determines the number of cores in the processor (for example, "single core" for an Atom series processor from Intel).

In addition to the "Number of cores" parameter for the "Processor" type, you can set a number of parameters with various values (for example, another "Manufacturer" with possible values "AMD" and "Intel"). A visitor to your store will be able, using an advanced search, to select "Processor" and the value of the number of cores that he needs.

Product types are analogues of sections in Joomla, and parameters are analogues of categories. Therefore, when adding types and parameters for all products, you must first create a series of them for homogeneous product groups.

For example, for an online store that sells computer equipment, you can create types such as processors, motherboards, video cards, monitors, printers, audio cards, etc. And then for each of them add some parameters. For example, for monitors, you can add parameters such as diagonal, manufacturer, production technology.

The visitor, having entered the advanced search by characteristics, will first see a list of all the types you created, and only then, having opened one of them (for example, “video cards”), he will see a list of the parameters that you set specifically for him.

A drop-down list will appear next to the name of the parameter, where the buyer of your store on VirtueMart will be able to select a specific value for each of them (for example, next to the parameter "manufacturer" for the product type "video card", you can select AMD or Nvidia from the drop-down list).

Now let's move from theory to practice. In order to add any type of product to VirtueMart, you first need to create it.

To do this, you will need to select "Products" - "List" from the menu in the admin panel of this Joomla component. On the page that opens, to create it, you need to click on the "New" button located at the top of the window.

As a result, the "Type information" page will open, on which in the "Name" field we set the name for it. The rest of the fields are optional. Then click on the "Save" button at the top of the window.

Creating product parameters and types in VirtueMart

The window for adding a type will close, but again we will need to select "Products" - "List" from the control panel menu. In the window that opens, a line will appear with the one we just created. Click on the "Show" link located in the "Parameters" column opposite the name of the one we need.

As a result, the Type Parameters window will open: its name will be displayed here. To set the parameter, you will need to click on the "New" button located at the top of the page.

In the window that opens, the "Name" field must be filled in with Latin letters and numbers, without using spaces. The fact is that this is how the table in the MySql database will be called and, therefore, the name must meet the requirements.

In the VirtueMart settings, in the "Parameter signature" field, you enter the name that the user will see when he enters this type of product during an advanced search by characteristics. For example, for "video card", the "Parameter label" field might contain the word "manufacturer".

In the "Parameter description" field, you can enter, if necessary, an explanation for it, which a visitor to your online store will see only if they move the mouse over the blue icon with an exclamation mark next to its name on the advanced search page.

In the "Sort order" field, you can define their position relative to each other on the filtering page by characteristics. By default, the new parameter appears at the end of the list, but you can make changes in this field.

From the drop-down list of the "Parameter type" field, you need to choose how it will work. The most commonly used option is the dropdown list. In this case, you will need to set all possible values for it, which the store visitor can then select from a drop-down list on the advanced search page.

All possible values (when choosing the "Drop-down list" parameter type) will need to be entered in the "Permissible values" field, separating them with a semicolon without a space. For example, for the "manufacturer" ("video card") parameter, it will be tedious to enter in the "allowed values" field:

AMD;Nvidia

If you check the box "Show valid values for a drop-down list", then the items in this list will all be visible at the same time, which is not very cool. In the "Default value" field, you can enter the value that will be visible by default in the drop-down list (in our case, it can be, for example, "amd").

To save all the settings made, you need to click on the "Save" button located at the top of the window.

The rest of the parameters for the product type in VirtueMart are set in exactly the same way. Create another type, by analogy with the one described above, go to it by selecting "Products" - "List" from the menu. In the same way as described above about creating a new parameter, click on the "Show" link opposite the name of the one you need.

In the window that opens, create a new parameter with possible values, save the changes, add another one, etc., until all products and products are covered by the types and their possible parameters.

Thus, we have prepared the base. In Joomla, in a similar way, sections and categories are first created, and only then the existing articles are placed in them.

Assigning existing products type and parameters

Now you will need to match all products and products sold in your online store with one of the types you created in order to be able to find them using advanced search.

To do this, go to the admin panel and select Products twice, and then click on the name of the one to which you will need to add a type.

In the window that opens, click on the "Add" button located at the top of this window.

On the page that opens, from the drop-down list, select the one that owns the currently edited product of your store. Then click on the "Save" button at the top of the window.

After that, you will be taken to a page with a list of assigned this product. Moreover, this product can belong to several types at once. Again, enter its settings.

Please note that in addition to the previously existing tabs on the settings page, at the very end on the right, a new tab has appeared with the name of the type to which you attributed this product. Go to this tab.

On the page that opens, you can select the parameters that correspond to this product (characterizing it). Which parameters will be displayed on this tab depends on what type you assigned it to in the previous step.

So, you will need to select from the drop-down lists, opposite the names of the parameters, those values that are comparable to it. You kind of glue tags with their characteristics in VirtueMart on products or products.

If the type for this product was not selected correctly, you can break the connection with it by clicking on the "Delete" button located under its name. After making all the settings on this tab, click on the "Save" button located at the top of the window.

Thus, we have prepared one product so that visitors to your store can easily find it using the advanced search by characteristics. Now, in exactly the same way, you need to do with all the remaining products - it remains only to start and finish.

To implement this plan, you go to the settings of the next product, add a type to it using the "Add" button, save the changes made, go to the settings again and on the last tab with the name of the type, select the desired values for all the parameters available there. And so we repeat for all products.

It will be difficult to do this (especially for a large number of items), but it is justified by the convenience that visitors to your online store will receive by searching through its range with the ability to filter.

We create new products in VirtueMart, already associated with the desired type

If you don't have all products added to VirtueMart yet, you can use the following method to speed up the process of associating them with a specific type.

You need to go to the admin panel and select "Products" - "List". A page will open with all the types you have already created. If this list is not yet complete, then supplement it by analogy with the one described above.

In order to create products immediately associated with a certain type, on the "List" page, in the line with the one you need, click on the "Show" link in the "Products" column.

A normal-looking page will open with a list of products sold in your store. Click to create a new one on the button of the same name located at the top of the window.

A page will open, the main difference of which from the standard one will be in an additional tab with the name of the type with which new product already connected.

You will only have to add all the data for the new product on all tabs of the admin panel, including the tab with the name, where you select the desired values for each of the parameters. In the same way, you can create all the other new products that will be associated with this, and then add new products that are associated with all the remaining types.

Adding advanced search to the website of the online store

In order for an advanced search by characteristics to be available in your online store, you.

In its settings, you need to check the box next to the "Show Product Search Field". Now in the place of the Joomla template where you have the main VirtueMart module displayed, the link "Advanced search by characteristics" will be displayed.

When a visitor clicks on this link, a page will open that lists all the filters you've created. For example, for computer topics, types can be as follows: computers, processors, motherboards, video cards, and so on. Or for photo products:

A visitor to a store based on our beloved and beloved VirtueMart, by clicking on one of the types he is interested in, will be taken to a page with a list of parameters for it. From the drop-down lists next to the name of each parameter, the store visitor will be able to select the values he needs, and then click on the "Search" button below.

As a result, a page with all products belonging to the type selected by the visitor and having the parameter values selected by the user from the drop-down lists will open.

This will significantly narrow the search for the product or product he needs. At the top of the page that meets the criteria specified by the user, there will be a button "Change settings", by clicking on which the user will be able to return to the page with a set of filters.

In general, quite convenient for the buyer and quite troublesome for you, but it's worth it, because the convenience of store visitors will result in hard cash in your pocket.

After creating an online store, the question arises about attracting visitors. One option would be to use and . I want to offer an overview video on these methods:

To increase the number of visitors from Yandex organic search results, you can create an island for your online store:

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site