Attribute Pricing Manager

This will be the support thread for a total revamp of the old Dynamic Price Updater.

Attribute Pricing Manager v1.0.0 - a running price on the product page that changes as the customer picks options

Plugins Library: (link)
GitHub: https://github.com/dbltoe/Attribute_Pricing_Manager
Zen Cart: 1.5.8, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 3.0.0-dev, from one codebase
PHP: 7.4 through 8.5
License: GPL-2.0

The problem it solves

On a product with options, Zen Cart shows Starting at: $59.95 at the top of the page and leaves it there. The customer selects the $149.95 option, but the page still shows $59.95, and they don't see the correct price until the shopping cart. Some of them leave at that point.

What it does

Shows a price that changes the moment an option or the quantity changes, right where the customer is about to commit:

  License:  [ Developer - Unlimited Stores ( +$190.00 ) v ]

                    Total: $249.95
                     [ Add to Cart ]

The figure is worked out the way the shopping cart works it out, so what the customer sees is what they will pay: specials and sales, plus/minus and discounted attributes, price factors, quantity-tiered attribute prices, per-word and per-letter text pricing, one-time charges on their own line, the product's quantity discounts, tax per Display Prices with Tax, and the customer's own currency.

Where it goes is a setting: Top (written into the stock "Starting at:" heading), Bottom (in front of the Add to Cart button), or Both, kept in step. The stock heading can be hidden or left alone.

No AJAX, no template edits. The page provides its price data once in the <head>, and the browser does the adding up. Nothing goes back to the server until Add to Cart is pressed. Remove the plugin, and the page is exactly as it was.

Encapsulated. One directory under zc_plugins/ is installed and removed from Plugin Manager. No files in admin/, includes/ or your template, and no database tables. Nine settings under Configuration -> Attribute Pricing Manager.

Installing

1. Upload zc_plugins/AttributePricingManager/ so it lands at <store root>/zc_plugins/AttributePricingManager/v1.0.0/.
2. Admin -> Modules -> Plugin Manager -> Attribute Pricing Manager -> Install.
3. Open a product. It is on as soon as it is installed.

The full documentation (readme.html) is inside the plugin and linked from the Plugin Manager panel.

Templates

The defaults cover Zen Cart's stock templates (responsive_classic, template_default) and ZCA Bootstrap. For any other template, two settings contain CSS selectors: the stock price heading(s) to hide or write to, and the element that contains the Add to Cart button. Inspect your product page for the IDs and put them there.

Limitations

• Needs JavaScript. Without it, the page is exactly as Zen Cart made it.
• With "Multiply by the quantity box" on, an attribute marked discounted on a product that also has quantity discounts is priced for one and multiplied, so it is close rather than exact above quantity one. Everything else is exact.
• Does not touch listings, search results, or the cart page.

Why not Dynamic Price Updater?

DPU asks the store for a new price on every change over AJAX. Zen Cart 1.5.8's ajax.php cannot load a class from a plugin directory, so DPU cannot be encapsulated for that release. Computing each attribute's delta on the server once and summing it in the browser requires nothing that 1.5.8 lacks, and it is faster for the customer. DPU also updates stock quantity and weight; this plugin updates prices only.

Reporting a problem

Please include: your Zen Cart and PHP versions, your template, the product's link, what you selected, what the plugin showed, what the cart charged, and whether the product has a special, a sale, quantity discounts, or a discounted attribute. If nothing appears at all, view the page source and say whether attributePricingManager is in the <head>: if it is not, the plugin decided not to act (call-for-price, showcase mode, prices hidden); if it is, the script could not find a place to put the total, and the two selector settings are the place to look.

Attribute Pricing Manager v1.0.1 is out

v1.0.1 changes one thing: the Plugin ID in manifest.php is now 2456. On 6 October the Plugins Library team let us know the ID this plugin had been given, 2258, already belonged to an older plugin, so Plugin Manager's update check was being answered with that plugin's details instead of ours. They gave us 2456, and v1.0.1 carries it.

There are no code or settings changes, and the running price works exactly as before. You only need this release if you want Plugin Manager to tell you about future updates.

To upgrade, put the v1.0.1 folder beside your current one in zc_plugins/AttributePricingManager/ and click Upgrade in Admin > Modules > Plugin Manager. On Zen Cart 2.2.0 and later, that's all. On 1.5.8 through 2.1.x, Plugin Manager keeps the ID it recorded when it first saw the plugin, so also run this line in Admin > Tools > Install SQL Patches (it adds your table prefix itself):

UPDATE plugin_control SET zc_contrib_id = 2456 WHERE unique_key = 'AttributePricingManager';

Download: https://github.com/dbltoe/Attribute_Pricing_Manager/releases/tag/v1.0.1

Attribute Pricing Manager v1.1.0 is out

v1.1.0 adds one optional setting: Include one-time charges in the total? It came from a jewelry store where nearly every item offers a gift box as a one-time charge. The running total showed the item's price, and the gift box only turned up in the cart, so the customer never saw what the line would really cost until after clicking Add to Cart.

With the setting on, a one-time charge is added into the running total once, whatever the quantity, the same way the cart adds it, and the line beneath the total reads "Includes one-time charge:". With it off, which is the default, everything works exactly as in v1.0.1: the total shows the item and the one-time charge is listed beneath it.

To upgrade, put the v1.1.0 folder beside your current one in zc_plugins/AttributePricingManager/ and click Upgrade in Admin > Modules > Plugin Manager. The upgrade adds the new setting and keeps the rest. You'll find it with the others in Admin > Configuration > Attribute Pricing Manager.

Zen Cart 1.5.8 through 3.0.0, PHP 7.4 through 8.5.

Download: https://github.com/dbltoe/Attribute_Pricing_Manager/releases/tag/v1.1.0