I am new to testing this cart and have come across a really weird issue - the "states" field for customers orders/signup. It looks to me that this field can only be a drop down list populated through static tables (found them and updated to add Australian states). I thought that this field would auto update dependant upon country choice, but support tells me that this is not an feature.
 
OK, then how can I make it blank so that it will suit an international site? I need to cover Australia, Europe, Asia and US markets so a drop down is out of the question. Where is the setting for it?
 
Custom fields end up at the end of the field list, my only thought around this so far is to implement "provinces" and then hack the db to change the name to "state", but I'm sure there is a simpler answer.

You are right in your suspicion - it is a look up field on one table.
 
Like you I sell across all the EU Countries so this filed is of no use to me.
 
So much seems to be focussed upon USA needs - but the rest of the world is really quite large!
 
Your option is to create a custom field which could then accept user input.
 
Chris

Thanks for that Chris.
 
Well that is very disappointing. It seems very short sighted to make it so US-centric. Unless I can find a work around for this then I will have to give up on viart, a pity as the rest looks quite promising.
 
The provinces field would be a good alternative, but I cannot get it to display on the user page (new sign up), even though I have checked as many display boxes as possible and turned off the "state" field.
 
Custom field it will have to be I suppose - do you know how to move it up on the field display though? The highest I can get it is below the predefined fields, even when I nominate it to be listed 6th.
 
Cheers,
Andrea

Andrea
 
Do not give up on Viart.
 
I have been using it for 18 months and seen it come on in leaps and bounds.
 
One thing you can do is make a contribution to development to get this feature improved the way you want it.
 
Viart offers two levels of special customization -
1: Pay the full cost of a feature just for you
2: Pay a much reduced cost to get what change you want implemented now - and it is then incorporated into the next version.
 
Many of us have taken route 2. Some are mine and I am using features now that make what I regard as the best in its class even better for my use.
 
I recommend putting in a support ticket, explaining what you want, and asking for a cost before you make a final decision.
 
Chris

Yes Andrea:
 
Listen to Chris he is right. ViArt has flexibility second to none and a great support staff.
 
We too paid for some custom work that we needed for Canada.
 
Regards

Andrea,
 
A cool thing about Viart is the ability to go into System/Static Tables menu and easily lookup and modify the wording of the "state" and "province" fields. The static tables changes will go forward with your upgrade.
 
For instance "USA state" for the dropdown, and "Province or non-USA state" for the other cart field. Agreed, it does seem USA-centric, for now.
 
Greg

Yes vic140, but she will also have to change the table which is currently populated with US States.
 
Andrea, like me. would best benefit from a free text field - states for the whole of the EU would be horribly long.
 
And to have two fields one US and one Non-USA would be so clumsy?
 
I feel she needs custom coding.
 
Chris

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately I see this much more as a serious bug rather than a potential added feature.
 
There also seems to be a problem with getting provinces or even a custom field to display in the user profile at all - it seems to revert to having "state" display even though I have disabled it via pre-defined fields display options.
I have emailed support to see if this can be changed.
Do any of you know how to do this?
cheers,
Andrea.

If you have a lot of Aussie orders I understand you would want the cart to automatically offer Australia states when Australia is chosen as a country.
 
I am USA based, and most of my orders come from USA, next is Canada, next UK, and next after that is Australia. I set up my cart field names as I stated above and have not had problems processing orders. I use PayPay pro and haven't really examined to see how ViArt passes the values -- somehow it must be passing the province field as an Aussie state.
 
I would think the changes Andrea wants would be incredibly simple for ViArt to provide. I haven't noticed anyone until now pushing hard for them, but it would be VERY nice to have automatic state or province drop-downs for USA, Canada, UK, and Australia.
 
Best wishes Andrea however you proceed. I've tried several high quallity carts and none are perfect, but I sure do like ViArt the best overall. The help center alone does it for me! I also like the easy lookups by name or email, I like that help/support requests also display any orders on file, and SO many other features that great folks like Chris have probably underwritten the costs for!
 
Greg

Hi Greg,
I have tried to enable provinces as that would work well as a "state" replacement but it does not display on the customers page (eg sign up, change your details) - does it for you? Any advice on how to get this to work would be appreciated.
 
The problem is the currently site I am designing for needs to cover Australia, US/Canada, Europe and Asia in equal parts. I cannot cover all the states in the static tables, it is impossible.
 
Thanks,
Andrea

Hi Andrea:
 
Why don't you send a request to support to customize this for you and see what it costs?
 
Perhaps you may find others within the forum that may chip in and reduce your price?
 
Regards,

Hi Andrea,
 
Just checking... When you go to Site Users > Users Types > Customer > Profile Settings in admin, is the province field checked off to display?
 
I get orders from every continent too, and have not had problems. I only use the drop-down state values that were provided for US states. Every other country's province or state gets entered as a province.
 
Greg

I am sure that the only solution is the right one. A 'botch' only leads to trouble in future upgrades.
 
I like the idea of choosing the country and then getting a selection of "states/counties/regions" in a second drop down depending upon the country selected.
 
Andrea, if you like this idea and get a costing from Viart I am interest in sharing the cost if it is reasonable. I am sure you will find others prepared to chip in.
 
Chris

Hi,
Thanks for all the responses.
The idea to add a drop down would not work for worldwide sales - imagine all the states/areas! Ick.
I have fixed this problem with a bit of time and investigating....
So for anyone wanting to create more Australian or international friendly fields here is what I did.
 
I disabled the "state" field in orders and user profiles. I enabled "provinces" instead. I then went into System>System Static Messages >Messages
and changed the "message field" (not constant) by cliking on edit for lots of fields. eg. I made provinces "State/Area" I changed "cell phone" to mobile phone, "city" to "suburb", "zip" to "Post Code" etc.
 
hope that helps someone.
Andrea

Brilliant! Glad you came up with a good solution, and that ViArt is working out for you!
 
Greg

Chris.. I would go in on this with you

OK Dan, I will ask Viart for costing;
but I will be looking for a number of contributors as like a few fellow users, I guess, I can't keep funding improvements that many others just wait for as a freebie.
 
Before I submit my request this is my spec - please comment and please, everyone interested, add you name if you will be prepared to share the cost if it is reasonable?
 
We need:
States/Counties/Regions pre-populated drop down that show the States/Counties/Regions relevant to the Country selected. It must be easy to edit/modify the States/Counties/Regions and easy to create States/Counties/Regions lists
 
Please, if you have any other needs or preferences, please say NOW.
I have pulled out of features in the past because of disputes and changes that got us bogged down.
Once we have a quote it is too late to start quibbling over the detail
 
The approach must be to keep it simple and effective so if anything you want is not crucial don't ask for it as it may then either deter others, push up the cost unduly, or just spark endless debate.
 
 
Chris

Hello Dan and Chris,
Viart sent me an email while I was sorting this out offering to make a custom drop down state dependant upon country for $200.
I think my workaround with a blank state field suits me fine though. Good luck with it all.
Regards,
Andrea.

Chris,
 
I would be interested in the state related to country drop down. This is a common option in most other shops. I would think it would be advantageous for ViArt to have this option. My sales are about 50% in the USA the rest from about 15 other countries so an international friendly shop is important to me.
 
Hopefully enough users will join in and make this a reasonably priced option.
 
I agree with you Chris, it should be simple, user selects country from drop down, if a list of States/Counties/Regions is available (a store owner editable static table) a drop down menu appears with this list. If a list is not available for the selected country then a States/Counties/Regions entry field appears (optional entry for customer). There should be a store owner option to select which country is the default country.
 
David

Thank you David
 
Your point [ store owner option to select which country is the default country ] makes sense - I will add that.
 
That's three of us - you, me and Dan.
Join us Andrea?
 
The cost is so small to get a more sophisticated solution when we have several sharing?
 
Regards
 
Chris

Great addition: I'm in too! Just let me know when it happens!

Thanks ewoud - I will post everything here.

Chris what release would they include this on? 3.5 and 3.6 or just 3.6?

Good question - it won't go on 3.6 - too late.
I could ask for it to be an interim mod.
 
I have had code before between releases and then made generally available at the next release.
 
That would make sense if we are not to have another long wait; I will ask for that as part of the costing.
 
Chris

I have asked for a costing :
 
__________________________________________
I would like a costing please for this:
 
Coding for a pre-populated drop down for the states field
 
[States/Counties/Regions] pre-populated drop-down that shows the States/Counties/Regions relevant to the Country selected.
 
It must be easy to edit/modify the [States/Counties/Regions] and easy to create [States/Counties/Regions] lists.
 
There should be a store owner option to select which country is the default country if required.
 
We would also like this to be able to have it fairly soon - between releases - in other words, not to have to wait for it until a new release is announced
_________________________________________
 
Chris

Thank you Chris
 
David