Right now, manufacturers are just a simple picklist product attribute.
However, manufacturers really need to be objects in their own right:
- they have contact information
- i might want to send them automatic sales/inventory reports
- there might be internal staff comments about them
- they have a logo image
- etc.
Of course, the same thing might be said about some other product “attributes”.
For example, an author might have a home page, a thumbnail image, a short
bio, and so on.
Right now, manufacturers are just a simple picklist product attribute.
However, manufacturers really need to be objects in their own right:
- they have contact information
- i might want to send them automatic sales/inventory reports
- there might be internal staff comments about them
- they have a logo image, etc.
Of course, the same thing might be said about some other product “attributes”.
For example, an author might have a home page, a thumbnail image, a short bio, and so on.
YES This is an important point, for a unique & special development of Magento !
Very few and e$pen$ive shopping carts offer
the sophisticated attribute system which Magento offers.
However, the capacity to create this kind of *Super-Attribute*
would be really a special feature, unique to Magento alone.
Like in my field (books), we could have
Manufacturers as Publishers and Authors as Authors (obviously).
While, to give an other industry example, in the Music biz
Manufacturer could be the Music Corporation and
the Author could be the Singer or Performer, etc.
Each of these kind of Super-Attribute could have its own sub-attributes or sub-fields,
like, as you said, address, image, URL, bio, biblio, notes, etc.
This could be, as I see it, tremendously beneficial to a large amount of WebShopOwners.
Let’s hope & see !
I am sure that, if they want, the Magento GENIUSES can create something really astonishing !
Yes, Yoav, I really think that this can become a small revolution
in the way databases for normal shopping carts are conceived and realized.
The chances of applying this concept are really many…
Even if, right now, we can’t see them all,
nonetheless we are able to understand that
its potential use can be HUGE…
Later on, once this will be implemented in Magento,
the Community itself will definitively come up with many different uses
applicable to its many different industries and fields.
I really have a great faith & hope on this .
Thank you for considering it.
wow can you imagine the power - an entity (manufacturers) could then have many attributes with the value of each attribute being another entity? which in itself is configurable.
My scenario is this. Say I have an art gallery. I have suppliers (I buy from artists but also other galleries, individuals, etc) that I want to manage - so that I know who I bought an item from, how many I have bought from them over time, who to contact, etc. So, I need a ‘Supplier’ object - preferably one I can mass upload from another system. This might then provide the basis for invoicing, etc, or at least exporting to an accounts package. Perhaps the report might be available from the dashboard.
I also want an ‘Artist’ object - name, dates, biog & the number of ‘works’ that I am selling made by this artist, etc. I’d like to be able to report on the popularity (# of sales) of this artist’s work - much the same as the Supplier object. Perhaps the report might be available from the dashboard.
Then, when I enter a new product (work of art) I can select the supplier - when I bought it from them & for how much - and also the artist. I can then add my own custom attributes.
However, here’s the final twist! I would now like to be able to create another store based on artist X, using the data I have entered in the products screen. So, when I create store for Artist X - I can use the artist object to populate say the ‘About Artist’ page & the products will be all artist Xs products.
I’d like to build this feature as I need it… But after 3 days of reading I can’t get out of the Magento Code Maze…
If they can show a solid reference guide for programmers, the develop of Magento can speed up… but I know that nothing is do for nothing and the Varien Staff have made an hard work until now…
It is a must-have feature, and finally it is available. The Improved Navigation extension
handles attributes wich are objects (brands, actors, collections):
Now it is possible to:
1) Add attributes images on product page with links to other products with the same attribute (manufacturer or author)
2) Add descriptions to attributes, say, author biography or manufacturer description
3) Show featured blocks like “Featured Brands”, “Recommended Collections”, “Popular Actors” ...
4) Optimize your site for Search Engines ( more relevant texts, meta tags, cross-links)
5) And last, but not least, the module significantly improves layered navigation - adds new display styles and attribute images
! 
.
