Thanks for the list christina. I agree with the need for all of these things. You are really pushing the boundaries of liquid and our theming system so its great to hear from you what the most pressing issues are in this area.

1) Ok soon

2) truncate works like this. I’ll add if a contains b to liquid.

3) Thats unlikely to happen soon. Very very complicated implementation and UI.

4) Tricky, i get this request a lot from the mephisto crowd. I’ll see what it takes.

5) I’d rather get rid of product types entirly, they are really superseded by collections. They are only around now becuase of the convenience. I don’t quite understand the second point, you can add a product to a collection on the product page, can you not?

6) Custom fields are something i really want eventually but it will probably take a while till we can tackle this one.

7) Would be nice… i spend a transatlantic flight working on this before but didn’t come up with a satisfactory result. There is hoping that i get to revisit this.

& thank you very much for the quick answer & positive response, Tobi!

1) am delighted!
2) truncate is fine, now that i know about that extra parameter. a contains b – great!
3) this isn’t really absolutely necessary if there’s the possibility to code it differently. it’s the absence of “or” in both the smart collections and in liquid which makes it difficult to do certain things. if there’s 4) we don’t really need 3)
4) see above – would be very helpful.
5) agree with getting rid of product types. i always thought that was just another name for collections anyway :). apologies for the second point, came from an area of deep confusion in my brain – something about switching back and forth between product and collection admin, but it wasn’t that. never mind.
6) ya, i understand that’s a big one. no rush.
7) this one i would really like. i spent not quite the equivalent of a transatlantic flight, ( but almost :)) trying to do related products in this way:

{% for link in linklists.product_families.links %}
{% assign: related = link.title %}
{% endfor %}>

but I couldn’t understand why this works:

<ul>
{% for tag in product.tags %}
    {% if tag =={{related}} %}
        <li><a href="/collections/{{related}}">{{ tag | highlight_active_tag }}</a></li>
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}
</ul>

and links to a collection page with related products (which is not quite what I want but it’s a start.)

- but this just throws up a liquid error:

{% for tag in product.tags %}
    {% if tag == {{related}} %}
        <ul>
        {% for link in linklists.{{related}}.links %}
            <li><a href="{{link.url}}" title="{{link.title}}"><span>{{link.title}}</span></a></li>
        {% endfor %}
        </ul>
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}

where the problem is obviously this:

{% for link in linklists.{{related}}.links %}

and that’s just so weird!

so with my new truncating skills, I’m now trying this:

{% for variant in product.variants %}
  {% assign: base_sku ={{variant.sku | truncate:6,''}}%}
  {{base_sku}}
{% endfor %}

but var base_sku returns the untruncated variant.sku, so I’m supposing it doesn’t read the filter. is this syntax not accepted?

Try this

{% for variant in product.variants %}
  {% assign: base_sku = variant.sku %}
  {{ base_sku | truncate: 6, '' }}
{% endfor %}

Couldn’t you just go for this?

{% for variant in product.variants %}
  {{ variant.sku | truncate: 6, '' }}
{% endfor %}

Or is there a reason to assign variant.sku to base_sku?

— Last edited 12:38AM, Jan 31, 2007

Currently it should never work to use {{ }} within a {% %} tag. If it seems to work then thats just because liquid is very liberal at ignoring syntax errors and tries to make the most out of it.

Similarly you cannot use filters in {% %} tag. Its just one of those limitations of the language. Liquid was designed to emit strings, not be a Turing complete programming language.

Can’t your problem be better solved by a links list though?

Ok, i’ll explain the use:

When I set up my shop, and looked at what one could do with variants vs. products, I decided not to use variants for identical products of a different colour, but to list them as independent products because 1)I wanted to be able to display “Item X – blue” in the same way as Item X – red”, and 2) I wanted to be able to tag them independently.

So now, I have products that are almost identical, with the only difference being the colour. They’re scattered all over the collection, with no way of getting from “Item X – red” to “Item X – blue”. And that bothers me. What I’m trying to do is say on product page “Item X- red”, display small pictures of “Item X – blue” and “Item X – green” with links, to say, “if you prefer this same thing in blue or green, go here”.

The SKU structure is as follows:

• “Item X – red” – ABC001001
• “Item X – blue” – ABC001002

where the first three letters are the code for the manufacturer, the next group of three figures the code for the item model, and the last group of three figures the color code.

So what I want to do is chop the last three digits off the SKU, and have that as a variable called “base_sku” which will indicate the product model without the colour.

So variant.sku (9 digits) is not the same thing as base_sku (6 digits).

This is what I’m trying to do with:

{% assign: base_sku ={{variant.sku | truncate:6,''}}%}

In a second step, I’d like to do a forloop for products in products that contain “base_sku”, and list them on the product page. (once we have “a contains b” in liquid). And that should take care of the display of identical products of a different colour on any given product page.

But if this kind of logic is impossible, then I’ll have to try something else. I was trying to avoid setting up collections for each of the identical product groups, with linklists and the whole kit & caboodle.

I do miss some more powerful variable use though.

Or – another way around this would be to be able to attach independent tags to the variants, i.e. for item X – a group of shared tags, and for variant “item X – red” independent tag “red” and for variant “item X – blue” independent tag “blue”. But that seems like a much more intrusive change to the existing system. Hence my coding attempts.

Voilà!

bumpety-bumpety-bump…

I’ll add if a contains b to liquid.

would be extremely vastly incredibly useful right now! please soon?

Ok, where do we find ALL the liquid options available. I see above there is an assign option. Haven’t found it documented anywhere yet. I see on the leetsoft site, an ifchanged option. The assign option looks like it allows you to assign a value to a variable, but I’ve tried to use it to just assign text, but that does not work.. eg:

 {% assign: test = "abc" %}
 {{test}}

yes – to the last question.

it’s documented here: http://help.shopify.com/design/show/The+Shopify+Theme+Guide

& other info availabe in the wiki, specifically in “pages and tags”

So I’m guessing I’ve run into another limitation of Liquid??

    {% for variant in product.variants limit:2 offset: {% cycle '0','2' %} %}

i’m puzzled as to what you’re trying to achieve by this – as i parse it this would give you:

product 1 variant 1
product 1 variant 3

product 2 variant 1
product 2 variant 3

and so on -

so this would capture your odd variants, and i suppose you’d have another loop to capture your even ones. that makes 2 forloops for the same variants – i.e. double the server calls.

if you want to just style variants differently, you could do:

<ul>
{% for variant in product.variants %}
<li class="{% cycle 'odd', 'even' %}">
{{variant.title}} //- or whatever </li>
{% endfor %}
</ul>

and then style your items with css:

li.odd{whatever}
li.even{something else}

I’m trying to get around coding a bazillion lines of code to deal with my various tables I want to implement to deal with size/colour… I have the tables solution working.. However due to the lack of variable substitution, I have to code each product and each line, as opposed to have a single set of code and passing variables to it. It has been a tad frustrating… For example, I may have a product that has 14 variants. I can put them on two lines in my table, but it requires double the code since I need a line with limit:7 offset:0 and a second line with limit:7 and offset:7. If I could get the offset to be a variable, then, I would only require one set of code. Extrapolate that further, I could build tables using a single set of code, if I could set variables.. Then limit could be variablized, and all would be goodness. Use a case statement for the specific products that require the table module, set the variables, and call one piece of code.

you can use offset: continue which starts where the last limit left off.

Ok, well that’s a handy little item… I’ve tested it and now can use a table for variations, with at least a reasonable amount of code. If anyone wants to see a table working for size/type take a look at my test store, http://gams.myshopify.com/products/test-variation. I can post the code here if anyone is interested.

pretty cool! yes i’d be interested in seeing the code.

Ok, here it is….

{% else %}
    <form id="product-form" action="/cart/add" method="post">
      <table width="100%" border="1" class="variantstable">
    <thead>
       <tr>
          <th></th>
          <th>0</th>
          <th>1</th>
          <th>2</th>
          <th>3</th>
          <th>4</th>
          <th>5</th>
          <th>6</th>
          <th>Price</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>

   {% for i in (1..4) %}
    <tr style="background: {% cycle '#fff', '#eee',%};" >
        <td>{% cycle 'Womens 3/4','Womens Full','Mens 3/4','Mens Full' %}</td> 
<!--    <td>{% cycle {{testcycle}} %}</td> -->
    {% for variant in product.variants limit:7 offset: continue %}

        {% if variant.available == true %}
           <td align="center" ><input type="radio" name="id" value="{{variant.id}}" id="radio_{{variant.id}}" onclick="testMe(this.value)" {%if forloop.first%} checked="checked" {%endif%} /> {{ variant.title | truncatewords: 1,''}}</td>
        {% else %}
           <td align="center">X</td>
        {% endif %}
{% assign: test = variant.price %}
    {% endfor %}
    <td>{{ test | money_with_currency }}</td>
    </tr>
   {% endfor %}
    </tbody>
     </table>
{% endif %}

     {% unless product.available == false %}            
     <div><input type="submit" value="Add to Cart" name="Add" id="add" /></div>
     {% endunless %}

    </form>
  </div>       

bumpety-bumpety-bump… I’ll add if a contains b to liquid.

would be extremely vastly incredibly useful right now! please soon?

Well why don’t you use it then ? ... ;)

lol! – you’re a darling, tobi!

@ jeff: thanks, very nice!

I hereby nominate you for official shopify cycling champion.

p.s. i didn’t know we were allowed to do this:

{% for i in (1..4) %}

nice find!

Yeah, finding the tricks within liquid has been shall we say challenging… :) Anyone know how to do if else if endif syntax?? How I thought it should work it doesn’t….

{% if %}
    ....
{% elsif %}
    ....
{% endif %}

— Last edited 10:57PM, Feb 12, 2007

Please do consider to update the wiki with all those amazing hacks you guys uncover ;)

Is there a way within case to apply two when clauses to the same code?? or is there a way within if to have and/or logic?? eg:

{% case product.title %}
{% when "product A" or "product B"}
woo hoo, it works... :)
{% endcase%}
or
{% if product.title  "product A" or product.title  “product B” %}
woo hoo, it works… :)
{% endif %}

Liquid can’t do that yet. Its one of the most requested features though. I hope someone one day sends me a patch :)

can you also add a way to edit the variables of my pasta salad. I’d realllly like to strip out the olives in an easy fashion. =)

{{pasta | stip_ingredients: 'italian' }} comign right up

Tobi, like to point me to info on creating patches for Liquid. I might take a shot at or/and in if, once I know what’s required…

@Jeff – I assume you’d go here:
http://home.leetsoft.com/liquid

that would be amazing jeff!

Here’s a patch that uses Jeff’s format for collapsing “when” statements:
http://home.leetsoft.com/liquid/ticket/382

It looks like tobi has the “when” statement change I submitted up on Shopify now.

http://groups.google.com/group/liquid-templates/browse_thread/thread/e3d4f79803a6b041/48b0dd188ee52ec4#48b0dd188ee52ec4

Depending on interest, I may look at making the change for “if” statements as well.

Nice work Eric. I have a few uses for this. Thanks.

eric: thanks a lot for the great submission! Please have a look at if statements. Proper conditions support would be absolutely amazing.

I applied the patch as soon as i saw it but i also added comma as a seperator so you can use {% when 1,2,3 %} as well as {% when 1 or 2 or 3 %}

— Last edited 01:08AM, May 01, 2007

Does anyone know if it’s possible to use the mod operator in an if statement, something like this…

{% if forloop.index mod 3 == 0 %}
{% else %}
{% endif %}

It compiles but throws up a liquid error.

A bit of background info…I’m looping thru a collection and want to do something to every 3rd product. The only other way I can think of is to have a huge case statement like this…

{% case forloop.index0 %} 
{% when 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36...etc %>
do something...
{% else %} 
do something else...
{% endcase %} 

It’s a workaround, but it’s not ideal :(

Any ideas anyone?

You can use the cycle tag for this.

{% cycle '', '', '</tr><tr>' %} for example

— Last edited 03:05PM, Jul 05, 2007

doh! now why didn’t I think of that ;)

Thanks Tobi, works a treat