Custom Filtering of Product List

If I want to provide custom filtering to the product list, should I be making my own custom filter or do I really need to make my own ProductList widget with the filter built in ?

Suggestions ?  I've googled the world over, and can't find an example of custom-filtered-product list...  I'd hate to think that I'm the first to try :)

thanks,
Tim

Hi Tim,

 Thank you for contacting us.

You're by far the first from doing so but this is why Sitefinity 6.0 will include a customizable sort/filter option for products that includes even custom fields. It's already finished and ready for 6.0 which is due out within the next couple weeks. We would definitely suggest waiting and upgrading to 6.0 as it provides a load of new features related not only to Ecommerce but Sitefinity as a whole.

With that being said you don't have to create your own product list from scratch hardly ever. Our widgets are ASP.NET custom controls so you can create a class and inherit from the ProductList and then override the necessary methods/provide your own methods.

Something like this:

Thank you Partrick.

6.0 sounds exciting.  Not sure if I can wait, but will try to only do critical changes hoping 6.0 gets here before my customer needs the function.

Just to clarify, I need to filter (not sort).  Can you point me to any examples that have just a bit more detail  ?

Thanks much!
-Tim  

Patrick,
I appreciate the code you posted here and I'm attempting to follow this example and I think I'm on the right track but how do I "register" this control extension?  I've made modifications to the control by extending the base class but my changes do not show up when I use the Products View control. How do I tell the control to use my extended class?

I've been fooling around with the attributes of the product list by bringing up the popup view by clicking "edit" on the control. I go into advanced settings and see a ton of attributes. I assume I need to edit one of these to point to my extended class correct? Which one do I edit?

Thanks,
Chad

Hi,

 The extended class is its own control. You need to register it as you would any custom control. The easiest way to do this is with Thunder.

I hope this helps.

I tried a variation on this example as I need to customise the result oft he Product View but when I add the control to the page I get the following error message (on the control):  Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: originalControl

This does make sense, I guess at the LoadView method is expecting a parameter but where is that coming from?

My code is:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using Telerik.Sitefinity.Modules.Ecommerce.Catalog.Web.UI;
using Telerik.Sitefinity.Model;

namespace SitefinityWebApp.CustomClasses

    public class ProductListCustom : ProductsView
   
        protected override void LoadView (string viewName)
       
            if (base.ControlDefinition.Views.IsMasterView(base.CurrentView.ViewName))
           
                // some customisation here
           

            base.LoadView(viewName);