Values & Templates

To better understand what a Value is, remember that it is simply text describing a product characteristic (Attribute). A Value is stored in a TEXT field in the Database. You can enter any text, for example: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...". In the product form, this is the Textarea field to the right of the Attribute.

Of course, in practice, we enter something more meaningful, describing our product. Moreover, we want the Value to be the same across all products that contain it, allowing us to filter and find our products based on these Values.

From an OpenCart developer’s perspective, the structure Product->Attribute->Value is sufficient, but in practice, it is often not enough. A more common structure is Product->Attribute->Set of Values.

tip

A Template is a set of Attribute Values recorded using a separator. It is sometimes called "Multiple Values".

For example, I sell modules for OpenCart and want to indicate compatibility with different versions such as 1.5.x, 2.0.1, 2.1.x, while others may also be compatible with 2.3.x, 3.0.x. I will list these versions in the Attribute Value for Compatibility by separating them with a separator—comma or slash, e.g., v1.5.x/2.0.1/2.1.x and v1.5.x/2.0.1/2.1.x/2.3.x/3.0.x.

OpenCart does not process this structure—it simply displays it as a single string in the product card. However, smart filters allow product structuring and searching by Values.

Template Processing

In the Product Card

In the Module

In the Filter

Separator

OpenCart does not natively support multiple Values, so everything is stored in the database as a single text field.

note

If a filter does not support multiple Values, it is better to avoid using them.

Separator Settings

The Value separator can be set in the General module settings. Letters, numbers, quotation marks, and square brackets cannot be used.

Here’s how the separator appears in popular filters:

Mega Filter Pro

FilterPro

It is important to note that each Value is unique to a product. If you change a single letter in a Value for one product, it will not affect others, even if they previously matched. The same applies to Templates.