admin/store/settings/products/edit/fields

Uncheck "Model"

This should probably be changed to "SKU" to keep the terms consistent across pages.

Ryan reads more closely than I do! I missed the fact that you said "edit page" and assumed you meant "view page". I'm glad he was able to give you a responsive answer.

The solution is really Drupal-specific, and doesn't have anything to do with Ubercart, but let me show you how this works as my pennance for failing to properly read the question It never hurts to have too much documentation!

In uc_product.module, you will find the function uc_product_form(). This function builds the form that is used to enter information about a product. In particular, this code:

creates the SKU field on the form and marks it as "required" - meaning the user must enter a value or automatic validation won't allow the form to be submitted.

Now, you could just go ahead and change that "TRUE" to be "FALSE" and your problem would be solved. (Don't do this!) Solved until you had to upgrade Ubercart. Then this core module code would be overwritten, and of course you probably forgot all the "simple" changes you made, and you didn't write them down anywhere, so not only would your store break but it would take you a long time to identify all the problems and re-implement all those "solutions" you put in before.

No, the proper way is NOT to change the core modules, but to OVERRIDE the functions to perform the way you want them to.

In this case, what you're trying to do is to alter the product form. Luckily, Drupal gives you a way to alter any form using the hook mechanism. In particular, hook_form_alter(). The way it works is this: Whenever a form is displayed, Drupal "asks" if any module wants to alter it. So if you write a small module, your module will have the ability to make changes to the form before it is presented to the user.

Here is the minimal module you will need: Create a directory on your web server called "custom" under site/all/modules and in it create two files: my_module.info and my_module.module

my_module.info looks like this:

my_module.module looks like this:

This function is called by Drupal every time a form is built, so we first test to see if it's the form we're interested in then change the value we're interested in. We could also add elements to the form at this point, if that's something you need.

Now use your browser to go to the admin/build/modules menu for your site and enable your module. That's all - the SKU field should no longer be "required" when you create products. You can use this mechanism to perform all sorts of different customizations to Ubercart without ever having to modify the distributed code.

How can i in this way hide such fields as weight and geometry sizes?

Thanks to all.

TR, I'm glad you misread edit/view... you answered my question!

thanks,
amy

Ryan recently showed me http://drupal.org/project/formfilter which allows complete customization of many forms on your site. It's great for hiding things like dimensions, weight, etc (Fields that we do not use).

Also, webmasterkai has contributed a module that auto-fills the SKU based on selectable tokens (and gives the option to hide the sku field altogether). http://www.ubercart.org/contrib/4307

There will be a hidden <input> element that actually has "form_id" in its name and id attribute. Get the value attribute of that element.

Ok. I found it. It is indeed product_node_form so I have

But when I put the module in my custom folder and then click on admin or any button to go and enable the module, I get a white screen of death. (I'm using a local install of drupal to work on this called Bitnami.) Anyway.....Not really sure what's up now.
The form_id value was found way down on the page after most of the input items like the SKU Field. Is that important? I thought it would have been before but then, I 'm really new to drupal module programing and php.

raspberryheaven

The Form API has changed, if you download an install the Coder module (http://drupal.org/project/coder) you can process certain modules with it, and it will analyze it for coding standards as well as D5 -> D6 changes.

Hi there,
I've been trying to debug this sku disable type module on my local harddrive using Coder, the module recommended to me in a comment on this thread. But when I put my custom module in the folder, which btw, looks like the code that 's listed near the top of this thread, I get a white screen so I can't go back to the panel that show's coder's options. also for some reason, it lists my module twice........ as
skudisable (active)
skudisable_module (active)

I deleted the module from my directory and I cleared my cache but nothing seems to fix this error.
can anyone help me? I feel like this shouldn't be as complicated as it's seeming to be.

Becky

OMG I just figured it out. The reason it didn't work was because there were gremlins (hidden characters) on the page screwing it up. GRRR.

raspberryheaven

Thanks, it's cool. I realized today after talking to the person I'm making this for, that I need the SKU field but that i should make it un-required. So success! I have a new question relating to the issue of hiding fields and such but I posted it at a different thread because it doesn't relate directly to sku fields: http://www.ubercart.org/forum/support/6888/can_i_extend_fieldset_go_arou...

Hi

I followed these instructions, and have:

optional_sku.info

and

optional_sku.module

I've enabled the module, but the SKU still shows up as required. I have a string override that changes 'SKU' to 'Product Code'.

What have I done wrong?

Thanks

Glenn

UPDATE:

It works when I create a product, but when I create another content type which is also a product, it doesn't work.

Glenn

here is how I hide the sku input field:

uc_nosku.info

uc_nosku.module

Remember that there mustn't be a '?>' tag at the end of the .module file!

Create a directory ../sites/all/modules/ubercart/uc_nosku and save the files there.

@loocher
To change the label of the sku-field just add this line to the module above:

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_form_alter/6

Incidentally, I'm working on a module that will handle autofilling of SKUs based on tokens, among a number of other things..

you need a line that says core="6.x" in the info file for drupal 6 modules..

you will also need to give the SKU a default value, as it's a required field. Though you could probably set the #required attribute to FALSE.

Sorry, trying to find out the product textfield attribute that I should use in order to change the size for the last few days but of no luck. I have found out the form id after print out in my_module.module file. The form is 'uc_product_add_to_cart_form_11', the node is node/11. This attribute is added from store/attributes, same as Size, Color(in Store Administration). My code is as follow:

<?php
// $Id$

/**
* @file
* Module to hold my customizations to Ubercart
*/

/**
* Implementation of hook_form_alter()
*/
function my_module_form_alter(&$form, $form_state, $form_id) {

if ($form_id == "uc_product_add_to_cart_form_11") {

print $form_id;

/*
$form['#parameters'][2]['attributes'][6]['#size'] = 20;
*/

$form['form_info'] = array('#value' => print_r($form, TRUE));

}

/* etc ... */

}

When browse to node/11, the form id will be printed. I have commented the $form['#parameters'][2]['attributes'][6]['#size'] = 20 as it will give blank screen. The form array printed is as attached.

As you can see attributes[6] which is a name text field, I would like to limit the number of characters to 20. Currently it has maxlength=128, size=60.

I have search through the forum on hook_form_alter but there is no example on changing the custom product attributes that is added from store admin. Any help on this.

Thanks.

I'm curious about this... why not just hide the SKU field and add a new field called ISBN?