PLST and Availability Groups in Colossus

[Ron Frigon]

I'm working on a new site that relies heavily on Availability Groups for content, categories and products. On PLST all products on the site are displayed regardless of the products availability group assignment. If I select something from one of the filters then only the correct items are displayed based on the availability group I'm assigned to. After clearing filters all products are displayed again. Selecting a product that is assigned to a group that I'm not a part of then I get Page not Found (which would be expected...).

This doesn't seem like default behavior. Maybe a bug? Something is missing.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

interesting...that does sound like a bug...but who uses PLST any more :)

try assigning a content template to that page and use:


<mvt:do file="g.Module_Library_DB" name="l.success" value="Runtime_ProductList_Load_All(l.settings:pro ducts)" />

note: note positive Runtime_ProductList_Load_All does pay attention to availability and price groups but it should.

[Ron Frigon]

Well that was an easy fix. Thank you Bruce. I added the mvt:do to the top of the Product List Layout template. The fix is in!

Cheers!

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Keep in mind that this array will have all the multitudes of pricing so you need to use the correct ones for displaying discounts and what not. (Previously, when you used the original list layout, the point and click settings on that template added or removed the various pricing displays.)

[Ron Frigon]

Thanks Bruce. I checked the Point + Click settings for pricing display, tested with a couple price groups. All seems good.

TY!

[SteveoSoule]

I am seeing PLST respect the Availability Group assignments, and there should be no need to mvt:do Runtime_ProductList_Load_All().

The only time I am seeing PLST (or any product-list like CTGY, SRCH, or Related Products) ignore the Availability Group assignments is when Redis or Product List Caches are intentionally displaying cached information.

Product List Cache has been around since 9.0007 but I commonly see it trip people up. For example:

1. If you start with no products in an availability group and you are not logged into a customer account
2. Visiting the PLST page will show all the products (and it will create a cached product-list for the PLST page)
3. Take note of the first product in the PLST page
4. In the Miva admin, assign the first product from the PLST page to an availability group
5. Reload the PLST page, the product assigned to the Availability Group will still exist. This is because product-lists are cached for 4 hours by default, and you're seeing the list from your first page-view.

To overcome this as you are assigning products to availability groups, it can help to create and run a scheduled task to delete all cached product lists (not just the expired product lists):

1. Store Settings > Scheduled Tasks > Create New Scheduled Task
2. Configure the new Scheduled Task as follows:
   1. Enabled: Checked
   2. Description: Delete All Cached Product Lists
   3. Operation: Standard Scheduled Tasks: Delete Product List Cache Entries
   4. Schedule: Run Once, Then Disable
   5. Entries to Delete: All Cached Product Lists
3. Click the "Add" button and the task should run immediately.
4. Then reload your PLST (or any other product-list page) and the first-product you assigned to the Availability Group should be gone now.